Recognition of digital characteristics based new improved genetic algorithm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Meng; Xu, Guoqiang; Lin, Zihao

2017-08-01

In the field of digital signal processing, Estimating the characteristics of signal modulation parameters is an significant research direction. The paper determines the set of eigenvalue which can show the difference of the digital signal modulation based on the deep research of the new improved genetic algorithm. Firstly take them as the best gene pool; secondly, The best gene pool will be changed in the genetic evolvement by selecting, overlapping and eliminating each other; Finally, Adapting the strategy of futher enhance competition and punishment to more optimizer the gene pool and ensure each generation are of high quality gene. The simulation results show that this method not only has the global convergence, stability and faster convergence speed.

Importance sampling studies of helium using the Feynman-Kac path integral method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Datta, S.; Rejcek, J. M.

2018-05-01

In the Feynman-Kac path integral approach the eigenvalues of a quantum system can be computed using Wiener measure which uses Brownian particle motion. In our previous work on such systems we have observed that the Wiener process numerically converges slowly for dimensions greater than two because almost all trajectories will escape to infinity. One can speed up this process by using a generalized Feynman-Kac (GFK) method, in which the new measure associated with the trial function is stationary, so that the convergence rate becomes much faster. We thus achieve an example of "importance sampling" and, in the present work, we apply it to the Feynman-Kac (FK) path integrals for the ground and first few excited-state energies for He to speed up the convergence rate. We calculate the path integrals using space averaging rather than the time averaging as done in the past. The best previous calculations from variational computations report precisions of 10-16 Hartrees, whereas in most cases our path integral results obtained for the ground and first excited states of He are lower than these results by about 10-6 Hartrees or more.

Fast and Epsilon-Optimal Discretized Pursuit Learning Automata.

PubMed

Zhang, JunQi; Wang, Cheng; Zhou, MengChu

2015-10-01

Learning automata (LA) are powerful tools for reinforcement learning. A discretized pursuit LA is the most popular one among them. During an iteration its operation consists of three basic phases: 1) selecting the next action; 2) finding the optimal estimated action; and 3) updating the state probability. However, when the number of actions is large, the learning becomes extremely slow because there are too many updates to be made at each iteration. The increased updates are mostly from phases 1 and 3. A new fast discretized pursuit LA with assured ε -optimality is proposed to perform both phases 1 and 3 with the computational complexity independent of the number of actions. Apart from its low computational complexity, it achieves faster convergence speed than the classical one when operating in stationary environments. This paper can promote the applications of LA toward the large-scale-action oriented area that requires efficient reinforcement learning tools with assured ε -optimality, fast convergence speed, and low computational complexity for each iteration.

Joint polarization tracking and channel equalization based on radius-directed linear Kalman filter

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Qun; Yang, Yanfu; Zhong, Kangping; Liu, Jie; Wu, Xiong; Yao, Yong

2018-01-01

We propose a joint polarization tracking and channel equalization scheme based on radius-directed linear Kalman filter (RD-LKF) by introducing the butterfly finite-impulse-response (FIR) filter in our previously proposed RD-LKF method. Along with the fast polarization tracking, it can also simultaneously compensate the inter-symbol interference (ISI) effects including residual chromatic dispersion and polarization mode dispersion. Compared with the conventional radius-directed equalizer (RDE) algorithm, it is demonstrated experimentally that three times faster convergence speed, one order of magnitude better tracking capability, and better BER performance is obtained in polarization division multiplexing 16 quadrature amplitude modulation system. Besides, the influences of the algorithm parameters on the convergence and the tracking performance are investigated by numerical simulation.

Demultiplexing based on frequency-domain joint decision MMA for MDM system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Caili, Gong; Li, Li; Guijun, Hu

2016-06-01

In this paper, we propose a demultiplexing method based on frequency-domain joint decision multi-modulus algorithm (FD-JDMMA) for mode division multiplexing (MDM) system. The performance of FD-JDMMA is compared with frequency-domain multi-modulus algorithm (FD-MMA) and frequency-domain least mean square (FD-LMS) algorithm. The simulation results show that FD-JDMMA outperforms FD-MMA in terms of BER and convergence speed in the cases of mQAM (m=4, 16 and 64) formats. And it is also demonstrated that FD-JDMMA achieves better BER performance and converges faster than FD-LMS in the cases of 16QAM and 64QAM. Furthermore, FD-JDMMA maintains similar computational complexity as the both equalization algorithms.

CNSFV code development, virtual zone Navier-Stokes computations of oscillating control surfaces and computational support of the laminar flow supersonic wind tunnel

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Klopfer, Goetz H.

1993-01-01

The work performed during the past year on this cooperative agreement covered two major areas and two lesser ones. The two major items included further development and validation of the Compressible Navier-Stokes Finite Volume (CNSFV) code and providing computational support for the Laminar Flow Supersonic Wind Tunnel (LFSWT). The two lesser items involve a Navier-Stokes simulation of an oscillating control surface at transonic speeds and improving the basic algorithm used in the CNSFV code for faster convergence rates and more robustness. The work done in all four areas is in support of the High Speed Research Program at NASA Ames Research Center.

Research on particle swarm optimization algorithm based on optimal movement probability

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ma, Jianhong; Zhang, Han; He, Baofeng

2017-01-01

The particle swarm optimization algorithm to improve the control precision, and has great application value training neural network and fuzzy system control fields etc.The traditional particle swarm algorithm is used for the training of feed forward neural networks,the search efficiency is low, and easy to fall into local convergence.An improved particle swarm optimization algorithm is proposed based on error back propagation gradient descent. Particle swarm optimization for Solving Least Squares Problems to meme group, the particles in the fitness ranking, optimization problem of the overall consideration, the error back propagation gradient descent training BP neural network, particle to update the velocity and position according to their individual optimal and global optimization, make the particles more to the social optimal learning and less to its optimal learning, it can avoid the particles fall into local optimum, by using gradient information can accelerate the PSO local search ability, improve the multi beam particle swarm depth zero less trajectory information search efficiency, the realization of improved particle swarm optimization algorithm. Simulation results show that the algorithm in the initial stage of rapid convergence to the global optimal solution can be near to the global optimal solution and keep close to the trend, the algorithm has faster convergence speed and search performance in the same running time, it can improve the convergence speed of the algorithm, especially the later search efficiency.

Initial-value semiclassical propagators for the Wigner phase space representation: Formulation based on the interpretation of the Moyal equation as a Schrödinger equation.

PubMed

Koda, Shin-ichi

2015-12-28

We formulate various semiclassical propagators for the Wigner phase space representation from a unified point of view. As is shown in several studies, the Moyal equation, which is an equation of motion for the Wigner distribution function, can be regarded as the Schrödinger equation of an extended Hamiltonian system where its "position" and "momentum" correspond to the middle point of two points of the original phase space and the difference between them, respectively. Then we show that various phase-space semiclassical propagators can be formulated just by applying existing semiclassical propagators to the extended system. As a result, a phase space version of the Van Vleck propagator, the initial-value Van Vleck propagator, the Herman-Kluk propagator, and the thawed Gaussian approximation are obtained. In addition, we numerically compare the initial-value phase-space Van Vleck propagator, the phase-space Herman-Kluk propagator, and the classical mechanical propagation as approximation methods for the time propagation of the Wigner distribution function in terms of both accuracy and convergence speed. As a result, we find that the convergence speed of the Van Vleck propagator is far slower than others as is the case of the Hilbert space, and the Herman-Kluk propagator keeps its accuracy for a long period compared with the classical mechanical propagation while the convergence speed of the latter is faster than the former.

Unified gas-kinetic scheme with multigrid convergence for rarefied flow study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhu, Yajun; Zhong, Chengwen; Xu, Kun

2017-09-01

The unified gas kinetic scheme (UGKS) is based on direct modeling of gas dynamics on the mesh size and time step scales. With the modeling of particle transport and collision in a time-dependent flux function in a finite volume framework, the UGKS can connect the flow physics smoothly from the kinetic particle transport to the hydrodynamic wave propagation. In comparison with the direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method, the current equation-based UGKS can implement implicit techniques in the updates of macroscopic conservative variables and microscopic distribution functions. The implicit UGKS significantly increases the convergence speed for steady flow computations, especially in the highly rarefied and near continuum regimes. In order to further improve the computational efficiency, for the first time, a geometric multigrid technique is introduced into the implicit UGKS, where the prediction step for the equilibrium state and the evolution step for the distribution function are both treated with multigrid acceleration. More specifically, a full approximate nonlinear system is employed in the prediction step for fast evaluation of the equilibrium state, and a correction linear equation is solved in the evolution step for the update of the gas distribution function. As a result, convergent speed has been greatly improved in all flow regimes from rarefied to the continuum ones. The multigrid implicit UGKS (MIUGKS) is used in the non-equilibrium flow study, which includes microflow, such as lid-driven cavity flow and the flow passing through a finite-length flat plate, and high speed one, such as supersonic flow over a square cylinder. The MIUGKS shows 5-9 times efficiency increase over the previous implicit scheme. For the low speed microflow, the efficiency of MIUGKS is several orders of magnitude higher than the DSMC. Even for the hypersonic flow at Mach number 5 and Knudsen number 0.1, the MIUGKS is still more than 100 times faster than the DSMC method for obtaining a convergent steady state solution.

Hybrid spiral-dynamic bacteria-chemotaxis algorithm with application to control two-wheeled machines.

PubMed

Goher, K M; Almeshal, A M; Agouri, S A; Nasir, A N K; Tokhi, M O; Alenezi, M R; Al Zanki, T; Fadlallah, S O

2017-01-01

This paper presents the implementation of the hybrid spiral-dynamic bacteria-chemotaxis (HSDBC) approach to control two different configurations of a two-wheeled vehicle. The HSDBC is a combination of bacterial chemotaxis used in bacterial forging algorithm (BFA) and the spiral-dynamic algorithm (SDA). BFA provides a good exploration strategy due to the chemotaxis approach. However, it endures an oscillation problem near the end of the search process when using a large step size. Conversely; for a small step size, it affords better exploitation and accuracy with slower convergence. SDA provides better stability when approaching an optimum point and has faster convergence speed. This may cause the search agents to get trapped into local optima which results in low accurate solution. HSDBC exploits the chemotactic strategy of BFA and fitness accuracy and convergence speed of SDA so as to overcome the problems associated with both the SDA and BFA algorithms alone. The HSDBC thus developed is evaluated in optimizing the performance and energy consumption of two highly nonlinear platforms, namely single and double inverted pendulum-like vehicles with an extended rod. Comparative results with BFA and SDA show that the proposed algorithm is able to result in better performance of the highly nonlinear systems.

An improved NAS-RIF algorithm for image restoration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gao, Weizhe; Zou, Jianhua; Xu, Rong; Liu, Changhai; Li, Hengnian

2016-10-01

Space optical images are inevitably degraded by atmospheric turbulence, error of the optical system and motion. In order to get the true image, a novel nonnegativity and support constants recursive inverse filtering (NAS-RIF) algorithm is proposed to restore the degraded image. Firstly the image noise is weaken by Contourlet denoising algorithm. Secondly, the reliable object support region estimation is used to accelerate the algorithm convergence. We introduce the optimal threshold segmentation technology to improve the object support region. Finally, an object construction limit and the logarithm function are added to enhance algorithm stability. Experimental results demonstrate that, the proposed algorithm can increase the PSNR, and improve the quality of the restored images. The convergence speed of the proposed algorithm is faster than that of the original NAS-RIF algorithm.

A female advantage in the serial production of non-representational learned gestures.

PubMed

Chipman, Karen; Hampson, Elizabeth

2006-01-01

Clinical research has demonstrated a sex difference in the neuroanatomical organization of the limb praxis system. To test for a corresponding sex difference in the functioning of this system, we compared healthy men and women on a gesture production task modeled after those used in apraxia research. In two separate studies, participants were taught to perform nine non-representational gestures in response to computer-generated color cues. After extensive practice with the gestures, the color cues were placed on a timer and presented in randomized sequences at progressively faster speeds. A detailed videotape analysis revealed that women in both studies committed significantly fewer 'praxic' errors than men (i.e., errors that resembled those seen in limb apraxia). This was true during both the untimed practice trials and the speeded trials of the task, despite equivalent numbers of errors between the sexes in the 'non-praxic' (i.e., executory) error categories. Women in both studies also performed the task at significantly faster speeds than men. This finding was not accounted for by a female advantage in extraneous elements of the task, i.e., speed of color processing, associative retrieval, or motor execution. Together, the two studies provide convergent support for a female advantage in the efficiency of forelimb gesture production. They are consistent with emerging evidence of a sex difference in the anatomical organization of the praxis system.

IMPROVED ALGORITHMS FOR RADAR-BASED RECONSTRUCTION OF ASTEROID SHAPES

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Greenberg, Adam H.; Margot, Jean-Luc

We describe our implementation of a global-parameter optimizer and Square Root Information Filter into the asteroid-modeling software shape. We compare the performance of our new optimizer with that of the existing sequential optimizer when operating on various forms of simulated data and actual asteroid radar data. In all cases, the new implementation performs substantially better than its predecessor: it converges faster, produces shape models that are more accurate, and solves for spin axis orientations more reliably. We discuss potential future changes to improve shape's fitting speed and accuracy.

Terminal Sliding Mode Tracking Controller Design for Automatic Guided Vehicle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Hongbin

2018-03-01

Based on sliding mode variable structure control theory, the path tracking problem of automatic guided vehicle is studied, proposed a controller design method based on the terminal sliding mode. First of all, through analyzing the characteristics of the automatic guided vehicle movement, the kinematics model is presented. Then to improve the traditional expression of terminal sliding mode, design a nonlinear sliding mode which the convergence speed is faster than the former, verified by theoretical analysis, the design of sliding mode is steady and fast convergence in the limited time. Finally combining Lyapunov method to design the tracking control law of automatic guided vehicle, the controller can make the automatic guided vehicle track the desired trajectory in the global sense as well as in finite time. The simulation results verify the correctness and effectiveness of the control law.

Compressed sensing with gradient total variation for low-dose CBCT reconstruction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Seo, Chang-Woo; Cha, Bo Kyung; Jeon, Seongchae; Huh, Young; Park, Justin C.; Lee, Byeonghun; Baek, Junghee; Kim, Eunyoung

2015-06-01

This paper describes the improvement of convergence speed with gradient total variation (GTV) in compressed sensing (CS) for low-dose cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) reconstruction. We derive a fast algorithm for the constrained total variation (TV)-based a minimum number of noisy projections. To achieve this task we combine the GTV with a TV-norm regularization term to promote an accelerated sparsity in the X-ray attenuation characteristics of the human body. The GTV is derived from a TV and enforces more efficient computationally and faster in convergence until a desired solution is achieved. The numerical algorithm is simple and derives relatively fast convergence. We apply a gradient projection algorithm that seeks a solution iteratively in the direction of the projected gradient while enforcing a non-negatively of the found solution. In comparison with the Feldkamp, Davis, and Kress (FDK) and conventional TV algorithms, the proposed GTV algorithm showed convergence in ≤18 iterations, whereas the original TV algorithm needs at least 34 iterations in reducing 50% of the projections compared with the FDK algorithm in order to reconstruct the chest phantom images. Future investigation includes improving imaging quality, particularly regarding X-ray cone-beam scatter, and motion artifacts of CBCT reconstruction.

High Speed Solution of Spacecraft Trajectory Problems Using Taylor Series Integration

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Scott, James R.; Martini, Michael C.

2008-01-01

Taylor series integration is implemented in a spacecraft trajectory analysis code-the Spacecraft N-body Analysis Program (SNAP) - and compared with the code s existing eighth-order Runge-Kutta Fehlberg time integration scheme. Nine trajectory problems, including near Earth, lunar, Mars and Europa missions, are analyzed. Head-to-head comparison at five different error tolerances shows that, on average, Taylor series is faster than Runge-Kutta Fehlberg by a factor of 15.8. Results further show that Taylor series has superior convergence properties. Taylor series integration proves that it can provide rapid, highly accurate solutions to spacecraft trajectory problems.

An effective hybrid firefly algorithm with harmony search for global numerical optimization.

PubMed

Guo, Lihong; Wang, Gai-Ge; Wang, Heqi; Wang, Dinan

2013-01-01

A hybrid metaheuristic approach by hybridizing harmony search (HS) and firefly algorithm (FA), namely, HS/FA, is proposed to solve function optimization. In HS/FA, the exploration of HS and the exploitation of FA are fully exerted, so HS/FA has a faster convergence speed than HS and FA. Also, top fireflies scheme is introduced to reduce running time, and HS is utilized to mutate between fireflies when updating fireflies. The HS/FA method is verified by various benchmarks. From the experiments, the implementation of HS/FA is better than the standard FA and other eight optimization methods.

QPSO-Based Adaptive DNA Computing Algorithm

PubMed Central

Karakose, Mehmet; Cigdem, Ugur

2013-01-01

DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) computing that is a new computation model based on DNA molecules for information storage has been increasingly used for optimization and data analysis in recent years. However, DNA computing algorithm has some limitations in terms of convergence speed, adaptability, and effectiveness. In this paper, a new approach for improvement of DNA computing is proposed. This new approach aims to perform DNA computing algorithm with adaptive parameters towards the desired goal using quantum-behaved particle swarm optimization (QPSO). Some contributions provided by the proposed QPSO based on adaptive DNA computing algorithm are as follows: (1) parameters of population size, crossover rate, maximum number of operations, enzyme and virus mutation rate, and fitness function of DNA computing algorithm are simultaneously tuned for adaptive process, (2) adaptive algorithm is performed using QPSO algorithm for goal-driven progress, faster operation, and flexibility in data, and (3) numerical realization of DNA computing algorithm with proposed approach is implemented in system identification. Two experiments with different systems were carried out to evaluate the performance of the proposed approach with comparative results. Experimental results obtained with Matlab and FPGA demonstrate ability to provide effective optimization, considerable convergence speed, and high accuracy according to DNA computing algorithm. PMID:23935409

Teaching-learning-based Optimization Algorithm for Parameter Identification in the Design of IIR Filters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Singh, R.; Verma, H. K.

2013-12-01

This paper presents a teaching-learning-based optimization (TLBO) algorithm to solve parameter identification problems in the designing of digital infinite impulse response (IIR) filter. TLBO based filter modelling is applied to calculate the parameters of unknown plant in simulations. Unlike other heuristic search algorithms, TLBO algorithm is an algorithm-specific parameter-less algorithm. In this paper big bang-big crunch (BB-BC) optimization and PSO algorithms are also applied to filter design for comparison. Unknown filter parameters are considered as a vector to be optimized by these algorithms. MATLAB programming is used for implementation of proposed algorithms. Experimental results show that the TLBO is more accurate to estimate the filter parameters than the BB-BC optimization algorithm and has faster convergence rate when compared to PSO algorithm. TLBO is used where accuracy is more essential than the convergence speed.

Acceleration of the direct reconstruction of linear parametric images using nested algorithms.

PubMed

Wang, Guobao; Qi, Jinyi

2010-03-07

Parametric imaging using dynamic positron emission tomography (PET) provides important information for biological research and clinical diagnosis. Indirect and direct methods have been developed for reconstructing linear parametric images from dynamic PET data. Indirect methods are relatively simple and easy to implement because the image reconstruction and kinetic modeling are performed in two separate steps. Direct methods estimate parametric images directly from raw PET data and are statistically more efficient. However, the convergence rate of direct algorithms can be slow due to the coupling between the reconstruction and kinetic modeling. Here we present two fast gradient-type algorithms for direct reconstruction of linear parametric images. The new algorithms decouple the reconstruction and linear parametric modeling at each iteration by employing the principle of optimization transfer. Convergence speed is accelerated by running more sub-iterations of linear parametric estimation because the computation cost of the linear parametric modeling is much less than that of the image reconstruction. Computer simulation studies demonstrated that the new algorithms converge much faster than the traditional expectation maximization (EM) and the preconditioned conjugate gradient algorithms for dynamic PET.

Analysis of sensorless control of brushless DC motor using unknown input observer with different gains

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Astik, Mitesh B.; Bhatt, Praghnesh; Bhalja, Bhavesh R.

2017-03-01

A sensorless control scheme based on an unknown input observer is presented in this paper in which back EMF of the Brushless DC Motor (BLDC) is continuously estimated from available line voltages and currents. During negative rotation of motor, actual and estimated speed fail to track the reference speed and if the corrective action is not taken by the observer, the motor goes into saturation. To overcome this problem, the speed estimation algorithm has been implemented in this paper to control the dynamic behavior of the motor during negative rotation. The Ackermans method was used to calculate the gains of an unknown input observer which is based on the appropriate choice of the eigenvalues in advance. The criteria to choose eigenvalue is to obtain a balance between faster convergence rate and the least noise level. Simulations have been carried out for different disturbances such as step changes in motor reference speed and load torque. The comparative simulation results clearly depict that the disturbance effects in actual and estimated responses minimizes as observer gain setting increases.

Mitigation of crosstalk based on CSO-ICA in free space orbital angular momentum multiplexing systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xing, Dengke; Liu, Jianfei; Zeng, Xiangye; Lu, Jia; Yi, Ziyao

2018-09-01

Orbital angular momentum (OAM) multiplexing has caused a lot of concerns and researches in recent years because of its great spectral efficiency and many OAM systems in free space channel have been demonstrated. However, due to the existence of atmospheric turbulence, the power of OAM beams will diffuse to beams with neighboring topological charges and inter-mode crosstalk will emerge in these systems, resulting in the system nonavailability in severe cases. In this paper, we introduced independent component analysis (ICA), which is known as a popular method of signal separation, to mitigate inter-mode crosstalk effects; furthermore, aiming at the shortcomings of traditional ICA algorithm's fixed iteration speed, we proposed a joint algorithm, CSO-ICA, to improve the process of solving the separation matrix by taking advantage of fast convergence rate and high convergence precision of chicken swarm algorithm (CSO). We can get the optimal separation matrix by adjusting the step size according to the last iteration in CSO-ICA. Simulation results indicate that the proposed algorithm has a good performance in inter-mode crosstalk mitigation and the optical signal-to-noise ratio (OSNR) requirement of received signals (OAM+2, OAM+4, OAM+6, OAM+8) is reduced about 3.2 dB at bit error ratio (BER) of 3.8 × 10-3. Meanwhile, the convergence speed is much faster than the traditional ICA algorithm by improving about an order of iteration times.

Reverse engineering a gene network using an asynchronous parallel evolution strategy

PubMed Central

2010-01-01

Background The use of reverse engineering methods to infer gene regulatory networks by fitting mathematical models to gene expression data is becoming increasingly popular and successful. However, increasing model complexity means that more powerful global optimisation techniques are required for model fitting. The parallel Lam Simulated Annealing (pLSA) algorithm has been used in such approaches, but recent research has shown that island Evolutionary Strategies can produce faster, more reliable results. However, no parallel island Evolutionary Strategy (piES) has yet been demonstrated to be effective for this task. Results Here, we present synchronous and asynchronous versions of the piES algorithm, and apply them to a real reverse engineering problem: inferring parameters in the gap gene network. We find that the asynchronous piES exhibits very little communication overhead, and shows significant speed-up for up to 50 nodes: the piES running on 50 nodes is nearly 10 times faster than the best serial algorithm. We compare the asynchronous piES to pLSA on the same test problem, measuring the time required to reach particular levels of residual error, and show that it shows much faster convergence than pLSA across all optimisation conditions tested. Conclusions Our results demonstrate that the piES is consistently faster and more reliable than the pLSA algorithm on this problem, and scales better with increasing numbers of nodes. In addition, the piES is especially well suited to further improvements and adaptations: Firstly, the algorithm's fast initial descent speed and high reliability make it a good candidate for being used as part of a global/local search hybrid algorithm. Secondly, it has the potential to be used as part of a hierarchical evolutionary algorithm, which takes advantage of modern multi-core computing architectures. PMID:20196855

An Effective Hybrid Firefly Algorithm with Harmony Search for Global Numerical Optimization

PubMed Central

Guo, Lihong; Wang, Gai-Ge; Wang, Heqi; Wang, Dinan

2013-01-01

A hybrid metaheuristic approach by hybridizing harmony search (HS) and firefly algorithm (FA), namely, HS/FA, is proposed to solve function optimization. In HS/FA, the exploration of HS and the exploitation of FA are fully exerted, so HS/FA has a faster convergence speed than HS and FA. Also, top fireflies scheme is introduced to reduce running time, and HS is utilized to mutate between fireflies when updating fireflies. The HS/FA method is verified by various benchmarks. From the experiments, the implementation of HS/FA is better than the standard FA and other eight optimization methods. PMID:24348137

Adaptive convergence nonuniformity correction algorithm.

PubMed

Qian, Weixian; Chen, Qian; Bai, Junqi; Gu, Guohua

2011-01-01

Nowadays, convergence and ghosting artifacts are common problems in scene-based nonuniformity correction (NUC) algorithms. In this study, we introduce the idea of space frequency to the scene-based NUC. Then the convergence speed factor is presented, which can adaptively change the convergence speed by a change of the scene dynamic range. In fact, the convergence speed factor role is to decrease the statistical data standard deviation. The nonuniformity space relativity characteristic was summarized by plenty of experimental statistical data. The space relativity characteristic was used to correct the convergence speed factor, which can make it more stable. Finally, real and simulated infrared image sequences were applied to demonstrate the positive effect of our algorithm.

Algorithms for accelerated convergence of adaptive PCA.

PubMed

Chatterjee, C; Kang, Z; Roychowdhury, V P

2000-01-01

We derive and discuss new adaptive algorithms for principal component analysis (PCA) that are shown to converge faster than the traditional PCA algorithms due to Oja, Sanger, and Xu. It is well known that traditional PCA algorithms that are derived by using gradient descent on an objective function are slow to converge. Furthermore, the convergence of these algorithms depends on appropriate choices of the gain sequences. Since online applications demand faster convergence and an automatic selection of gains, we present new adaptive algorithms to solve these problems. We first present an unconstrained objective function, which can be minimized to obtain the principal components. We derive adaptive algorithms from this objective function by using: 1) gradient descent; 2) steepest descent; 3) conjugate direction; and 4) Newton-Raphson methods. Although gradient descent produces Xu's LMSER algorithm, the steepest descent, conjugate direction, and Newton-Raphson methods produce new adaptive algorithms for PCA. We also provide a discussion on the landscape of the objective function, and present a global convergence proof of the adaptive gradient descent PCA algorithm using stochastic approximation theory. Extensive experiments with stationary and nonstationary multidimensional Gaussian sequences show faster convergence of the new algorithms over the traditional gradient descent methods.We also compare the steepest descent adaptive algorithm with state-of-the-art methods on stationary and nonstationary sequences.

Implicit flux-split schemes for the Euler equations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Thomas, J. L.; Walters, R. W.; Van Leer, B.

1985-01-01

Recent progress in the development of implicit algorithms for the Euler equations using the flux-vector splitting method is described. Comparisons of the relative efficiency of relaxation and spatially-split approximately factored methods on a vector processor for two-dimensional flows are made. For transonic flows, the higher convergence rate per iteration of the Gauss-Seidel relaxation algorithms, which are only partially vectorizable, is amply compensated for by the faster computational rate per iteration of the approximately factored algorithm. For supersonic flows, the fully-upwind line-relaxation method is more efficient since the numerical domain of dependence is more closely matched to the physical domain of dependence. A hybrid three-dimensional algorithm using relaxation in one coordinate direction and approximate factorization in the cross-flow plane is developed and applied to a forebody shape at supersonic speeds and a swept, tapered wing at transonic speeds.

HSTLBO: A hybrid algorithm based on Harmony Search and Teaching-Learning-Based Optimization for complex high-dimensional optimization problems

PubMed Central

Tuo, Shouheng; Yong, Longquan; Deng, Fang’an; Li, Yanhai; Lin, Yong; Lu, Qiuju

2017-01-01

Harmony Search (HS) and Teaching-Learning-Based Optimization (TLBO) as new swarm intelligent optimization algorithms have received much attention in recent years. Both of them have shown outstanding performance for solving NP-Hard optimization problems. However, they also suffer dramatic performance degradation for some complex high-dimensional optimization problems. Through a lot of experiments, we find that the HS and TLBO have strong complementarity each other. The HS has strong global exploration power but low convergence speed. Reversely, the TLBO has much fast convergence speed but it is easily trapped into local search. In this work, we propose a hybrid search algorithm named HSTLBO that merges the two algorithms together for synergistically solving complex optimization problems using a self-adaptive selection strategy. In the HSTLBO, both HS and TLBO are modified with the aim of balancing the global exploration and exploitation abilities, where the HS aims mainly to explore the unknown regions and the TLBO aims to rapidly exploit high-precision solutions in the known regions. Our experimental results demonstrate better performance and faster speed than five state-of-the-art HS variants and show better exploration power than five good TLBO variants with similar run time, which illustrates that our method is promising in solving complex high-dimensional optimization problems. The experiment on portfolio optimization problems also demonstrate that the HSTLBO is effective in solving complex read-world application. PMID:28403224

HSTLBO: A hybrid algorithm based on Harmony Search and Teaching-Learning-Based Optimization for complex high-dimensional optimization problems.

PubMed

Tuo, Shouheng; Yong, Longquan; Deng, Fang'an; Li, Yanhai; Lin, Yong; Lu, Qiuju

2017-01-01

Harmony Search (HS) and Teaching-Learning-Based Optimization (TLBO) as new swarm intelligent optimization algorithms have received much attention in recent years. Both of them have shown outstanding performance for solving NP-Hard optimization problems. However, they also suffer dramatic performance degradation for some complex high-dimensional optimization problems. Through a lot of experiments, we find that the HS and TLBO have strong complementarity each other. The HS has strong global exploration power but low convergence speed. Reversely, the TLBO has much fast convergence speed but it is easily trapped into local search. In this work, we propose a hybrid search algorithm named HSTLBO that merges the two algorithms together for synergistically solving complex optimization problems using a self-adaptive selection strategy. In the HSTLBO, both HS and TLBO are modified with the aim of balancing the global exploration and exploitation abilities, where the HS aims mainly to explore the unknown regions and the TLBO aims to rapidly exploit high-precision solutions in the known regions. Our experimental results demonstrate better performance and faster speed than five state-of-the-art HS variants and show better exploration power than five good TLBO variants with similar run time, which illustrates that our method is promising in solving complex high-dimensional optimization problems. The experiment on portfolio optimization problems also demonstrate that the HSTLBO is effective in solving complex read-world application.

Reconstruction of fluorescence molecular tomography with a cosinoidal level set method.

PubMed

Zhang, Xuanxuan; Cao, Xu; Zhu, Shouping

2017-06-27

Implicit shape-based reconstruction method in fluorescence molecular tomography (FMT) is capable of achieving higher image clarity than image-based reconstruction method. However, the implicit shape method suffers from a low convergence speed and performs unstably due to the utilization of gradient-based optimization methods. Moreover, the implicit shape method requires priori information about the number of targets. A shape-based reconstruction scheme of FMT with a cosinoidal level set method is proposed in this paper. The Heaviside function in the classical implicit shape method is replaced with a cosine function, and then the reconstruction can be accomplished with the Levenberg-Marquardt method rather than gradient-based methods. As a result, the priori information about the number of targets is not required anymore and the choice of step length is avoided. Numerical simulations and phantom experiments were carried out to validate the proposed method. Results of the proposed method show higher contrast to noise ratios and Pearson correlations than the implicit shape method and image-based reconstruction method. Moreover, the number of iterations required in the proposed method is much less than the implicit shape method. The proposed method performs more stably, provides a faster convergence speed than the implicit shape method, and achieves higher image clarity than the image-based reconstruction method.

Acceleration of Monte Carlo SPECT simulation using convolution-based forced detection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

de Jong, H. W. A. M.; Slijpen, E. T. P.; Beekman, F. J.

2001-02-01

Monte Carlo (MC) simulation is an established tool to calculate photon transport through tissue in Emission Computed Tomography (ECT). Since the first appearance of MC a large variety of variance reduction techniques (VRT) have been introduced to speed up these notoriously slow simulations. One example of a very effective and established VRT is known as forced detection (FD). In standard FD the path from the photon's scatter position to the camera is chosen stochastically from the appropriate probability density function (PDF), modeling the distance-dependent detector response. In order to speed up MC the authors propose a convolution-based FD (CFD) which involves replacing the sampling of the PDF by a convolution with a kernel which depends on the position of the scatter event. The authors validated CFD for parallel-hole Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT) using a digital thorax phantom. Comparison of projections estimated with CFD and standard FD shows that both estimates converge to practically identical projections (maximum bias 0.9% of peak projection value), despite the slightly different photon paths used in CFD and standard FD. Projections generated with CFD converge, however, to a noise-free projection up to one or two orders of magnitude faster, which is extremely useful in many applications such as model-based image reconstruction.

Designing a multistage supply chain in cross-stage reverse logistics environments: application of particle swarm optimization algorithms.

PubMed

Chiang, Tzu-An; Che, Z H; Cui, Zhihua

2014-01-01

This study designed a cross-stage reverse logistics course for defective products so that damaged products generated in downstream partners can be directly returned to upstream partners throughout the stages of a supply chain for rework and maintenance. To solve this reverse supply chain design problem, an optimal cross-stage reverse logistics mathematical model was developed. In addition, we developed a genetic algorithm (GA) and three particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithms: the inertia weight method (PSOA_IWM), V(Max) method (PSOA_VMM), and constriction factor method (PSOA_CFM), which we employed to find solutions to support this mathematical model. Finally, a real case and five simulative cases with different scopes were used to compare the execution times, convergence times, and objective function values of the four algorithms used to validate the model proposed in this study. Regarding system execution time, the GA consumed more time than the other three PSOs did. Regarding objective function value, the GA, PSOA_IWM, and PSOA_CFM could obtain a lower convergence value than PSOA_VMM could. Finally, PSOA_IWM demonstrated a faster convergence speed than PSOA_VMM, PSOA_CFM, and the GA did.

Designing a Multistage Supply Chain in Cross-Stage Reverse Logistics Environments: Application of Particle Swarm Optimization Algorithms

PubMed Central

Chiang, Tzu-An; Che, Z. H.

2014-01-01

This study designed a cross-stage reverse logistics course for defective products so that damaged products generated in downstream partners can be directly returned to upstream partners throughout the stages of a supply chain for rework and maintenance. To solve this reverse supply chain design problem, an optimal cross-stage reverse logistics mathematical model was developed. In addition, we developed a genetic algorithm (GA) and three particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithms: the inertia weight method (PSOA_IWM), V Max method (PSOA_VMM), and constriction factor method (PSOA_CFM), which we employed to find solutions to support this mathematical model. Finally, a real case and five simulative cases with different scopes were used to compare the execution times, convergence times, and objective function values of the four algorithms used to validate the model proposed in this study. Regarding system execution time, the GA consumed more time than the other three PSOs did. Regarding objective function value, the GA, PSOA_IWM, and PSOA_CFM could obtain a lower convergence value than PSOA_VMM could. Finally, PSOA_IWM demonstrated a faster convergence speed than PSOA_VMM, PSOA_CFM, and the GA did. PMID:24772026

Variable input observer for structural health monitoring of high-rate systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hong, Jonathan; Laflamme, Simon; Cao, Liang; Dodson, Jacob

2017-02-01

The development of high-rate structural health monitoring methods is intended to provide damage detection on timescales of 10 µs -10ms where speed of detection is critical to maintain structural integrity. Here, a novel Variable Input Observer (VIO) coupled with an adaptive observer is proposed as a potential solution for complex high-rate problems. The VIO is designed to adapt its input space based on real-time identification of the system's essential dynamics. By selecting appropriate time-delayed coordinates defined by both a time delay and an embedding dimension, the proper input space is chosen which allows more accurate estimations of the current state and a reduction of the convergence rate. The optimal time-delay is estimated based on mutual information, and the embedding dimension is based on false nearest neighbors. A simulation of the VIO is conducted on a two degree-of-freedom system with simulated damage. Results are compared with an adaptive Luenberger observer, a fixed time-delay observer, and a Kalman Filter. Under its preliminary design, the VIO converges significantly faster than the Luenberger and fixed observer. It performed similarly to the Kalman Filter in terms of convergence, but with greater accuracy.

[Preliminary application of an improved Demons deformable registration algorithm in tumor radiotherapy].

PubMed

Zhou, Lu; Zhen, Xin; Lu, Wenting; Dou, Jianhong; Zhou, Linghong

2012-01-01

To validate the efficiency of an improved Demons deformable registration algorithm and evaluate its application in registration of the treatment image and the planning image in image-guided radiotherapy (IGRT). Based on Brox's gradient constancy assumption and Malis's efficient second-order minimization algorithm, a grey value gradient similarity term was added into the original energy function, and a formula was derived to calculate the update of transformation field. The limited Broyden-Fletcher-Goldfarb-Shanno (L-BFGS) algorithm was used to optimize the energy function for automatic determination of the iteration number. The proposed algorithm was validated using mathematically deformed images, physically deformed phantom images and clinical tumor images. Compared with the original Additive Demons algorithm, the improved Demons algorithm achieved a higher precision and a faster convergence speed. Due to the influence of different scanning conditions in fractionated radiation, the density range of the treatment image and the planning image may be different. The improved Demons algorithm can achieve faster and more accurate radiotherapy.

TH-E-17A-06: Anatomical-Adaptive Compressed Sensing (AACS) Reconstruction for Thoracic 4-Dimensional Cone-Beam CT

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Shieh, C; Kipritidis, J; OBrien, R

2014-06-15

Purpose: The Feldkamp-Davis-Kress (FDK) algorithm currently used for clinical thoracic 4-dimensional (4D) cone-beam CT (CBCT) reconstruction suffers from noise and streaking artifacts due to projection under-sampling. Compressed sensing theory enables reconstruction of under-sampled datasets via total-variation (TV) minimization, but TV-minimization algorithms such as adaptive-steepest-descent-projection-onto-convex-sets (ASD-POCS) often converge slowly and are prone to over-smoothing anatomical details. These disadvantages can be overcome by incorporating general anatomical knowledge via anatomy segmentation. Based on this concept, we have developed an anatomical-adaptive compressed sensing (AACS) algorithm for thoracic 4D-CBCT reconstruction. Methods: AACS is based on the ASD-POCS framework, where each iteration consists of a TV-minimizationmore » step and a data fidelity constraint step. Prior to every AACS iteration, four major thoracic anatomical structures - soft tissue, lungs, bony anatomy, and pulmonary details - were segmented from the updated solution image. Based on the segmentation, an anatomical-adaptive weighting was applied to the TV-minimization step, so that TV-minimization was enhanced at noisy/streaky regions and suppressed at anatomical structures of interest. The image quality and convergence speed of AACS was compared to conventional ASD-POCS using an XCAT digital phantom and a patient scan. Results: For the XCAT phantom, the AACS image represented the ground truth better than the ASD-POCS image, giving a higher structural similarity index (0.93 vs. 0.84) and lower absolute difference (1.1*10{sup 4} vs. 1.4*10{sup 4}). For the patient case, while both algorithms resulted in much less noise and streaking than FDK, the AACS image showed considerably better contrast and sharpness of the vessels, tumor, and fiducial marker than the ASD-POCS image. In addition, AACS converged over 50% faster than ASD-POCS in both cases. Conclusions: The proposed AACS algorithm was shown to reconstruct thoracic 4D-CBCT images more accurately and with faster convergence compared to ASD-POCS. The superior image quality and rapid convergence makes AACS promising for future clinical use.« less

Analysis and optimisation of the convergence behaviour of the single channel digital tanlock loop

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Al-Kharji Al-Ali, Omar; Anani, Nader; Al-Araji, Saleh; Al-Qutayri, Mahmoud

2013-09-01

The mathematical analysis of the convergence behaviour of the first-order single channel digital tanlock loop (SC-DTL) is presented. This article also describes a novel technique that allows controlling the convergence speed of the loop, i.e. the time taken by the phase-error to reach its steady-state value, by using a specialised controller unit. The controller is used to adjust the convergence speed so as to selectively optimise a given performance parameter of the loop. For instance, the controller may be used to speed up the convergence in order to increase the lock range and improve the acquisition speed. However, since increasing the lock range can degrade the noise immunity of the system, in a noisy environment the controller can slow down the convergence speed until locking is achieved. Once the system is in lock, the convergence speed can be increased to improve the acquisition speed. The performance of the SC-DTL system was assessed against similar arctan-based loops and the results demonstrate the success of the controller in optimising the performance of the SC-DTL loop. The results of the system testing using MATLAB/Simulink simulation are presented. A prototype of the proposed system was implemented using a field programmable gate array module and the practical results are in good agreement with those obtained by simulation.

A robust nonlinear position observer for synchronous motors with relaxed excitation conditions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bobtsov, Alexey; Bazylev, Dmitry; Pyrkin, Anton; Aranovskiy, Stanislav; Ortega, Romeo

2017-04-01

A robust, nonlinear and globally convergent rotor position observer for surface-mounted permanent magnet synchronous motors was recently proposed by the authors. The key feature of this observer is that it requires only the knowledge of the motor's resistance and inductance. Using some particular properties of the mathematical model it is shown that the problem of state observation can be translated into one of estimation of two constant parameters, which is carried out with a standard gradient algorithm. In this work, we propose to replace this estimator with a new one called dynamic regressor extension and mixing, which has the following advantages with respect to gradient estimators: (1) the stringent persistence of excitation (PE) condition of the regressor is not necessary to ensure parameter convergence; (2) the latter is guaranteed requiring instead a non-square-integrability condition that has a clear physical meaning in terms of signal energy; (3) if the regressor is PE, the new observer (like the old one) ensures convergence is exponential, entailing some robustness properties to the observer; (4) the new estimator includes an additional filter that constitutes an additional degree of freedom to satisfy the non-square integrability condition. Realistic simulation results show significant performance improvement of the position observer using the new parameter estimator, with a less oscillatory behaviour and a faster convergence speed.

Computational Models Predict Larger Muscle Tissue Strains at Faster Sprinting Speeds

PubMed Central

Fiorentino, Niccolo M; Rehorn, Michael R; Chumanov, Elizabeth S; Thelen, Darryl G; Blemker, Silvia S

2014-01-01

Introduction: Proximal biceps femoris musculotendon strain injury has been well established as a common injury among athletes participating in sports that require sprinting near or at maximum speed; however, little is known about the mechanisms that make this muscle tissue more susceptible to injury at faster speeds. Purpose: Quantify localized tissue strain during sprinting at a range of speeds. Methods: Biceps femoris long head (BFlh) musculotendon dimensions of 14 athletes were measured on magnetic resonance (MR) images and used to generate a finite element computational model. The model was first validated through comparison with previous dynamic MR experiments. After validation, muscle activation and muscle-tendon unit length change were derived from forward dynamic simulations of sprinting at 70%, 85% and 100% maximum speed and used as input to the computational model simulations. Simulations ran from mid-swing to foot contact. Results: The model predictions of local muscle tissue strain magnitude compared favorably with in vivo tissue strain measurements determined from dynamic MR experiments of the BFlh. For simulations of sprinting, local fiber strain was non-uniform at all speeds, with the highest muscle tissue strain where injury is often observed (proximal myotendinous junction). At faster sprinting speeds, increases were observed in fiber strain non-uniformity and peak local fiber strain (0.56, 0.67 and 0.72, for sprinting at 70%, 85% and 100% maximum speed). A histogram of local fiber strains showed that more of the BFlh reached larger local fiber strains at faster speeds. Conclusions: At faster sprinting speeds, peak local fiber strain, fiber strain non-uniformity and the amount of muscle undergoing larger strains are predicted to increase, likely contributing to the BFlh muscle’s higher injury susceptibility at faster speeds. PMID:24145724

Influence of neuromuscular noise and walking speed on fall risk and dynamic stability in a 3D dynamic walking model.

PubMed

Roos, Paulien E; Dingwell, Jonathan B

2013-06-21

Older adults and those with increased fall risk tend to walk slower. They may do this voluntarily to reduce their fall risk. However, both slower and faster walking speeds can predict increased risk of different types of falls. The mechanisms that contribute to fall risk across speeds are not well known. Faster walking requires greater forward propulsion, generated by larger muscle forces. However, greater muscle activation induces increased signal-dependent neuromuscular noise. These speed-related increases in neuromuscular noise may contribute to the increased fall risk observed at faster walking speeds. Using a 3D dynamic walking model, we systematically varied walking speed without and with physiologically-appropriate neuromuscular noise. We quantified how actual fall risk changed with gait speed, how neuromuscular noise affected speed-related changes in fall risk, and how well orbital and local dynamic stability measures predicted changes in fall risk across speeds. When we included physiologically-appropriate noise to the 'push-off' force in our model, fall risk increased with increasing walking speed. Changes in kinematic variability, orbital, and local dynamic stability did not predict these speed-related changes in fall risk. Thus, the increased neuromuscular variability that results from increased signal-dependent noise that is necessitated by the greater muscular force requirements of faster walking may contribute to the increased fall risk observed at faster walking speeds. The lower fall risk observed at slower speeds supports experimental evidence that slowing down can be an effective strategy to reduce fall risk. This may help explain the slower walking speeds observed in older adults and others. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Influence of Neuromuscular Noise and Walking Speed on Fall Risk and Dynamic Stability in a 3D Dynamic Walking Model

PubMed Central

Roos, Paulien E.; Dingwell, Jonathan B.

2013-01-01

Older adults and those with increased fall risk tend to walk slower. They may do this voluntarily to reduce their fall risk. However, both slower and faster walking speeds can predict increased risk of different types of falls. The mechanisms that contribute to fall risk across speeds are not well known. Faster walking requires greater forward propulsion, generated by larger muscle forces. However, greater muscle activation induces increased signal-dependent neuromuscular noise. These speed-related increases in neuromuscular noise may contribute to the increased fall risk observed at faster walking speeds. Using a 3D dynamic walking model, we systematically varied walking speed without and with physiologically-appropriate neuromuscular noise. We quantified how actual fall risk changed with gait speed, how neuromuscular noise affected speed-related changes in fall risk, and how well orbital and local dynamic stability measures predicted changes in fall risk across speeds. When we included physiologically-appropriate noise to the ‘push-off’ force in our model, fall risk increased with increasing walking speed. Changes in kinematic variability, orbital, and local dynamic stability did not predict these speed-related changes in fall risk. Thus, the increased neuromuscular variability that results from increased signal-dependent noise that is necessitated by the greater muscular force requirements of faster walking may contribute to the increased fall risk observed at faster walking speeds. The lower fall risk observed at slower speeds supports experimental evidence that slowing down can be an effective strategy to reduce fall risk. This may help explain the slower walking speeds observed in older adults and others. PMID:23659911

Single-pass incremental force updates for adaptively restrained molecular dynamics.

PubMed

Singh, Krishna Kant; Redon, Stephane

2018-03-30

Adaptively restrained molecular dynamics (ARMD) allows users to perform more integration steps in wall-clock time by switching on and off positional degrees of freedoms. This article presents new, single-pass incremental force updates algorithms to efficiently simulate a system using ARMD. We assessed different algorithms for speedup measurements and implemented them in the LAMMPS MD package. We validated the single-pass incremental force update algorithm on four different benchmarks using diverse pair potentials. The proposed algorithm allows us to perform simulation of a system faster than traditional MD in both NVE and NVT ensembles. Moreover, ARMD using the new single-pass algorithm speeds up the convergence of observables in wall-clock time. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Statistical Symbolic Execution with Informed Sampling

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Filieri, Antonio; Pasareanu, Corina S.; Visser, Willem; Geldenhuys, Jaco

2014-01-01

Symbolic execution techniques have been proposed recently for the probabilistic analysis of programs. These techniques seek to quantify the likelihood of reaching program events of interest, e.g., assert violations. They have many promising applications but have scalability issues due to high computational demand. To address this challenge, we propose a statistical symbolic execution technique that performs Monte Carlo sampling of the symbolic program paths and uses the obtained information for Bayesian estimation and hypothesis testing with respect to the probability of reaching the target events. To speed up the convergence of the statistical analysis, we propose Informed Sampling, an iterative symbolic execution that first explores the paths that have high statistical significance, prunes them from the state space and guides the execution towards less likely paths. The technique combines Bayesian estimation with a partial exact analysis for the pruned paths leading to provably improved convergence of the statistical analysis. We have implemented statistical symbolic execution with in- formed sampling in the Symbolic PathFinder tool. We show experimentally that the informed sampling obtains more precise results and converges faster than a purely statistical analysis and may also be more efficient than an exact symbolic analysis. When the latter does not terminate symbolic execution with informed sampling can give meaningful results under the same time and memory limits.

Optimizing the learning rate for adaptive estimation of neural encoding models

PubMed Central

2018-01-01

Closed-loop neurotechnologies often need to adaptively learn an encoding model that relates the neural activity to the brain state, and is used for brain state decoding. The speed and accuracy of adaptive learning algorithms are critically affected by the learning rate, which dictates how fast model parameters are updated based on new observations. Despite the importance of the learning rate, currently an analytical approach for its selection is largely lacking and existing signal processing methods vastly tune it empirically or heuristically. Here, we develop a novel analytical calibration algorithm for optimal selection of the learning rate in adaptive Bayesian filters. We formulate the problem through a fundamental trade-off that learning rate introduces between the steady-state error and the convergence time of the estimated model parameters. We derive explicit functions that predict the effect of learning rate on error and convergence time. Using these functions, our calibration algorithm can keep the steady-state parameter error covariance smaller than a desired upper-bound while minimizing the convergence time, or keep the convergence time faster than a desired value while minimizing the error. We derive the algorithm both for discrete-valued spikes modeled as point processes nonlinearly dependent on the brain state, and for continuous-valued neural recordings modeled as Gaussian processes linearly dependent on the brain state. Using extensive closed-loop simulations, we show that the analytical solution of the calibration algorithm accurately predicts the effect of learning rate on parameter error and convergence time. Moreover, the calibration algorithm allows for fast and accurate learning of the encoding model and for fast convergence of decoding to accurate performance. Finally, larger learning rates result in inaccurate encoding models and decoders, and smaller learning rates delay their convergence. The calibration algorithm provides a novel analytical approach to predictably achieve a desired level of error and convergence time in adaptive learning, with application to closed-loop neurotechnologies and other signal processing domains. PMID:29813069

Optimizing the learning rate for adaptive estimation of neural encoding models.

PubMed

Hsieh, Han-Lin; Shanechi, Maryam M

2018-05-01

Closed-loop neurotechnologies often need to adaptively learn an encoding model that relates the neural activity to the brain state, and is used for brain state decoding. The speed and accuracy of adaptive learning algorithms are critically affected by the learning rate, which dictates how fast model parameters are updated based on new observations. Despite the importance of the learning rate, currently an analytical approach for its selection is largely lacking and existing signal processing methods vastly tune it empirically or heuristically. Here, we develop a novel analytical calibration algorithm for optimal selection of the learning rate in adaptive Bayesian filters. We formulate the problem through a fundamental trade-off that learning rate introduces between the steady-state error and the convergence time of the estimated model parameters. We derive explicit functions that predict the effect of learning rate on error and convergence time. Using these functions, our calibration algorithm can keep the steady-state parameter error covariance smaller than a desired upper-bound while minimizing the convergence time, or keep the convergence time faster than a desired value while minimizing the error. We derive the algorithm both for discrete-valued spikes modeled as point processes nonlinearly dependent on the brain state, and for continuous-valued neural recordings modeled as Gaussian processes linearly dependent on the brain state. Using extensive closed-loop simulations, we show that the analytical solution of the calibration algorithm accurately predicts the effect of learning rate on parameter error and convergence time. Moreover, the calibration algorithm allows for fast and accurate learning of the encoding model and for fast convergence of decoding to accurate performance. Finally, larger learning rates result in inaccurate encoding models and decoders, and smaller learning rates delay their convergence. The calibration algorithm provides a novel analytical approach to predictably achieve a desired level of error and convergence time in adaptive learning, with application to closed-loop neurotechnologies and other signal processing domains.

Reading Speed of Contracted French Braille

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Laroche, Louise; Boule, Jacinthe; Wittich, Walter

2012-01-01

This study was designed to address three hypotheses: (1) The reading speed of both readers of French braille and readers of French print will be faster in the silent condition; however, this gain in speed will be larger for print readers; (2) Individuals who acquired braille before age 10 will display faster reading speeds at lower error rates…

High resolution near on-axis digital holography using constrained optimization approach with faster convergence

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pandiyan, Vimal Prabhu; Khare, Kedar; John, Renu

2017-09-01

A constrained optimization approach with faster convergence is proposed to recover the complex object field from a near on-axis digital holography (DH). We subtract the DC from the hologram after recording the object beam and reference beam intensities separately. The DC-subtracted hologram is used to recover the complex object information using a constrained optimization approach with faster convergence. The recovered complex object field is back propagated to the image plane using the Fresnel back-propagation method. The results reported in this approach provide high-resolution images compared with the conventional Fourier filtering approach and is 25% faster than the previously reported constrained optimization approach due to the subtraction of two DC terms in the cost function. We report this approach in DH and digital holographic microscopy using the U.S. Air Force resolution target as the object to retrieve the high-resolution image without DC and twin image interference. We also demonstrate the high potential of this technique in transparent microelectrode patterned on indium tin oxide-coated glass, by reconstructing a high-resolution quantitative phase microscope image. We also demonstrate this technique by imaging yeast cells.

Functional effects of treadmill-based gait training at faster speeds in stroke survivors: a prospective, single-group study.

PubMed

Mohammadi, Roghayeh; Ershad, Navid; Rezayinejad, Marziyeh; Fatemi, Elham; Phadke, Chetan P

2017-09-01

To examine the functional effects of walking retraining at faster than self-selected speed (SSS). Ten individuals with chronic stroke participated in a 4-week training over a treadmill at walking speeds 40% faster than SSS, three times per week, 30 min/session. Outcome measures assessed before, after, and 2 months after the end of intervention were the Timed Up and Go, the 6-Minute Walk, the 10-Meter Walk test, the Modified Ashworth Scale, SSS, and fastest comfortable speed. After 4 weeks of training, all outcome measures showed clinically meaningful and statistically significant improvements (P<0.05) that were maintained at 2 months after the end of the training. The results showed that a strategy of training at a speed 40% faster than SSS can improve functional activity in individuals with chronic stroke, with effects lasting up to 2 months after the intervention.

Processing speed in recurrent visual networks correlates with general intelligence.

PubMed

Jolij, Jacob; Huisman, Danielle; Scholte, Steven; Hamel, Ronald; Kemner, Chantal; Lamme, Victor A F

2007-01-08

Studies on the neural basis of general fluid intelligence strongly suggest that a smarter brain processes information faster. Different brain areas, however, are interconnected by both feedforward and feedback projections. Whether both types of connections or only one of the two types are faster in smarter brains remains unclear. Here we show, by measuring visual evoked potentials during a texture discrimination task, that general fluid intelligence shows a strong correlation with processing speed in recurrent visual networks, while there is no correlation with speed of feedforward connections. The hypothesis that a smarter brain runs faster may need to be refined: a smarter brain's feedback connections run faster.

A Multistrategy Optimization Improved Artificial Bee Colony Algorithm

PubMed Central

Liu, Wen

2014-01-01

Being prone to the shortcomings of premature and slow convergence rate of artificial bee colony algorithm, an improved algorithm was proposed. Chaotic reverse learning strategies were used to initialize swarm in order to improve the global search ability of the algorithm and keep the diversity of the algorithm; the similarity degree of individuals of the population was used to characterize the diversity of population; population diversity measure was set as an indicator to dynamically and adaptively adjust the nectar position; the premature and local convergence were avoided effectively; dual population search mechanism was introduced to the search stage of algorithm; the parallel search of dual population considerably improved the convergence rate. Through simulation experiments of 10 standard testing functions and compared with other algorithms, the results showed that the improved algorithm had faster convergence rate and the capacity of jumping out of local optimum faster. PMID:24982924

Enhanced Fuel-Optimal Trajectory-Generation Algorithm for Planetary Pinpoint Landing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Acikmese, Behcet; Blackmore, James C.; Scharf, Daniel P.

2011-01-01

An enhanced algorithm is developed that builds on a previous innovation of fuel-optimal powered-descent guidance (PDG) for planetary pinpoint landing. The PDG problem is to compute constrained, fuel-optimal trajectories to land a craft at a prescribed target on a planetary surface, starting from a parachute cut-off point and using a throttleable descent engine. The previous innovation showed the minimal-fuel PDG problem can be posed as a convex optimization problem, in particular, as a Second-Order Cone Program, which can be solved to global optimality with deterministic convergence properties, and hence is a candidate for onboard implementation. To increase the speed and robustness of this convex PDG algorithm for possible onboard implementation, the following enhancements are incorporated: 1) Fast detection of infeasibility (i.e., control authority is not sufficient for soft-landing) for subsequent fault response. 2) The use of a piecewise-linear control parameterization, providing smooth solution trajectories and increasing computational efficiency. 3) An enhanced line-search algorithm for optimal time-of-flight, providing quicker convergence and bounding the number of path-planning iterations needed. 4) An additional constraint that analytically guarantees inter-sample satisfaction of glide-slope and non-sub-surface flight constraints, allowing larger discretizations and, hence, faster optimization. 5) Explicit incorporation of Mars rotation rate into the trajectory computation for improved targeting accuracy. These enhancements allow faster convergence to the fuel-optimal solution and, more importantly, remove the need for a "human-in-the-loop," as constraints will be satisfied over the entire path-planning interval independent of step-size (as opposed to just at the discrete time points) and infeasible initial conditions are immediately detected. Finally, while the PDG stage is typically only a few minutes, ignoring the rotation rate of Mars can introduce 10s of meters of error. By incorporating it, the enhanced PDG algorithm becomes capable of pinpoint targeting.

A fast iterative scheme for the linearized Boltzmann equation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Lei; Zhang, Jun; Liu, Haihu; Zhang, Yonghao; Reese, Jason M.

2017-06-01

Iterative schemes to find steady-state solutions to the Boltzmann equation are efficient for highly rarefied gas flows, but can be very slow to converge in the near-continuum flow regime. In this paper, a synthetic iterative scheme is developed to speed up the solution of the linearized Boltzmann equation by penalizing the collision operator L into the form L = (L + Nδh) - Nδh, where δ is the gas rarefaction parameter, h is the velocity distribution function, and N is a tuning parameter controlling the convergence rate. The velocity distribution function is first solved by the conventional iterative scheme, then it is corrected such that the macroscopic flow velocity is governed by a diffusion-type equation that is asymptotic-preserving into the Navier-Stokes limit. The efficiency of this new scheme is assessed by calculating the eigenvalue of the iteration, as well as solving for Poiseuille and thermal transpiration flows. We find that the fastest convergence of our synthetic scheme for the linearized Boltzmann equation is achieved when Nδ is close to the average collision frequency. The synthetic iterative scheme is significantly faster than the conventional iterative scheme in both the transition and the near-continuum gas flow regimes. Moreover, due to its asymptotic-preserving properties, the synthetic iterative scheme does not need high spatial resolution in the near-continuum flow regime, which makes it even faster than the conventional iterative scheme. Using this synthetic scheme, with the fast spectral approximation of the linearized Boltzmann collision operator, Poiseuille and thermal transpiration flows between two parallel plates, through channels of circular/rectangular cross sections and various porous media are calculated over the whole range of gas rarefaction. Finally, the flow of a Ne-Ar gas mixture is solved based on the linearized Boltzmann equation with the Lennard-Jones intermolecular potential for the first time, and the difference between these results and those using the hard-sphere potential is discussed.

Gait Parameter Adjustments for Walking on a Treadmill at Preferred, Slower, and Faster Speeds in Older Adults with Down Syndrome

PubMed Central

Smith, Beth A.; Kubo, Masayoshi; Ulrich, Beverly D.

2012-01-01

The combined effects of ligamentous laxity, hypotonia, and decrements associated with aging lead to stability-enhancing foot placement adaptations during routine overground walking at a younger age in adults with Down syndrome (DS) compared to their peers with typical development (TD). Our purpose here was to examine real-time adaptations in older adults with DS by testing their responses to walking on a treadmill at their preferred speed and at speeds slower and faster than preferred. We found that older adults with DS were able to adapt their gait to slower and faster than preferred treadmill speeds; however, they maintained their stability-enhancing foot placements at all speeds compared to their peers with TD. All adults adapted their gait patterns similarly in response to faster and slower than preferred treadmill-walking speeds. They increased stride frequency and stride length, maintained step width, and decreased percent stance as treadmill speed increased. Older adults with DS, however, adjusted their stride frequencies significantly less than their peers with TD. Our results show that older adults with DS have the capacity to adapt their gait parameters in response to different walking speeds while also supporting the need for intervention to increase gait stability. PMID:22693497

Motivational salience signal in the basal forebrain is coupled with faster and more precise decision speed.

PubMed

Avila, Irene; Lin, Shih-Chieh

2014-03-01

The survival of animals depends critically on prioritizing responses to motivationally salient stimuli. While it is generally believed that motivational salience increases decision speed, the quantitative relationship between motivational salience and decision speed, measured by reaction time (RT), remains unclear. Here we show that the neural correlate of motivational salience in the basal forebrain (BF), defined independently of RT, is coupled with faster and also more precise decision speed. In rats performing a reward-biased simple RT task, motivational salience was encoded by BF bursting response that occurred before RT. We found that faster RTs were tightly coupled with stronger BF motivational salience signals. Furthermore, the fraction of RT variability reflecting the contribution of intrinsic noise in the decision-making process was actively suppressed in faster RT distributions with stronger BF motivational salience signals. Artificially augmenting the BF motivational salience signal via electrical stimulation led to faster and more precise RTs and supports a causal relationship. Together, these results not only describe for the first time, to our knowledge, the quantitative relationship between motivational salience and faster decision speed, they also reveal the quantitative coupling relationship between motivational salience and more precise RT. Our results further establish the existence of an early and previously unrecognized step in the decision-making process that determines both the RT speed and variability of the entire decision-making process and suggest that this novel decision step is dictated largely by the BF motivational salience signal. Finally, our study raises the hypothesis that the dysregulation of decision speed in conditions such as depression, schizophrenia, and cognitive aging may result from the functional impairment of the motivational salience signal encoded by the poorly understood noncholinergic BF neurons.

Motivational Salience Signal in the Basal Forebrain Is Coupled with Faster and More Precise Decision Speed

PubMed Central

Avila, Irene; Lin, Shih-Chieh

2014-01-01

The survival of animals depends critically on prioritizing responses to motivationally salient stimuli. While it is generally believed that motivational salience increases decision speed, the quantitative relationship between motivational salience and decision speed, measured by reaction time (RT), remains unclear. Here we show that the neural correlate of motivational salience in the basal forebrain (BF), defined independently of RT, is coupled with faster and also more precise decision speed. In rats performing a reward-biased simple RT task, motivational salience was encoded by BF bursting response that occurred before RT. We found that faster RTs were tightly coupled with stronger BF motivational salience signals. Furthermore, the fraction of RT variability reflecting the contribution of intrinsic noise in the decision-making process was actively suppressed in faster RT distributions with stronger BF motivational salience signals. Artificially augmenting the BF motivational salience signal via electrical stimulation led to faster and more precise RTs and supports a causal relationship. Together, these results not only describe for the first time, to our knowledge, the quantitative relationship between motivational salience and faster decision speed, they also reveal the quantitative coupling relationship between motivational salience and more precise RT. Our results further establish the existence of an early and previously unrecognized step in the decision-making process that determines both the RT speed and variability of the entire decision-making process and suggest that this novel decision step is dictated largely by the BF motivational salience signal. Finally, our study raises the hypothesis that the dysregulation of decision speed in conditions such as depression, schizophrenia, and cognitive aging may result from the functional impairment of the motivational salience signal encoded by the poorly understood noncholinergic BF neurons. PMID:24642480

Weighted Global Artificial Bee Colony Algorithm Makes Gas Sensor Deployment Efficient

PubMed Central

Jiang, Ye; He, Ziqing; Li, Yanhai; Xu, Zhengyi; Wei, Jianming

2016-01-01

This paper proposes an improved artificial bee colony algorithm named Weighted Global ABC (WGABC) algorithm, which is designed to improve the convergence speed in the search stage of solution search equation. The new method not only considers the effect of global factors on the convergence speed in the search phase, but also provides the expression of global factor weights. Experiment on benchmark functions proved that the algorithm can improve the convergence speed greatly. We arrive at the gas diffusion concentration based on the theory of CFD and then simulate the gas diffusion model with the influence of buildings based on the algorithm. Simulation verified the effectiveness of the WGABC algorithm in improving the convergence speed in optimal deployment scheme of gas sensors. Finally, it is verified that the optimal deployment method based on WGABC algorithm can improve the monitoring efficiency of sensors greatly as compared with the conventional deployment methods. PMID:27322262

Coarse Alignment Technology on Moving base for SINS Based on the Improved Quaternion Filter Algorithm.

PubMed

Zhang, Tao; Zhu, Yongyun; Zhou, Feng; Yan, Yaxiong; Tong, Jinwu

2017-06-17

Initial alignment of the strapdown inertial navigation system (SINS) is intended to determine the initial attitude matrix in a short time with certain accuracy. The alignment accuracy of the quaternion filter algorithm is remarkable, but the convergence rate is slow. To solve this problem, this paper proposes an improved quaternion filter algorithm for faster initial alignment based on the error model of the quaternion filter algorithm. The improved quaternion filter algorithm constructs the K matrix based on the principle of optimal quaternion algorithm, and rebuilds the measurement model by containing acceleration and velocity errors to make the convergence rate faster. A doppler velocity log (DVL) provides the reference velocity for the improved quaternion filter alignment algorithm. In order to demonstrate the performance of the improved quaternion filter algorithm in the field, a turntable experiment and a vehicle test are carried out. The results of the experiments show that the convergence rate of the proposed improved quaternion filter is faster than that of the tradition quaternion filter algorithm. In addition, the improved quaternion filter algorithm also demonstrates advantages in terms of correctness, effectiveness, and practicability.

Evaluation of the effectiveness of converging chevron pavement markings.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2011-10-01

Converging chevron pavement markings have recently seen rising interest in the United States as a : means to reduce speeds at high-speed locations in a desire to improve safety performance. This report : presents an investigation into the effectivene...

Evaluating the effectiveness of converging chevron pavement markings.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2010-10-01

Converging chevron pavement markings have recently seen rising interest in the United States as a : means to reduce speeds at high-speed locations in a desire to improve safety performance. This report : presents an investigation into the effectivene...

Adaptive-gain fast super-twisting sliding mode fault tolerant control for a reusable launch vehicle in reentry phase.

PubMed

Zhang, Yao; Tang, Shengjing; Guo, Jie

2017-11-01

In this paper, a novel adaptive-gain fast super-twisting (AGFST) sliding mode attitude control synthesis is carried out for a reusable launch vehicle subject to actuator faults and unknown disturbances. According to the fast nonsingular terminal sliding mode surface (FNTSMS) and adaptive-gain fast super-twisting algorithm, an adaptive fault tolerant control law for the attitude stabilization is derived to protect against the actuator faults and unknown uncertainties. Firstly, a second-order nonlinear control-oriented model for the RLV is established by feedback linearization method. And on the basis a fast nonsingular terminal sliding mode (FNTSM) manifold is designed, which provides fast finite-time global convergence and avoids singularity problem as well as chattering phenomenon. Based on the merits of the standard super-twisting (ST) algorithm and fast reaching law with adaption, a novel adaptive-gain fast super-twisting (AGFST) algorithm is proposed for the finite-time fault tolerant attitude control problem of the RLV without any knowledge of the bounds of uncertainties and actuator faults. The important feature of the AGFST algorithm includes non-overestimating the values of the control gains and faster convergence speed than the standard ST algorithm. A formal proof of the finite-time stability of the closed-loop system is derived using the Lyapunov function technique. An estimation of the convergence time and accurate expression of convergence region are also provided. Finally, simulations are presented to illustrate the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed control scheme. Copyright © 2017 ISA. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Augmented l1 and Nuclear-Norm Models with a Globally Linearly Convergent Algorithm. Revision 1

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-10-17

nonzero and sampled from the standard Gaussian distribution (for Figure 2) or the Bernoulli distribution (for Figure 3). Both tests had the same sensing...dual variable y(k) Figure 3: Convergence of primal and dual variables of three algorithms on Bernoulli sparse x0 was the slowest. Besides the obvious...slower convergence than the final stage. Comparing the results of two tests, the convergence was faster on the Bernoulli sparse signal than the

TAIR- TRANSONIC AIRFOIL ANALYSIS COMPUTER CODE

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dougherty, F. C.

1994-01-01

The Transonic Airfoil analysis computer code, TAIR, was developed to employ a fast, fully implicit algorithm to solve the conservative full-potential equation for the steady transonic flow field about an arbitrary airfoil immersed in a subsonic free stream. The full-potential formulation is considered exact under the assumptions of irrotational, isentropic, and inviscid flow. These assumptions are valid for a wide range of practical transonic flows typical of modern aircraft cruise conditions. The primary features of TAIR include: a new fully implicit iteration scheme which is typically many times faster than classical successive line overrelaxation algorithms; a new, reliable artifical density spatial differencing scheme treating the conservative form of the full-potential equation; and a numerical mapping procedure capable of generating curvilinear, body-fitted finite-difference grids about arbitrary airfoil geometries. Three aspects emphasized during the development of the TAIR code were reliability, simplicity, and speed. The reliability of TAIR comes from two sources: the new algorithm employed and the implementation of effective convergence monitoring logic. TAIR achieves ease of use by employing a "default mode" that greatly simplifies code operation, especially by inexperienced users, and many useful options including: several airfoil-geometry input options, flexible user controls over program output, and a multiple solution capability. The speed of the TAIR code is attributed to the new algorithm and the manner in which it has been implemented. Input to the TAIR program consists of airfoil coordinates, aerodynamic and flow-field convergence parameters, and geometric and grid convergence parameters. The airfoil coordinates for many airfoil shapes can be generated in TAIR from just a few input parameters. Most of the other input parameters have default values which allow the user to run an analysis in the default mode by specifing only a few input parameters. Output from TAIR may include aerodynamic coefficients, the airfoil surface solution, convergence histories, and printer plots of Mach number and density contour maps. The TAIR program is written in FORTRAN IV for batch execution and has been implemented on a CDC 7600 computer with a central memory requirement of approximately 155K (octal) of 60 bit words. The TAIR program was developed in 1981.

Effect of travel speed on the visual control of steering toward a goal.

PubMed

Chen, Rongrong; Niehorster, Diederick C; Li, Li

2018-03-01

Previous studies have proposed that people can use visual cues such as the instantaneous direction (i.e., heading) or future path trajectory of travel specified by optic flow or target visual direction in egocentric space to steer or walk toward a goal. In the current study, we examined what visual cues people use to guide their goal-oriented locomotion and whether their reliance on such visual cues changes as travel speed increases. We presented participants with optic flow displays that simulated their self-motion toward a target at various travel speeds under two viewing conditions in which we made target egocentric direction available or unavailable for steering. We found that for both viewing conditions, participants did not steer along a curved path toward the target such that the actual and the required path curvature to reach the target would converge when approaching the target. At higher travel speeds, participants showed a faster and larger reduction in target-heading angle and more accurate and precise steady-state control of aligning their heading specified by optic flow with the target. These findings support the claim that people use heading and target egocentric direction but not path for goal-oriented locomotion control, and their reliance on heading increases at higher travel speeds. The increased reliance on heading for goal-oriented locomotion control could be due to an increased reliability in perceiving heading from optic flow as the magnitude of flow increases with travel speed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Why Can’t You Go Faster than Light?

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lincoln, Don

One of the most counterintuitive facts of our universe is that you can’t go faster than the speed of light. From this single observation arise all of the mind-bending behaviors of special relativity. But why is this so? In this in-depth video, Fermilab’s Dr. Don Lincoln explains the real reason that you can’t go faster than the speed of light. It will blow your mind.

Chaos Quantum-Behaved Cat Swarm Optimization Algorithm and Its Application in the PV MPPT

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

Cat Swarm Optimization (CSO) algorithm was put forward in 2006. Despite a faster convergence speed compared with Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm, the application of CSO is greatly limited by the drawback of “premature convergence,” that is, the possibility of trapping in local optimum when dealing with nonlinear optimization problem with a large number of local extreme values. In order to surmount the shortcomings of CSO, Chaos Quantum-behaved Cat Swarm Optimization (CQCSO) algorithm is proposed in this paper. Firstly, Quantum-behaved Cat Swarm Optimization (QCSO) algorithm improves the accuracy of the CSO algorithm, because it is easy to fall into the local optimum in the later stage. Chaos Quantum-behaved Cat Swarm Optimization (CQCSO) algorithm is proposed by introducing tent map for jumping out of local optimum in this paper. Secondly, CQCSO has been applied in the simulation of five different test functions, showing higher accuracy and less time consumption than CSO and QCSO. Finally, photovoltaic MPPT model and experimental platform are established and global maximum power point tracking control strategy is achieved by CQCSO algorithm, the effectiveness and efficiency of which have been verified by both simulation and experiment. PMID:29181020

Chaos Quantum-Behaved Cat Swarm Optimization Algorithm and Its Application in the PV MPPT.

PubMed

Nie, Xiaohua; Wang, Wei; Nie, Haoyao

2017-01-01

Cat Swarm Optimization (CSO) algorithm was put forward in 2006. Despite a faster convergence speed compared with Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm, the application of CSO is greatly limited by the drawback of "premature convergence," that is, the possibility of trapping in local optimum when dealing with nonlinear optimization problem with a large number of local extreme values. In order to surmount the shortcomings of CSO, Chaos Quantum-behaved Cat Swarm Optimization (CQCSO) algorithm is proposed in this paper. Firstly, Quantum-behaved Cat Swarm Optimization (QCSO) algorithm improves the accuracy of the CSO algorithm, because it is easy to fall into the local optimum in the later stage. Chaos Quantum-behaved Cat Swarm Optimization (CQCSO) algorithm is proposed by introducing tent map for jumping out of local optimum in this paper. Secondly, CQCSO has been applied in the simulation of five different test functions, showing higher accuracy and less time consumption than CSO and QCSO. Finally, photovoltaic MPPT model and experimental platform are established and global maximum power point tracking control strategy is achieved by CQCSO algorithm, the effectiveness and efficiency of which have been verified by both simulation and experiment.

Phase retrieval via incremental truncated amplitude flow algorithm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Quanbing; Wang, Zhifa; Wang, Linjie; Cheng, Shichao

2017-10-01

This paper considers the phase retrieval problem of recovering the unknown signal from the given quadratic measurements. A phase retrieval algorithm based on Incremental Truncated Amplitude Flow (ITAF) which combines the ITWF algorithm and the TAF algorithm is proposed. The proposed ITAF algorithm enhances the initialization by performing both of the truncation methods used in ITWF and TAF respectively, and improves the performance in the gradient stage by applying the incremental method proposed in ITWF to the loop stage of TAF. Moreover, the original sampling vector and measurements are preprocessed before initialization according to the variance of the sensing matrix. Simulation experiments verified the feasibility and validity of the proposed ITAF algorithm. The experimental results show that it can obtain higher success rate and faster convergence speed compared with other algorithms. Especially, for the noiseless random Gaussian signals, ITAF can recover any real-valued signal accurately from the magnitude measurements whose number is about 2.5 times of the signal length, which is close to the theoretic limit (about 2 times of the signal length). And it usually converges to the optimal solution within 20 iterations which is much less than the state-of-the-art algorithms.

Comparison results on preconditioned SOR-type iterative method for Z-matrices linear systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Xue-Zhong; Huang, Ting-Zhu; Fu, Ying-Ding

2007-09-01

In this paper, we present some comparison theorems on preconditioned iterative method for solving Z-matrices linear systems, Comparison results show that the rate of convergence of the Gauss-Seidel-type method is faster than the rate of convergence of the SOR-type iterative method.

An Adaptive Deghosting Method in Neural Network-Based Infrared Detectors Nonuniformity Correction

PubMed Central

Li, Yiyang; Jin, Weiqi; Zhu, Jin; Zhang, Xu; Li, Shuo

2018-01-01

The problems of the neural network-based nonuniformity correction algorithm for infrared focal plane arrays mainly concern slow convergence speed and ghosting artifacts. In general, the more stringent the inhibition of ghosting, the slower the convergence speed. The factors that affect these two problems are the estimated desired image and the learning rate. In this paper, we propose a learning rate rule that combines adaptive threshold edge detection and a temporal gate. Through the noise estimation algorithm, the adaptive spatial threshold is related to the residual nonuniformity noise in the corrected image. The proposed learning rate is used to effectively and stably suppress ghosting artifacts without slowing down the convergence speed. The performance of the proposed technique was thoroughly studied with infrared image sequences with both simulated nonuniformity and real nonuniformity. The results show that the deghosting performance of the proposed method is superior to that of other neural network-based nonuniformity correction algorithms and that the convergence speed is equivalent to the tested deghosting methods. PMID:29342857

An Adaptive Deghosting Method in Neural Network-Based Infrared Detectors Nonuniformity Correction.

PubMed

Li, Yiyang; Jin, Weiqi; Zhu, Jin; Zhang, Xu; Li, Shuo

2018-01-13

The problems of the neural network-based nonuniformity correction algorithm for infrared focal plane arrays mainly concern slow convergence speed and ghosting artifacts. In general, the more stringent the inhibition of ghosting, the slower the convergence speed. The factors that affect these two problems are the estimated desired image and the learning rate. In this paper, we propose a learning rate rule that combines adaptive threshold edge detection and a temporal gate. Through the noise estimation algorithm, the adaptive spatial threshold is related to the residual nonuniformity noise in the corrected image. The proposed learning rate is used to effectively and stably suppress ghosting artifacts without slowing down the convergence speed. The performance of the proposed technique was thoroughly studied with infrared image sequences with both simulated nonuniformity and real nonuniformity. The results show that the deghosting performance of the proposed method is superior to that of other neural network-based nonuniformity correction algorithms and that the convergence speed is equivalent to the tested deghosting methods.

Cherenkov radiation of superluminal particles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rohrlich, Daniel; Aharonov, Yakir

2002-10-01

Any charged particle moving faster than light through a medium emits Cherenkov radiation. We show that charged particles moving faster than light through the vacuum emit Cherenkov radiation. How can a particle move faster than light? The weak speed of a charged particle can exceed the speed of light. By definition, the weak velocity w is <Ψfin|v|Ψin>/<Ψfin|Ψin>, where v is the velocity operator and |Ψin> and |Ψfin> are, respectively, the states of a particle before and after a velocity measurement. We discuss the consistency of weak values and show that superluminal weak speed is consistent with relativistic causality.

Simultaneous measurement of bacterial flagellar rotation rate and swimming speed.

PubMed Central

Magariyama, Y; Sugiyama, S; Muramoto, K; Kawagishi, I; Imae, Y; Kudo, S

1995-01-01

Swimming speeds and flagellar rotation rates of individual free-swimming Vibrio alginolyticus cells were measured simultaneously by laser dark-field microscopy at 25, 30, and 35 degrees C. A roughly linear relation between swimming speed and flagellar rotation rate was observed. The ratio of swimming speed to flagellar rotation rate was 0.113 microns, which indicated that a cell progressed by 7% of pitch of flagellar helix during one flagellar rotation. At each temperature, however, swimming speed had a tendency to saturate at high flagellar rotation rate. That is, the cell with a faster-rotating flagellum did not always swim faster. To analyze the bacterial motion, we proposed a model in which the torque characteristics of the flagellar motor were considered. The model could be analytically solved, and it qualitatively explained the experimental results. The discrepancy between the experimental and the calculated ratios of swimming speed to flagellar rotation rate was about 20%. The apparent saturation in swimming speed was considered to be caused by shorter flagella that rotated faster but produced less propelling force. Images FIGURE 1 FIGURE 4 PMID:8580359

Energetics and biomechanics of locomotion by red kangaroos (Macropus rufus).

PubMed

Kram, R; Dawson, T J

1998-05-01

As red kangaroos hop faster over level ground, their rate of oxygen consumption (indicating metabolic energy consumption) remains nearly the same. This phenomenon has been attributed to exceptional elastic energy storage and recovery via long compliant tendons in the legs. Alternatively, red kangaroos may have exceptionally efficient muscles. To estimate efficiency, we measured the metabolic cost of uphill hopping, where muscle fibers must perform mechanical work against gravity. We found that uphill hopping was much more expensive than level hopping. The maximal rate of oxygen consumption measured (3 ml O2 kg-1 s-1) exceeds all but a few vertebrate species. However, efficiency values were normal, approximately 30%. At faster level hopping speeds the effective mechanical advantage of the extensor muscles of the ankle joint remained the same. Thus, kangaroos generate the same muscular force at all speeds but do so more rapidly at faster hopping speeds. This contradicts a recent hypothesis for what sets the cost of locomotion. The cost of transport (J kg-1 m-1) decreases at faster hopping speeds, yet red kangaroos prefer to use relatively slow speeds that avoid high levels of tendon stress.

Distributed Sensing and Processing: A Graphical Model Approach

DTIC Science & Technology

2005-11-30

that Ramanujan graph toplogies maximize the convergence rate of distributed detection consensus algorithms, improving over three orders of...small world type network designs. 14. SUBJECT TERMS Ramanujan graphs, sensor network topology, sensor network...that Ramanujan graphs, for which there are explicit algebraic constructions, have large eigenratios, converging much faster than structured graphs

Why Can’t You Go Faster than Light?

ScienceCinema

Lincoln, Don

2018-01-16

One of the most counterintuitive facts of our universe is that you can’t go faster than the speed of light. From this single observation arise all of the mind-bending behaviors of special relativity. But why is this so? In this in-depth video, Fermilab’s Dr. Don Lincoln explains the real reason that you can’t go faster than the speed of light. It will blow your mind.

Fast alternating projection methods for constrained tomographic reconstruction

PubMed Central

Liu, Li; Han, Yongxin

2017-01-01

The alternating projection algorithms are easy to implement and effective for large-scale complex optimization problems, such as constrained reconstruction of X-ray computed tomography (CT). A typical method is to use projection onto convex sets (POCS) for data fidelity, nonnegative constraints combined with total variation (TV) minimization (so called TV-POCS) for sparse-view CT reconstruction. However, this type of method relies on empirically selected parameters for satisfactory reconstruction and is generally slow and lack of convergence analysis. In this work, we use a convex feasibility set approach to address the problems associated with TV-POCS and propose a framework using full sequential alternating projections or POCS (FS-POCS) to find the solution in the intersection of convex constraints of bounded TV function, bounded data fidelity error and non-negativity. The rationale behind FS-POCS is that the mathematically optimal solution of the constrained objective function may not be the physically optimal solution. The breakdown of constrained reconstruction into an intersection of several feasible sets can lead to faster convergence and better quantification of reconstruction parameters in a physical meaningful way than that in an empirical way of trial-and-error. In addition, for large-scale optimization problems, first order methods are usually used. Not only is the condition for convergence of gradient-based methods derived, but also a primal-dual hybrid gradient (PDHG) method is used for fast convergence of bounded TV. The newly proposed FS-POCS is evaluated and compared with TV-POCS and another convex feasibility projection method (CPTV) using both digital phantom and pseudo-real CT data to show its superior performance on reconstruction speed, image quality and quantification. PMID:28253298

Conceptual Feasibility Study of the Hyperloop Vehicle for Next-Generation Transport

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Decker, Kenneth; Chin, Jeffrey; Peng, Andi; Summers, Colin; Nguyen, Golda; Oberlander, Andrew; Sakib, Gazi; Sharifrazi, Nariman; Heath, Christopher; Gray, Justin S.;

Homophily and the speed of social mobilization: the effect of acquired and ascribed traits.

PubMed

Alstott, Jeff; Madnick, Stuart; Velu, Chander

2014-01-01

Large-scale mobilization of individuals across social networks is becoming increasingly prevalent in society. However, little is known about what affects the speed of social mobilization. Here we use a framed field experiment to identify and measure properties of individuals and their relationships that predict mobilization speed. We ran a global social mobilization contest and recorded personal traits of the participants and those they recruited. We studied the effects of ascribed traits (gender, age) and acquired traits (geography, and information source) on the speed of mobilization. We found that homophily, a preference for interacting with other individuals with similar traits, had a mixed role in social mobilization. Homophily was present for acquired traits, in which mobilization speed was faster when the recuiter and recruit had the same trait compared to different traits. In contrast, we did not find support for homophily for the ascribed traits. Instead, those traits had other, non-homophily effects: Females mobilized other females faster than males mobilized other males. Younger recruiters mobilized others faster, and older recruits mobilized slower. Recruits also mobilized faster when they first heard about the contest directly from the contest organization, and decreased in speed when hearing from less personal source types (e.g. family vs. media). These findings show that social mobilization includes dynamics that are unlike other, more passive forms of social activity propagation. These findings suggest relevant factors for engineering social mobilization tasks for increased speed.

Smooth Approximation l 0-Norm Constrained Affine Projection Algorithm and Its Applications in Sparse Channel Estimation

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

We propose a smooth approximation l 0-norm constrained affine projection algorithm (SL0-APA) to improve the convergence speed and the steady-state error of affine projection algorithm (APA) for sparse channel estimation. The proposed algorithm ensures improved performance in terms of the convergence speed and the steady-state error via the combination of a smooth approximation l 0-norm (SL0) penalty on the coefficients into the standard APA cost function, which gives rise to a zero attractor that promotes the sparsity of the channel taps in the channel estimation and hence accelerates the convergence speed and reduces the steady-state error when the channel is sparse. The simulation results demonstrate that our proposed SL0-APA is superior to the standard APA and its sparsity-aware algorithms in terms of both the convergence speed and the steady-state behavior in a designated sparse channel. Furthermore, SL0-APA is shown to have smaller steady-state error than the previously proposed sparsity-aware algorithms when the number of nonzero taps in the sparse channel increases. PMID:24790588

An annular superposition integral for axisymmetric radiators.

PubMed

Kelly, James F; McGough, Robert J

2007-02-01

A fast integral expression for computing the nearfield pressure is derived for axisymmetric radiators. This method replaces the sum of contributions from concentric annuli with an exact double integral that converges much faster than methods that evaluate the Rayleigh-Sommerfeld integral or the generalized King integral. Expressions are derived for plane circular pistons using both continuous wave and pulsed excitations. Several commonly used apodization schemes for the surface velocity distribution are considered, including polynomial functions and a "smooth piston" function. The effect of different apodization functions on the spectral content of the wave field is explored. Quantitative error and time comparisons between the new method, the Rayleigh-Sommerfeld integral, and the generalized King integral are discussed. At all error levels considered, the annular superposition method achieves a speed-up of at least a factor of 4 relative to the point-source method and a factor of 3 relative to the generalized King integral without increasing the computational complexity.

Machine Learning Toolkit for Extreme Scale

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

2014-03-31

Support Vector Machines (SVM) is a popular machine learning technique, which has been applied to a wide range of domains such as science, finance, and social networks for supervised learning. MaTEx undertakes the challenge of designing a scalable parallel SVM training algorithm for large scale systems, which includes commodity multi-core machines, tightly connected supercomputers and cloud computing systems. Several techniques are proposed for improved speed and memory space usage including adaptive and aggressive elimination of samples for faster convergence , and sparse format representation of data samples. Several heuristics for earliest possible to lazy elimination of non-contributing samples are consideredmore » in MaTEx. In many cases, where an early sample elimination might result in a false positive, low overhead mechanisms for reconstruction of key data structures are proposed. The proposed algorithm and heuristics are implemented and evaluated on various publicly available datasets« less

Movement amplitude and tempo change in piano performance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Palmer, Caroline

2004-05-01

Music performance places stringent temporal and cognitive demands on individuals that should yield large speed/accuracy tradeoffs. Skilled piano performance, however, shows consistently high accuracy across a wide variety of rates. Movement amplitude may affect the speed/accuracy tradeoff, so that high accuracy can be obtained even at very fast tempi. The contribution of movement amplitude changes in rate (tempo) is investigated with motion capture. Cameras recorded pianists with passive markers on hands and fingers, who performed on an electronic (MIDI) keyboard. Pianists performed short melodies at faster and faster tempi until they made errors (altering the speed/accuracy function). Variability of finger movements in the three motion planes indicated most change in the plane perpendicular to the keyboard across tempi. Surprisingly, peak amplitudes of motion before striking the keys increased as tempo increased. Increased movement amplitudes at faster rates may reduce or compensate for speed/accuracy tradeoffs. [Work supported by Canada Research Chairs program, HIMH R01 45764.

Identifying Interacting Genetic Variations by Fish-Swarm Logic Regression

PubMed Central

Yang, Aiyuan; Yan, Chunxia; Zhu, Feng; Zhao, Zhongmeng; Cao, Zhi

2013-01-01

Understanding associations between genotypes and complex traits is a fundamental problem in human genetics. A major open problem in mapping phenotypes is that of identifying a set of interacting genetic variants, which might contribute to complex traits. Logic regression (LR) is a powerful multivariant association tool. Several LR-based approaches have been successfully applied to different datasets. However, these approaches are not adequate with regard to accuracy and efficiency. In this paper, we propose a new LR-based approach, called fish-swarm logic regression (FSLR), which improves the logic regression process by incorporating swarm optimization. In our approach, a school of fish agents are conducted in parallel. Each fish agent holds a regression model, while the school searches for better models through various preset behaviors. A swarm algorithm improves the accuracy and the efficiency by speeding up the convergence and preventing it from dropping into local optimums. We apply our approach on a real screening dataset and a series of simulation scenarios. Compared to three existing LR-based approaches, our approach outperforms them by having lower type I and type II error rates, being able to identify more preset causal sites, and performing at faster speeds. PMID:23984382

Validity of Research-Grade Actigraphy Unit for Measuring Exercise Intensity

PubMed Central

Han, Ke-Tsung; Wang, Po-Ching

2017-01-01

This study was conducted in a free-living setting to investigate the measurement validity of a research-based actigraph for strolling and jogging, and to provide a reference for actual practice and research. Because inadequate physical activity (PA) or sedentary lifestyle has become the fourth leading risk factor for mortality worldwide, many countries have been vigorously promoting the concept of “active living”, and the public has been investing greater effort into intensifying their PA. Although research-grade actigraphs have been widely applied to evaluate PA in routine environments, the measurement results may not accurately reflect the wearers’ PA. Unlike most relevant research, which is conducted in well-controlled laboratory environments, the present study was implemented in the field to examine the sensitivity and convergent validity of the MicroMini Motionlogger® Actigraph during strolling and jogging. The following results were revealed: (1) Although the exercise movement speed while jogging was significantly faster than that while strolling, the actigraph readings showed no significant difference between strolling and jogging; (2) The actigraph readings were (significantly or nonsignificantly) negatively correlated with metabolic heat and nonsignificantly correlated with movement speeds. Hence, the actigraph validity for measuring PA intensity while strolling and jogging remains debatable. PMID:28489046

Relativistic kinematics for motion faster than light

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jones, R. T.

1982-01-01

The use of conformal coordinates in relativistic kinematics is illustrated and a simple extension of the theory of motions faster than light is provided. An object traveling at a speed greater than light discloses its presence by appearing suddenly at a point, splitting into two apparent objects which then recede from each other at sublight velocities. According to the present theory motion at speeds faster than light would not benefit a space traveler, since the twin paradox becomes inverted at such speeds. In Einstein's theory travel at the velocity of light in an intertial system is equivalent to infinite velocity for the traveler. In the present theory the converse is also true; travel at infinite velocity is equivalent to the velocity of light for the traveler.

Analysis of United States’ Broadband Policy

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-03-01

compared with the minimum speed the FCC uses in its definition of broadband access. For example, using a 56K modem connection to download a 10...transmission rates multiple times faster than a 56K modem , users can view video or download software and other data-intensive files in a matter of seconds...boast download speeds from 144Kbps (roughly three times faster than a 56K dial-up modem connection) to 2.4Mbps (close to cable- modem speed). Although

A Variable Step-Size Proportionate Affine Projection Algorithm for Identification of Sparse Impulse Response

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Ligang; Fukumoto, Masahiro; Saiki, Sachio; Zhang, Shiyong

2009-12-01

Proportionate adaptive algorithms have been proposed recently to accelerate convergence for the identification of sparse impulse response. When the excitation signal is colored, especially the speech, the convergence performance of proportionate NLMS algorithms demonstrate slow convergence speed. The proportionate affine projection algorithm (PAPA) is expected to solve this problem by using more information in the input signals. However, its steady-state performance is limited by the constant step-size parameter. In this article we propose a variable step-size PAPA by canceling the a posteriori estimation error. This can result in high convergence speed using a large step size when the identification error is large, and can then considerably decrease the steady-state misalignment using a small step size after the adaptive filter has converged. Simulation results show that the proposed approach can greatly improve the steady-state misalignment without sacrificing the fast convergence of PAPA.

Increasing Navigation Speed at Endoluminal CT Colonography Reduces Colonic Visualization and Polyp Identification.

PubMed

Plumb, Andrew A; Phillips, Peter; Spence, Graeme; Mallett, Susan; Taylor, Stuart A; Halligan, Steve; Fanshawe, Thomas

2017-08-01

Purpose To investigate the effect of increasing navigation speed on the visual search and decision making during polyp identification for computed tomography (CT) colonography Materials and Methods Institutional review board permission was obtained to use deidentified CT colonography data for this prospective reader study. After obtaining informed consent from the readers, 12 CT colonography fly-through examinations that depicted eight polyps were presented at four different fixed navigation speeds to 23 radiologists. Speeds ranged from 1 cm/sec to 4.5 cm/sec. Gaze position was tracked by using an infrared eye tracker, and readers indicated that they saw a polyp by clicking a mouse. Patterns of searching and decision making by speed were investigated graphically and by multilevel modeling. Results Readers identified polyps correctly in 56 of 77 (72.7%) of viewings at the slowest speed but in only 137 of 225 (60.9%) of viewings at the fastest speed (P = .004). They also identified fewer false-positive features at faster speeds (42 of 115; 36.5%) of videos at slowest speed, 89 of 345 (25.8%) at fastest, P = .02). Gaze location was highly concentrated toward the central quarter of the screen area at faster speeds (mean gaze points at slowest speed vs fastest speed, 86% vs 97%, respectively). Conclusion Faster navigation speed at endoluminal CT colonography led to progressive restriction of visual search patterns. Greater speed also reduced both true-positive and false-positive colorectal polyp identification. © RSNA, 2017 Online supplemental material is available for this article.

Intelligent Space Tube Optimization for speeding ground water remedial design.

PubMed

Kalwij, Ineke M; Peralta, Richard C

2008-01-01

An innovative Intelligent Space Tube Optimization (ISTO) two-stage approach facilitates solving complex nonlinear flow and contaminant transport management problems. It reduces computational effort of designing optimal ground water remediation systems and strategies for an assumed set of wells. ISTO's stage 1 defines an adaptive mobile space tube that lengthens toward the optimal solution. The space tube has overlapping multidimensional subspaces. Stage 1 generates several strategies within the space tube, trains neural surrogate simulators (NSS) using the limited space tube data, and optimizes using an advanced genetic algorithm (AGA) with NSS. Stage 1 speeds evaluating assumed well locations and combinations. For a large complex plume of solvents and explosives, ISTO stage 1 reaches within 10% of the optimal solution 25% faster than an efficient AGA coupled with comprehensive tabu search (AGCT) does by itself. ISTO input parameters include space tube radius and number of strategies used to train NSS per cycle. Larger radii can speed convergence to optimality for optimizations that achieve it but might increase the number of optimizations reaching it. ISTO stage 2 automatically refines the NSS-AGA stage 1 optimal strategy using heuristic optimization (we used AGCT), without using NSS surrogates. Stage 2 explores the entire solution space. ISTO is applicable for many heuristic optimization settings in which the numerical simulator is computationally intensive, and one would like to reduce that burden.

Building energy simulation coupled with CFD for indoor environment: A critical review and recent applications

DOE PAGES

Tian, Wei; Han, Xu; Zuo, Wangda; ...

2018-01-31

This paper presents a comprehensive review of the open literature on motivations, methods and applications of linking stratified airflow simulation to building energy simulation (BES). First, we reviewed the motivations for coupling prediction models for building energy and indoor environment. This review classified various exchanged data in different applications as interface data and state data, and found that choosing different data sets may lead to varying performance of stability, convergence, and speed for the co-simulation. Second, our review shows that an external coupling scheme is substantially more popular in implementations of co-simulation than an internal coupling scheme. The external couplingmore » is shown to be generally faster in computational speed, as well as easier to implement, maintain and expand than the internal coupling. Third, the external coupling can be carried out in different data synchronization schemes, including static coupling and dynamic coupling. In comparison, the static coupling that performs data exchange only once is computationally faster and more stable than the dynamic coupling. However, concerning accuracy, the dynamic coupling that requires multiple times of data exchange is more accurate than the static coupling. Furthermore, the review identified that the implementation of the external coupling can be achieved through customized interfaces, middleware, and standard interfaces. The customized interface is straightforward but may be limited to a specific coupling application. The middleware is versatile and user-friendly but usually limited in data synchronization schemes. The standard interface is versatile and promising, but may be difficult to implement. Current applications of the co-simulation are mainly energy performance evaluation and control studies. Finally, we discussed the limitations of the current research and provided an overview for future research.« less

Building energy simulation coupled with CFD for indoor environment: A critical review and recent applications

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Tian, Wei; Han, Xu; Zuo, Wangda

This paper presents a comprehensive review of the open literature on motivations, methods and applications of linking stratified airflow simulation to building energy simulation (BES). First, we reviewed the motivations for coupling prediction models for building energy and indoor environment. This review classified various exchanged data in different applications as interface data and state data, and found that choosing different data sets may lead to varying performance of stability, convergence, and speed for the co-simulation. Second, our review shows that an external coupling scheme is substantially more popular in implementations of co-simulation than an internal coupling scheme. The external couplingmore » is shown to be generally faster in computational speed, as well as easier to implement, maintain and expand than the internal coupling. Third, the external coupling can be carried out in different data synchronization schemes, including static coupling and dynamic coupling. In comparison, the static coupling that performs data exchange only once is computationally faster and more stable than the dynamic coupling. However, concerning accuracy, the dynamic coupling that requires multiple times of data exchange is more accurate than the static coupling. Furthermore, the review identified that the implementation of the external coupling can be achieved through customized interfaces, middleware, and standard interfaces. The customized interface is straightforward but may be limited to a specific coupling application. The middleware is versatile and user-friendly but usually limited in data synchronization schemes. The standard interface is versatile and promising, but may be difficult to implement. Current applications of the co-simulation are mainly energy performance evaluation and control studies. Finally, we discussed the limitations of the current research and provided an overview for future research.« less

The Superior Lambert Algorithm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

der, G.

2011-09-01

Lambert algorithms are used extensively for initial orbit determination, mission planning, space debris correlation, and missile targeting, just to name a few applications. Due to the significance of the Lambert problem in Astrodynamics, Gauss, Battin, Godal, Lancaster, Gooding, Sun and many others (References 1 to 15) have provided numerous formulations leading to various analytic solutions and iterative methods. Most Lambert algorithms and their computer programs can only work within one revolution, break down or converge slowly when the transfer angle is near zero or 180 degrees, and their multi-revolution limitations are either ignored or barely addressed. Despite claims of robustness, many Lambert algorithms fail without notice, and the users seldom have a clue why. The DerAstrodynamics lambert2 algorithm, which is based on the analytic solution formulated by Sun, works for any number of revolutions and converges rapidly at any transfer angle. It provides significant capability enhancements over every other Lambert algorithm in use today. These include improved speed, accuracy, robustness, and multirevolution capabilities as well as implementation simplicity. Additionally, the lambert2 algorithm provides a powerful tool for solving the angles-only problem without artificial singularities (pointed out by Gooding in Reference 16), which involves 3 lines of sight captured by optical sensors, or systems such as the Air Force Space Surveillance System (AFSSS). The analytic solution is derived from the extended Godal’s time equation by Sun, while the iterative method of solution is that of Laguerre, modified for robustness. The Keplerian solution of a Lambert algorithm can be extended to include the non-Keplerian terms of the Vinti algorithm via a simple targeting technique (References 17 to 19). Accurate analytic non-Keplerian trajectories can be predicted for satellites and ballistic missiles, while performing at least 100 times faster in speed than most numerical integration methods.

Comparison of an algebraic multigrid algorithm to two iterative solvers used for modeling ground water flow and transport

USGS Publications Warehouse

Detwiler, R.L.; Mehl, S.; Rajaram, H.; Cheung, W.W.

2002-01-01

Numerical solution of large-scale ground water flow and transport problems is often constrained by the convergence behavior of the iterative solvers used to solve the resulting systems of equations. We demonstrate the ability of an algebraic multigrid algorithm (AMG) to efficiently solve the large, sparse systems of equations that result from computational models of ground water flow and transport in large and complex domains. Unlike geometric multigrid methods, this algorithm is applicable to problems in complex flow geometries, such as those encountered in pore-scale modeling of two-phase flow and transport. We integrated AMG into MODFLOW 2000 to compare two- and three-dimensional flow simulations using AMG to simulations using PCG2, a preconditioned conjugate gradient solver that uses the modified incomplete Cholesky preconditioner and is included with MODFLOW 2000. CPU times required for convergence with AMG were up to 140 times faster than those for PCG2. The cost of this increased speed was up to a nine-fold increase in required random access memory (RAM) for the three-dimensional problems and up to a four-fold increase in required RAM for the two-dimensional problems. We also compared two-dimensional numerical simulations of steady-state transport using AMG and the generalized minimum residual method with an incomplete LU-decomposition preconditioner. For these transport simulations, AMG yielded increased speeds of up to 17 times with only a 20% increase in required RAM. The ability of AMG to solve flow and transport problems in large, complex flow systems and its ready availability make it an ideal solver for use in both field-scale and pore-scale modeling.

Numerical Speed of Sound and its Application to Schemes for all Speeds

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Liou, Meng-Sing; Edwards, Jack R.

1999-01-01

The concept of "numerical speed of sound" is proposed in the construction of numerical flux. It is shown that this variable is responsible for the accurate resolution of' discontinuities, such as contacts and shocks. Moreover, this concept can he readily extended to deal with low speed and multiphase flows. As a results, the numerical dissipation for low speed flows is scaled with the local fluid speed, rather than the sound speed. Hence, the accuracy is enhanced the correct solution recovered, and the convergence rate improved. We also emphasize the role of mass flux and analyze the behavior of this flux. Study of mass flux is important because the numerical diffusivity introduced in it can be identified. In addition, it is the term common to all conservation equations. We show calculated results for a wide variety of flows to validate the effectiveness of using the numerical speed of sound concept in constructing the numerical flux. We especially aim at achieving these two goals: (1) improving accuracy and (2) gaining convergence rates for all speed ranges. We find that while the performance at high speed range is maintained, the flux now has the capability of performing well even with the low: speed flows. Thanks to the new numerical speed of sound, the convergence is even enhanced for the flows outside of the low speed range. To realize the usefulness of the proposed method in engineering problems, we have also performed calculations for complex 3D turbulent flows and the results are in excellent agreement with data.

Maximum walking speeds obtained using treadmill and overground robot system in persons with post-stroke hemiplegia

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background Previous studies demonstrated that stroke survivors have a limited capacity to increase their walking speeds beyond their self-selected maximum walking speed (SMWS). The purpose of this study was to determine the capacity of stroke survivors to reach faster speeds than their SMWS while walking on a treadmill belt or while being pushed by a robotic system (i.e. “push mode”). Methods Eighteen chronic stroke survivors with hemiplegia were involved in the study. We calculated their self-selected comfortable walking speed (SCWS) and SMWS overground using a 5-meter walk test (5-MWT). Then, they were exposed to walking at increased speeds, on a treadmill and while in “push mode” in an overground robotic device, the KineAssist, until they were tested at a speed that they could not sustain without losing balance. We recorded the time and number of steps during each trial and calculated gait speed, average cadence and average step length. Results Maximum walking speed in the “push mode” was 13% higher than the maximum walking speed on the treadmill and both were higher (“push mode”: 61%; treadmill: 40%) than the maximum walking speed overground. Subjects achieved these faster speeds by initially increasing both step length and cadence and, once individuals stopped increasing their step length, by only increasing cadence. Conclusions With post-stroke hemiplegia, individuals are able to walk at faster speeds than their SMWS overground, when provided with a safe environment that provides external forces that requires them to attempt dynamic stability maintenance at higher gait speeds. Therefore, this study suggests the possibility that, given the appropriate conditions, people post-stroke can be trained at higher speeds than previously attempted. PMID:23057500

A low-complexity 2-point step size gradient projection method with selective function evaluations for smoothed total variation based CBCT reconstructions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Song, Bongyong; Park, Justin C.; Song, William Y.

2014-11-01

The Barzilai-Borwein (BB) 2-point step size gradient method is receiving attention for accelerating Total Variation (TV) based CBCT reconstructions. In order to become truly viable for clinical applications, however, its convergence property needs to be properly addressed. We propose a novel fast converging gradient projection BB method that requires ‘at most one function evaluation’ in each iterative step. This Selective Function Evaluation method, referred to as GPBB-SFE in this paper, exhibits the desired convergence property when it is combined with a ‘smoothed TV’ or any other differentiable prior. This way, the proposed GPBB-SFE algorithm offers fast and guaranteed convergence to the desired 3DCBCT image with minimal computational complexity. We first applied this algorithm to a Shepp-Logan numerical phantom. We then applied to a CatPhan 600 physical phantom (The Phantom Laboratory, Salem, NY) and a clinically-treated head-and-neck patient, both acquired from the TrueBeam™ system (Varian Medical Systems, Palo Alto, CA). Furthermore, we accelerated the reconstruction by implementing the algorithm on NVIDIA GTX 480 GPU card. We first compared GPBB-SFE with three recently proposed BB-based CBCT reconstruction methods available in the literature using Shepp-Logan numerical phantom with 40 projections. It is found that GPBB-SFE shows either faster convergence speed/time or superior convergence property compared to existing BB-based algorithms. With the CatPhan 600 physical phantom, the GPBB-SFE algorithm requires only 3 function evaluations in 30 iterations and reconstructs the standard, 364-projection FDK reconstruction quality image using only 60 projections. We then applied the algorithm to a clinically-treated head-and-neck patient. It was observed that the GPBB-SFE algorithm requires only 18 function evaluations in 30 iterations. Compared with the FDK algorithm with 364 projections, the GPBB-SFE algorithm produces visibly equivalent quality CBCT image for the head-and-neck patient with only 180 projections, in 131.7 s, further supporting its clinical applicability.

A low-complexity 2-point step size gradient projection method with selective function evaluations for smoothed total variation based CBCT reconstructions.

PubMed

Song, Bongyong; Park, Justin C; Song, William Y

2014-11-07

The Barzilai-Borwein (BB) 2-point step size gradient method is receiving attention for accelerating Total Variation (TV) based CBCT reconstructions. In order to become truly viable for clinical applications, however, its convergence property needs to be properly addressed. We propose a novel fast converging gradient projection BB method that requires 'at most one function evaluation' in each iterative step. This Selective Function Evaluation method, referred to as GPBB-SFE in this paper, exhibits the desired convergence property when it is combined with a 'smoothed TV' or any other differentiable prior. This way, the proposed GPBB-SFE algorithm offers fast and guaranteed convergence to the desired 3DCBCT image with minimal computational complexity. We first applied this algorithm to a Shepp-Logan numerical phantom. We then applied to a CatPhan 600 physical phantom (The Phantom Laboratory, Salem, NY) and a clinically-treated head-and-neck patient, both acquired from the TrueBeam™ system (Varian Medical Systems, Palo Alto, CA). Furthermore, we accelerated the reconstruction by implementing the algorithm on NVIDIA GTX 480 GPU card. We first compared GPBB-SFE with three recently proposed BB-based CBCT reconstruction methods available in the literature using Shepp-Logan numerical phantom with 40 projections. It is found that GPBB-SFE shows either faster convergence speed/time or superior convergence property compared to existing BB-based algorithms. With the CatPhan 600 physical phantom, the GPBB-SFE algorithm requires only 3 function evaluations in 30 iterations and reconstructs the standard, 364-projection FDK reconstruction quality image using only 60 projections. We then applied the algorithm to a clinically-treated head-and-neck patient. It was observed that the GPBB-SFE algorithm requires only 18 function evaluations in 30 iterations. Compared with the FDK algorithm with 364 projections, the GPBB-SFE algorithm produces visibly equivalent quality CBCT image for the head-and-neck patient with only 180 projections, in 131.7 s, further supporting its clinical applicability.

Airplane tracking documents the fastest flight speeds recorded for bats.

PubMed

McCracken, Gary F; Safi, Kamran; Kunz, Thomas H; Dechmann, Dina K N; Swartz, Sharon M; Wikelski, Martin

2016-11-01

The performance capabilities of flying animals reflect the interplay of biomechanical and physiological constraints and evolutionary innovation. Of the two extant groups of vertebrates that are capable of powered flight, birds are thought to fly more efficiently and faster than bats. However, fast-flying bat species that are adapted for flight in open airspace are similar in wing shape and appear to be similar in flight dynamics to fast-flying birds that exploit the same aerial niche. Here, we investigate flight behaviour in seven free-flying Brazilian free-tailed bats ( Tadarida brasiliensis ) and report that the maximum ground speeds achieved exceed speeds previously documented for any bat. Regional wind modelling indicates that bats adjusted flight speeds in response to winds by flying more slowly as wind support increased and flying faster when confronted with crosswinds, as demonstrated for insects, birds and other bats. Increased frequency of pauses in wing beats at faster speeds suggests that flap-gliding assists the bats' rapid flight. Our results suggest that flight performance in bats has been underappreciated and that functional differences in the flight abilities of birds and bats require re-evaluation.

The psychophysical law of speed estimation in Michotte's causal events.

PubMed

Parovel, Giulia; Casco, Clara

2006-11-01

Observers saw an event in which a computer-animated square moved up to and made contact with another, which after a short delay moved off, its motion appearing to be caused by launch by the first square. Observers chose whether the second (launched) square was faster in this causal event than when presented following a long delay (non-causal event). The speed of the second object in causal events was overestimated for a wide range of speeds of the first object (launcher), but accurately assessed in non-causal events. Experiments 2 and 3 showed that overestimation occurred also in other causal displays in which the trajectories were overlapping, successive, spatially separated or inverted but did not occurred with consecutive speeds that did not produce causal percepts. We also found that if the first object in a causal event was faster, then Weber's law holds and overestimation of the launched object speed was proportional to the speed of the launcher. In contrast, if the second object was faster, overestimation was constant, i.e. independent of the launcher. We propose that the particular speed integration of causal display results in overestimation and that the way overestimation depends on V1 phenomenally affects the attribution of the source of V2 motion: either in V1 (in launching) or in V2 (in triggering).

Speed of antidepressant response to electroconvulsive therapy in bipolar disorder vs. major depressive disorder.

PubMed

Agarkar, Smita; Hurt, Stephen W; Young, Robert C

2018-07-01

We reviewed studies that reported speed of antidepressant response to electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) in both bipolar depression (BPD) and major depressive disorder (MDD). We identified English language reports allowing this comparison. Ten studies met our criteria. Four reported significantly faster response in BPD and in one there was trend for faster response. None reported evidence for slower response in BPD. The findings support further study of speed of response to ECT in BPD. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Combining Acceleration Techniques for Low-Dose X-Ray Cone Beam Computed Tomography Image Reconstruction.

PubMed

Huang, Hsuan-Ming; Hsiao, Ing-Tsung

2017-01-01

Over the past decade, image quality in low-dose computed tomography has been greatly improved by various compressive sensing- (CS-) based reconstruction methods. However, these methods have some disadvantages including high computational cost and slow convergence rate. Many different speed-up techniques for CS-based reconstruction algorithms have been developed. The purpose of this paper is to propose a fast reconstruction framework that combines a CS-based reconstruction algorithm with several speed-up techniques. First, total difference minimization (TDM) was implemented using the soft-threshold filtering (STF). Second, we combined TDM-STF with the ordered subsets transmission (OSTR) algorithm for accelerating the convergence. To further speed up the convergence of the proposed method, we applied the power factor and the fast iterative shrinkage thresholding algorithm to OSTR and TDM-STF, respectively. Results obtained from simulation and phantom studies showed that many speed-up techniques could be combined to greatly improve the convergence speed of a CS-based reconstruction algorithm. More importantly, the increased computation time (≤10%) was minor as compared to the acceleration provided by the proposed method. In this paper, we have presented a CS-based reconstruction framework that combines several acceleration techniques. Both simulation and phantom studies provide evidence that the proposed method has the potential to satisfy the requirement of fast image reconstruction in practical CT.

Split Bregman multicoil accelerated reconstruction technique: A new framework for rapid reconstruction of cardiac perfusion MRI

PubMed Central

Kamesh Iyer, Srikant; Tasdizen, Tolga; Likhite, Devavrat; DiBella, Edward

2016-01-01

Purpose: Rapid reconstruction of undersampled multicoil MRI data with iterative constrained reconstruction method is a challenge. The authors sought to develop a new substitution based variable splitting algorithm for faster reconstruction of multicoil cardiac perfusion MRI data. Methods: The new method, split Bregman multicoil accelerated reconstruction technique (SMART), uses a combination of split Bregman based variable splitting and iterative reweighting techniques to achieve fast convergence. Total variation constraints are used along the spatial and temporal dimensions. The method is tested on nine ECG-gated dog perfusion datasets, acquired with a 30-ray golden ratio radial sampling pattern and ten ungated human perfusion datasets, acquired with a 24-ray golden ratio radial sampling pattern. Image quality and reconstruction speed are evaluated and compared to a gradient descent (GD) implementation and to multicoil k-t SLR, a reconstruction technique that uses a combination of sparsity and low rank constraints. Results: Comparisons based on blur metric and visual inspection showed that SMART images had lower blur and better texture as compared to the GD implementation. On average, the GD based images had an ∼18% higher blur metric as compared to SMART images. Reconstruction of dynamic contrast enhanced (DCE) cardiac perfusion images using the SMART method was ∼6 times faster than standard gradient descent methods. k-t SLR and SMART produced images with comparable image quality, though SMART was ∼6.8 times faster than k-t SLR. Conclusions: The SMART method is a promising approach to reconstruct good quality multicoil images from undersampled DCE cardiac perfusion data rapidly. PMID:27036592

Mean-variance analysis of block-iterative reconstruction algorithms modeling 3D detector response in SPECT

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lalush, D. S.; Tsui, B. M. W.

1998-06-01

We study the statistical convergence properties of two fast iterative reconstruction algorithms, the rescaled block-iterative (RBI) and ordered subset (OS) EM algorithms, in the context of cardiac SPECT with 3D detector response modeling. The Monte Carlo method was used to generate nearly noise-free projection data modeling the effects of attenuation, detector response, and scatter from the MCAT phantom. One thousand noise realizations were generated with an average count level approximating a typical T1-201 cardiac study. Each noise realization was reconstructed using the RBI and OS algorithms for cases with and without detector response modeling. For each iteration up to twenty, we generated mean and variance images, as well as covariance images for six specific locations. Both OS and RBI converged in the mean to results that were close to the noise-free ML-EM result using the same projection model. When detector response was not modeled in the reconstruction, RBI exhibited considerably lower noise variance than OS for the same resolution. When 3D detector response was modeled, the RBI-EM provided a small improvement in the tradeoff between noise level and resolution recovery, primarily in the axial direction, while OS required about half the number of iterations of RBI to reach the same resolution. We conclude that OS is faster than RBI, but may be sensitive to errors in the projection model. Both OS-EM and RBI-EM are effective alternatives to the EVIL-EM algorithm, but noise level and speed of convergence depend on the projection model used.

Up-down Asymmetries in Speed Perception

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Thompson, Peter; Stone, Leland S.

1997-01-01

We compared speed matches for pairs of stimuli that moved in opposite directions (upward and downward). Stimuli were elliptical patches (2 deg horizontally by 1 deg vertically) of horizontal sinusoidal gratings of spatial. frequency 2 cycles/deg. Two sequential 380 msec reveal presentations were compared. One of each pair of gratings (the standard) moved at 4 Hz (2 deg/sec), the other (the test) moved at a rate determined by a simple up-down staircase. The point of subjectively equal speed was calculated from the average of the last eight reversals. The task was to fixate a central point and to determine which one of the pair appeared to move faster. Eight of 10 observers perceived the upward drifting grating as moving faster than a grating moving downward but otherwise identical. on average (N = 10), when the standard moved downward, it was matched by a test moving upward at 94.7+/-1.7(SE)% of the standard speed, and when the standard moved upward it was matched by a test moving downward at 105.1+/-2.3(SE)% of the standard speed. Extending this paradigm over a range of spatial (1.5 to 13.5 c/d) and temporal (1.5 to 13.5 Hz) frequencies, preliminary results (N = 4) suggest that, under the conditions of our experiment, upward matter is seen as faster than downward for speeds greater than approx.1 deg/sec, but the effect appears to reverse at speeds below approx.1 deg/sec with downward motion perceived as faster. Given that an up-down asymmetry has been observed for the optokinetic response, both perceptual and oculomotor contributions to this phenomenon deserve exploration.

Spatially weighted mutual information image registration for image guided radiation therapy.

PubMed

Park, Samuel B; Rhee, Frank C; Monroe, James I; Sohn, Jason W

2010-09-01

To develop a new metric for image registration that incorporates the (sub)pixelwise differential importance along spatial location and to demonstrate its application for image guided radiation therapy (IGRT). It is well known that rigid-body image registration with mutual information is dependent on the size and location of the image subset on which the alignment analysis is based [the designated region of interest (ROI)]. Therefore, careful review and manual adjustments of the resulting registration are frequently necessary. Although there were some investigations of weighted mutual information (WMI), these efforts could not apply the differential importance to a particular spatial location since WMI only applies the weight to the joint histogram space. The authors developed the spatially weighted mutual information (SWMI) metric by incorporating an adaptable weight function with spatial localization into mutual information. SWMI enables the user to apply the selected transform to medically "important" areas such as tumors and critical structures, so SWMI is neither dominated by, nor neglects the neighboring structures. Since SWMI can be utilized with any weight function form, the authors presented two examples of weight functions for IGRT application: A Gaussian-shaped weight function (GW) applied to a user-defined location and a structures-of-interest (SOI) based weight function. An image registration example using a synthesized 2D image is presented to illustrate the efficacy of SWMI. The convergence and feasibility of the registration method as applied to clinical imaging is illustrated by fusing a prostate treatment planning CT with a clinical cone beam CT (CBCT) image set acquired for patient alignment. Forty-one trials are run to test the speed of convergence. The authors also applied SWMI registration using two types of weight functions to two head and neck cases and a prostate case with clinically acquired CBCT/ MVCT image sets. The SWMI registration with a Gaussian weight function (SWMI-GW) was tested between two different imaging modalities: CT and MRI image sets. SWMI-GW converges 10% faster than registration using mutual information with an ROI. SWMI-GW as well as SWMI with SOI-based weight function (SWMI-SOI) shows better compensation of the target organ's deformation and neighboring critical organs' deformation. SWMI-GW was also used to successfully fuse MRI and CT images. Rigid-body image registration using our SWMI-GW and SWMI-SOI as cost functions can achieve better registration results in (a) designated image region(s) as well as faster convergence. With the theoretical foundation established, we believe SWMI could be extended to larger clinical testing.

Pointwise convergence of derivatives of Lagrange interpolation polynomials for exponential weights

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Damelin, S. B.; Jung, H. S.

2005-01-01

For a general class of exponential weights on the line and on (-1,1), we study pointwise convergence of the derivatives of Lagrange interpolation. Our weights include even weights of smooth polynomial decay near +/-[infinity] (Freud weights), even weights of faster than smooth polynomial decay near +/-[infinity] (Erdos weights) and even weights which vanish strongly near +/-1, for example Pollaczek type weights.

Fast convergent frequency-domain MIMO equalizer for few-mode fiber communication systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

He, Xuan; Weng, Yi; Wang, Junyi; Pan, Z.

2018-02-01

Space division multiplexing using few-mode fibers has been extensively explored to sustain the continuous traffic growth. In few-mode fiber optical systems, both spatial and polarization modes are exploited to transmit parallel channels, thus increasing the overall capacity. However, signals on spatial channels inevitably suffer from the intrinsic inter-modal coupling and large accumulated differential mode group delay (DMGD), which causes spatial modes de-multiplex even harder. Many research articles have demonstrated that frequency domain adaptive multi-input multi-output (MIMO) equalizer can effectively compensate the DMGD and demultiplex the spatial channels with digital signal processing (DSP). However, the large accumulated DMGD usually requires a large number of training blocks for the initial convergence of adaptive MIMO equalizers, which will decrease the overall system efficiency and even degrade the equalizer performance in fast-changing optical channels. Least mean square (LMS) algorithm is always used in MIMO equalization to dynamically demultiplex the spatial signals. We have proposed to use signal power spectral density (PSD) dependent method and noise PSD directed method to improve the convergence speed of adaptive frequency domain LMS algorithm. We also proposed frequency domain recursive least square (RLS) algorithm to further increase the convergence speed of MIMO equalizer at cost of greater hardware complexity. In this paper, we will compare the hardware complexity and convergence speed of signal PSD dependent and noise power directed algorithms against the conventional frequency domain LMS algorithm. In our numerical study of a three-mode 112 Gbit/s PDM-QPSK optical system with 3000 km transmission, the noise PSD directed and signal PSD dependent methods could improve the convergence speed by 48.3% and 36.1% respectively, at cost of 17.2% and 10.7% higher hardware complexity. We will also compare the frequency domain RLS algorithm against conventional frequency domain LMS algorithm. Our numerical study shows that, in a three-mode 224 Gbit/s PDM-16-QAM system with 3000 km transmission, the RLS algorithm could improve the convergence speed by 53.7% over conventional frequency domain LMS algorithm.

Adaptive optimal input design and parametric estimation of nonlinear dynamical systems: application to neuronal modeling.

PubMed

Madi, Mahmoud K; Karameh, Fadi N

2018-05-11

Many physical models of biological processes including neural systems are characterized by parametric nonlinear dynamical relations between driving inputs, internal states, and measured outputs of the process. Fitting such models using experimental data (data assimilation) is a challenging task since the physical process often operates in a noisy, possibly non-stationary environment; moreover, conducting multiple experiments under controlled and repeatable conditions can be impractical, time consuming or costly. The accuracy of model identification, therefore, is dictated principally by the quality and dynamic richness of collected data over single or few experimental sessions. Accordingly, it is highly desirable to design efficient experiments that, by exciting the physical process with smart inputs, yields fast convergence and increased accuracy of the model. We herein introduce an adaptive framework in which optimal input design is integrated with Square root Cubature Kalman Filters (OID-SCKF) to develop an online estimation procedure that first, converges significantly quicker, thereby permitting model fitting over shorter time windows, and second, enhances model accuracy when only few process outputs are accessible. The methodology is demonstrated on common nonlinear models and on a four-area neural mass model with noisy and limited measurements. Estimation quality (speed and accuracy) is benchmarked against high-performance SCKF-based methods that commonly employ dynamically rich informed inputs for accurate model identification. For all the tested models, simulated single-trial and ensemble averages showed that OID-SCKF exhibited (i) faster convergence of parameter estimates and (ii) lower dependence on inter-trial noise variability with gains up to around 1000 msec in speed and 81% increase in variability for the neural mass models. In terms of accuracy, OID-SCKF estimation was superior, and exhibited considerably less variability across experiments, in identifying model parameters of (a) systems with challenging model inversion dynamics and (b) systems with fewer measurable outputs that directly relate to the underlying processes. Fast and accurate identification therefore carries particular promise for modeling of transient (short-lived) neuronal network dynamics using a spatially under-sampled set of noisy measurements, as is commonly encountered in neural engineering applications. © 2018 IOP Publishing Ltd.

Surface friction alters the agility of a small Australian marsupial.

PubMed

Wheatley, Rebecca; Clemente, Christofer J; Niehaus, Amanda C; Fisher, Diana O; Wilson, Robbie S

2018-04-23

Movement speed can underpin an animal's probability of success in ecological tasks. Prey often use agility to outmanoeuvre predators; however, faster speeds increase inertia and reduce agility. Agility is also constrained by grip, as the foot must have sufficient friction with the ground to apply the forces required for turning. Consequently, ground surface should affect optimum turning speed. We tested the speed-agility trade-off in buff-footed antechinus ( Antechinus mysticus ) on two different surfaces. Antechinus used slower turning speeds over smaller turning radii on both surfaces, as predicted by the speed-agility trade-off. Slipping was 64% more likely on the low-friction surface, and had a higher probability of occurring the faster the antechinus were running before the turn. However, antechinus compensated for differences in surface friction by using slower pre-turn speeds as their amount of experience on the low-friction surface increased, which consequently reduced their probability of slipping. Conversely, on the high-friction surface, antechinus used faster pre-turn speeds in later trials, which had no effect on their probability of slipping. Overall, antechinus used larger turning radii (0.733±0.062 versus 0.576±0.051 m) and slower pre-turn (1.595±0.058 versus 2.174±0.050 m s -1 ) and turning speeds (1.649±0.061 versus 2.01±0.054 m s -1 ) on the low-friction surface. Our results demonstrate the interactive effect of surface friction and the speed-agility trade-off on speed choice. To predict wild animals' movement speeds, future studies should examine the interactions between biomechanical trade-offs and terrain, and quantify the costs of motor mistakes in different ecological activities. © 2018. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.

Acceleration of Convergence to Equilibrium in Markov Chains by Breaking Detailed Balance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kaiser, Marcus; Jack, Robert L.; Zimmer, Johannes

2017-07-01

We analyse and interpret the effects of breaking detailed balance on the convergence to equilibrium of conservative interacting particle systems and their hydrodynamic scaling limits. For finite systems of interacting particles, we review existing results showing that irreversible processes converge faster to their steady state than reversible ones. We show how this behaviour appears in the hydrodynamic limit of such processes, as described by macroscopic fluctuation theory, and we provide a quantitative expression for the acceleration of convergence in this setting. We give a geometrical interpretation of this acceleration, in terms of currents that are antisymmetric under time-reversal and orthogonal to the free energy gradient, which act to drive the system away from states where (reversible) gradient-descent dynamics result in slow convergence to equilibrium.

Decentralized finite-time attitude synchronization for multiple rigid spacecraft via a novel disturbance observer.

PubMed

Zong, Qun; Shao, Shikai

2016-11-01

This paper investigates decentralized finite-time attitude synchronization for a group of rigid spacecraft by using quaternion with the consideration of environmental disturbances, inertia uncertainties and actuator saturation. Nonsingular terminal sliding mode (TSM) is used for controller design. Firstly, a theorem is proven that there always exists a kind of TSM that converges faster than fast terminal sliding mode (FTSM) for quaternion-descripted attitude control system. Controller with this kind of TSM has faster convergence and reduced computation than FTSM controller. Then, combining with an adaptive parameter estimation strategy, a novel terminal sliding mode disturbance observer is proposed. The proposed disturbance observer needs no upper bound information of the lumped uncertainties or their derivatives. On the basis of undirected topology and the disturbance observer, decentralized attitude synchronization control laws are designed and all attitude errors are ensured to converge to small regions in finite time. As for actuator saturation problem, an auxiliary variable is introduced and accommodated by the disturbance observer. Finally, simulation results are given and the effectiveness of the proposed control scheme is testified. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Finite-time containment control of perturbed multi-agent systems based on sliding-mode control

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yu, Di; Ji, Xiang Yang

2018-01-01

Aimed at faster convergence rate, this paper investigates finite-time containment control problem for second-order multi-agent systems with norm-bounded non-linear perturbation. When topology between the followers are strongly connected, the nonsingular fast terminal sliding-mode error is defined, corresponding discontinuous control protocol is designed and the appropriate value range of control parameter is obtained by applying finite-time stability analysis, so that the followers converge to and move along the desired trajectories within the convex hull formed by the leaders in finite time. Furthermore, on the basis of the sliding-mode error defined, the corresponding distributed continuous control protocols are investigated with fast exponential reaching law and double exponential reaching law, so as to make the followers move to the small neighbourhoods of their desired locations and keep within the dynamic convex hull formed by the leaders in finite time to achieve practical finite-time containment control. Meanwhile, we develop the faster control scheme according to comparison of the convergence rate of these two different reaching laws. Simulation examples are given to verify the correctness of theoretical results.

A Coarse-Alignment Method Based on the Optimal-REQUEST Algorithm

PubMed Central

Zhu, Yongyun

2018-01-01

In this paper, we proposed a coarse-alignment method for strapdown inertial navigation systems based on attitude determination. The observation vectors, which can be obtained by inertial sensors, usually contain various types of noise, which affects the convergence rate and the accuracy of the coarse alignment. Given this drawback, we studied an attitude-determination method named optimal-REQUEST, which is an optimal method for attitude determination that is based on observation vectors. Compared to the traditional attitude-determination method, the filtering gain of the proposed method is tuned autonomously; thus, the convergence rate of the attitude determination is faster than in the traditional method. Within the proposed method, we developed an iterative method for determining the attitude quaternion. We carried out simulation and turntable tests, which we used to validate the proposed method’s performance. The experiment’s results showed that the convergence rate of the proposed optimal-REQUEST algorithm is faster and that the coarse alignment’s stability is higher. In summary, the proposed method has a high applicability to practical systems. PMID:29337895

Flying Faster Than The Speed of Sound

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-10-10

It's been 70 years since Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier in his experimental airplane, the X-1. Today, NASA is working to make supersonic air travel across the U.S. a reality with its Low Boom Flight Demonstration aircraft. Decades of NASA research in supersonics have gone into the unique design of this aircraft, which aims to reduce the loudness of the sonic boom associated with planes traveling faster than the speed of sound.

Planetary Torque in 3D Isentropic Disks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fung, Jeffrey; Masset, Frédéric; Lega, Elena; Velasco, David

2017-03-01

Planetary migration is inherently a three-dimensional (3D) problem, because Earth-size planetary cores are deeply embedded in protoplanetary disks. Simulations of these 3D disks remain challenging due to the steep resolution requirements. Using two different hydrodynamics codes, FARGO3D and PEnGUIn, we simulate disk-planet interaction for a one to five Earth-mass planet embedded in an isentropic disk. We measure the torque on the planet and ensure that the measurements are converged both in resolution and between the two codes. We find that the torque is independent of the smoothing length of the planet’s potential (r s), and that it has a weak dependence on the adiabatic index of the gaseous disk (γ). The torque values correspond to an inward migration rate qualitatively similar to previous linear calculations. We perform additional simulations with explicit radiative transfer using FARGOCA, and again find agreement between 3D simulations and existing torque formulae. We also present the flow pattern around the planets that show active flow is present within the planet’s Hill sphere, and meridional vortices are shed downstream. The vertical flow speed near the planet is faster for a smaller r s or γ, up to supersonic speeds for the smallest r s and γ in our study.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Fung, Jeffrey; Masset, Frédéric; Velasco, David

Planetary migration is inherently a three-dimensional (3D) problem, because Earth-size planetary cores are deeply embedded in protoplanetary disks. Simulations of these 3D disks remain challenging due to the steep resolution requirements. Using two different hydrodynamics codes, FARGO3D and PEnGUIn, we simulate disk–planet interaction for a one to five Earth-mass planet embedded in an isentropic disk. We measure the torque on the planet and ensure that the measurements are converged both in resolution and between the two codes. We find that the torque is independent of the smoothing length of the planet’s potential ( r {sub s}), and that it hasmore » a weak dependence on the adiabatic index of the gaseous disk ( γ ). The torque values correspond to an inward migration rate qualitatively similar to previous linear calculations. We perform additional simulations with explicit radiative transfer using FARGOCA, and again find agreement between 3D simulations and existing torque formulae. We also present the flow pattern around the planets that show active flow is present within the planet’s Hill sphere, and meridional vortices are shed downstream. The vertical flow speed near the planet is faster for a smaller r {sub s} or γ , up to supersonic speeds for the smallest r {sub s} and γ in our study.« less

Suicide rates in European OECD nations converged during the period 1990-2010.

PubMed

Bremberg, Sven G

2017-05-01

The aim of this study was to investigate, with multiple regression analyses, the effect of selected characteristics on the rate of decrease of suicide rates in 21 OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) nations over the period 1990-2010, with initial levels of suicide rates taken into account. The rate of decrease seems mainly (83%) to be determined by the initial suicide rates in 1990. In nations with relatively high initial rates, the rates decreased faster. The suicide rates also converged. The study indicates that beta convergence alone explained most of the cross-national variations.

Generalized Bregman distances and convergence rates for non-convex regularization methods

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Grasmair, Markus

2010-11-01

We generalize the notion of Bregman distance using concepts from abstract convexity in order to derive convergence rates for Tikhonov regularization with non-convex regularization terms. In particular, we study the non-convex regularization of linear operator equations on Hilbert spaces, showing that the conditions required for the application of the convergence rates results are strongly related to the standard range conditions from the convex case. Moreover, we consider the setting of sparse regularization, where we show that a rate of order δ1/p holds, if the regularization term has a slightly faster growth at zero than |t|p.

Noise-enhanced clustering and competitive learning algorithms.

PubMed

Osoba, Osonde; Kosko, Bart

2013-01-01

Noise can provably speed up convergence in many centroid-based clustering algorithms. This includes the popular k-means clustering algorithm. The clustering noise benefit follows from the general noise benefit for the expectation-maximization algorithm because many clustering algorithms are special cases of the expectation-maximization algorithm. Simulations show that noise also speeds up convergence in stochastic unsupervised competitive learning, supervised competitive learning, and differential competitive learning. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A reward optimization method based on action subrewards in hierarchical reinforcement learning.

PubMed

Fu, Yuchen; Liu, Quan; Ling, Xionghong; Cui, Zhiming

2014-01-01

Reinforcement learning (RL) is one kind of interactive learning methods. Its main characteristics are "trial and error" and "related reward." A hierarchical reinforcement learning method based on action subrewards is proposed to solve the problem of "curse of dimensionality," which means that the states space will grow exponentially in the number of features and low convergence speed. The method can reduce state spaces greatly and choose actions with favorable purpose and efficiency so as to optimize reward function and enhance convergence speed. Apply it to the online learning in Tetris game, and the experiment result shows that the convergence speed of this algorithm can be enhanced evidently based on the new method which combines hierarchical reinforcement learning algorithm and action subrewards. The "curse of dimensionality" problem is also solved to a certain extent with hierarchical method. All the performance with different parameters is compared and analyzed as well.

OPERA, MINOS Experimental Result Prove Special and General Relativity Theories; the Principle of Lorentz Invariance Invalid

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pressler, David E.

2012-03-01

A great discrepancy exists - the speed of light and the neutrino speed must be identical; as indicated by supernova1987A; yet, OPERA predicts faster-than-light neutrinos. Einstein's theories are based on the invariance of the speed of light, and no privileged Galilean frame of reference exists. Both of these hypotheses are in error and must be reconciled in order to solve the dilemma. The Michelson-Morley Experiment was misinterpreted - my Neoclassical Theory postulates that BOTH mirrors of the interferometer physically and absolutely move towards its center. The result is a three-directional-Contraction, (x, y, z axis), an actual distortion of space itself; a C-Space condition. ``PRESSLER'S LAW OF C-SPACE: The speed of light, c, will always be measured the same speed in all three directions (˜300,000 km/sec), in ones own inertial reference system, and will always be measured as having a different speed in all other inertial frames which are at a different kinetic energy level or at a location with a different strength gravity field'' Thus, the faster you go, motion, or the stronger the gravity field the smaller you get in all three directions. OPERA results are explained; at the surface of Earth, the strength of gravity field is at maximum -- below the earth's surface, time and space is less distorted; therefore, time is absolutely faster accordingly. Reference OPERA's preprint: Neutrino's faster time-effect due to altitude difference; (10-13ns) x c (299792458m) = 2.9 x 10-5 m/ns x distance (730085m) + 21.8m.) This is consistent with the OPERA result.

Speed- Reading Made Easy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brown, W. S.

1970-01-01

Illustrates a compromise between vertical and horizontal typographies which should make speed reading faster and more reliable, and suggests that computers could prepare text according to this arrangement. (MB)

Plasma flow patterns in and around magnetosheath jets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Plaschke, Ferdinand; Hietala, Heli

2018-05-01

The magnetosheath is commonly permeated by localized high-speed jets downstream of the quasi-parallel bow shock. These jets are much faster than the ambient magnetosheath plasma, thus raising the question of how that latter plasma reacts to incoming jets. We have performed a statistical analysis based on 662 cases of one THEMIS spacecraft observing a jet and another (second) THEMIS spacecraft providing context observations of nearby plasma to uncover the flow patterns in and around jets. The following results are found: along the jet's path, slower plasma is accelerated and pushed aside ahead of the fastest core jet plasma. Behind the jet core, plasma flows into the path to fill the wake. This evasive plasma motion affects the ambient magnetosheath, close to the jet's path. Diverging and converging plasma flows ahead and behind the jet are complemented by plasma flows opposite to the jet's propagation direction, in the vicinity of the jet. This vortical plasma motion results in a deceleration of ambient plasma when a jet passes nearby.

Blind equalization with criterion with memory nonlinearity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Yuanjie; Nikias, Chrysostomos L.; Proakis, John G.

1992-06-01

Blind equalization methods usually combat the linear distortion caused by a nonideal channel via a transversal filter, without resorting to the a priori known training sequences. We introduce a new criterion with memory nonlinearity (CRIMNO) for the blind equalization problem. The basic idea of this criterion is to augment the Godard [or constant modulus algorithm (CMA)] cost function with additional terms that penalize the autocorrelations of the equalizer outputs. Several variations of the CRIMNO algorithms are derived, with the variations dependent on (1) whether the empirical averages or the single point estimates are used to approximate the expectations, (2) whether the recent or the delayed equalizer coefficients are used, and (3) whether the weights applied to the autocorrelation terms are fixed or are allowed to adapt. Simulation experiments show that the CRIMNO algorithm, and especially its adaptive weight version, exhibits faster convergence speed than the Godard (or CMA) algorithm. Extensions of the CRIMNO criterion to accommodate the case of correlated inputs to the channel are also presented.

Online Recorded Data-Based Composite Neural Control of Strict-Feedback Systems With Application to Hypersonic Flight Dynamics.

PubMed

Xu, Bin; Yang, Daipeng; Shi, Zhongke; Pan, Yongping; Chen, Badong; Sun, Fuchun

2017-09-25

This paper investigates the online recorded data-based composite neural control of uncertain strict-feedback systems using the backstepping framework. In each step of the virtual control design, neural network (NN) is employed for uncertainty approximation. In previous works, most designs are directly toward system stability ignoring the fact how the NN is working as an approximator. In this paper, to enhance the learning ability, a novel prediction error signal is constructed to provide additional correction information for NN weight update using online recorded data. In this way, the neural approximation precision is highly improved, and the convergence speed can be faster. Furthermore, the sliding mode differentiator is employed to approximate the derivative of the virtual control signal, and thus, the complex analysis of the backstepping design can be avoided. The closed-loop stability is rigorously established, and the boundedness of the tracking error can be guaranteed. Through simulation of hypersonic flight dynamics, the proposed approach exhibits better tracking performance.

An annular superposition integral for axisymmetric radiators

PubMed Central

Kelly, James F.; McGough, Robert J.

2007-01-01

A fast integral expression for computing the nearfield pressure is derived for axisymmetric radiators. This method replaces the sum of contributions from concentric annuli with an exact double integral that converges much faster than methods that evaluate the Rayleigh-Sommerfeld integral or the generalized King integral. Expressions are derived for plane circular pistons using both continuous wave and pulsed excitations. Several commonly used apodization schemes for the surface velocity distribution are considered, including polynomial functions and a “smooth piston” function. The effect of different apodization functions on the spectral content of the wave field is explored. Quantitative error and time comparisons between the new method, the Rayleigh-Sommerfeld integral, and the generalized King integral are discussed. At all error levels considered, the annular superposition method achieves a speed-up of at least a factor of 4 relative to the point-source method and a factor of 3 relative to the generalized King integral without increasing the computational complexity. PMID:17348500

A linear recurrent kernel online learning algorithm with sparse updates.

PubMed

Fan, Haijin; Song, Qing

2014-02-01

In this paper, we propose a recurrent kernel algorithm with selectively sparse updates for online learning. The algorithm introduces a linear recurrent term in the estimation of the current output. This makes the past information reusable for updating of the algorithm in the form of a recurrent gradient term. To ensure that the reuse of this recurrent gradient indeed accelerates the convergence speed, a novel hybrid recurrent training is proposed to switch on or off learning the recurrent information according to the magnitude of the current training error. Furthermore, the algorithm includes a data-dependent adaptive learning rate which can provide guaranteed system weight convergence at each training iteration. The learning rate is set as zero when the training violates the derived convergence conditions, which makes the algorithm updating process sparse. Theoretical analyses of the weight convergence are presented and experimental results show the good performance of the proposed algorithm in terms of convergence speed and estimation accuracy. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Psychophysics of reading. XVII. Low-vision performance with four types of electronically magnified text.

PubMed

Harland, S; Legge, G E; Luebker, A

1998-03-01

Most people with low vision need magnification to read. Page navigation is the process of moving a magnifier during reading. Modern electronic technology can provide many alternatives for navigating through text. This study compared reading speeds for four methods of displaying text. The four methods varied in their page-navigation demands. The closed-circuit television (CCTV) and MOUSE methods involved manual navigation. The DRIFT method (horizontally drifting text) involved no manual navigation, but did involve both smooth-pursuit and saccadic eye movements. The rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) method involved no manual navigation, and relatively few eye movements. There were 7 normal subjects and 12 low-vision subjects (7 with central-field loss, CFL group, and 5 with central fields intact, CFI group). The subjects read 70-word passages at speeds that yielded good comprehension. Taking the CCTV reading speed as a benchmark, neither the normal nor low-vision subjects had significantly different speeds with the MOUSE method. As expected from the reduced navigational demands, normal subjects read faster with the DRIFT method (85% faster) and the RSVP method (169%). The CFI group read significantly faster with DRIFT (43%) and RSVP (38%). The CFL group showed no significant differences in reading speed for the four methods.

The performance of monotonic and new non-monotonic gradient ascent reconstruction algorithms for high-resolution neuroreceptor PET imaging.

PubMed

Angelis, G I; Reader, A J; Kotasidis, F A; Lionheart, W R; Matthews, J C

2011-07-07

Iterative expectation maximization (EM) techniques have been extensively used to solve maximum likelihood (ML) problems in positron emission tomography (PET) image reconstruction. Although EM methods offer a robust approach to solving ML problems, they usually suffer from slow convergence rates. The ordered subsets EM (OSEM) algorithm provides significant improvements in the convergence rate, but it can cycle between estimates converging towards the ML solution of each subset. In contrast, gradient-based methods, such as the recently proposed non-monotonic maximum likelihood (NMML) and the more established preconditioned conjugate gradient (PCG), offer a globally convergent, yet equally fast, alternative to OSEM. Reported results showed that NMML provides faster convergence compared to OSEM; however, it has never been compared to other fast gradient-based methods, like PCG. Therefore, in this work we evaluate the performance of two gradient-based methods (NMML and PCG) and investigate their potential as an alternative to the fast and widely used OSEM. All algorithms were evaluated using 2D simulations, as well as a single [(11)C]DASB clinical brain dataset. Results on simulated 2D data show that both PCG and NMML achieve orders of magnitude faster convergence to the ML solution compared to MLEM and exhibit comparable performance to OSEM. Equally fast performance is observed between OSEM and PCG for clinical 3D data, but NMML seems to perform poorly. However, with the addition of a preconditioner term to the gradient direction, the convergence behaviour of NMML can be substantially improved. Although PCG is a fast convergent algorithm, the use of a (bent) line search increases the complexity of the implementation, as well as the computational time involved per iteration. Contrary to previous reports, NMML offers no clear advantage over OSEM or PCG, for noisy PET data. Therefore, we conclude that there is little evidence to replace OSEM as the algorithm of choice for many applications, especially given that in practice convergence is often not desired for algorithms seeking ML estimates.

Design for a Crane Metallic Structure Based on Imperialist Competitive Algorithm and Inverse Reliability Strategy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fan, Xiao-Ning; Zhi, Bo

2017-07-01

Uncertainties in parameters such as materials, loading, and geometry are inevitable in designing metallic structures for cranes. When considering these uncertainty factors, reliability-based design optimization (RBDO) offers a more reasonable design approach. However, existing RBDO methods for crane metallic structures are prone to low convergence speed and high computational cost. A unilevel RBDO method, combining a discrete imperialist competitive algorithm with an inverse reliability strategy based on the performance measure approach, is developed. Application of the imperialist competitive algorithm at the optimization level significantly improves the convergence speed of this RBDO method. At the reliability analysis level, the inverse reliability strategy is used to determine the feasibility of each probabilistic constraint at each design point by calculating its α-percentile performance, thereby avoiding convergence failure, calculation error, and disproportionate computational effort encountered using conventional moment and simulation methods. Application of the RBDO method to an actual crane structure shows that the developed RBDO realizes a design with the best tradeoff between economy and safety together with about one-third of the convergence speed and the computational cost of the existing method. This paper provides a scientific and effective design approach for the design of metallic structures of cranes.

Mechanical Determinants of Faster Change of Direction Speed Performance in Male Athletes.

PubMed

DosʼSantos, Thomas; Thomas, Christopher; Jones, Paul A; Comfort, Paul

2017-03-01

Dos'Santos, T, Thomas, C, Jones, PA, and Comfort, P. Mechanical determinants of faster change of direction speed performance in male athletes. J Strength Cond Res 31(3): 696-705, 2017-Mechanical variables during change of directions, for example, braking and propulsive forces, impulses, and ground contact times (GCT) have been identified as determinants of faster change of direction speed (CODS) performance. The purpose of this study was to investigate the mechanical determinants of 180° CODS performance with mechanical characteristic comparisons between faster and slower performers; while exploring the role of the penultimate foot contact (PEN) during the change of direction. Forty multidirectional male athletes performed 6 modified 505 (mod505) trials (3 left and right), and ground reaction forces were collected across the PEN and final foot contact (FINAL) during the change of direction. Pearson's correlation coefficients and coefficients of determination were used to explore the relationship between mechanical variables and mod505 completion time. Independent T-tests and Cohen's d effect sizes (ES) were conducted between faster (n = 10) and slower (n = 10) mod505 performers to explore differences in mechanical variables. Faster CODS performance was associated (p ≤ 0.05) with shorter GCTs (r = 0.701-0.757), greater horizontal propulsive forces (HPF) (r = -0.572 to -0.611), greater horizontal braking forces (HBF) in the PEN (r = -0.337), lower HBF ratios (r = -0.429), and lower FINAL vertical impact forces (VIF) (r = 0.449-0.559). Faster athletes demonstrated significantly (p ≤ 0.05, ES = 1.08-2.54) shorter FINAL GCTs, produced lower VIF, lower HBF ratios, and greater HPF in comparison to slower athletes. These findings suggest that different mechanical properties are required to produce faster CODS performance, with differences in mechanical properties observed between fast and slower performers. Furthermore, applying a greater proportion of braking force during the PEN relative to the FINAL may be advantageous for turning performance.

Gender Differences in Processing Speed: A Review of Recent Research

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Roivainen, Eka

2011-01-01

A review of recent large-scale studies on gender differences in processing speed and on the cognitive factors assumed to affect processing speed was performed. It was found that females have an advantage in processing speed tasks involving digits and alphabets as well as in rapid naming tasks while males are faster on reaction time tests and…

Why Do the Relativistic Masses and Momenta of Faster-than-Light Particles Decrease as their Speeds Increase? 5M Madarász, Judit X.; Stannett, Mike; Székely, Gergely

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

2014-01-01

It has recently been shown within a formal axiomatic framework using a definition of four-momentum based on the Stückelberg-Feynman-Sudarshan-Recami ''switching principle'' that Einstein's relativistic dynamics is logically consistent with the existence of interacting faster-than-light inertial particles. Our results here show, using only basic natural assumptions on dynamics, that this definition is the only possible way to get a consistent theory of such particles moving within the geometry of Minkowskian spacetime. We present a strictly formal proof from a streamlined axiom system that given any slow or fast inertial particle, all inertial observers agree on the value of {m}\\cdot √{|1-v^2|}, where {m} is the particle's relativistic mass and vits speed. This confirms formally the widely held belief that the relativistic mass and momentum of a positive-mass faster-than-light particle must decrease as its speed increases.

Estimation of interfacial heat transfer coefficient in inverse heat conduction problems based on artificial fish swarm algorithm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Xiaowei; Li, Huiping; Li, Zhichao

2018-04-01

The interfacial heat transfer coefficient (IHTC) is one of the most important thermal physical parameters which have significant effects on the calculation accuracy of physical fields in the numerical simulation. In this study, the artificial fish swarm algorithm (AFSA) was used to evaluate the IHTC between the heated sample and the quenchant in a one-dimensional heat conduction problem. AFSA is a global optimization method. In order to speed up the convergence speed, a hybrid method which is the combination of AFSA and normal distribution method (ZAFSA) was presented. The IHTC evaluated by ZAFSA were compared with those attained by AFSA and the advanced-retreat method and golden section method. The results show that the reasonable IHTC is obtained by using ZAFSA, the convergence of hybrid method is well. The algorithm based on ZAFSA can not only accelerate the convergence speed, but also reduce the numerical oscillation in the evaluation of IHTC.

Non-homogeneous updates for the iterative coordinate descent algorithm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yu, Zhou; Thibault, Jean-Baptiste; Bouman, Charles A.; Sauer, Ken D.; Hsieh, Jiang

2007-02-01

Statistical reconstruction methods show great promise for improving resolution, and reducing noise and artifacts in helical X-ray CT. In fact, statistical reconstruction seems to be particularly valuable in maintaining reconstructed image quality when the dosage is low and the noise is therefore high. However, high computational cost and long reconstruction times remain as a barrier to the use of statistical reconstruction in practical applications. Among the various iterative methods that have been studied for statistical reconstruction, iterative coordinate descent (ICD) has been found to have relatively low overall computational requirements due to its fast convergence. This paper presents a novel method for further speeding the convergence of the ICD algorithm, and therefore reducing the overall reconstruction time for statistical reconstruction. The method, which we call nonhomogeneous iterative coordinate descent (NH-ICD) uses spatially non-homogeneous updates to speed convergence by focusing computation where it is most needed. Experimental results with real data indicate that the method speeds reconstruction by roughly a factor of two for typical 3D multi-slice geometries.

The Effects of Dissipation and Coarse Grid Resolution for Multigrid in Flow Problems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Eliasson, Peter; Engquist, Bjoern

1996-01-01

The objective of this paper is to investigate the effects of the numerical dissipation and the resolution of the solution on coarser grids for multigrid with the Euler equation approximations. The convergence is accomplished by multi-stage explicit time-stepping to steady state accelerated by FAS multigrid. A theoretical investigation is carried out for linear hyperbolic equations in one and two dimensions. The spectra reveals that for stability and hence robustness of spatial discretizations with a small amount of numerical dissipation the grid transfer operators have to be accurate enough and the smoother of low temporal accuracy. Numerical results give grid independent convergence in one dimension. For two-dimensional problems with a small amount of numerical dissipation, however, only a few grid levels contribute to an increased speed of convergence. This is explained by the small numerical dissipation leading to dispersion. Increasing the mesh density and hence making the problem over resolved increases the number of mesh levels contributing to an increased speed of convergence. If the steady state equations are elliptic, all grid levels contribute to the convergence regardless of the mesh density.

Convergence acceleration of molecular dynamics methods for shocked materials using velocity scaling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Taylor, DeCarlos E.

2017-03-01

In this work, a convergence acceleration method applicable to extended system molecular dynamics techniques for shock simulations of materials is presented. The method uses velocity scaling to reduce the instantaneous value of the Rankine-Hugoniot conservation of energy constraint used in extended system molecular dynamics methods to more rapidly drive the system towards a converged Hugoniot state. When used in conjunction with the constant stress Hugoniostat method, the velocity scaled trajectories show faster convergence to the final Hugoniot state with little difference observed in the converged Hugoniot energy, pressure, volume and temperature. A derivation of the scale factor is presented and the performance of the technique is demonstrated using the boron carbide armour ceramic as a test material. It is shown that simulation of boron carbide Hugoniot states, from 5 to 20 GPa, using both a classical Tersoff potential and an ab initio density functional, are more rapidly convergent when the velocity scaling algorithm is applied. The accelerated convergence afforded by the current algorithm enables more rapid determination of Hugoniot states thus reducing the computational demand of such studies when using expensive ab initio or classical potentials.

How hot? Systematic convergence of the replica exchange method using multiple reservoirs.

PubMed

Ruscio, Jory Z; Fawzi, Nicolas L; Head-Gordon, Teresa

2010-02-01

We have devised a systematic approach to converge a replica exchange molecular dynamics simulation by dividing the full temperature range into a series of higher temperature reservoirs and a finite number of lower temperature subreplicas. A defined highest temperature reservoir of equilibrium conformations is used to help converge a lower but still hot temperature subreplica, which in turn serves as the high-temperature reservoir for the next set of lower temperature subreplicas. The process is continued until an optimal temperature reservoir is reached to converge the simulation at the target temperature. This gradual convergence of subreplicas allows for better and faster convergence at the temperature of interest and all intermediate temperatures for thermodynamic analysis, as well as optimizing the use of multiple processors. We illustrate the overall effectiveness of our multiple reservoir replica exchange strategy by comparing sampling and computational efficiency with respect to replica exchange, as well as comparing methods when converging the structural ensemble of the disordered Abeta(21-30) peptide simulated with explicit water by comparing calculated Rotating Overhauser Effect Spectroscopy intensities to experimentally measured values. Copyright 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Social Environment Shapes the Speed of Cooperation

PubMed Central

Nishi, Akihiro; Christakis, Nicholas A.; Evans, Anthony M.; O’Malley, A. James; Rand, David G.

2016-01-01

Are cooperative decisions typically made more quickly or slowly than non-cooperative decisions? While this question has attracted considerable attention in recent years, most research has focused on one-shot interactions. Yet it is repeated interactions that characterize most important real-world social interactions. In repeated interactions, the cooperativeness of one’s interaction partners (the “social environment”) should affect the speed of cooperation. Specifically, we propose that reciprocal decisions (choices that mirror behavior observed in the social environment), rather than cooperative decisions per se, occur more quickly. We test this hypothesis by examining four independent decision time datasets with a total of 2,088 subjects making 55,968 decisions. We show that reciprocal decisions are consistently faster than non-reciprocal decisions: cooperation is faster than defection in cooperative environments, while defection is faster than cooperation in non-cooperative environments. These differences are further enhanced by subjects’ previous behavior – reciprocal decisions are faster when they are consistent with the subject’s previous choices. Finally, mediation analyses of a fifth dataset suggest that the speed of reciprocal decisions is explained, in part, by feelings of conflict – reciprocal decisions are less conflicted than non-reciprocal decisions, and less decision conflict appears to lead to shorter decision times. PMID:27435940

Dynamic Aberration Correction for Conformal Window of High-Speed Aircraft Using Optimized Model-Based Wavefront Sensorless Adaptive Optics.

PubMed

Dong, Bing; Li, Yan; Han, Xin-Li; Hu, Bin

2016-09-02

For high-speed aircraft, a conformal window is used to optimize the aerodynamic performance. However, the local shape of the conformal window leads to large amounts of dynamic aberrations varying with look angle. In this paper, deformable mirror (DM) and model-based wavefront sensorless adaptive optics (WSLAO) are used for dynamic aberration correction of an infrared remote sensor equipped with a conformal window and scanning mirror. In model-based WSLAO, aberration is captured using Lukosz mode, and we use the low spatial frequency content of the image spectral density as the metric function. Simulations show that aberrations induced by the conformal window are dominated by some low-order Lukosz modes. To optimize the dynamic correction, we can only correct dominant Lukosz modes and the image size can be minimized to reduce the time required to compute the metric function. In our experiment, a 37-channel DM is used to mimic the dynamic aberration of conformal window with scanning rate of 10 degrees per second. A 52-channel DM is used for correction. For a 128 × 128 image, the mean value of image sharpness during dynamic correction is 1.436 × 10(-5) in optimized correction and is 1.427 × 10(-5) in un-optimized correction. We also demonstrated that model-based WSLAO can achieve convergence two times faster than traditional stochastic parallel gradient descent (SPGD) method.

Comparison of cursive models for handwriting instruction.

PubMed

Karlsdottir, R

1997-12-01

The efficiency of four different cursive handwriting styles as model alphabets for handwriting instruction of primary school children was compared in a cross-sectional field experiment from Grade 3 to 6 in terms of the average handwriting speed developed by the children and the average rate of convergence of the children's handwriting to the style of their model. It was concluded that styles with regular entry stroke patterns give the steadiest rate of convergence to the model and styles with short ascenders and descenders and strokes with not too high curvatures give the highest handwriting speed.

Speeding up N-body simulations of modified gravity: chameleon screening models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bose, Sownak; Li, Baojiu; Barreira, Alexandre; He, Jian-hua; Hellwing, Wojciech A.; Koyama, Kazuya; Llinares, Claudio; Zhao, Gong-Bo

2017-02-01

We describe and demonstrate the potential of a new and very efficient method for simulating certain classes of modified gravity theories, such as the widely studied f(R) gravity models. High resolution simulations for such models are currently very slow due to the highly nonlinear partial differential equation that needs to be solved exactly to predict the modified gravitational force. This nonlinearity is partly inherent, but is also exacerbated by the specific numerical algorithm used, which employs a variable redefinition to prevent numerical instabilities. The standard Newton-Gauss-Seidel iterative method used to tackle this problem has a poor convergence rate. Our new method not only avoids this, but also allows the discretised equation to be written in a form that is analytically solvable. We show that this new method greatly improves the performance and efficiency of f(R) simulations. For example, a test simulation with 5123 particles in a box of size 512 Mpc/h is now 5 times faster than before, while a Millennium-resolution simulation for f(R) gravity is estimated to be more than 20 times faster than with the old method. Our new implementation will be particularly useful for running very high resolution, large-sized simulations which, to date, are only possible for the standard model, and also makes it feasible to run large numbers of lower resolution simulations for covariance analyses. We hope that the method will bring us to a new era for precision cosmological tests of gravity.

A multi-reference filtered-x-Newton narrowband algorithm for active isolation of vibration and experimental investigations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Chun-yu; He, Lin; Li, Yan; Shuai, Chang-geng

2018-01-01

In engineering applications, ship machinery vibration may be induced by multiple rotational machines sharing a common vibration isolation platform and operating at the same time, and multiple sinusoidal components may be excited. These components may be located at frequencies with large differences or at very close frequencies. A multi-reference filtered-x Newton narrowband (MRFx-Newton) algorithm is proposed to control these multiple sinusoidal components in an MIMO (multiple input and multiple output) system, especially for those located at very close frequencies. The proposed MRFx-Newton algorithm can decouple and suppress multiple sinusoidal components located in the same narrow frequency band even though such components cannot be separated from each other by a narrowband-pass filter. Like the Fx-Newton algorithm, good real-time performance is also achieved by the faster convergence speed brought by the 2nd-order inverse secondary-path filter in the time domain. Experiments are also conducted to verify the feasibility and test the performance of the proposed algorithm installed in an active-passive vibration isolation system in suppressing the vibration excited by an artificial source and air compressor/s. The results show that the proposed algorithm not only has comparable convergence rate as the Fx-Newton algorithm but also has better real-time performance and robustness than the Fx-Newton algorithm in active control of the vibration induced by multiple sound sources/rotational machines working on a shared platform.

Infant Visual Recognition Memory: Independent Contributions of Speed and Attention.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rose, Susan A.; Feldman, Judith F.; Jankowski, Jeffery J.

2003-01-01

Examined contributions of cognitive processing speed, short-term memory capacity, and attention to infant visual recognition memory. Found that infants who showed better attention and faster processing had better recognition memory. Contributions of attention and processing speed were independent of one another and similar at all ages studied--5,…

Speed Kills, Speed Thrills: Constraining and Enabling Accelerations in Academic Work-Life

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vostal, Filip

2015-01-01

Intensification, speed of change and faster pace of life have recently emerged as significant issues in studies analysing the current academic climate. This article takes up the "social acceleration thesis" as a conceptual resource for capturing the relationship between the individual experience of time and the changing structure and…

Eruption of a plasma blob, associated M-class flare, and large-scale extreme-ultraviolet wave observed by SDO

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kumar, P.; Manoharan, P. K.

2013-05-01

We present a multiwavelength study of the formation and ejection of a plasma blob and associated extreme ultraviolet (EUV) waves in active region (AR) NOAA 11176, observed by SDO/AIA and STEREO on 25 March 2011. The EUV images observed with the AIA instrument clearly show the formation and ejection of a plasma blob from the lower atmosphere of the Sun at ~9 min prior to the onset of the M1.0 flare. This onset of the M-class flare happened at the site of the blob formation, while the blob was rising in a parabolic path with an average speed of ~300 km s. The blob also showed twisting and de-twisting motion in the lower corona, and the blob speed varied from ~10-540 km s. The faster and slower EUV wavefronts were observed in front of the plasma blob during its impulsive acceleration phase. The faster EUV wave propagated with a speed of ~785 to 1020 km s, whereas the slower wavefront speed varied in between ~245 and 465 km s. The timing and speed of the faster wave match the shock speed estimated from the drift rate of the associated type II radio burst. The faster wave experiences a reflection by the nearby AR NOAA 11177. In addition, secondary waves were observed (only in the 171 Å channel), when the primary fast wave and plasma blob impacted the funnel-shaped coronal loops. The Helioseismic Magnetic Imager (HMI) magnetograms revealed the continuous emergence of new magnetic flux along with shear flows at the site of the blob formation. It is inferred that the emergence of twisted magnetic fields in the form of arch-filaments/"anemone-type" loops is the likely cause for the plasma blob formation and associated eruption along with the triggering of M-class flare. Furthermore, the faster EUV wave formed ahead of the blob shows the signature of fast-mode MHD wave, whereas the slower wave seems to be generated by the field line compression by the plasma blob. The secondary wave trains originated from the funnel-shaped loops are probably the fast magnetoacoustic waves. Three movies are available in electronic form at http://www.aanda.org

Experiment of Burst Speed of Fingerling Masu salmon, Oncorhynchus, with Stamina Tunnel in The River

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Izumi, Mattashi; Yamamoto, Yasuyuki; Yataya, Kenichi; Kamiyama, Kohhei

A swimming experiment of cultured fingerling masu salmon (Oncorhynchus masou masou) (measuring 3cm to 6cm in length) was conducted in a round stamina tunnel (cylindrical pipe) installed in a fishway of a local river with a water flow velocity of 64cm·s-1 to 218cm·s-1 in order to study the burst speed of the masu salmon.The results show that: (1) the faster the swimming speed,the swimming time of the fingerling masu salmon shortened, and the ground speed also decreased as the flow velocity increased; (2)the faster the flow velocity,the shorter the swimming distance became; (3) the burst speed was calculated for the fingerling masu salmon with the considerably excellent swimming ability(measuring 4.6cm to 6.2cm in mean length) in conditions of a high velocity(218cm·s-1), and the result was: mean burst speed:229cm·s-1(S.D.8cm·s-1) to 232cm·s-1(S.D.:8cm·s-1).

Is typing speed proportional to the severity of pain in keyboard workers with work-related upper limb disorder

PubMed Central

Povlsen, Bo

2012-01-01

Objectives To investigate if typing speed is proportional to the severity of pain in keyboard workers with work-related upper limb disorder (WRULD). Design Standardized functional typing test with participants scoring pain before and after typing; calculation of typing speed. Participants Fifty-nine patients and six controls. Setting Tertiary hospital centre for hand and upper limb pain. Main outcome measures Pain (VAS 0–10) and calculation of typing speed as words per minute. Results Three subgroups of patients were found based on their typing speed: fast, slow and intermediate. Two-tailed student T-test with P level at 0.05 was used for evaluation. The typing speeds were significantly different between all three patient groups (P < 0.05). The typing speed was significantly faster in the fastest patient group than in the control group (P = 0.04) and the slow and middle groups (P = < 0.0001). The pain before typing was highest in the ‘slow’ group, in both hands but this difference was not statistically significant. Conclusion Typing speed is not proportional to the severity of pain in keyboard workers with WRULD. Patients with statistically significant slower or faster typing speeds do not have statistically different levels of pain. PMID:22299070

Development of a driving method suitable for ultrahigh-speed shooting in a 2M-fps 300k-pixel single-chip color camera

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yonai, J.; Arai, T.; Hayashida, T.; Ohtake, H.; Namiki, J.; Yoshida, T.; Etoh, T. Goji

2012-03-01

We have developed an ultrahigh-speed CCD camera that can capture instantaneous phenomena not visible to the human eye and impossible to capture with a regular video camera. The ultrahigh-speed CCD was specially constructed so that the CCD memory between the photodiode and the vertical transfer path of each pixel can store 144 frames each. For every one-frame shot, the electric charges generated from the photodiodes are transferred in one step to the memory of all the parallel pixels, making ultrahigh-speed shooting possible. Earlier, we experimentally manufactured a 1M-fps ultrahigh-speed camera and tested it for broadcasting applications. Through those tests, we learned that there are cases that require shooting speeds (frame rate) of more than 1M fps; hence we aimed to develop a new ultrahigh-speed camera that will enable much faster shooting speeds than what is currently possible. Since shooting at speeds of more than 200,000 fps results in decreased image quality and abrupt heating of the image sensor and drive circuit board, faster speeds cannot be achieved merely by increasing the drive frequency. We therefore had to improve the image sensor wiring layout and the driving method to develop a new 2M-fps, 300k-pixel ultrahigh-speed single-chip color camera for broadcasting purposes.

Faster Movement Speed Results in Greater Tendon Strain during the Loaded Squat Exercise

PubMed Central

Earp, Jacob E.; Newton, Robert U.; Cormie, Prue; Blazevich, Anthony J.

2016-01-01

Introduction: Tendon dynamics influence movement performance and provide the stimulus for long-term tendon adaptation. As tendon strain increases with load magnitude and decreases with loading rate, changes in movement speed during exercise should influence tendon strain. Methods: Ten resistance-trained men [squat one repetition maximum (1RM) to body mass ratio: 1.65 ± 0.12] performed parallel-depth back squat lifts with 60% of 1RM load at three different speeds: slow fixed-tempo (TS: 2-s eccentric, 1-s pause, 2-s concentric), volitional-speed without a pause (VS) and maximum-speed jump (JS). In each condition joint kinetics, quadriceps tendon length (LT), patellar tendon force (FT), and rate of force development (RFDT) were estimated using integrated ultrasonography, motion-capture, and force platform recordings. Results: Peak LT, FT, and RFDT were greater in JS than TS (p < 0.05), however no differences were observed between VS and TS. Thus, moving at faster speeds resulted in both greater tendon stress and strain despite an increased RFDT, as would be predicted of an elastic, but not a viscous, structure. Temporal comparisons showed that LT was greater in TS than JS during the early eccentric phase (10–14% movement duration) where peak RFDT occurred, demonstrating that the tendon's viscous properties predominated during initial eccentric loading. However, during the concentric phase (61–70 and 76–83% movement duration) differing FT and similar RFDT between conditions allowed for the tendon's elastic properties to predominate such that peak tendon strain was greater in JS than TS. Conclusions: Based on our current understanding, there may be an additional mechanical stimulus for tendon adaptation when performing large range-of-motion isoinertial exercises at faster movement speeds. PMID:27630574

Walking speed and subclinical atherosclerosis in healthy older adults: the Whitehall II study.

PubMed

Hamer, Mark; Kivimaki, Mika; Lahiri, Avijit; Yerramasu, Ajay; Deanfield, John E; Marmot, Michael G; Steptoe, Andrew

2010-03-01

Extended walking speed is a predictor of incident cardiovascular disease (CVD) in older individuals, but the ability of an objective short-distance walking speed test to stratify the severity of preclinical conditions remains unclear. This study examined whether performance in an 8-ft walking speed test is associated with metabolic risk factors and subclinical atherosclerosis. Cross-sectional. Setting Epidemiological cohort. 530 adults (aged 63 + or - 6 years, 50.3% male) from the Whitehall II cohort study with no known history or objective signs of CVD. Electron beam computed tomography and ultrasound was used to assess the presence and extent of coronary artery calcification (CAC) and carotid intima-media thickness (IMT), respectively. High levels of CAC (Agatston score >100) were detected in 24% of the sample; the mean IMT was 0.75 mm (SD 0.15). Participants with no detectable CAC completed the walking course 0.16 s (95% CI 0.04 to 0.28) faster than those with CAC > or = 400. Objectively assessed, but not self-reported, faster walking speed was associated with a lower risk of high CAC (odds ratio 0.62, 95% CI 0.40 to 0.96) and lower IMT (beta=-0.04, 95% CI -0.01 to -0.07 mm) in comparison with the slowest walkers (bottom third), after adjusting for conventional risk factors. Faster walking speed was also associated with lower adiposity, C-reactive protein and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol. Short-distance walking speed is associated with metabolic risk and subclinical atherosclerosis in older adults without overt CVD. These data suggest that a non-aerobically challenging walking test reflects the presence of underlying vascular disease.

Walking speed and subclinical atherosclerosis in healthy older adults: the Whitehall II study

PubMed Central

Kivimaki, Mika; Lahiri, Avijit; Yerramasu, Ajay; Deanfield, John E; Marmot, Michael G; Steptoe, Andrew

2010-01-01

Objective Extended walking speed is a predictor of incident cardiovascular disease (CVD) in older individuals, but the ability of an objective short-distance walking speed test to stratify the severity of preclinical conditions remains unclear. This study examined whether performance in an 8-ft walking speed test is associated with metabolic risk factors and subclinical atherosclerosis. Design Cross-sectional. Setting Epidemiological cohort. Participants 530 adults (aged 63±6 years, 50.3% male) from the Whitehall II cohort study with no known history or objective signs of CVD. Main outcome Electron beam computed tomography and ultrasound was used to assess the presence and extent of coronary artery calcification (CAC) and carotid intima-media thickness (IMT), respectively. Results High levels of CAC (Agatston score >100) were detected in 24% of the sample; the mean IMT was 0.75 mm (SD 0.15). Participants with no detectable CAC completed the walking course 0.16 s (95% CI 0.04 to 0.28) faster than those with CAC ≥400. Objectively assessed, but not self-reported, faster walking speed was associated with a lower risk of high CAC (odds ratio 0.62, 95% CI 0.40 to 0.96) and lower IMT (β=−0.04, 95% CI −0.01 to −0.07 mm) in comparison with the slowest walkers (bottom third), after adjusting for conventional risk factors. Faster walking speed was also associated with lower adiposity, C-reactive protein and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol. Conclusions Short-distance walking speed is associated with metabolic risk and subclinical atherosclerosis in older adults without overt CVD. These data suggest that a non-aerobically challenging walking test reflects the presence of underlying vascular disease. PMID:19955091

Contribution of the Recent AUSM Schemes to the Overflow Code: Implementation and Validation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Liou, Meng-Sing; Buning, Pieter G.

2000-01-01

We shall present results of a recent collaborative effort between the authors attempting to implement the numerical flux scheme, AUSM+ and its new developments, into a widely used NASA code, OVERFLOW. This paper is intended to give a thorough and systematic documentation about the solutions of default test cases using the AUSNI+ scheme. Hence we will address various aspects of numerical solutions, such as accuracy, convergence rate, and effects of turbulence models, over a variety of geometries, speed regimes. We will briefly describe the numerical schemes employed in the calculations, including the capability of solving for low-speed flows and multiphase flows by employing the concept of numerical speed of sound. As a bonus, this low Mach number formulations also enhances convergence to steady solutions for flows even at transonic speed. Calculations for complex 3D turbulent flows were performed with several turbulence models and the results display excellent agreements with measured data.

Switching speeds in NCAP displays: dependence on collection angle and wavelength

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reamey, Robert H.; Montoya, Wayne; Wartenberg, Mark

1991-06-01

The on and off switching speeds of nematic droplet-polymer films (NCAP) are shown to depend on the collection angle (f/#) and the wavelength of the light used in the measurement. Conventional twisted nematic liquid crystal displays have switching speeds which depend little on these factors. The switching speed dependence on collection angle (f/#) and wavelength for nematic droplet-polymer films is inherent to the mechanism by which light is modulated in these films. This mechanism is the scattering of light by the nematic droplets. The on times become faster and the off times become slower as the collection angle of detection is increased. The overall change in switching speed can be large. Greater than 100X changes in off time have been observed. As the wavelength of the light used to interrogate the sample is increased (blue yields green yields red) the on times become faster and the off times become slower. This dependence of switching speed on wavelength is apparent at all collection angles. An awareness of these effects is necessary when developing nematic droplet-polymer films for display applications and when comparing switching speed data from different sources.

Elastic coupling of limb joints enables faster bipedal walking

PubMed Central

Dean, J.C.; Kuo, A.D.

2008-01-01

The passive dynamics of bipedal limbs alone are sufficient to produce a walking motion, without need for control. Humans augment these dynamics with muscles, actively coordinated to produce stable and economical walking. Present robots using passive dynamics walk much slower, perhaps because they lack elastic muscles that couple the joints. Elastic properties are well known to enhance running gaits, but their effect on walking has yet to be explored. Here we use a computational model of dynamic walking to show that elastic joint coupling can help to coordinate faster walking. In walking powered by trailing leg push-off, the model's speed is normally limited by a swing leg that moves too slowly to avoid stumbling. A uni-articular spring about the knee allows faster but uneconomical walking. A combination of uni-articular hip and knee springs can speed the legs for improved speed and economy, but not without the swing foot scuffing the ground. Bi-articular springs coupling the hips and knees can yield high economy and good ground clearance similar to humans. An important parameter is the knee-to-hip moment arm that greatly affects the existence and stability of gaits, and when selected appropriately can allow for a wide range of speeds. Elastic joint coupling may contribute to the economy and stability of human gait. PMID:18957360

Relative speed of processing determines color-word contingency learning.

PubMed

Forrin, Noah D; MacLeod, Colin M

2017-10-01

In three experiments, we tested a relative-speed-of-processing account of color-word contingency learning, a phenomenon in which color identification responses to high-contingency stimuli (words that appear most often in particular colors) are faster than those to low-contingency stimuli. Experiment 1 showed equally large contingency-learning effects whether responding was to the colors or to the words, likely due to slow responding to both dimensions because of the unfamiliar mapping required by the key press responses. For Experiment 2, participants switched to vocal responding, in which reading words is considerably faster than naming colors, and we obtained a contingency-learning effect only for color naming, the slower dimension. In Experiment 3, previewing the color information resulted in a reduced contingency-learning effect for color naming, but it enhanced the contingency-learning effect for word reading. These results are all consistent with contingency learning influencing performance only when the nominally irrelevant feature is faster to process than the relevant feature, and therefore are entirely in accord with a relative-speed-of-processing explanation.

Application of hybrid artificial fish swarm algorithm based on similar fragments in VRP

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Che, Jinnuo; Zhou, Kang; Zhang, Xueyu; Tong, Xin; Hou, Lingyun; Jia, Shiyu; Zhen, Yiting

2018-03-01

Focused on the issue that the decrease of convergence speed and the precision of calculation at the end of the process in Artificial Fish Swarm Algorithm(AFSA) and instability of results, a hybrid AFSA based on similar fragments is proposed. Traditional AFSA enjoys a lot of obvious advantages in solving complex optimization problems like Vehicle Routing Problem(VRP). AFSA have a few limitations such as low convergence speed, low precision and instability of results. In this paper, two improvements are introduced. On the one hand, change the definition of the distance for artificial fish, as well as increase vision field of artificial fish, and the problem of speed and precision can be improved when solving VRP. On the other hand, mix artificial bee colony algorithm(ABC) into AFSA - initialize the population of artificial fish by the ABC, and it solves the problem of instability of results in some extend. The experiment results demonstrate that the optimal solution of the hybrid AFSA is easier to approach the optimal solution of the standard database than the other two algorithms. In conclusion, the hybrid algorithm can effectively solve the problem that instability of results and decrease of convergence speed and the precision of calculation at the end of the process.

Statistical Mechanical Analysis of Online Learning with Weight Normalization in Single Layer Perceptron

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yoshida, Yuki; Karakida, Ryo; Okada, Masato; Amari, Shun-ichi

2017-04-01

Weight normalization, a newly proposed optimization method for neural networks by Salimans and Kingma (2016), decomposes the weight vector of a neural network into a radial length and a direction vector, and the decomposed parameters follow their steepest descent update. They reported that learning with the weight normalization achieves better converging speed in several tasks including image recognition and reinforcement learning than learning with the conventional parameterization. However, it remains theoretically uncovered how the weight normalization improves the converging speed. In this study, we applied a statistical mechanical technique to analyze on-line learning in single layer linear and nonlinear perceptrons with weight normalization. By deriving order parameters of the learning dynamics, we confirmed quantitatively that weight normalization realizes fast converging speed by automatically tuning the effective learning rate, regardless of the nonlinearity of the neural network. This property is realized when the initial value of the radial length is near the global minimum; therefore, our theory suggests that it is important to choose the initial value of the radial length appropriately when using weight normalization.

Pedestrian crowd dynamics in merging sections: Revisiting the ;faster-is-slower; phenomenon

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shahhoseini, Zahra; Sarvi, Majid; Saberi, Meead

2018-02-01

The study of the discharge of active or self-driven matter in narrow passages has become of the growing interest in a variety of fields. The question has particularly important practical applications for the safety of pedestrian human flows notably in emergency scenarios. It has been suggested predominantly through simulation in some theoretical studies as well as through few experimentations that under certain circumstances, an elevated vigour to escape may exacerbate the outflow and cause further delay although the experimental evidence is rather mixed. The dimensions of this complex phenomenon known as the "faster-is slower" effect are of crucial importance to be understood owing to its potential practical implications for the emergency management. The contextual requirements of observing this phenomenon are yet to be identified. It is not clear whether a "do not speed up" policy is universally beneficial and advisable in an evacuation scenario. Here for the first time we experimentally examine this phenomenon in relation to the pedestrian flows at merging sections as a common geometric feature of crowd egress. Various merging angles and three different speed regimes were examined in high-density laboratory experiments. The measurements of flow interruptions and egress efficiency all indicated that the pedestrians were discharged faster when moving at elevated speed levels. We also observed clear dependencies between the discharge rate and the physical layout of the merging with certain designs clearly outperforming others. But regardless of the design, we observed faster throughput and greater avalanche sizes when we instructed pedestrians to run. Our results give the suggestion that observation of the faster-is-slower effect may necessitate certain critical conditions including passages being overly narrow relative to the size of participles (pedestrians) to create long-lasting blockages. The faster-is-slower assumption may not be universal and there may be circumstances where faster is, in fact, faster for evacuees. In the light of these findings, we suggest that it is important to identify and formulate those conditions so they can be disentangled from one another in the models. Misguided overgeneralisations may have unintended adverse ramifications for the safe evacuation management, and this highlights the need for further exploration of this phenomenon.

Exact Relativistic `Antigravity' Propulsion

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Felber, Franklin S.

2006-01-01

The Schwarzschild solution is used to find the exact relativistic motion of a payload in the gravitational field of a mass moving with constant velocity. At radial approach or recession speeds faster than 3-1/2 times the speed of light, even a small mass gravitationally repels a payload. At relativistic speeds, a suitable mass can quickly propel a heavy payload from rest nearly to the speed of light with negligible stresses on the payload.

Forces Generated by Vastus Lateralis and Vastus Medialis Decrease with Increasing Stair Descent Speed.

PubMed

Caruthers, Elena J; Oxendale, Kassandra K; Lewis, Jacqueline M; Chaudhari, Ajit M W; Schmitt, Laura C; Best, Thomas M; Siston, Robert A

2018-04-01

Stair descent (SD) is a common, difficult task for populations who are elderly or have orthopaedic pathologies. Joint torques of young, healthy populations during SD increase at the hip and ankle with increasing speed but not at the knee, contrasting torque patterns during gait. To better understand the sources of the knee torque pattern, we used dynamic simulations to estimate knee muscle forces and how they modulate center of mass (COM) acceleration across SD speeds (slow, self-selected, and fast) in young, healthy adults. The vastus lateralis and vastus medialis forces decreased from slow to self-selected speeds as the individual lowered to the next step. Since the vasti are primary contributors to vertical support during SD, they produced lower forces at faster speeds due to the lower need for vertical COM support observed at faster speeds. In contrast, the semimembranosus and rectus femoris forces increased across successive speeds, allowing the semimembranosus to increase acceleration downward and forward and the rectus femoris to provide more vertical support and resistance to forward progression as SD speed increased. These results demonstrate the utility of dynamic simulations to extend beyond traditional inverse dynamics analyses to gain further insight into muscle mechanisms during tasks like SD.

Walking economy during cued versus non-cued self-selected treadmill walking in persons with Parkinson's disease.

PubMed

Gallo, Paul M; McIsaac, Tara L; Garber, Carol Ewing

2014-01-01

Gait impairments related to Parkinson's disease (PD) include variable step length and decreased walking velocity, which may result in poorer walking economy. Auditory cueing is a common method used to improve gait mechanics in PD that has been shown to worsen walking economy at set treadmill walking speeds. It is unknown if auditory cueing has the same effects on walking economy at self-selected treadmill walking speeds. To determine if auditory cueing will affect walking economy at self-selected treadmill walking speeds and at speeds slightly faster and slower than self-selected. Twenty-two participants with moderate PD performed three, 6-minute bouts of treadmill walking at three speeds (self-selected and ± 0.22 m·sec-1). One session used cueing and the other without cueing. Energy expenditure was measured and walking economy was calculated (energy expenditure/power). Poorer walking economy and higher energy expenditure occurred during cued walking at a self-selected and a slightly faster walking speed, but there was no apparent difference at the slightly slower speed. These results suggest that potential gait benefits of auditory cueing may come at an energy cost and poorer walking economy for persons with PD at least at some treadmill walking speeds.

Unbound motion on a Schwarzschild background: Practical approaches to frequency domain computations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hopper, Seth

2018-03-01

Gravitational perturbations due to a point particle moving on a static black hole background are naturally described in Regge-Wheeler gauge. The first-order field equations reduce to a single master wave equation for each radiative mode. The master function satisfying this wave equation is a linear combination of the metric perturbation amplitudes with a source term arising from the stress-energy tensor of the point particle. The original master functions were found by Regge and Wheeler (odd parity) and Zerilli (even parity). Subsequent work by Moncrief and then Cunningham, Price and Moncrief introduced new master variables which allow time domain reconstruction of the metric perturbation amplitudes. Here, I explore the relationship between these different functions and develop a general procedure for deriving new higher-order master functions from ones already known. The benefit of higher-order functions is that their source terms always converge faster at large distance than their lower-order counterparts. This makes for a dramatic improvement in both the speed and accuracy of frequency domain codes when analyzing unbound motion.

Detection of Foreign Matter in Transfusion Solution Based on Gaussian Background Modeling and an Optimized BP Neural Network

PubMed Central

Zhou, Fuqiang; Su, Zhen; Chai, Xinghua; Chen, Lipeng

2014-01-01

This paper proposes a new method to detect and identify foreign matter mixed in a plastic bottle filled with transfusion solution. A spin-stop mechanism and mixed illumination style are applied to obtain high contrast images between moving foreign matter and a static transfusion background. The Gaussian mixture model is used to model the complex background of the transfusion image and to extract moving objects. A set of features of moving objects are extracted and selected by the ReliefF algorithm, and optimal feature vectors are fed into the back propagation (BP) neural network to distinguish between foreign matter and bubbles. The mind evolutionary algorithm (MEA) is applied to optimize the connection weights and thresholds of the BP neural network to obtain a higher classification accuracy and faster convergence rate. Experimental results show that the proposed method can effectively detect visible foreign matter in 250-mL transfusion bottles. The misdetection rate and false alarm rate are low, and the detection accuracy and detection speed are satisfactory. PMID:25347581

Deep Convolutional Extreme Learning Machine and Its Application in Handwritten Digit Classification

PubMed Central

Yang, Xinyi

2016-01-01

In recent years, some deep learning methods have been developed and applied to image classification applications, such as convolutional neuron network (CNN) and deep belief network (DBN). However they are suffering from some problems like local minima, slow convergence rate, and intensive human intervention. In this paper, we propose a rapid learning method, namely, deep convolutional extreme learning machine (DC-ELM), which combines the power of CNN and fast training of ELM. It uses multiple alternate convolution layers and pooling layers to effectively abstract high level features from input images. Then the abstracted features are fed to an ELM classifier, which leads to better generalization performance with faster learning speed. DC-ELM also introduces stochastic pooling in the last hidden layer to reduce dimensionality of features greatly, thus saving much training time and computation resources. We systematically evaluated the performance of DC-ELM on two handwritten digit data sets: MNIST and USPS. Experimental results show that our method achieved better testing accuracy with significantly shorter training time in comparison with deep learning methods and other ELM methods. PMID:27610128

Deep Convolutional Extreme Learning Machine and Its Application in Handwritten Digit Classification.

PubMed

Pang, Shan; Yang, Xinyi

2016-01-01

In recent years, some deep learning methods have been developed and applied to image classification applications, such as convolutional neuron network (CNN) and deep belief network (DBN). However they are suffering from some problems like local minima, slow convergence rate, and intensive human intervention. In this paper, we propose a rapid learning method, namely, deep convolutional extreme learning machine (DC-ELM), which combines the power of CNN and fast training of ELM. It uses multiple alternate convolution layers and pooling layers to effectively abstract high level features from input images. Then the abstracted features are fed to an ELM classifier, which leads to better generalization performance with faster learning speed. DC-ELM also introduces stochastic pooling in the last hidden layer to reduce dimensionality of features greatly, thus saving much training time and computation resources. We systematically evaluated the performance of DC-ELM on two handwritten digit data sets: MNIST and USPS. Experimental results show that our method achieved better testing accuracy with significantly shorter training time in comparison with deep learning methods and other ELM methods.

Improved artificial bee colony algorithm for wavefront sensor-less system in free space optical communication

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Niu, Chaojun; Han, Xiang'e.

2015-10-01

Adaptive optics (AO) technology is an effective way to alleviate the effect of turbulence on free space optical communication (FSO). A new adaptive compensation method can be used without a wave-front sensor. Artificial bee colony algorithm (ABC) is a population-based heuristic evolutionary algorithm inspired by the intelligent foraging behaviour of the honeybee swarm with the advantage of simple, good convergence rate, robust and less parameter setting. In this paper, we simulate the application of the improved ABC to correct the distorted wavefront and proved its effectiveness. Then we simulate the application of ABC algorithm, differential evolution (DE) algorithm and stochastic parallel gradient descent (SPGD) algorithm to the FSO system and analyze the wavefront correction capabilities by comparison of the coupling efficiency, the error rate and the intensity fluctuation in different turbulence before and after the correction. The results show that the ABC algorithm has much faster correction speed than DE algorithm and better correct ability for strong turbulence than SPGD algorithm. Intensity fluctuation can be effectively reduced in strong turbulence, but not so effective in week turbulence.

Modification Of Learning Rate With Lvq Model Improvement In Learning Backpropagation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tata Hardinata, Jaya; Zarlis, Muhammad; Budhiarti Nababan, Erna; Hartama, Dedy; Sembiring, Rahmat W.

2017-12-01

One type of artificial neural network is a backpropagation, This algorithm trained with the network architecture used during the training as well as providing the correct output to insert a similar but not the same with the architecture in use at training.The selection of appropriate parameters also affects the outcome, value of learning rate is one of the parameters which influence the process of training, Learning rate affects the speed of learning process on the network architecture.If the learning rate is set too large, then the algorithm will become unstable and otherwise the algorithm will converge in a very long period of time.So this study was made to determine the value of learning rate on the backpropagation algorithm. LVQ models of learning rate is one of the models used in the determination of the value of the learning rate of the algorithm LVQ.By modifying this LVQ model to be applied to the backpropagation algorithm. From the experimental results known to modify the learning rate LVQ models were applied to the backpropagation algorithm learning process becomes faster (epoch less).

Comparison of three explicit multigrid methods for the Euler and Navier-Stokes equations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chima, Rodrick V.; Turkel, Eli; Schaffer, Steve

1987-01-01

Three explicit multigrid methods, Ni's method, Jameson's finite-volume method, and a finite-difference method based on Brandt's work, are described and compared for two model problems. All three methods use an explicit multistage Runge-Kutta scheme on the fine grid, and this scheme is also described. Convergence histories for inviscid flow over a bump in a channel for the fine-grid scheme alone show that convergence rate is proportional to Courant number and that implicit residual smoothing can significantly accelerate the scheme. Ni's method was slightly slower than the implicitly-smoothed scheme alone. Brandt's and Jameson's methods are shown to be equivalent in form but differ in their node versus cell-centered implementations. They are about 8.5 times faster than Ni's method in terms of CPU time. Results for an oblique shock/boundary layer interaction problem verify the accuracy of the finite-difference code. All methods slowed considerably on the stretched viscous grid but Brandt's method was still 2.1 times faster than Ni's method.

Agreement dynamics on interaction networks with diverse topologies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barrat, Alain; Baronchelli, Andrea; Dall'Asta, Luca; Loreto, Vittorio

2007-06-01

We review the behavior of a recently introduced model of agreement dynamics, called the "Naming Game." This model describes the self-organized emergence of linguistic conventions and the establishment of simple communication systems in a population of agents with pairwise local interactions. The mechanisms of convergence towards agreement strongly depend on the network of possible interactions between the agents. In particular, the mean-field case in which all agents communicate with all the others is not efficient, since a large temporary memory is requested for the agents. On the other hand, regular lattice topologies lead to a fast local convergence but to a slow global dynamics similar to coarsening phenomena. The embedding of the agents in a small-world network represents an interesting tradeoff: a local consensus is easily reached, while the long-range links allow to bypass coarsening-like convergence. We also consider alternative adaptive strategies which can lead to faster global convergence.

Solar type III radio burst time characteristics at LOFAR frequencies and the implications for electron beam transport

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Reid, Hamish A. S.; Kontar, Eduard P.

2018-06-01

Context. Solar type III radio bursts contain a wealth of information about the dynamics of electron beams in the solar corona and the inner heliosphere; this information is currently unobtainable through other means. However, the motion of different regions of an electron beam (front, middle, and back) have never been systematically analysed before. Aims: We characterise the type III burst frequency-time evolution using the enhanced resolution of LOFAR (LOw Frequency ARray) in the frequency range 30-70 MHz and use this to probe electron beam dynamics. Methods: The rise, peak, and decay times with a 0.2 MHz spectral resolution were defined for a collection of 31 type III bursts. The frequency evolution was used to ascertain the apparent velocities of the front, middle, and back of the type III sources, and the trends were interpreted using theoretical and numerical treatments. Results: The type III time profile was better approximated by an asymmetric Gaussian profile and not an exponential, as was used previously. Rise and decay times increased with decreasing frequency and showed a strong correlation. Durations were shorter than previously observed. Drift rates from the rise times were faster than from the decay times, corresponding to inferred mean electron beam speeds for the front, middle, and back of 0.2, 0.17, 0.15 c, respectively. Faster beam speeds correlate with shorter type III durations. We also find that the type III frequency bandwidth decreases as frequency decreases. Conclusions: The different speeds naturally explain the elongation of an electron beam in space as it propagates through the heliosphere. The expansion rate is proportional to the mean speed of the exciter; faster beams expand faster. Beam speeds are attributed to varying ensembles of electron energies at the front, middle, and back of the beam.

Computer ray tracing speeds.

PubMed

Robb, P; Pawlowski, B

1990-05-01

The results of measuring the ray trace speed and compilation speed of thirty-nine computers in fifty-seven configurations, ranging from personal computers to super computers, are described. A correlation of ray trace speed has been made with the LINPACK benchmark which allows the ray trace speed to be estimated using LINPACK performance data. The results indicate that the latest generation of workstations, using CPUs based on RISC (Reduced Instruction Set Computer) technology, are as fast or faster than mainframe computers in compute-bound situations.

Evaluation of barriers for very high speed roadways.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2010-03-01

As TxDOT plans for future expansion of the states highway network, interest in higher design : speeds has been expressed as a means of promoting faster and more efficient travel and movement of goods : within the state. TxDOT funded project 0-6071...

The Bicyclist's Paradox

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Knight, Randy

2008-01-01

It's a situation every avid cyclist knows only too well. If you cycle up a hill and then back down with no net change in elevation, it seems as if your slower uphill speed and faster downhill speed should offset each other. But they don't. Your average speed is less than it would have been had you cycled the same distance on a level road.…

Batting cage performance of wood and nonwood youth baseball bats.

PubMed

Crisco, Joseph J; Rainbow, Michael J; Schwartz, Joel B; Wilcox, Bethany J

2014-04-01

The purpose of this study was to examine the batting cage performance of wood and nonwood baseball bats used at the youth level. Three wood and ten nonwood bats were swung by 22 male players (13 to 18 years old) in a batting cage equipped with a 3-dimensional motion capture (300 Hz) system. Batted ball speeds were compared using a one-way ANOVA and bat swing speeds were analyzed as a function of bat moment of inertia by linear regression. Batted ball speeds were significantly faster for three nonwood bat models (P<.001), significantly slower for one nonwood model, and not different for six nonwood bats when compared with wood bats. Bat impact speed significantly (P<.05) decreased with increasing bat moment of inertia for the 13-, 14-, and 15-year-old groups, but not for the other age groups. Ball-bat coefficients of restitution (BBCOR) for all nonwood were greater than for wood, but this factor alone did not correlate with bat performance. Our findings indicate that increases in BBCOR and swing speed were not associated with faster batted ball speeds for the bats studied whose moment of inertia was substantially less than that of a wood bat of similar length.

Higher-order cognitive training effects on processing speed-related neural activity: a randomized trial.

PubMed

Motes, Michael A; Yezhuvath, Uma S; Aslan, Sina; Spence, Jeffrey S; Rypma, Bart; Chapman, Sandra B

2018-02-01

Higher-order cognitive training has shown to enhance performance in older adults, but the neural mechanisms underlying performance enhancement have yet to be fully disambiguated. This randomized trial examined changes in processing speed and processing speed-related neural activity in older participants (57-71 years of age) who underwent cognitive training (CT, N = 12) compared with wait-listed (WLC, N = 15) or exercise-training active (AC, N = 14) controls. The cognitive training taught cognitive control functions of strategic attention, integrative reasoning, and innovation over 12 weeks. All 3 groups worked through a functional magnetic resonance imaging processing speed task during 3 sessions (baseline, mid-training, and post-training). Although all groups showed faster reaction times (RTs) across sessions, the CT group showed a significant increase, and the WLC and AC groups showed significant decreases across sessions in the association between RT and BOLD signal change within the left prefrontal cortex (PFC). Thus, cognitive training led to a change in processing speed-related neural activity where faster processing speed was associated with reduced PFC activation, fitting previously identified neural efficiency profiles. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Faster Increases in Human Life Expectancy Could Lead to Slower Population Aging

PubMed Central

2015-01-01

Counterintuitively, faster increases in human life expectancy could lead to slower population aging. The conventional view that faster increases in human life expectancy would lead to faster population aging is based on the assumption that people become old at a fixed chronological age. A preferable alternative is to base measures of aging on people’s time left to death, because this is more closely related to the characteristics that are associated with old age. Using this alternative interpretation, we show that faster increases in life expectancy would lead to slower population aging. Among other things, this finding affects the assessment of the speed at which countries will age. PMID:25876033

Imposed Faster and Slower Walking Speeds Influence Gait Stability Differently in Parkinson Fallers.

PubMed

Cole, Michael H; Sweeney, Matthew; Conway, Zachary J; Blackmore, Tim; Silburn, Peter A

2017-04-01

To evaluate the effect of imposed faster and slower walking speeds on postural stability in people with Parkinson disease (PD). Cross-sectional cohort study. General community. Patients with PD (n=84; 51 with a falls history; 33 without) and age-matched controls (n=82) were invited to participate via neurology clinics and preexisting databases. Of those contacted, 99 did not respond (PD=36; controls=63) and 27 were not interested (PD=18; controls=9). After screening, a further 10 patients were excluded; 5 had deep brain stimulation surgery and 5 could not accommodate to the treadmill. The remaining patients (N=30) completed all assessments and were subdivided into PD fallers (n=10), PD nonfallers (n=10), and age-matched controls (n=10) based on falls history. Not applicable. Three-dimensional accelerometers assessed head and trunk accelerations and allowed calculation of harmonic ratios and root mean square (RMS) accelerations to assess segment control and movement amplitude. Symptom severity, balance confidence, and medical history were established before participants walked on a treadmill at 70%, 100%, and 130% of their preferred speed. Head and trunk control was lower for PD fallers than PD nonfallers and older adults. Significant interactions indicated head and trunk control increased with speed for PD nonfallers and older adults, but did not improve at faster speeds for PD fallers. Vertical head and trunk accelerations increased with walking speed for PD nonfallers and older adults, while the PD fallers demonstrated greater anteroposterior RMS accelerations compared with both other groups. The results suggest that improved gait dynamics do not necessarily represent improved walking stability, and this must be respected when rehabilitating gait in patients with PD. Copyright © 2016 American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Ames Lab 101: Ultrafast Magnetic Switching

ScienceCinema

Wang; Jigang

2018-01-01

Ames Laboratory physicists have found a new way to switch magnetism that is at least 1000 times faster than currently used in magnetic memory technologies. Magnetic switching is used to encode information in hard drives, magnetic random access memory and other computing devices. The discovery potentially opens the door to terahertz and faster memory speeds.

Strongly-motivated positive affects induce faster responses to local than global information of visual stimuli: an approach using large-size Navon letters.

PubMed

Noguchi, Yasuki; Tomoike, Kouta

2016-01-12

Recent studies argue that strongly-motivated positive emotions (e.g. desire) narrow a scope of attention. This argument is mainly based on an observation that, while humans normally respond faster to global than local information of a visual stimulus (global advantage), positive affects eliminated the global advantage by selectively speeding responses to local (but not global) information. In other words, narrowing of attentional scope was indirectly evidenced by the elimination of global advantage (the same speed of processing between global and local information). No study has directly shown that strongly-motivated positive affects induce faster responses to local than global information while excluding a bias for global information (global advantage) in a baseline (emotionally-neutral) condition. In the present study, we addressed this issue by eliminating the global advantage in a baseline (neutral) state. Induction of positive affects under this state resulted in faster responses to local than global information. Our results provided direct evidence that positive affects in high motivational intensity narrow a scope of attention.

Short-Term Frequency Response of a DFIG-Based Wind Turbine Generator for Rapid Frequency Stabilization

DOE PAGES

Yang, Dejian; Kang, Moses; Muljadi, Eduard; ...

2017-11-14

This paper proposes a short-term frequency-response scheme of a doubly-fed induction generator (DFIG)-based wind turbine generator (WTG) for improving rotor speed recovery and frequency nadir. In the energy-releasing period, to improve the frequency nadir and rotor speed convergence by releasing a large amount of kinetic energy stored in the rotating masses in a DFIG-based WTG, the power reference is increased up to the torque limit referred to the power and reduces along with it for a predefined period which is determined based on the occurrence time of the frequency nadir in a power grid. Then, the reference decreases so thatmore » the rotor speed is forced to be converged to the preset value in the stable operating region of the rotor speed. In the energy-absorbing period, to quickly recover the rotor speed, the reference smoothly decreases with the rotor speed and time during a predefined period until it intersects with the maximum power point tracking curve. The simulation results demonstrate that the proposed scheme successfully achieves rapid frequency stabilization with the improved frequency nadir under various wind conditions based on the IEEE 14-bus system.« less

Short-Term Frequency Response of a DFIG-Based Wind Turbine Generator for Rapid Frequency Stabilization

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Yang, Dejian; Kang, Moses; Muljadi, Eduard

This paper proposes a short-term frequency-response scheme of a doubly-fed induction generator (DFIG)-based wind turbine generator (WTG) for improving rotor speed recovery and frequency nadir. In the energy-releasing period, to improve the frequency nadir and rotor speed convergence by releasing a large amount of kinetic energy stored in the rotating masses in a DFIG-based WTG, the power reference is increased up to the torque limit referred to the power and reduces along with it for a predefined period which is determined based on the occurrence time of the frequency nadir in a power grid. Then, the reference decreases so thatmore » the rotor speed is forced to be converged to the preset value in the stable operating region of the rotor speed. In the energy-absorbing period, to quickly recover the rotor speed, the reference smoothly decreases with the rotor speed and time during a predefined period until it intersects with the maximum power point tracking curve. The simulation results demonstrate that the proposed scheme successfully achieves rapid frequency stabilization with the improved frequency nadir under various wind conditions based on the IEEE 14-bus system.« less

Rapidly converging multigrid reconstruction of cone-beam tomographic data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Myers, Glenn R.; Kingston, Andrew M.; Latham, Shane J.; Recur, Benoit; Li, Thomas; Turner, Michael L.; Beeching, Levi; Sheppard, Adrian P.

2016-10-01

In the context of large-angle cone-beam tomography (CBCT), we present a practical iterative reconstruction (IR) scheme designed for rapid convergence as required for large datasets. The robustness of the reconstruction is provided by the "space-filling" source trajectory along which the experimental data is collected. The speed of convergence is achieved by leveraging the highly isotropic nature of this trajectory to design an approximate deconvolution filter that serves as a pre-conditioner in a multi-grid scheme. We demonstrate this IR scheme for CBCT and compare convergence to that of more traditional techniques.

Self-organization in a bimotility mixture of model microswimmers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Agrawal, Adyant; Babu, Sujin B.

2018-02-01

We study the cooperation and segregation dynamics in a bimotility mixture of microorganisms which swim at low Reynolds numbers via periodic deformations along the body. We employ a multiparticle collision dynamics method to simulate a two component mixture of artificial swimmers, termed as Taylor lines, which differ from each other only in the propulsion speed. The analysis reveals that a contribution of slower swimmers towards clustering, on average, is much larger as compared to the faster ones. We notice distinctive self-organizing dynamics, depending on the percentage difference in the speed of the two kinds. If this difference is large, the faster ones fragment the clusters of the slower ones in order to reach the boundary and form segregated clusters. Contrarily, when it is small, both kinds mix together at first, the faster ones usually leading the cluster and then gradually the slower ones slide out thereby also leading to segregation.

Adverse Childhood and Recent Negative Life Events: Contrasting Associations With Cognitive Decline in Older Persons.

PubMed

Korten, Nicole C M; Penninx, Brenda W J H; Pot, Anne Margriet; Deeg, Dorly J H; Comijs, Hannie C

2014-06-01

To examine whether persons who experienced adverse childhood events or recent negative life events have a worse cognitive performance and faster cognitive decline and the role of depression and apolipoprotein E-∊4 in this relationship. The community-based sample consisted of 10-year follow-up data of 1312 persons participating in the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam (age range 65-85 years). Persons who experienced adverse childhood events showed a faster 10-year decline in processing speed but only when depressive symptoms were experienced. Persons with more recent negative life events showed slower processing speed at baseline but no faster decline. Childhood adversity may cause biological or psychological vulnerability, which is associated with both depressive symptoms and cognitive decline in later life. The accumulation of recent negative life events did not affect cognitive functioning over a longer time period. © The Author(s) 2014.

The tactile speed aftereffect depends on the speed of adapting motion across the skin rather than other spatiotemporal features

PubMed Central

Seizova-Cajic, Tatjana; Holcombe, Alex O.

2015-01-01

After prolonged exposure to a surface moving across the skin, this felt movement appears slower, a phenomenon known as the tactile speed aftereffect (tSAE). We asked which feature of the adapting motion drives the tSAE: speed, the spacing between texture elements, or the frequency with which they cross the skin. After adapting to a ridged moving surface with one hand, participants compared the speed of test stimuli on adapted and unadapted hands. We used surfaces with different spatial periods (SPs; 3, 6, 12 mm) that produced adapting motion with different combinations of adapting speed (20, 40, 80 mm/s) and temporal frequency (TF; 3.4, 6.7, 13.4 ridges/s). The primary determinant of tSAE magnitude was speed of the adapting motion, not SP or TF. This suggests that adaptation occurs centrally, after speed has been computed from SP and TF, and/or that it reflects a speed cue independent of those features in the first place (e.g., indentation force). In a second experiment, we investigated the properties of the neural code for speed. Speed tuning predicts that adaptation should be greatest for speeds at or near the adapting speed. However, the tSAE was always stronger when the adapting stimulus was faster (242 mm/s) than the test (30–143 mm/s) compared with when the adapting and test speeds were matched. These results give no indication of speed tuning and instead suggest that adaptation occurs at a level where an intensive code dominates. In an intensive code, the faster the stimulus, the more the neurons fire. PMID:26631149

High-Performance AC Power Source by Applying Robust Stability Control Technology for Precision Material Machining

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chang, En-Chih

2018-02-01

This paper presents a high-performance AC power source by applying robust stability control technology for precision material machining (PMM). The proposed technology associates the benefits of finite-time convergent sliding function (FTCSF) and firefly optimization algorithm (FOA). The FTCSF maintains the robustness of conventional sliding mode, and simultaneously speeds up the convergence speed of the system state. Unfortunately, when a highly nonlinear loading is applied, the chatter will occur. The chatter results in high total harmonic distortion (THD) output voltage of AC power source, and even deteriorates the stability of PMM. The FOA is therefore used to remove the chatter, and the FTCSF still preserves finite system-state convergence time. By combining FTCSF with FOA, the AC power source of PMM can yield good steady-state and transient performance. Experimental results are performed in support of the proposed technology.

Modified artificial bee colony algorithm for reactive power optimization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sulaiman, Noorazliza; Mohamad-Saleh, Junita; Abro, Abdul Ghani

2015-05-01

Bio-inspired algorithms (BIAs) implemented to solve various optimization problems have shown promising results which are very important in this severely complex real-world. Artificial Bee Colony (ABC) algorithm, a kind of BIAs has demonstrated tremendous results as compared to other optimization algorithms. This paper presents a new modified ABC algorithm referred to as JA-ABC3 with the aim to enhance convergence speed and avoid premature convergence. The proposed algorithm has been simulated on ten commonly used benchmarks functions. Its performance has also been compared with other existing ABC variants. To justify its robust applicability, the proposed algorithm has been tested to solve Reactive Power Optimization problem. The results have shown that the proposed algorithm has superior performance to other existing ABC variants e.g. GABC, BABC1, BABC2, BsfABC dan IABC in terms of convergence speed. Furthermore, the proposed algorithm has also demonstrated excellence performance in solving Reactive Power Optimization problem.

Understanding of Object Detection Based on CNN Family and YOLO

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Du, Juan

2018-04-01

As a key use of image processing, object detection has boomed along with the unprecedented advancement of Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) and its variants since 2012. When CNN series develops to Faster Region with CNN (R-CNN), the Mean Average Precision (mAP) has reached 76.4, whereas, the Frame Per Second (FPS) of Faster R-CNN remains 5 to 18 which is far slower than the real-time effect. Thus, the most urgent requirement of object detection improvement is to accelerate the speed. Based on the general introduction to the background and the core solution CNN, this paper exhibits one of the best CNN representatives You Only Look Once (YOLO), which breaks through the CNN family’s tradition and innovates a complete new way of solving the object detection with most simple and high efficient way. Its fastest speed has achieved the exciting unparalleled result with FPS 155, and its mAP can also reach up to 78.6, both of which have surpassed the performance of Faster R-CNN greatly. Additionally, compared with the latest most advanced solution, YOLOv2 achieves an excellent tradeoff between speed and accuracy as well as an object detector with strong generalization ability to represent the whole image.

On Muthen's Maximum Likelihood for Two-Level Covariance Structure Models

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yuan, Ke-Hai; Hayashi, Kentaro

2005-01-01

Data in social and behavioral sciences are often hierarchically organized. Special statistical procedures that take into account the dependence of such observations have been developed. Among procedures for 2-level covariance structure analysis, Muthen's maximum likelihood (MUML) has the advantage of easier computation and faster convergence. When…

Common Spatial Organization of Number and Emotional Expression: A Mental Magnitude Line

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Holmes, Kevin J.; Lourenco, Stella F.

2011-01-01

Converging behavioral and neural evidence suggests that numerical representations are mentally organized in left-to-right orientation. Here we show that this format of spatial organization extends to emotional expression. In Experiment 1, right-side responses became increasingly faster as number (represented by Arabic numerals) or happiness…

Ice swimming - 'Ice Mile' and '1 km Ice event'.

PubMed

Knechtle, Beat; Rosemann, Thomas; Rüst, Christoph A

2015-01-01

Ice swimming for 1 mile and 1 km is a new discipline in open-water swimming since 2009. This study examined female and male performances in swimming 1 mile ('Ice Mile') and 1 km ('1 km Ice event') in water of 5 °C or colder between 2009 and 2015 with the hypothesis that women would be faster than men. Between 2009 and 2015, 113 men and 38 women completed one 'Ice Mile' and 26 men and 13 completed one '1 km Ice event' in water colder than +5 °C following the rules of International Ice Swimming Association (IISA). Differences in performance between women and men were determined. Sex difference (%) was calculated using the equation ([time for women] - [time for men]/[time for men] × 100). For 'Ice Mile', a mixed-effects regression model with interaction analyses was used to investigate the influence of sex and environmental conditions on swimming speed. The association between water temperature and swimming speed was assessed using Pearson correlation analyses. For 'Ice Mile' and '1 km Ice event', the best men were faster than the best women. In 'Ice Mile', calendar year, number of attempts, water temperature and wind chill showed no association with swimming speed for both women and men. For both women and men, water temperature was not correlated to swimming speed in both 'Ice Mile' and '1 km Ice event'. In water colder than 5 °C, men were faster than women in 'Ice Mile' and '1 km Ice event'. Water temperature showed no correlation to swimming speed.

An enhanced high-speed multi-digit BCD adder using quantum-dot cellular automata

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ajitha, D.; Ramanaiah, K. V.; Sumalatha, V.

2017-02-01

The advent of development of high-performance, low-power digital circuits is achieved by a suitable emerging nanodevice called quantum-dot cellular automata (QCA). Even though many efficient arithmetic circuits were designed using QCA, there is still a challenge to implement high-speed circuits in an optimized manner. Among these circuits, one of the essential structures is a parallel multi-digit decimal adder unit with significant speed which is very attractive for future environments. To achieve high speed, a new correction logic formulation method is proposed for single and multi-digit BCD adder. The proposed enhanced single-digit BCD adder (ESDBA) is 26% faster than the carry flow adder (CFA)-based BCD adder. The multi-digit operations are also performed using the proposed ESDBA, which is cascaded innovatively. The enhanced multi-digit BCD adder (EMDBA) performs two 4-digit and two 8-digit BCD addition 50% faster than the CFA-based BCD adder with the nominal overhead of the area. The EMDBA performs two 4-digit BCD addition 24% faster with 23% decrease in the area, similarly for 8-digit operation the EMDBA achieves 36% increase in speed with 21% less area compared to the existing carry look ahead (CLA)-based BCD adder design. The proposed multi-digit adder produces significantly less delay of (N –1) + 3.5 clock cycles compared to the N* One digit BCD adder delay required by the conventional BCD adder method. It is observed that as per our knowledge this is the first innovative proposal for multi-digit BCD addition using QCA.

A Gradient Taguchi Method for Engineering Optimization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hwang, Shun-Fa; Wu, Jen-Chih; He, Rong-Song

2017-10-01

To balance the robustness and the convergence speed of optimization, a novel hybrid algorithm consisting of Taguchi method and the steepest descent method is proposed in this work. Taguchi method using orthogonal arrays could quickly find the optimum combination of the levels of various factors, even when the number of level and/or factor is quite large. This algorithm is applied to the inverse determination of elastic constants of three composite plates by combining numerical method and vibration testing. For these problems, the proposed algorithm could find better elastic constants in less computation cost. Therefore, the proposed algorithm has nice robustness and fast convergence speed as compared to some hybrid genetic algorithms.

Dynamic Aberration Correction for Conformal Window of High-Speed Aircraft Using Optimized Model-Based Wavefront Sensorless Adaptive Optics

PubMed Central

Dong, Bing; Li, Yan; Han, Xin-li; Hu, Bin

2016-01-01

For high-speed aircraft, a conformal window is used to optimize the aerodynamic performance. However, the local shape of the conformal window leads to large amounts of dynamic aberrations varying with look angle. In this paper, deformable mirror (DM) and model-based wavefront sensorless adaptive optics (WSLAO) are used for dynamic aberration correction of an infrared remote sensor equipped with a conformal window and scanning mirror. In model-based WSLAO, aberration is captured using Lukosz mode, and we use the low spatial frequency content of the image spectral density as the metric function. Simulations show that aberrations induced by the conformal window are dominated by some low-order Lukosz modes. To optimize the dynamic correction, we can only correct dominant Lukosz modes and the image size can be minimized to reduce the time required to compute the metric function. In our experiment, a 37-channel DM is used to mimic the dynamic aberration of conformal window with scanning rate of 10 degrees per second. A 52-channel DM is used for correction. For a 128 × 128 image, the mean value of image sharpness during dynamic correction is 1.436 × 10−5 in optimized correction and is 1.427 × 10−5 in un-optimized correction. We also demonstrated that model-based WSLAO can achieve convergence two times faster than traditional stochastic parallel gradient descent (SPGD) method. PMID:27598161

Self-reported physical activity is associated with cognitive function in lean, but not obese individuals.

PubMed

Galioto Wiedemann, R; Calvo, D; Meister, J; Spitznagel, M B

2014-12-01

Convergent evidence demonstrates that greater physical activity is associated with better cognitive functioning across many patient and healthy samples. However, this relationship has not been well examined among obese individuals and remains unclear. The present study examined the relationship between performance-based measures of attention/executive function and self-reported physical activity, as measured by the International Physical Activity Questionnaire, among lean (n = 36) and obese (n = 36) college students. Lean individuals performed better than obese individuals on measures of attention/executive function. No significant differences in self-reported physical activity emerged between weight groups. Higher self-reported physical activity was related to faster reaction time in lean individuals but slower reaction time in obese individuals. Additionally, in lean individuals, higher levels of self-reported physical activity were related to more errors on a task of speeded inhibitory control. The results are consistent with previous research demonstrating that greater physical activity is associated with faster attention and executive function abilities in healthy samples and highlight the importance of examining reaction time and accuracy indices separately on these measures. The lack of association among obese individuals may be due in part to inaccurate self-report in the current study. Additionally, the cognitive consequences of obesity may outweigh the benefits of physical activity in this group. Future work should investigate these associations in obese individuals using physical activity interventions, as well as a combination of self-report and objective measures to investigate discrepancies in reporting. © 2014 The Authors. Clinical Obesity © 2014 World Obesity.

Spiral bacterial foraging optimization method: Algorithm, evaluation and convergence analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kasaiezadeh, Alireza; Khajepour, Amir; Waslander, Steven L.

2014-04-01

A biologically-inspired algorithm called Spiral Bacterial Foraging Optimization (SBFO) is investigated in this article. SBFO, previously proposed by the same authors, is a multi-agent, gradient-based algorithm that minimizes both the main objective function (local cost) and the distance between each agent and a temporary central point (global cost). A random jump is included normal to the connecting line of each agent to the central point, which produces a vortex around the temporary central point. This random jump is also suitable to cope with premature convergence, which is a feature of swarm-based optimization methods. The most important advantages of this algorithm are as follows: First, this algorithm involves a stochastic type of search with a deterministic convergence. Second, as gradient-based methods are employed, faster convergence is demonstrated over GA, DE, BFO, etc. Third, the algorithm can be implemented in a parallel fashion in order to decentralize large-scale computation. Fourth, the algorithm has a limited number of tunable parameters, and finally SBFO has a strong certainty of convergence which is rare in existing global optimization algorithms. A detailed convergence analysis of SBFO for continuously differentiable objective functions has also been investigated in this article.

A Fourier-based compressed sensing technique for accelerated CT image reconstruction using first-order methods.

PubMed

Choi, Kihwan; Li, Ruijiang; Nam, Haewon; Xing, Lei

2014-06-21

As a solution to iterative CT image reconstruction, first-order methods are prominent for the large-scale capability and the fast convergence rate [Formula: see text]. In practice, the CT system matrix with a large condition number may lead to slow convergence speed despite the theoretically promising upper bound. The aim of this study is to develop a Fourier-based scaling technique to enhance the convergence speed of first-order methods applied to CT image reconstruction. Instead of working in the projection domain, we transform the projection data and construct a data fidelity model in Fourier space. Inspired by the filtered backprojection formalism, the data are appropriately weighted in Fourier space. We formulate an optimization problem based on weighted least-squares in the Fourier space and total-variation (TV) regularization in image space for parallel-beam, fan-beam and cone-beam CT geometry. To achieve the maximum computational speed, the optimization problem is solved using a fast iterative shrinkage-thresholding algorithm with backtracking line search and GPU implementation of projection/backprojection. The performance of the proposed algorithm is demonstrated through a series of digital simulation and experimental phantom studies. The results are compared with the existing TV regularized techniques based on statistics-based weighted least-squares as well as basic algebraic reconstruction technique. The proposed Fourier-based compressed sensing (CS) method significantly improves both the image quality and the convergence rate compared to the existing CS techniques.

Approximate, computationally efficient online learning in Bayesian spiking neurons.

PubMed

Kuhlmann, Levin; Hauser-Raspe, Michael; Manton, Jonathan H; Grayden, David B; Tapson, Jonathan; van Schaik, André

2014-03-01

Bayesian spiking neurons (BSNs) provide a probabilistic interpretation of how neurons perform inference and learning. Online learning in BSNs typically involves parameter estimation based on maximum-likelihood expectation-maximization (ML-EM) which is computationally slow and limits the potential of studying networks of BSNs. An online learning algorithm, fast learning (FL), is presented that is more computationally efficient than the benchmark ML-EM for a fixed number of time steps as the number of inputs to a BSN increases (e.g., 16.5 times faster run times for 20 inputs). Although ML-EM appears to converge 2.0 to 3.6 times faster than FL, the computational cost of ML-EM means that ML-EM takes longer to simulate to convergence than FL. FL also provides reasonable convergence performance that is robust to initialization of parameter estimates that are far from the true parameter values. However, parameter estimation depends on the range of true parameter values. Nevertheless, for a physiologically meaningful range of parameter values, FL gives very good average estimation accuracy, despite its approximate nature. The FL algorithm therefore provides an efficient tool, complementary to ML-EM, for exploring BSN networks in more detail in order to better understand their biological relevance. Moreover, the simplicity of the FL algorithm means it can be easily implemented in neuromorphic VLSI such that one can take advantage of the energy-efficient spike coding of BSNs.

Super-convergence of Discontinuous Galerkin Method Applied to the Navier-Stokes Equations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Atkins, Harold L.

2009-01-01

The practical benefits of the hyper-accuracy properties of the discontinuous Galerkin method are examined. In particular, we demonstrate that some flow attributes exhibit super-convergence even in the absence of any post-processing technique. Theoretical analysis suggest that flow features that are dominated by global propagation speeds and decay or growth rates should be super-convergent. Several discrete forms of the discontinuous Galerkin method are applied to the simulation of unsteady viscous flow over a two-dimensional cylinder. Convergence of the period of the naturally occurring oscillation is examined and shown to converge at 2p+1, where p is the polynomial degree of the discontinuous Galerkin basis. Comparisons are made between the different discretizations and with theoretical analysis.

Feasibility of Using Littoral Combat Ships (LCS) for Humanitarian Assistance/Disaster Relief (HA/DR) Operations

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-09-01

when travelling at sprint speed. To help overcome the shortcomings of the LCS in conducting HA/DR operations, the Irregular Warfare (IW) mission...high sprint speed, which allows the LCS to reach the disaster region faster than any other ships, especially if the IW mission package is adopted. The...high sprint speed in excess of 40 knots and a high sustained speed to enable it to run along a 30+ knots CSG or 20+ knots ESG. The high sprint

A Two-stage Improvement Method for Robot Based 3D Surface Scanning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

He, F. B.; Liang, Y. D.; Wang, R. F.; Lin, Y. S.

2018-03-01

As known that the surface of unknown object was difficult to measure or recognize precisely, hence the 3D laser scanning technology was introduced and used properly in surface reconstruction. Usually, the surface scanning speed was slower and the scanning quality would be better, while the speed was faster and the quality would be worse. In this case, the paper presented a new two-stage scanning method in order to pursuit the quality of surface scanning in a faster speed. The first stage was rough scanning to get general point cloud data of object’s surface, and then the second stage was specific scanning to repair missing regions which were determined by chord length discrete method. Meanwhile, a system containing a robotic manipulator and a handy scanner was also developed to implement the two-stage scanning method, and relevant paths were planned according to minimum enclosing ball and regional coverage theories.

The effect of vessel speed on the survivorship of biofouling organisms at different hull locations.

PubMed

Coutts, Ashley D M; Piola, Richard F; Taylor, Michael D; Hewitt, Chad L; Gardner, Jonathan P A

2010-07-01

This study used a specially designed MAGPLATE system to quantify the en route survivorship and post-voyage recovery of biofouling assemblages subjected to short voyages (< 12 h) across a range of vessel speeds (slow, medium, fast; in the range 4.0-21.5 knots). The effect of hull location (bow, amidships and stern) was also examined. While no significant differences were evident in en route survivorship of biofouling organisms amongst hull locations, biofouling cover and richness were markedly reduced on faster vessels relative to slower craft. Therefore, the potential inoculum size of non-indigenous marine species and richness is likely to be reduced for vessels that travel at faster speeds (> 14 knots), which is likely to also reduce the chances of successful introductions. Despite this, the magnitude of introductions from biofouling on fast vessels can be considered minor, especially for species richness where 90% of source-port species were recorded at destinations.

Sustained Swimming Speeds of Dolphins.

PubMed

Johannessen, C L; Harder, J A

1960-11-25

Observations of fout large groups of dolphins suggest that they are able to swim at a sustained speed of 14 to 18 knots. The blackfish are able to maintain speeds of about 22 knots, and one killer whale seemed able to swim somewhat faster. This implies that the apparent coefficient of surface friction remains approximately constant for dolphins from 6 to 22 ft long, as is the case for rigid bodies.

Burst Speed of Wild Fishes under High-Velocity Flow Conditions Using Stamina Tunnel with Natural Guidance System in River

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Izumi, Mattashi; Yamamoto, Yasuyuki; Yataya, Kenichi; Kamiyama, Kohhei

Swimming experiments were conducted on wild fishes in a natural guidance system stamina tunnel (cylindrical pipe) installed in a fishway of a local river under high-velocity flow conditions (tunnel flow velocity : 211 to 279 cm·s-1). In this study, the swimming characteristics of fishes were observed. The results show that (1) the swimming speeds of Tribolodon hakonensis (Japanese dace), Phoxinus lagowshi steindachneri (Japanese fat-minnow), Plecoglossus altivelis (Ayu), and Zacco platypus (Pale chub) were in proportion to their body length under identical water flow velocity conditions; (2) the maximum burst speed of Japanese dace and Japanese fat-minnow (measuring 4 to 6 cm in length) was 262 to 319 cm·s-1 under high flow velocity conditions (225 to 230 cm·s-1), while the maximum burst speed of Ayu and Pale chub (measuring 5 cm to 12 cm in length) was 308 to 355 cm·s-1 under high flow velocity conditions (264 to 273 cm·s-1) ; (3) the 50cm-maximum swimming speed of swimming fishes was 1.07 times faster than the pipe-swimming speed; (4) the faster the flow velocity, the shorter the swimming distance became.

Effect of Media Usage Selection on Social Mobilization Speed: Facebook vs E-Mail.

PubMed

Wang, Jing; Madnick, Stuart; Li, Xitong; Alstott, Jeff; Velu, Chander

2015-01-01

Social mobilization is a process that enlists a large number of people to achieve a goal within a limited time, especially through the use of social media. There is increasing interest in understanding the factors that affect the speed of social mobilization. Based on the Langley Knights competition data set, we analyzed the differences in mobilization speed between users of Facebook and e-mail. We include other factors that may influence mobilization speed (gender, age, timing, and homophily of information source) in our model as control variables in order to isolate the effect of such factors. We show that, in this experiment, although more people used e-mail to recruit, the mobilization speed of Facebook users was faster than that of those that used e-mail. We were also able to measure and show that the mobilization speed for Facebook users was on average seven times faster compared to e-mail before controlling for other factors. After controlling for other factors, we show that Facebook users were 1.84 times more likely to register compared to e-mail users in the next period if they have not done so at any point in time. This finding could provide useful insights for future social mobilization efforts.

Effect of Media Usage Selection on Social Mobilization Speed: Facebook vs E-Mail

PubMed Central

Wang, Jing; Madnick, Stuart; Li, Xitong; Alstott, Jeff; Velu, Chander

2015-01-01

Social mobilization is a process that enlists a large number of people to achieve a goal within a limited time, especially through the use of social media. There is increasing interest in understanding the factors that affect the speed of social mobilization. Based on the Langley Knights competition data set, we analyzed the differences in mobilization speed between users of Facebook and e-mail. We include other factors that may influence mobilization speed (gender, age, timing, and homophily of information source) in our model as control variables in order to isolate the effect of such factors. We show that, in this experiment, although more people used e-mail to recruit, the mobilization speed of Facebook users was faster than that of those that used e-mail. We were also able to measure and show that the mobilization speed for Facebook users was on average seven times faster compared to e-mail before controlling for other factors. After controlling for other factors, we show that Facebook users were 1.84 times more likely to register compared to e-mail users in the next period if they have not done so at any point in time. This finding could provide useful insights for future social mobilization efforts. PMID:26422171

Shift in speed selectivity of visual cortical neurons: A neural basis of perceived motion contrast

PubMed Central

Li, Chao-Yi; Lei, Jing-Jiang; Yao, Hai-Shan

1999-01-01

The perceived speed of motion in one part of the visual field is influenced by the speed of motion in its surrounding fields. Little is known about the cellular mechanisms causing this phenomenon. Recordings from mammalian visual cortex revealed that speed preference of the cortical cells could be changed by displaying a contrast speed in the field surrounding the cell’s classical receptive field. The neuron’s selectivity shifted to prefer faster speed if the contextual surround motion was set at a relatively lower speed, and vice versa. These specific center–surround interactions may underlie the perceptual enhancement of speed contrast between adjacent fields. PMID:10097161

Cumulative loads increase at the knee joint with slow-speed running compared to faster running: a biomechanical study.

PubMed

Petersen, Jesper; Sørensen, Henrik; Nielsen, Rasmus Østergaard

2015-04-01

Biomechanical cross-sectional study. To investigate the hypothesis that the cumulative load at the knee during running increases as running speed decreases. The knee joint load per stride decreases as running speed decreases. However, by decreasing running speed, the number of strides per given distance is increased. Running a given distance at a slower speed may increase the cumulative load at the knee joint compared with running the same distance at a higher speed, hence increasing the risk of running-related injuries in the knee. Kinematic and ground reaction force data were collected from 16 recreational runners, during steady-state running with a rearfoot strike pattern at 3 different speeds (mean ± SD): 8.02 ± 0.17 km/h, 11.79 ± 0.21 km/h, and 15.78 ± 0.22 km/h. The cumulative load (cumulative impulse) over a 1000-m distance was calculated at the knee joint on the basis of a standard 3-D inverse-dynamics approach. Based on a 1000-m running distance, the cumulative load at the knee was significantly higher at a slow running speed than at a high running speed (relative difference, 80%). The mean load per stride at the knee increased significantly across all biomechanical parameters, except impulse, following an increase in running speed. Slow-speed running decreases knee joint loads per stride and increases the cumulative load at the knee joint for a given running distance compared to faster running. The primary reason for the increase in cumulative load at slower speeds is an increase in number of strides needed to cover the same distance.

Running faster causes disaster: trade-offs between speed, manoeuvrability and motor control when running around corners in northern quolls (Dasyurus hallucatus).

PubMed

Wynn, Melissa L; Clemente, Christofer; Nasir, Ami Fadhillah Amir Abdul; Wilson, Robbie S

2015-02-01

Movement speed is fundamental to all animal behaviour, yet no general framework exists for understanding why animals move at the speeds they do. Even during fitness-defining behaviours like running away from predators, an animal should select a speed that balances the benefits of high speed against the increased probability of mistakes. In this study, we explored this idea by quantifying trade-offs between speed, manoeuvrability and motor control in wild northern quolls (Dasyurus hallucatus) - a medium-sized carnivorous marsupial native to northern Australia. First, we quantified how running speed affected the probability of crashes when rounding corners of 45, 90 and 135 deg. We found that the faster an individual approached a turn, the higher the probability that they would crash, and these risks were greater when negotiating tighter turns. To avoid crashes, quolls modulated their running speed when they moved through turns of varying angles. Average speed for quolls when sprinting along a straight path was around 4.5 m s(-1) but this decreased linearly to speeds of around 1.5 m s(-1) when running through 135 deg turns. Finally, we explored how an individual's morphology affects their manoeuvrability. We found that individuals with larger relative foot sizes were more manoeuvrable than individuals with smaller relative foot sizes. Thus, movement speed, even during extreme situations like escaping predation, should be based on a compromise between high speed, manoeuvrability and motor control. We advocate that optimal - rather than maximal - performance capabilities underlie fitness-defining behaviours such as escaping predators and capturing prey. © 2015. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.

Online selective kernel-based temporal difference learning.

PubMed

Chen, Xingguo; Gao, Yang; Wang, Ruili

2013-12-01

In this paper, an online selective kernel-based temporal difference (OSKTD) learning algorithm is proposed to deal with large scale and/or continuous reinforcement learning problems. OSKTD includes two online procedures: online sparsification and parameter updating for the selective kernel-based value function. A new sparsification method (i.e., a kernel distance-based online sparsification method) is proposed based on selective ensemble learning, which is computationally less complex compared with other sparsification methods. With the proposed sparsification method, the sparsified dictionary of samples is constructed online by checking if a sample needs to be added to the sparsified dictionary. In addition, based on local validity, a selective kernel-based value function is proposed to select the best samples from the sample dictionary for the selective kernel-based value function approximator. The parameters of the selective kernel-based value function are iteratively updated by using the temporal difference (TD) learning algorithm combined with the gradient descent technique. The complexity of the online sparsification procedure in the OSKTD algorithm is O(n). In addition, two typical experiments (Maze and Mountain Car) are used to compare with both traditional and up-to-date O(n) algorithms (GTD, GTD2, and TDC using the kernel-based value function), and the results demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed algorithm. In the Maze problem, OSKTD converges to an optimal policy and converges faster than both traditional and up-to-date algorithms. In the Mountain Car problem, OSKTD converges, requires less computation time compared with other sparsification methods, gets a better local optima than the traditional algorithms, and converges much faster than the up-to-date algorithms. In addition, OSKTD can reach a competitive ultimate optima compared with the up-to-date algorithms.

Generalized conjugate-gradient methods for the Navier-Stokes equations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ajmani, Kumud; Ng, Wing-Fai; Liou, Meng-Sing

1991-01-01

A generalized conjugate-gradient method is used to solve the two-dimensional, compressible Navier-Stokes equations of fluid flow. The equations are discretized with an implicit, upwind finite-volume formulation. Preconditioning techniques are incorporated into the new solver to accelerate convergence of the overall iterative method. The superiority of the new solver is demonstrated by comparisons with a conventional line Gauss-Siedel Relaxation solver. Computational test results for transonic flow (trailing edge flow in a transonic turbine cascade) and hypersonic flow (M = 6.0 shock-on-shock phenoena on a cylindrical leading edge) are presented. When applied to the transonic cascade case, the new solver is 4.4 times faster in terms of number of iterations and 3.1 times faster in terms of CPU time than the Relaxation solver. For the hypersonic shock case, the new solver is 3.0 times faster in terms of number of iterations and 2.2 times faster in terms of CPU time than the Relaxation solver.

The influence of age, muscle strength and speed of information processing on recovery responses to external perturbations in gait.

PubMed

Senden, R; Savelberg, H H C M; Adam, J; Grimm, B; Heyligers, I C; Meijer, K

2014-01-01

Dynamic imbalance caused by external perturbations to gait can successfully be counteracted by adequate recovery responses. The current study investigated how the recovery response is moderated by age, walking speed, muscle strength and speed of information processing. The gait pattern of 50 young and 45 elderly subjects was repeatedly perturbed at 20% and 80% of the first half of the swing phase using the Timed Rapid impact Perturbation (TRiP) set-up. Recovery responses were identified using 2D cameras. Muscular factors (dynamometer) and speed of information processing parameters (computer-based reaction time task) were determined. The stronger, faster reacting and faster walking young subjects recovered more often by an elevating strategy than elderly subjects. Twenty three per cent of the differences in recovery responses were explained by a combination of walking speed (B=-13.85), reaction time (B=-0.82), maximum extension strength (B=0.01) and rate of extension moment development (B=0.19). The recovery response that subjects employed when gait was perturbed by the TRiP set-up was modified by several factors; the individual contribution of walking speed, muscle strength and speed of information processing was small. Insight into remaining modifying factors is needed to assist and optimise fall prevention programmes. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A simple way to higher speed atomic force microscopy by retrofitting with a novel high-speed flexure-guided scanner

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ouma Alunda, Bernard; Lee, Yong Joong; Park, Soyeun

2018-06-01

A typical line-scan rate for a commercial atomic force microscope (AFM) is about 1 Hz. At such a rate, more than four minutes of scanning time is required to obtain an image of 256 × 256 pixels. Despite control electronics of most commercial AFMs permit faster scan rates, default piezoelectric X–Y scanners limit the overall speed of the system. This is a direct consequence of manufacturers choosing a large scan range over the maximum operating speed for a X–Y scanner. Although some AFM manufacturers offer reduced-scan area scanners as an option, the speed improvement is not significant because such scanners do not have large enough reduction in the scan range and are mainly targeted to reducing the overall cost of the AFM systems. In this article, we present a simple parallel-kinematic substitute scanner for a commercial atomic force microscope to afford a higher scanning speed with no other hardware or software upgrade to the original system. Although the scan area reduction is unavoidable, our modified commercial XE-70 AFM from Park Systems has achieved a line scan rate of over 50 Hz, more than 10 times faster than the original, unmodified system. Our flexure-guided X–Y scanner can be a simple drop-in replacement option for enhancing the speed of various aging atomic force microscopes.

Superalgebraically convergent smoothly windowed lattice sums for doubly periodic Green functions in three-dimensional space

PubMed Central

Bruno, Oscar P.; Turc, Catalin; Venakides, Stephanos

2016-01-01

This work, part I in a two-part series, presents: (i) a simple and highly efficient algorithm for evaluation of quasi-periodic Green functions, as well as (ii) an associated boundary-integral equation method for the numerical solution of problems of scattering of waves by doubly periodic arrays of scatterers in three-dimensional space. Except for certain ‘Wood frequencies’ at which the quasi-periodic Green function ceases to exist, the proposed approach, which is based on smooth windowing functions, gives rise to tapered lattice sums which converge superalgebraically fast to the Green function—that is, faster than any power of the number of terms used. This is in sharp contrast to the extremely slow convergence exhibited by the lattice sums in the absence of smooth windowing. (The Wood-frequency problem is treated in part II.) This paper establishes rigorously the superalgebraic convergence of the windowed lattice sums. A variety of numerical results demonstrate the practical efficiency of the proposed approach. PMID:27493573

Orthogonalizing EM: A design-based least squares algorithm.

PubMed

Xiong, Shifeng; Dai, Bin; Huling, Jared; Qian, Peter Z G

We introduce an efficient iterative algorithm, intended for various least squares problems, based on a design of experiments perspective. The algorithm, called orthogonalizing EM (OEM), works for ordinary least squares and can be easily extended to penalized least squares. The main idea of the procedure is to orthogonalize a design matrix by adding new rows and then solve the original problem by embedding the augmented design in a missing data framework. We establish several attractive theoretical properties concerning OEM. For the ordinary least squares with a singular regression matrix, an OEM sequence converges to the Moore-Penrose generalized inverse-based least squares estimator. For ordinary and penalized least squares with various penalties, it converges to a point having grouping coherence for fully aliased regression matrices. Convergence and the convergence rate of the algorithm are examined. Finally, we demonstrate that OEM is highly efficient for large-scale least squares and penalized least squares problems, and is considerably faster than competing methods when n is much larger than p . Supplementary materials for this article are available online.

Intelligent Control of a Sensor-Actuator System via Kernelized Least-Squares Policy Iteration

PubMed Central

Liu, Bo; Chen, Sanfeng; Li, Shuai; Liang, Yongsheng

2012-01-01

In this paper a new framework, called Compressive Kernelized Reinforcement Learning (CKRL), for computing near-optimal policies in sequential decision making with uncertainty is proposed via incorporating the non-adaptive data-independent Random Projections and nonparametric Kernelized Least-squares Policy Iteration (KLSPI). Random Projections are a fast, non-adaptive dimensionality reduction framework in which high-dimensionality data is projected onto a random lower-dimension subspace via spherically random rotation and coordination sampling. KLSPI introduce kernel trick into the LSPI framework for Reinforcement Learning, often achieving faster convergence and providing automatic feature selection via various kernel sparsification approaches. In this approach, policies are computed in a low-dimensional subspace generated by projecting the high-dimensional features onto a set of random basis. We first show how Random Projections constitute an efficient sparsification technique and how our method often converges faster than regular LSPI, while at lower computational costs. Theoretical foundation underlying this approach is a fast approximation of Singular Value Decomposition (SVD). Finally, simulation results are exhibited on benchmark MDP domains, which confirm gains both in computation time and in performance in large feature spaces. PMID:22736969

Mechanical energy profiles of the combined ankle-foot system in normal gait: insights for prosthetic designs.

PubMed

Takahashi, Kota Z; Stanhope, Steven J

2013-09-01

Over the last half-century, the field of prosthetic engineering has continuously evolved with much attention being dedicated to restoring the mechanical energy properties of ankle joint musculatures during gait. However, the contributions of 'distal foot structures' (e.g., foot muscles, plantar soft tissue) have been overlooked. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to quantify the total mechanical energy profiles (e.g., power, work, and work-ratio) of the natural ankle-foot system (NAFS) by combining the contributions of the ankle joint and all distal foot structures during stance in level-ground steady state walking across various speeds (0.4, 0.6, 0.8 and 1.0 statures/s). The results from eleven healthy subjects walking barefoot indicated ankle joint and distal foot structures generally performed opposing roles: the ankle joint performed net positive work that systematically increased its energy generation with faster walking speeds, while the distal foot performed net negative work that systematically increased its energy absorption with faster walking speeds. Accounting for these simultaneous effects, the combined ankle-foot system exhibited increased work-ratios with faster walking. Most notably, the work-ratio was not significantly greater than 1.0 during the normal walking speed of 0.8 statures/s. Therefore, a prosthetic design that strategically exploits passive-dynamic properties (e.g., elastic energy storage and return) has the potential to replicate the mechanical energy profiles of the NAFS during level-ground steady-state walking. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Context-dependent flight speed: evidence for energetically optimal flight speed in the bat Pipistrellus kuhlii?

PubMed

Grodzinski, Uri; Spiegel, Orr; Korine, Carmi; Holderied, Marc W

2009-05-01

1. Understanding the causes and consequences of animal flight speed has long been a challenge in biology. Aerodynamic theory is used to predict the most economical flight speeds, minimizing energy expenditure either per distance (maximal range speed, Vmr) or per time (minimal power speed, Vmp). When foraging in flight, flight speed also affects prey encounter and energy intake rates. According to optimal flight speed theory, such effects may shift the energetically optimal foraging speed to above Vmp. 2. Therefore, we predicted that if energetic considerations indeed have a substantial effect on flight speed of aerial-hawking bats, they will use high speed (close to Vmr) to commute from their daily roost to the foraging sites, while a slower speed (but still above Vmp) will be preferred during foraging. To test these predictions, echolocation calls of commuting and foraging Pipistrellus kuhlii were recorded and their flight tracks were reconstructed using an acoustic flight path tracking system. 3. Confirming our qualitative prediction, commuting flight was found to be significantly faster than foraging flight (9.3 vs. 6.7 m s(-1)), even when controlling for its lower tortuosity. 4. In order to examine our quantitative prediction, we compared observed flight speeds with Vmp and Vmr values generated for the study population using two alternative aerodynamic models, based on mass and wing morphology variables measured from bats we captured while commuting. The Vmp and Vmr values generated by one of the models were much lower than our measured flight speed. According to the other model used, however, measured foraging flight was faster than Vmp and commuting flight slightly slower than Vmr, which is in agreement with the predictions of optimal flight speed theory. 5. Thus, the second aerodynamic model we used seems to be a reasonable predictor of the different flight speeds used by the bats while foraging and while commuting. This supports the hypothesis that bats fly at a context-dependent, energetically optimal flight speed.

Context-Sensitive Grammar Transform: Compression and Pattern Matching

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maruyama, Shirou; Tanaka, Youhei; Sakamoto, Hiroshi; Takeda, Masayuki

A framework of context-sensitive grammar transform for speeding-up compressed pattern matching (CPM) is proposed. A greedy compression algorithm with the transform model is presented as well as a Knuth-Morris-Pratt (KMP)-type compressed pattern matching algorithm. The compression ratio is a match for gzip and Re-Pair, and the search speed of our CPM algorithm is almost twice faster than the KMP-type CPM algorithm on Byte-Pair-Encoding by Shibata et al.[18], and in the case of short patterns, faster than the Boyer-Moore-Horspool algorithm with the stopper encoding by Rautio et al.[14], which is regarded as one of the best combinations that allows a practically fast search.

How Has Internet Use Changed between 2012 and 2015? PISA in Focus No. 83

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Echazarra, Alfonso

2018-01-01

In the growing world of digital technology everything is about speed: computer processors have doubled their performance every two years for decades; the future 5G mobile phone generation is predicted to be about 100 times faster than the current 4G and 20 000 times faster than the "ancient" 3G; and, according to the International…

An Energy Integrated Dispatching Strategy of Multi- energy Based on Energy Internet

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jin, Weixia; Han, Jun

2018-01-01

Energy internet is a new way of energy use. Energy internet achieves energy efficiency and low cost by scheduling a variety of different forms of energy. Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) is an advanced algorithm with few parameters, high computational precision and fast convergence speed. By improving the parameters ω, c1 and c2, PSO can improve the convergence speed and calculation accuracy. The objective of optimizing model is lowest cost of fuel, which can meet the load of electricity, heat and cold after all the renewable energy is received. Due to the different energy structure and price in different regions, the optimization strategy needs to be determined according to the algorithm and model.

Gauss Seidel-type methods for energy states of a multi-component Bose Einstein condensate

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chang, Shu-Ming; Lin, Wen-Wei; Shieh, Shih-Feng

2005-01-01

In this paper, we propose two iterative methods, a Jacobi-type iteration (JI) and a Gauss-Seidel-type iteration (GSI), for the computation of energy states of the time-independent vector Gross-Pitaevskii equation (VGPE) which describes a multi-component Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC). A discretization of the VGPE leads to a nonlinear algebraic eigenvalue problem (NAEP). We prove that the GSI method converges locally and linearly to a solution of the NAEP if and only if the associated minimized energy functional problem has a strictly local minimum. The GSI method can thus be used to compute ground states and positive bound states, as well as the corresponding energies of a multi-component BEC. Numerical experience shows that the GSI converges much faster than JI and converges globally within 10-20 steps.

Is Relativistic Mass Real?

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lincoln, Don

One of the oddest features of special relativity is the inability to go faster than the speed of light and this is absolutely true. The most common explanation is that the mass of an object increases with speed, but this particular explanation simply isn’t true. In this video, Fermilab’s Dr. Don Lincoln explains the truth behind this.

Reading Faster

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nation, Paul

2009-01-01

This article describes the visual nature of the reading process as it relates to reading speed. It points out that there is a physical limit on normal reading speed and beyond this limit the reading process will be different from normal reading where almost every word is attended to. The article describes a range of activities for developing…

Faster than "g", Revisited with High-Speed Imaging

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vollmer, Michael; Mollmann, Klaus-Peter

2012-01-01

The introduction of modern high-speed cameras in physics teaching provides a tool not only for easy visualization, but also for quantitative analysis of many simple though fast occurring phenomena. As an example, we present a very well-known demonstration experiment--sometimes also discussed in the context of falling chimneys--which is commonly…

Limb contribution to increased self-selected walking speeds during body weight support in individuals poststroke.

PubMed

Hurt, Christopher P; Burgess, Jamie K; Brown, David A

2015-03-01

Individuals poststroke walk at faster self-selected speeds under some nominal level of body weight support (BWS) whereas nonimpaired individuals walk slower after adding BWS. The purpose of this study was to determine whether increases in self-selected overground walking speed under BWS conditions of individuals poststroke can be explained by changes in their paretic and nonparetic ground reaction forces (GRF). We hypothesize that increased self-selected walking speed, recorded at some nominal level of BWS, will relate to decreased braking GRFs by the paretic limb. We recruited 10 chronic (>12 months post-ictus, 57.5±9.6 y.o.) individuals poststroke and eleven nonimpaired participants (53.3±4.1 y.o.). Participants walked overground in a robotic device, the KineAssist Walking and Balance Training System that provided varying degrees of BWS (0-20% in 5% increments) while individuals self-selected their walking speed. Self-selected walking speed and braking and propulsive GRF impulses were quantified. Out of 10 poststroke individuals, 8 increased their walking speed 13% (p=0.004) under some level of BWS (5% n=2, 10% n=3, 20% n=3) whereas nonimpaired controls did not change speed (p=0.470). In individuals poststroke, changes to self-selected walking speed were correlated with changes in paretic propulsive impulses (r=0.68, p=0.003) and nonparetic braking impulses (r=-0.80, p=0.006), but were not correlated with decreased paretic braking impulses (r=0.50 p=0.14). This investigation demonstrates that when individuals poststroke are provided with BWS and allowed to self-select their overground walking speed, they are capable of achieving faster speeds by modulating braking impulses on the nonparetic limb and propulsive impulses of the paretic limb. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Are running speeds maximized with simple-spring stance mechanics?

PubMed

Clark, Kenneth P; Weyand, Peter G

2014-09-15

Are the fastest running speeds achieved using the simple-spring stance mechanics predicted by the classic spring-mass model? We hypothesized that a passive, linear-spring model would not account for the running mechanics that maximize ground force application and speed. We tested this hypothesis by comparing patterns of ground force application across athletic specialization (competitive sprinters vs. athlete nonsprinters, n = 7 each) and running speed (top speeds vs. slower ones). Vertical ground reaction forces at 5.0 and 7.0 m/s, and individual top speeds (n = 797 total footfalls) were acquired while subjects ran on a custom, high-speed force treadmill. The goodness of fit between measured vertical force vs. time waveform patterns and the patterns predicted by the spring-mass model were assessed using the R(2) statistic (where an R(2) of 1.00 = perfect fit). As hypothesized, the force application patterns of the competitive sprinters deviated significantly more from the simple-spring pattern than those of the athlete, nonsprinters across the three test speeds (R(2) <0.85 vs. R(2) ≥ 0.91, respectively), and deviated most at top speed (R(2) = 0.78 ± 0.02). Sprinters attained faster top speeds than nonsprinters (10.4 ± 0.3 vs. 8.7 ± 0.3 m/s) by applying greater vertical forces during the first half (2.65 ± 0.05 vs. 2.21 ± 0.05 body wt), but not the second half (1.71 ± 0.04 vs. 1.73 ± 0.04 body wt) of the stance phase. We conclude that a passive, simple-spring model has limited application to sprint running performance because the swiftest runners use an asymmetrical pattern of force application to maximize ground reaction forces and attain faster speeds. Copyright © 2014 the American Physiological Society.

Video game players show higher performance but no difference in speed of attention shifts.

PubMed

Mack, David J; Wiesmann, Helene; Ilg, Uwe J

2016-09-01

Video games have become both a widespread leisure activity and a substantial field of research. In a variety of tasks, video game players (VGPs) perform better than non-video game players (NVGPs). This difference is most likely explained by an alteration of the basic mechanisms underlying visuospatial attention. More specifically, the present study hypothesizes that VGPs are able to shift attention faster than NVGPs. Such alterations in attention cannot be disentangled from changes in stimulus-response mappings in reaction time based measurements. Therefore, we used a spatial cueing task with varying cue lead times (CLTs) to investigate the speed of covert attention shifts of 98 male participants divided into 36 NVGPs and 62 VGPs based on their weekly gaming time. VGPs exhibited higher peak and mean performance than NVGPs. However, we did not find any differences in the speed of covert attention shifts as measured by the CLT needed to achieve peak performance. Thus, our results clearly rule out faster stimulus-response mappings as an explanation for the higher performance of VGPs in line with previous studies. More importantly, our data do not support the notion of faster attention shifts in VGPs as another possible explanation. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Effect of feedback from a socially interactive humanoid robot on reaching kinematics in children with and without cerebral palsy: A pilot study.

PubMed

Chen, Yuping; Garcia-Vergara, Sergio; Howard, Ayanna M

2017-08-17

To examine whether children with or without cerebral palsy (CP) would follow a humanoid robot's (i.e., Darwin) feedback to move their arm faster when playing virtual reality (VR) games. Seven children with mild CP and 10 able-bodied children participated. Real-time reaching was evaluated by playing the Super Pop VR TM system, including 2-game baseline, 3-game acquisition, and another 2-game extinction. During acquisition, Darwin provided verbal feedback to direct the child to reach a kinematically defined target goal (i.e., 80% of average movement time in baseline). Outcome variables included the percentage of successful reaches ("% successful reaches"), movement time (MT), average speed, path, and number of movement units. All games during acquisition and extinction had larger "%successful reaches," faster speeds, and faster MTs than the 2 games during baseline (p < .05). Children with and without CP could follow the robot's feedback for changing their reaching kinematics when playing VR games.

Faster Smith-Waterman database searches with inter-sequence SIMD parallelisation

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background The Smith-Waterman algorithm for local sequence alignment is more sensitive than heuristic methods for database searching, but also more time-consuming. The fastest approach to parallelisation with SIMD technology has previously been described by Farrar in 2007. The aim of this study was to explore whether further speed could be gained by other approaches to parallelisation. Results A faster approach and implementation is described and benchmarked. In the new tool SWIPE, residues from sixteen different database sequences are compared in parallel to one query residue. Using a 375 residue query sequence a speed of 106 billion cell updates per second (GCUPS) was achieved on a dual Intel Xeon X5650 six-core processor system, which is over six times more rapid than software based on Farrar's 'striped' approach. SWIPE was about 2.5 times faster when the programs used only a single thread. For shorter queries, the increase in speed was larger. SWIPE was about twice as fast as BLAST when using the BLOSUM50 score matrix, while BLAST was about twice as fast as SWIPE for the BLOSUM62 matrix. The software is designed for 64 bit Linux on processors with SSSE3. Source code is available from http://dna.uio.no/swipe/ under the GNU Affero General Public License. Conclusions Efficient parallelisation using SIMD on standard hardware makes it possible to run Smith-Waterman database searches more than six times faster than before. The approach described here could significantly widen the potential application of Smith-Waterman searches. Other applications that require optimal local alignment scores could also benefit from improved performance. PMID:21631914

Faster Smith-Waterman database searches with inter-sequence SIMD parallelisation.

PubMed

Rognes, Torbjørn

2011-06-01

The Smith-Waterman algorithm for local sequence alignment is more sensitive than heuristic methods for database searching, but also more time-consuming. The fastest approach to parallelisation with SIMD technology has previously been described by Farrar in 2007. The aim of this study was to explore whether further speed could be gained by other approaches to parallelisation. A faster approach and implementation is described and benchmarked. In the new tool SWIPE, residues from sixteen different database sequences are compared in parallel to one query residue. Using a 375 residue query sequence a speed of 106 billion cell updates per second (GCUPS) was achieved on a dual Intel Xeon X5650 six-core processor system, which is over six times more rapid than software based on Farrar's 'striped' approach. SWIPE was about 2.5 times faster when the programs used only a single thread. For shorter queries, the increase in speed was larger. SWIPE was about twice as fast as BLAST when using the BLOSUM50 score matrix, while BLAST was about twice as fast as SWIPE for the BLOSUM62 matrix. The software is designed for 64 bit Linux on processors with SSSE3. Source code is available from http://dna.uio.no/swipe/ under the GNU Affero General Public License. Efficient parallelisation using SIMD on standard hardware makes it possible to run Smith-Waterman database searches more than six times faster than before. The approach described here could significantly widen the potential application of Smith-Waterman searches. Other applications that require optimal local alignment scores could also benefit from improved performance.

Anti-disturbance rapid vibration suppression of the flexible aerial refueling hose

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Su, Zikang; Wang, Honglun; Li, Na

2018-05-01

As an extremely dangerous phenomenon in autonomous aerial refueling (AAR), the flexible refueling hose vibration caused by the receiver aircraft's excessive closure speed should be suppressed once it appears. This paper proposed a permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM) based refueling hose servo take-up system for the vibration suppression of the flexible refueling hose. A rapid back-stepping based anti-disturbance nonsingular fast terminal sliding mode (NFTSM) control scheme with a specially established finite-time convergence NFTSM observer is proposed for the PMSM based hose servo take-up system under uncertainties and disturbances. The unmeasured load torque and other disturbances in the PMSM system are reconstituted by the NFTSM observer and to be compensated during the controller design. Then, with the back-stepping technique, a rapid anti-disturbance NFTSM controller is proposed for the PMSM angular tracking to improve the tracking error convergence speed and tracking precision. The proposed vibration suppression scheme is then applied to PMSM based hose servo take-up system for the refueling hose vibration suppression in AAR. Simulation results show the proposed scheme can suppress the hose vibration rapidly and accurately even the system is exposed to strong uncertainties and probe position disturbances, it is more competitive in tracking accuracy, tracking error convergence speed and robustness.

Optimal convolution SOR acceleration of waveform relaxation with application to semiconductor device simulation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Reichelt, Mark

1993-01-01

In this paper we describe a novel generalized SOR (successive overrelaxation) algorithm for accelerating the convergence of the dynamic iteration method known as waveform relaxation. A new convolution SOR algorithm is presented, along with a theorem for determining the optimal convolution SOR parameter. Both analytic and experimental results are given to demonstrate that the convergence of the convolution SOR algorithm is substantially faster than that of the more obvious frequency-independent waveform SOR algorithm. Finally, to demonstrate the general applicability of this new method, it is used to solve the differential-algebraic system generated by spatial discretization of the time-dependent semiconductor device equations.

Fast sparse recovery and coherence factor weighting in optoacoustic tomography

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

He, Hailong; Prakash, Jaya; Buehler, Andreas; Ntziachristos, Vasilis

2017-03-01

Sparse recovery algorithms have shown great potential to reconstruct images with limited view datasets in optoacoustic tomography, with a disadvantage of being computational expensive. In this paper, we improve the fast convergent Split Augmented Lagrangian Shrinkage Algorithm (SALSA) method based on least square QR (LSQR) formulation for performing accelerated reconstructions. Further, coherence factor is calculated to weight the final reconstruction result, which can further reduce artifacts arising in limited-view scenarios and acoustically heterogeneous mediums. Several phantom and biological experiments indicate that the accelerated SALSA method with coherence factor (ASALSA-CF) can provide improved reconstructions and much faster convergence compared to existing sparse recovery methods.

Multi-attribute integrated measurement of node importance in complex networks.

PubMed

Wang, Shibo; Zhao, Jinlou

2015-11-01

The measure of node importance in complex networks is very important to the research of networks stability and robustness; it also can ensure the security of the whole network. Most researchers have used a single indicator to measure the networks node importance, so that the obtained measurement results only reflect certain aspects of the networks with a loss of information. Meanwhile, because of the difference of networks topology, the nodes' importance should be described by combining the character of the networks topology. Most of the existing evaluation algorithms cannot completely reflect the circumstances of complex networks, so this paper takes into account the degree of centrality, the relative closeness centrality, clustering coefficient, and topology potential and raises an integrated measuring method to measure the nodes' importance. This method can reflect nodes' internal and outside attributes and eliminate the influence of network structure on the node importance. The experiments of karate network and dolphin network show that networks topology structure integrated measure has smaller range of metrical result than a single indicator and more universal. Experiments show that attacking the North American power grid and the Internet network with the method has a faster convergence speed than other methods.

Tetrahedral and polyhedral mesh evaluation for cerebral hemodynamic simulation--a comparison.

PubMed

Spiegel, Martin; Redel, Thomas; Zhang, Y; Struffert, Tobias; Hornegger, Joachim; Grossman, Robert G; Doerfler, Arnd; Karmonik, Christof

2009-01-01

Computational fluid dynamic (CFD) based on patient-specific medical imaging data has found widespread use for visualizing and quantifying hemodynamics in cerebrovascular disease such as cerebral aneurysms or stenotic vessels. This paper focuses on optimizing mesh parameters for CFD simulation of cerebral aneurysms. Valid blood flow simulations strongly depend on the mesh quality. Meshes with a coarse spatial resolution may lead to an inaccurate flow pattern. Meshes with a large number of elements will result in unnecessarily high computation time which is undesirable should CFD be used for planning in the interventional setting. Most CFD simulations reported for these vascular pathologies have used tetrahedral meshes. We illustrate the use of polyhedral volume elements in comparison to tetrahedral meshing on two different geometries, a sidewall aneurysm of the internal carotid artery and a basilar bifurcation aneurysm. The spatial mesh resolution ranges between 5,119 and 228,118 volume elements. The evaluation of the different meshes was based on the wall shear stress previously identified as a one possible parameter for assessing aneurysm growth. Polyhedral meshes showed better accuracy, lower memory demand, shorter computational speed and faster convergence behavior (on average 369 iterations less).

Application of Multiplexed Replica Exchange Molecular Dynamics to the UNRES Force Field: Tests with alpha and alpha+beta Proteins.

PubMed

Czaplewski, Cezary; Kalinowski, Sebastian; Liwo, Adam; Scheraga, Harold A

2009-03-10

The replica exchange (RE) method is increasingly used to improve sampling in molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of biomolecular systems. Recently, we implemented the united-residue UNRES force field for mesoscopic MD. Initial results from UNRES MD simulations show that we are able to simulate folding events that take place in a microsecond or even a millisecond time scale. To speed up the search further, we applied the multiplexing replica exchange molecular dynamics (MREMD) method. The multiplexed variant (MREMD) of the RE method, developed by Rhee and Pande, differs from the original RE method in that several trajectories are run at a given temperature. Each set of trajectories run at a different temperature constitutes a layer. Exchanges are attempted not only within a single layer but also between layers. The code has been parallelized and scales up to 4000 processors. We present a comparison of canonical MD, REMD, and MREMD simulations of protein folding with the UNRES force-field. We demonstrate that the multiplexed procedure increases the power of replica exchange MD considerably and convergence of the thermodynamic quantities is achieved much faster.

Application of Multiplexed Replica Exchange Molecular Dynamics to the UNRES Force Field: Tests with α and α+β Proteins

PubMed Central

Czaplewski, Cezary; Kalinowski, Sebastian; Liwo, Adam; Scheraga, Harold A.

2009-01-01

The replica exchange (RE) method is increasingly used to improve sampling in molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of biomolecular systems. Recently, we implemented the united-residue UNRES force field for mesoscopic MD. Initial results from UNRES MD simulations show that we are able to simulate folding events that take place in a microsecond or even a millisecond time scale. To speed up the search further, we applied the multiplexing replica exchange molecular dynamics (MREMD) method. The multiplexed variant (MREMD) of the RE method, developed by Rhee and Pande, differs from the original RE method in that several trajectories are run at a given temperature. Each set of trajectories run at a different temperature constitutes a layer. Exchanges are attempted not only within a single layer but also between layers. The code has been parallelized and scales up to 4000 processors. We present a comparison of canonical MD, REMD, and MREMD simulations of protein folding with the UNRES force-field. We demonstrate that the multiplexed procedure increases the power of replica exchange MD considerably and convergence of the thermodynamic quantities is achieved much faster. PMID:20161452

Deep Adaptive Log-Demons: Diffeomorphic Image Registration with Very Large Deformations

PubMed Central

Jia, Kebin

2015-01-01

This paper proposes a new framework for capturing large and complex deformation in image registration. Traditionally, this challenging problem relies firstly on a preregistration, usually an affine matrix containing rotation, scale, and translation and afterwards on a nonrigid transformation. According to preregistration, the directly calculated affine matrix, which is obtained by limited pixel information, may misregistrate when large biases exist, thus misleading following registration subversively. To address this problem, for two-dimensional (2D) images, the two-layer deep adaptive registration framework proposed in this paper firstly accurately classifies the rotation parameter through multilayer convolutional neural networks (CNNs) and then identifies scale and translation parameters separately. For three-dimensional (3D) images, affine matrix is located through feature correspondences by a triplanar 2D CNNs. Then deformation removal is done iteratively through preregistration and demons registration. By comparison with the state-of-the-art registration framework, our method gains more accurate registration results on both synthetic and real datasets. Besides, principal component analysis (PCA) is combined with correlation like Pearson and Spearman to form new similarity standards in 2D and 3D registration. Experiment results also show faster convergence speed. PMID:26120356

Deep Adaptive Log-Demons: Diffeomorphic Image Registration with Very Large Deformations.

PubMed

Zhao, Liya; Jia, Kebin

2015-01-01

This paper proposes a new framework for capturing large and complex deformation in image registration. Traditionally, this challenging problem relies firstly on a preregistration, usually an affine matrix containing rotation, scale, and translation and afterwards on a nonrigid transformation. According to preregistration, the directly calculated affine matrix, which is obtained by limited pixel information, may misregistrate when large biases exist, thus misleading following registration subversively. To address this problem, for two-dimensional (2D) images, the two-layer deep adaptive registration framework proposed in this paper firstly accurately classifies the rotation parameter through multilayer convolutional neural networks (CNNs) and then identifies scale and translation parameters separately. For three-dimensional (3D) images, affine matrix is located through feature correspondences by a triplanar 2D CNNs. Then deformation removal is done iteratively through preregistration and demons registration. By comparison with the state-of-the-art registration framework, our method gains more accurate registration results on both synthetic and real datasets. Besides, principal component analysis (PCA) is combined with correlation like Pearson and Spearman to form new similarity standards in 2D and 3D registration. Experiment results also show faster convergence speed.

Distributed k-Means Algorithm and Fuzzy c-Means Algorithm for Sensor Networks Based on Multiagent Consensus Theory.

PubMed

Qin, Jiahu; Fu, Weiming; Gao, Huijun; Zheng, Wei Xing

2016-03-03

This paper is concerned with developing a distributed k-means algorithm and a distributed fuzzy c-means algorithm for wireless sensor networks (WSNs) where each node is equipped with sensors. The underlying topology of the WSN is supposed to be strongly connected. The consensus algorithm in multiagent consensus theory is utilized to exchange the measurement information of the sensors in WSN. To obtain a faster convergence speed as well as a higher possibility of having the global optimum, a distributed k-means++ algorithm is first proposed to find the initial centroids before executing the distributed k-means algorithm and the distributed fuzzy c-means algorithm. The proposed distributed k-means algorithm is capable of partitioning the data observed by the nodes into measure-dependent groups which have small in-group and large out-group distances, while the proposed distributed fuzzy c-means algorithm is capable of partitioning the data observed by the nodes into different measure-dependent groups with degrees of membership values ranging from 0 to 1. Simulation results show that the proposed distributed algorithms can achieve almost the same results as that given by the centralized clustering algorithms.

Optimisation of the hybrid renewable energy system by HOMER, PSO and CPSO for the study area

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khare, Vikas; Nema, Savita; Baredar, Prashant

2017-04-01

This study is based on simulation and optimisation of the renewable energy system of the police control room at Sagar in central India. To analyse this hybrid system, the meteorological data of solar insolation and hourly wind speeds of Sagar in central India (longitude 78°45‧ and latitude 23°50‧) have been considered. The pattern of load consumption is studied and suitably modelled for optimisation of the hybrid energy system using HOMER software. The results are compared with those of the particle swarm optimisation and the chaotic particle swarm optimisation algorithms. The use of these two algorithms to optimise the hybrid system leads to a higher quality result with faster convergence. Based on the optimisation result, it has been found that replacing conventional energy sources by the solar-wind hybrid renewable energy system will be a feasible solution for the distribution of electric power as a stand-alone application at the police control room. This system is more environmentally friendly than the conventional diesel generator. The fuel cost reduction is approximately 70-80% more than that of the conventional diesel generator.

A Matter of Time: Faster Percolator Analysis via Efficient SVM Learning for Large-Scale Proteomics.

PubMed

Halloran, John T; Rocke, David M

2018-05-04

Percolator is an important tool for greatly improving the results of a database search and subsequent downstream analysis. Using support vector machines (SVMs), Percolator recalibrates peptide-spectrum matches based on the learned decision boundary between targets and decoys. To improve analysis time for large-scale data sets, we update Percolator's SVM learning engine through software and algorithmic optimizations rather than heuristic approaches that necessitate the careful study of their impact on learned parameters across different search settings and data sets. We show that by optimizing Percolator's original learning algorithm, l 2 -SVM-MFN, large-scale SVM learning requires nearly only a third of the original runtime. Furthermore, we show that by employing the widely used Trust Region Newton (TRON) algorithm instead of l 2 -SVM-MFN, large-scale Percolator SVM learning is reduced to nearly only a fifth of the original runtime. Importantly, these speedups only affect the speed at which Percolator converges to a global solution and do not alter recalibration performance. The upgraded versions of both l 2 -SVM-MFN and TRON are optimized within the Percolator codebase for multithreaded and single-thread use and are available under Apache license at bitbucket.org/jthalloran/percolator_upgrade .

A new effective operator for the hybrid algorithm for solving global optimisation problems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Duc, Le Anh; Li, Kenli; Nguyen, Tien Trong; Yen, Vu Minh; Truong, Tung Khac

2018-04-01

Hybrid algorithms have been recently used to solve complex single-objective optimisation problems. The ultimate goal is to find an optimised global solution by using these algorithms. Based on the existing algorithms (HP_CRO, PSO, RCCRO), this study proposes a new hybrid algorithm called MPC (Mean-PSO-CRO), which utilises a new Mean-Search Operator. By employing this new operator, the proposed algorithm improves the search ability on areas of the solution space that the other operators of previous algorithms do not explore. Specifically, the Mean-Search Operator helps find the better solutions in comparison with other algorithms. Moreover, the authors have proposed two parameters for balancing local and global search and between various types of local search, as well. In addition, three versions of this operator, which use different constraints, are introduced. The experimental results on 23 benchmark functions, which are used in previous works, show that our framework can find better optimal or close-to-optimal solutions with faster convergence speed for most of the benchmark functions, especially the high-dimensional functions. Thus, the proposed algorithm is more effective in solving single-objective optimisation problems than the other existing algorithms.

Gauge invariant spectral Cauchy characteristic extraction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Handmer, Casey J.; Szilágyi, Béla; Winicour, Jeffrey

2015-12-01

We present gauge invariant spectral Cauchy characteristic extraction. We compare gravitational waveforms extracted from a head-on black hole merger simulated in two different gauges by two different codes. We show rapid convergence, demonstrating both gauge invariance of the extraction algorithm and consistency between the legacy Pitt null code and the much faster spectral Einstein code (SpEC).

optGpSampler: an improved tool for uniformly sampling the solution-space of genome-scale metabolic networks.

PubMed

Megchelenbrink, Wout; Huynen, Martijn; Marchiori, Elena

2014-01-01

Constraint-based models of metabolic networks are typically underdetermined, because they contain more reactions than metabolites. Therefore the solutions to this system do not consist of unique flux rates for each reaction, but rather a space of possible flux rates. By uniformly sampling this space, an estimated probability distribution for each reaction's flux in the network can be obtained. However, sampling a high dimensional network is time-consuming. Furthermore, the constraints imposed on the network give rise to an irregularly shaped solution space. Therefore more tailored, efficient sampling methods are needed. We propose an efficient sampling algorithm (called optGpSampler), which implements the Artificial Centering Hit-and-Run algorithm in a different manner than the sampling algorithm implemented in the COBRA Toolbox for metabolic network analysis, here called gpSampler. Results of extensive experiments on different genome-scale metabolic networks show that optGpSampler is up to 40 times faster than gpSampler. Application of existing convergence diagnostics on small network reconstructions indicate that optGpSampler converges roughly ten times faster than gpSampler towards similar sampling distributions. For networks of higher dimension (i.e. containing more than 500 reactions), we observed significantly better convergence of optGpSampler and a large deviation between the samples generated by the two algorithms. optGpSampler for Matlab and Python is available for non-commercial use at: http://cs.ru.nl/~wmegchel/optGpSampler/.

Convergence of broad-scale migration strategies in terrestrial birds.

PubMed

La Sorte, Frank A; Fink, Daniel; Hochachka, Wesley M; Kelling, Steve

2016-01-27

Migration is a common strategy used by birds that breed in seasonal environments. Selection for greater migration efficiency is likely to be stronger for terrestrial species whose migration strategies require non-stop transoceanic crossings. If multiple species use the same transoceanic flyway, then we expect the migration strategies of these species to converge geographically towards the most optimal solution. We test this by examining population-level migration trajectories within the Western Hemisphere for 118 migratory species using occurrence information from eBird. Geographical convergence of migration strategies was evident within specific terrestrial regions where geomorphological features such as mountains or isthmuses constrained overland migration. Convergence was also evident for transoceanic migrants that crossed the Gulf of Mexico or Atlantic Ocean. Here, annual population-level movements were characterized by clockwise looped trajectories, which resulted in faster but more circuitous journeys in the spring and more direct journeys in the autumn. These findings suggest that the unique constraints and requirements associated with transoceanic migration have promoted the spatial convergence of migration strategies. The combination of seasonal atmospheric and environmental conditions that has facilitated the use of similar broad-scale migration strategies may be especially prone to disruption under climate and land-use change. © 2016 The Author(s).

General conditions for scale-invariant perturbations in an expanding universe

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Geshnizjani, Ghazal; Kinney, William H.; Dizgah, Azadeh Moradinezhad, E-mail: ggeshnizjani@perimeterinstitute.ca, E-mail: whkinney@buffalo.edu, E-mail: am248@buffalo.edu

2011-11-01

We investigate the general properties of expanding cosmological models which generate scale-invariant curvature perturbations in the presence of a variable speed of sound. We show that in an expanding universe, generation of a super-Hubble, nearly scale-invariant spectrum of perturbations over a range of wavelengths consistent with observation requires at least one of three conditions: (1) accelerating expansion, (2) a speed of sound faster than the speed of light, or (3) super-Planckian energy density.

Measuring Second Language Vocabulary Knowledge Using a Temporal Method

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Tanabe, Masayuki

2016-01-01

The present study addressed the role of speed as a factor in tests of second language (L2) vocabulary knowledge, presupposing that speed of performance is important in actual language use. Research questions were: (a) Do learners with a larger vocabulary size answer faster on an L2 vocabulary breadth test than smaller vocabulary sized learners?;…

Speed of Lexical Access to Arabic and English Letters

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alasali, Hesham H.; Aljomaa, Suliman S.

2015-01-01

To examining the role of cultural differences in speed of lexical access, we employed two types of Posner (1967) name matching task: Arabic and English types. We have conducted an experiment on 30 native Arabic speakers from King Saud University. The results showed that the lexical access to physically identical letters is faster than lexical…

The Role of Personality in a Regular Cognitive Monitoring Program.

PubMed

Sadeq, Nasreen A; Valdes, Elise G; Harrison Bush, Aryn L; Andel, Ross

2018-02-20

This study examines the role of personality in cognitive performance, adherence, and satisfaction with regular cognitive self-monitoring. One hundred fifty-seven cognitively healthy older adults, age 55+, completed the 44-item Big-Five Inventory and were subsequently engaged in online monthly cognitive monitoring using the Cogstate Brief Battery for up to 35 months (M=14 mo, SD=7 mo). The test measures speed and accuracy in reaction time, visual learning, and working memory tasks. Neuroticism, although not related to cognitive performance overall (P>0.05), was related to a greater increase in accuracy (estimate=0.07, P=0.04) and speed (estimate=-0.09, P=0.03) on One Card Learning. Greater conscientiousness was related to faster overall speed on Detection (estimate=-1.62, P=0.02) and a significant rate of improvement in speed on One Card Learning (estimate=-0.10, P<0.03). No differences in satisfaction or adherence to monthly monitoring as a function of neuroticism or conscientiousness were observed. Participants volunteering for regular cognitive monitoring may be quite uniform in terms of personality traits, with personality traits playing a relatively minor role in adherence and satisfaction. The more neurotic may exhibit better accuracy and improve in speed with time, whereas the more conscientious may perform faster overall and improve in speed on some tasks, but the effects appear small.

Improved Algorithms Speed It Up for Codes

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hazi, A

2005-09-20

Huge computers, huge codes, complex problems to solve. The longer it takes to run a code, the more it costs. One way to speed things up and save time and money is through hardware improvements--faster processors, different system designs, bigger computers. But another side of supercomputing can reap savings in time and speed: software improvements to make codes--particularly the mathematical algorithms that form them--run faster and more efficiently. Speed up math? Is that really possible? According to Livermore physicist Eugene Brooks, the answer is a resounding yes. ''Sure, you get great speed-ups by improving hardware,'' says Brooks, the deputy leadermore » for Computational Physics in N Division, which is part of Livermore's Physics and Advanced Technologies (PAT) Directorate. ''But the real bonus comes on the software side, where improvements in software can lead to orders of magnitude improvement in run times.'' Brooks knows whereof he speaks. Working with Laboratory physicist Abraham Szoeke and others, he has been instrumental in devising ways to shrink the running time of what has, historically, been a tough computational nut to crack: radiation transport codes based on the statistical or Monte Carlo method of calculation. And Brooks is not the only one. Others around the Laboratory, including physicists Andrew Williamson, Randolph Hood, and Jeff Grossman, have come up with innovative ways to speed up Monte Carlo calculations using pure mathematics.« less

Modulatory effects of binocular disparity and aging upon the perception of speed.

PubMed

Norman, J Farley; Burton, Cory L; Best, Leah A

2010-01-01

Two experiments investigated modulatory effects of a surround upon the perceived speed of a moving central region. Both the surround's depth and velocity (relative to the center) were manipulated. The abilities of younger observers (mean age was 23.1 years) were evaluated in Experiment 1, while Experiment 2 was devoted to older participants (mean age was 71.3 years). The results of Experiment 1 revealed that changes in the perceived depth of a surround (in this case caused by changes in binocular disparity) significantly influence the perceived speed of a central target. In particular, the center's motion was perceived as fastest when the surround possessed uncrossed binocular disparity relative to the central target. This effect, that targets that are closer than their background are perceived to be faster, only occurred when the center and surround moved in the same directions (and did not occur when center and surround moved in opposite directions). The results of Experiment 2 showed that the perceived speeds of older adults are different: older observers generally perceive nearer targets as faster both when center and surround move in the same direction and when they move in opposite directions. In addition, the older observers' judgments of speed were less precise. These age-related changes in the perception of speed are broadly consistent with the results of recent neurophysiological investigations that find age-related changes in the functionality of cortical area MT.

Nurse-surgeon object transfer: video analysis of communication and situation awareness in the operating theatre.

PubMed

Korkiakangas, Terhi; Weldon, Sharon-Marie; Bezemer, Jeff; Kneebone, Roger

2014-09-01

One of the most central collaborative tasks during surgical operations is the passing of objects, including instruments. Little is known about how nurses and surgeons achieve this. The aim of the present study was to explore what factors affect this routine-like task, resulting in fast or slow transfer of objects. A qualitative video study, informed by an observational ethnographic approach, was conducted in a major teaching hospital in the UK. A total of 20 general surgical operations were observed. In total, approximately 68 h of video data have been reviewed. A subsample of 225 min has been analysed in detail using interactional video-analysis developed within the social sciences. Two factors affecting object transfer were observed: (1) relative instrument trolley position and (2) alignment. The scrub nurse's instrument trolley position (close to vs. further back from the surgeon) and alignment (gaze direction) impacts on the communication with the surgeon, and consequently, on the speed of object transfer. When the scrub nurse was standing close to the surgeon, and "converged" to follow the surgeon's movements, the transfer occurred more seamlessly and faster (<1.0 s) than when the scrub nurse was standing further back from the surgeon and did not follow the surgeon's movements (>1.0 s). The smoothness of object transfer can be improved by adjusting the scrub nurse's instrument trolley position, enabling a better monitoring of surgeon's bodily conduct and affording early orientation (awareness) to an upcoming request (changing situation). Object transfer is facilitated by the surgeon's embodied practices, which can elicit the nurse's attention to the request and, as a response, maximise a faster object transfer. A simple intervention to highlight the significance of these factors could improve communication in the operating theatre. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Non-singleton colors are not attended faster than categories, but they are encoded faster: A combined approach of behavior, modeling and ERPs.

PubMed

Callahan-Flintoft, Chloe; Wyble, Brad

2017-11-01

The visual system is able to detect targets according to a variety of criteria, such as by categorical (letter vs digit) or featural attributes (color). These criteria are often used interchangeably in rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) studies but little is known about how rapidly they are processed. The aim of this work was to compare the time course of attentional selection and memory encoding for different types of target criteria. We conducted two experiments where participants reported one or two targets (T1, T2) presented in lateral RSVP streams. Targets were marked either by being a singleton color (red letter among black letters), being categorically distinct (digits among letters) or non-singleton color (target color letter among heterogeneously colored letters). Using event related potential (ERPs) associated with attention and memory encoding (the N2pc and the P3 respectively), we compared the relative latency of these two processing stages for these three kinds of targets. In addition to these ERP measures, we obtained convergent behavioral measures for attention and memory encoding by presenting two targets in immediate sequence and comparing their relative accuracy and proportion of temporal order errors. Both behavioral and EEG measures revealed that singleton color targets were attended much more quickly than either non-singleton color or categorical targets, and there was very little difference between attention latencies to non-singleton color and categorical targets. There was however a difference in the speed of memory encoding for non-singleton color and category latencies in both behavioral and EEG measures, which shows that encoding latency differences do not always mirror attention latency differences. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Efficient Broadband Simulation of Fluid-Structure Coupling for Membrane-Type Acoustic Transducer Arrays Using the Multilevel Fast Multipole Algorithm.

PubMed

Shieh, Bernard; Sabra, Karim G; Degertekin, F Levent

2016-11-01

A boundary element model provides great flexibility for the simulation of membrane-type micromachined ultrasonic transducers (MUTs) in terms of membrane shape, actuating mechanism, and array layout. Acoustic crosstalk is accounted for through a mutual impedance matrix that captures the primary crosstalk mechanism of dispersive-guided modes generated at the fluid-solid interface. However, finding the solution to the fully populated boundary element matrix equation using standard techniques requires computation time and memory usage that scales by the cube and by the square of the number of nodes, respectively, limiting simulation to a small number of membranes. We implement a solver with improved speed and efficiency through the application of a multilevel fast multipole algorithm (FMA). By approximating the fields of collections of nodes using multipole expansions of the free-space Green's function, an FMA solver can enable the simulation of hundreds of thousands of nodes while incurring an approximation error that is controllable. Convergence is drastically improved using a problem-specific block-diagonal preconditioner. We demonstrate the solver's capabilities by simulating a 32-element 7-MHz 1-D capacitive MUT (CMUT) phased array with 2880 membranes. The array is simulated using 233280 nodes for a very wide frequency band up to 50 MHz. For a simulation with 15210 nodes, the FMA solver performed ten times faster and used 32 times less memory than a standard solver based on LU decomposition. We investigate the effects of mesh density and phasing on the predicted array response and find that it is necessary to use about seven nodes over the width of the membrane to observe convergence of the solution-even below the first membrane resonance frequency-due to the influence of higher order membrane modes.

The Role of African Easterly Wave on Dust Transport and the Interaction Between Saharan Dust Layer and Atlantic ITCZ During Boreal Summer

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kim, Kyu-Myong; Lau, William K-M

2011-01-01

Saharan dust outbreaks not only transport large amount of dust to the northern Atlantic Ocean, but also alter African easterly jet and wave activities along the jet by changing north-south temperature gradient. Recent modeling and observational studies show that during periods of enhance outbreaks, rainfall on the northern part of ITCZ increases in conjunction with a northward shift of ITCZ toward the dust layer. In this paper, we study the radiative forcing of Saharan dust and its interactions with the Atlantic Inter-tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), through African easterly waves (AEW), African easterly jet (AEJ), using the Terra/Aqua observations as well as MERRA data. Using band pass filtered EOF analysis, we find that African easterly waves propagating westward along two principal tracks, centered at 15-25N and 5-10N respectively. The easterly waves in the northern track are slower, with propagation speed of 9 ms-1, and highly correlated with major dust outbreak over North Africa. On the other hand, easterly waves along the southern track are faster with propagating speed of 10 ms-1, and are closely tied to rainfall/cloud variations along the Atlantic ITCZ. Dust transport along the southern track leads rainfall/cloud anomalies in the same region by one or two days, suggesting the southern tracks of dust outbreak are regions of strong interaction between Saharan dust layer and Atlantic ITCZ. Possible linkage between two tracks of easterly waves, as well as the long-term change of easterly wave activities and dust outbreaks, are also discussed.

A parallel variable metric optimization algorithm

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Straeter, T. A.

1973-01-01

An algorithm, designed to exploit the parallel computing or vector streaming (pipeline) capabilities of computers is presented. When p is the degree of parallelism, then one cycle of the parallel variable metric algorithm is defined as follows: first, the function and its gradient are computed in parallel at p different values of the independent variable; then the metric is modified by p rank-one corrections; and finally, a single univariant minimization is carried out in the Newton-like direction. Several properties of this algorithm are established. The convergence of the iterates to the solution is proved for a quadratic functional on a real separable Hilbert space. For a finite-dimensional space the convergence is in one cycle when p equals the dimension of the space. Results of numerical experiments indicate that the new algorithm will exploit parallel or pipeline computing capabilities to effect faster convergence than serial techniques.

Modelling and finite-time stability analysis of psoriasis pathogenesis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oza, Harshal B.; Pandey, Rakesh; Roper, Daniel; Al-Nuaimi, Yusur; Spurgeon, Sarah K.; Goodfellow, Marc

2017-08-01

A new systems model of psoriasis is presented and analysed from the perspective of control theory. Cytokines are treated as actuators to the plant model that govern the cell population under the reasonable assumption that cytokine dynamics are faster than the cell population dynamics. The analysis of various equilibria is undertaken based on singular perturbation theory. Finite-time stability and stabilisation have been studied in various engineering applications where the principal paradigm uses non-Lipschitz functions of the states. A comprehensive study of the finite-time stability properties of the proposed psoriasis dynamics is carried out. It is demonstrated that the dynamics are finite-time convergent to certain equilibrium points rather than asymptotically or exponentially convergent. This feature of finite-time convergence motivates the development of a modified version of the Michaelis-Menten function, frequently used in biology. This framework is used to model cytokines as fast finite-time actuators.

Hemispheric preference and progressive-part or whole practice in beginning typewriting.

PubMed

Johns, L B

1989-04-01

This investigation explored the interaction of progressive-part versus whole methods of practice with hemispheric preference for processing information and the impact of each upon high school students' speed and accuracy in beginning typewriting. Zenhausern's Differential Hemispheric Activation Test was scored in such a way that it was possible to plot the scores along a continuum. Analysis of variance gave significant F ratios on 3 of the 4 testing days. The continuous scores were divided into five categories: middle, left moderates, right moderates, extreme rights, and extreme lefts. The moderate-left group speed was consistently the fastest group, and the extreme rights were consistently the slowest group. This difference was significant for all four testing days with the moderate-left mean speed varying between 4 to 6 words per minute faster each testing day. The extreme rights were consistently the most accurate, even though not statistically significantly so. There was no significant difference between method of practice and typewriting speed or between method of practice and typewriting accuracy; however, on all four testing days the mean gross speed of the whole practice learning group was 0.73 to 0.99 words per minute faster than the progressive-part group. A two-way analysis of variance indicated no interaction between method or practice and hemispheric preference.

Automatic spin-chain learning to explore the quantum speed limit

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Xiao-Ming; Cui, Zi-Wei; Wang, Xin; Yung, Man-Hong

2018-05-01

One of the ambitious goals of artificial intelligence is to build a machine that outperforms human intelligence, even if limited knowledge and data are provided. Reinforcement learning (RL) provides one such possibility to reach this goal. In this work, we consider a specific task from quantum physics, i.e., quantum state transfer in a one-dimensional spin chain. The mission for the machine is to find transfer schemes with the fastest speeds while maintaining high transfer fidelities. The first scenario we consider is when the Hamiltonian is time independent. We update the coupling strength by minimizing a loss function dependent on both the fidelity and the speed. Compared with a scheme proven to be at the quantum speed limit for the perfect state transfer, the scheme provided by RL is faster while maintaining the infidelity below 5 ×10-4 . In the second scenario where a time-dependent external field is introduced, we convert the state transfer process into a Markov decision process that can be understood by the machine. We solve it with the deep Q-learning algorithm. After training, the machine successfully finds transfer schemes with high fidelities and speeds, which are faster than previously known ones. These results show that reinforcement learning can be a powerful tool for quantum control problems.

Unlabored system motion by specially conditioned electromagnetic fields in higher dimensional realms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

David Froning, H.; Meholic, Gregory V.

2010-01-01

This third of three papers explores the possibility of swift, stress-less system transitions between slower-than-light and faster-than-light speeds with negligible net expenditure of system energetics. The previous papers derived a realm of higher dimensionality than 4-D spacetime that enabled such unlabored motion; and showed that fields that could propel and guide systems on unlabored paths in the higher dimensional realm must be fields that have been conditioned to SU(2) (or higher) Lie group symmetry. This paper shows that the system's surrounding vacuum dielectric ɛμ, within the higher dimensional realm's is a vector (not scalar) quantity with fixed magnitude ɛ0μ0 and changing direction within the realm with changing system speed. Thus, ɛμ generated by the system's EM field must remain tuned to vacuum ɛ0μ0 in both magnitude and direction during swift, unlabored system transitions between slower and faster than light speeds. As a result, the system's changing path and speed is such that the magnitude of the higher dimensional realm's ɛ0μ0 is not disturbed. And it is shown that a system's flight trajectories associated with its swift, unlabored transitions between zero and infinite speed can be represented by curved paths traced-out within the higher dimensional realm.

How humans use visual optic flow to regulate stepping during walking.

PubMed

Salinas, Mandy M; Wilken, Jason M; Dingwell, Jonathan B

2017-09-01

Humans use visual optic flow to regulate average walking speed. Among many possible strategies available, healthy humans walking on motorized treadmills allow fluctuations in stride length (L n ) and stride time (T n ) to persist across multiple consecutive strides, but rapidly correct deviations in stride speed (S n =L n /T n ) at each successive stride, n. Several experiments verified this stepping strategy when participants walked with no optic flow. This study determined how removing or systematically altering optic flow influenced peoples' stride-to-stride stepping control strategies. Participants walked on a treadmill with a virtual reality (VR) scene projected onto a 3m tall, 180° semi-cylindrical screen in front of the treadmill. Five conditions were tested: blank screen ("BLANK"), static scene ("STATIC"), or moving scene with optic flow speed slower than ("SLOW"), matched to ("MATCH"), or faster than ("FAST") walking speed. Participants took shorter and faster strides and demonstrated increased stepping variability during the BLANK condition compared to the other conditions. Thus, when visual information was removed, individuals appeared to walk more cautiously. Optic flow influenced both how quickly humans corrected stride speed deviations and how successful they were at enacting this strategy to try to maintain approximately constant speed at each stride. These results were consistent with Weber's law: healthy adults more-rapidly corrected stride speed deviations in a no optic flow condition (the lower intensity stimuli) compared to contexts with non-zero optic flow. These results demonstrate how the temporal characteristics of optic flow influence ability to correct speed fluctuations during walking. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Entropy and gravity concepts as new methodological indexes to investigate technological convergence: patent network-based approach.

PubMed

Cho, Yongrae; Kim, Minsung

2014-01-01

The volatility and uncertainty in the process of technological developments are growing faster than ever due to rapid technological innovations. Such phenomena result in integration among disparate technology fields. At this point, it is a critical research issue to understand the different roles and the propensity of each element technology for technological convergence. In particular, the network-based approach provides a holistic view in terms of technological linkage structures. Furthermore, the development of new indicators based on network visualization can reveal the dynamic patterns among disparate technologies in the process of technological convergence and provide insights for future technological developments. This research attempts to analyze and discover the patterns of the international patent classification codes of the United States Patent and Trademark Office's patent data in printed electronics, which is a representative technology in the technological convergence process. To this end, we apply the physical idea as a new methodological approach to interpret technological convergence. More specifically, the concepts of entropy and gravity are applied to measure the activities among patent citations and the binding forces among heterogeneous technologies during technological convergence. By applying the entropy and gravity indexes, we could distinguish the characteristic role of each technology in printed electronics. At the technological convergence stage, each technology exhibits idiosyncratic dynamics which tend to decrease technological differences and heterogeneity. Furthermore, through nonlinear regression analysis, we have found the decreasing patterns of disparity over a given total period in the evolution of technological convergence. This research has discovered the specific role of each element technology field and has consequently identified the co-evolutionary patterns of technological convergence. These new findings on the evolutionary patterns of technological convergence provide some implications for engineering and technology foresight research, as well as for corporate strategy and technology policy.

The Impact of Increasing Carbon Dioxide on Ozone Recovery

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rosenfield, Joan E.; Douglass, Anne R.; Considine, David B.; Einaudi, Franco (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

We have used the GSFC coupled two-dimensional (2D) model to study the impact of increasing carbon dioxide from 1980 to 2050 on the recovery of ozone to its pre-1980 amounts. We find that the changes in temperature and circulation arising from increasing CO2 affect ozone recovery in a manner which varies greatly with latitude, altitude, and time of year. Middle and upper stratospheric ozone recovers faster at all latitudes due to a slowing of the ozone catalytic loss cycles. In the lower stratosphere, the recovery of tropical ozone is delayed due to a decrease in production and a speed up in the overturning circulation. The recovery of high northern latitude lower stratospheric ozone is delayed in spring and summer due to an increase in springtime heterogeneous chemical loss, and is speeded up in fall and winter due to increased downwelling. The net effect on the higher northern latitude column ozone is to slow down the recovery from late March to late July, while making it faster at other times. In the high southern latitudes, the impact of CO2 cooling is negligible. Annual mean column ozone is predicted to recover faster at all latitudes, and globally averaged ozone is predicted to recover approximately ten years faster as a result of increasing CO2.

Automated acoustic localization and call association for vocalizing humpback whales on the Navy's Pacific Missile Range Facility.

PubMed

Helble, Tyler A; Ierley, Glenn R; D'Spain, Gerald L; Martin, Stephen W

2015-01-01

Time difference of arrival (TDOA) methods for acoustically localizing multiple marine mammals have been applied to recorded data from the Navy's Pacific Missile Range Facility in order to localize and track humpback whales. Modifications to established methods were necessary in order to simultaneously track multiple animals on the range faster than real-time and in a fully automated way, while minimizing the number of incorrect localizations. The resulting algorithms were run with no human intervention at computational speeds faster than the data recording speed on over forty days of acoustic recordings from the range, spanning multiple years. Spatial localizations based on correlating sequences of units originating from within the range produce estimates having a standard deviation typically 10 m or less (due primarily to TDOA measurement errors), and a bias of 20 m or less (due primarily to sound speed mismatch). An automated method for associating units to individual whales is presented, enabling automated humpback song analyses to be performed.

Convergence to a pulsating travelling wave for an epidemic reaction-diffusion system with non-diffusive susceptible population.

PubMed

Ducrot, Arnaud; Giletti, Thomas

2014-09-01

In this work we study the asymptotic behaviour of the Kermack-McKendrick reaction-diffusion system in a periodic environment with non-diffusive susceptible population. This problem was proposed by Kallen et al. as a model for the spatial spread for epidemics, where it can be reasonable to assume that the susceptible population is motionless. For arbitrary dimensional space we prove that large classes of solutions of such a system have an asymptotic spreading speed in large time, and that the infected population has some pulse-like asymptotic shape. The analysis of the one-dimensional problem is more developed, as we are able to uncover a much more accurate description of the profile of solutions. Indeed, we will see that, for some initially compactly supported infected population, the profile of the solution converges to some pulsating travelling wave with minimal speed, that is to some entire solution moving at a constant positive speed and whose profile's shape is periodic in time.

Experimental and Numerical Investigation of Flow Properties of Supersonic Helium-Air Jets

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Miller, Steven A. E.; Veltin, Jeremy

2010-01-01

Heated high speed subsonic and supersonic jets operating on- or off-design are a source of noise that is not yet fully understood. Helium-air mixtures can be used in the correct ratio to simulate the total temperature ratio of heated air jets and hence have the potential to provide inexpensive and reliable flow and acoustic measurements. This study presents a combination of flow measurements of helium-air high speed jets and numerical simulations of similar helium-air mixture and heated air jets. Jets issuing from axisymmetric convergent and convergent-divergent nozzles are investigated, and the results show very strong similarity with heated air jet measurements found in the literature. This demonstrates the validity of simulating heated high speed jets with helium-air in the laboratory, together with the excellent agreement obtained in the presented data between the numerical predictions and the experiments. The very close match between the numerical and experimental data also validates the frozen chemistry model used in the numerical simulation.

Aquatic burst locomotion by hydroplaning and paddling in common eiders (Somateria mollissima).

PubMed

Gough, William T; Farina, Stacy C; Fish, Frank E

2015-06-01

Common eiders (Somateria mollissima) are heavy sea-ducks that spend a large portion of their time swimming at the water surface. Surface swimming generates a bow and hull wave that can constructively interfere and produce wave drag. The speed at which the wavelengths of these waves equal the waterline length of the swimming animal is the hull speed. To increase surface swimming speed beyond the hull speed, an animal must overtake the bow wave. This study found two distinct behaviors that eider ducks used to exceed the hull speed: (1) 'steaming', which involved rapid oaring with the wings to propel the duck along the surface of the water, and (2) 'paddle-assisted flying', during which the ducks lifted their bodies out of the water and used their feet to paddle against the surface while flapping their wings in the air. An average hull speed (0.732±0.046 m s(-1)) was calculated for S. mollissima by measuring maximum waterline length from museum specimens. On average, steaming ducks swam 5.5 times faster and paddle-assisted flying ducks moved 6.8 times faster than the hull speed. During steaming, ducks exceeded the hull speed by increasing their body angle and generating dynamic lift to overcome wave drag and hydroplane along the water surface. During paddle-assisted flying, ducks kept their bodies out of the water, thereby avoiding the limitations of wave drag altogether. Both behaviors provided alternatives to flight for these ducks by allowing them to exceed the hull speed while staying at or near the water surface. © 2015. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.

Orthogonalizing EM: A design-based least squares algorithm

PubMed Central

Xiong, Shifeng; Dai, Bin; Huling, Jared; Qian, Peter Z. G.

2016-01-01

We introduce an efficient iterative algorithm, intended for various least squares problems, based on a design of experiments perspective. The algorithm, called orthogonalizing EM (OEM), works for ordinary least squares and can be easily extended to penalized least squares. The main idea of the procedure is to orthogonalize a design matrix by adding new rows and then solve the original problem by embedding the augmented design in a missing data framework. We establish several attractive theoretical properties concerning OEM. For the ordinary least squares with a singular regression matrix, an OEM sequence converges to the Moore-Penrose generalized inverse-based least squares estimator. For ordinary and penalized least squares with various penalties, it converges to a point having grouping coherence for fully aliased regression matrices. Convergence and the convergence rate of the algorithm are examined. Finally, we demonstrate that OEM is highly efficient for large-scale least squares and penalized least squares problems, and is considerably faster than competing methods when n is much larger than p. Supplementary materials for this article are available online. PMID:27499558

Tactical Behaviors in Men's 800-m Olympic and World-Championship Medalists: A Changing of the Guard.

PubMed

Sandford, Gareth N; Pearson, Simon; Allen, Sian V; Malcata, Rita M; Kilding, Andrew E; Ross, Angus; Laursen, Paul B

2018-02-01

To assess the longitudinal evolution of tactical behaviors used to medal in men's 800-m Olympic Games (OG) or world-championship (WC) events in the recent competition era (2000-2016). Thirteen OG and WC events were characterized for 1st- and 2nd-lap splits using available footage from YouTube. Positive pacing strategies were defined as a faster 1st lap. Season's best 800-m time and world ranking, reflective of an athlete's "peak condition," were obtained to determine relationships between adopted tactics and physical condition prior to the championships. Seven championship events provided coverage of all medalists to enable determination of average 100-m speed and sector pacing of medalists. From 2011 onward, 800-m OG and WC medalists showed a faster 1st lap by 2.2 ± 1.1 s (mean, ±90% confidence limits; large difference, very likely), contrasting a possibly faster 2nd lap from 2000 to 2009 (0.5, ±0.4 s; moderate difference). A positive pacing strategy was related to a higher world ranking prior to the championships (r = .94, .84-.98; extremely large, most likely). After 2011, the fastest 100-m sector from 800-m OG and WC medalists was faster than before 2009 by 0.5, ±0.2 m/s (large difference, most likely). A secular change in tactical racing behavior appears evident in 800-m championships; since 2011, medalists have largely run faster 1st laps and have faster 100-m sector-speed requirements. This finding may be pertinent for training, tactical preparation, and talent identification of athletes preparing for 800-m running at OGs and WCs.

Smoothed Biasing Forces Yield Unbiased Free Energies with the Extended-System Adaptive Biasing Force Method

PubMed Central

2016-01-01

We report a theoretical description and numerical tests of the extended-system adaptive biasing force method (eABF), together with an unbiased estimator of the free energy surface from eABF dynamics. Whereas the original ABF approach uses its running estimate of the free energy gradient as the adaptive biasing force, eABF is built on the idea that the exact free energy gradient is not necessary for efficient exploration, and that it is still possible to recover the exact free energy separately with an appropriate estimator. eABF does not directly bias the collective coordinates of interest, but rather fictitious variables that are harmonically coupled to them; therefore is does not require second derivative estimates, making it easily applicable to a wider range of problems than ABF. Furthermore, the extended variables present a smoother, coarse-grain-like sampling problem on a mollified free energy surface, leading to faster exploration and convergence. We also introduce CZAR, a simple, unbiased free energy estimator from eABF trajectories. eABF/CZAR converges to the physical free energy surface faster than standard ABF for a wide range of parameters. PMID:27959559

Attitude Sensor and Gyro Calibration for Messenger

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

O'Shaughnessy, Daniel; Pittelkau, Mark E.

2007-01-01

The Redundant Inertial Measurement Unit Attitude Determination/Calibration (RADICAL(TM)) filter was used to estimate star tracker and gyro calibration parameters using MESSENGER telemetry data from three calibration events. We present an overview of the MESSENGER attitude sensors and their configuration is given, the calibration maneuvers are described, the results are compared with previous calibrations, and variations and trends in the estimated calibration parameters are examined. The warm restart and covariance bump features of the RADICAL(TM) filter were used to estimate calibration parameters from two disjoint telemetry streams. Results show that the calibration parameters converge faster with much less transient variation during convergence than when the filter is cold-started at the start of each telemetry stream.

Research on WNN Modeling for Gold Price Forecasting Based on Improved Artificial Bee Colony Algorithm

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Gold price forecasting has been a hot issue in economics recently. In this work, wavelet neural network (WNN) combined with a novel artificial bee colony (ABC) algorithm is proposed for this gold price forecasting issue. In this improved algorithm, the conventional roulette selection strategy is discarded. Besides, the convergence statuses in a previous cycle of iteration are fully utilized as feedback messages to manipulate the searching intensity in a subsequent cycle. Experimental results confirm that this new algorithm converges faster than the conventional ABC when tested on some classical benchmark functions and is effective to improve modeling capacity of WNN regarding the gold price forecasting scheme. PMID:24744773

Splash-cup plants accelerate raindrops to disperse seeds.

PubMed

Amador, Guillermo J; Yamada, Yasukuni; McCurley, Matthew; Hu, David L

2013-02-01

The conical flowers of splash-cup plants Chrysosplenium and Mazus catch raindrops opportunistically, exploiting the subsequent splash to disperse their seeds. In this combined experimental and theoretical study, we elucidate their mechanism for maximizing dispersal distance. We fabricate conical plant mimics using three-dimensional printing, and use high-speed video to visualize splash profiles and seed travel distance. Drop impacts that strike the cup off-centre achieve the largest dispersal distances of up to 1 m. Such distances are achieved because splash speeds are three to five times faster than incoming drop speeds, and so faster than the traditionally studied splashes occurring upon horizontal surfaces. This anomalous splash speed is because of the superposition of two components of momentum, one associated with a component of the drop's motion parallel to the splash-cup surface, and the other associated with film spreading induced by impact with the splash-cup. Our model incorporating these effects predicts the observed dispersal distance within 6-18% error. According to our experiments, the optimal cone angle for the splash-cup is 40°, a value consistent with the average of five species of splash-cup plants. This optimal angle arises from the competing effects of velocity amplification and projectile launching angle.

Thrust characteristics of a series of convergent-divergent exhaust nozzles at subsonic and supersonic flight speeds

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fradenburgh, Evan A; Gorton, Gerald C; Beke, Andrew

1954-01-01

An experimental investigation of a series of four convergent-divergent exhaust nozzles was conducted in the Lewis 8-by-6 foot supersonic wind tunnel at Mach numbers of 0.1, 0.6, 1.6, and 2.0 over a range of nozzle pressure ratios. The thrust characteristics of these nozzles were determined by a pressure-integration technique. From a thrust standpoint, a nozzle designed to give uniform parallel flow at the exit had no advantage over the simple geometric design with conical convergent and divergent sections. The rapid-divergent nozzles might be competitive with the more gradual-divergent nozzles since the relatively short length of these nozzles would be advantageous from a weight standpoint and might result in smaller thrust losses due to friction. The thrusts, with friction losses neglected, were predicted satisfactorily by one-dimensional theory for the nozzles with relatively gradual divergence. The thrusts of the rapid-divergent designs were several percentages below the theoretical values at the design pressure ratio or above, while at low pressure ratios there was a considerable effect of free-stream Mach number, with thrusts considerably above theoretical values at subsonic speeds and somewhat above theoretical values at supersonic speeds. This Mach numb effect appeared to be related to the variation of the model base pressure with free-stream Mach number.

Simulation Speed Analysis and Improvements of Modelica Models for Building Energy Simulation

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Jorissen, Filip; Wetter, Michael; Helsen, Lieve

This paper presents an approach for speeding up Modelica models. Insight is provided into how Modelica models are solved and what determines the tool’s computational speed. Aspects such as algebraic loops, code efficiency and integrator choice are discussed. This is illustrated using simple building simulation examples and Dymola. The generality of the work is in some cases verified using OpenModelica. Using this approach, a medium sized office building including building envelope, heating ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems and control strategy can be simulated at a speed five hundred times faster than real time.

Fast ultra-wideband microwave spectral scanning utilizing photonic wavelength- and time-division multiplexing.

PubMed

Li, Yihan; Kuse, Naoya; Fermann, Martin

2017-08-07

A high-speed ultra-wideband microwave spectral scanning system is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. Utilizing coherent dual electro-optical frequency combs and a recirculating optical frequency shifter, the proposed system realizes wavelength- and time-division multiplexing at the same time, offering flexibility between scan speed and size, weight and power requirements (SWaP). High-speed spectral scanning spanning from ~1 to 8 GHz with ~1.2 MHz spectral resolution is achieved experimentally within 14 µs. The system can be easily scaled to higher bandwidth coverage, faster scanning speed or finer spectral resolution with suitable hardware.

Magnified gradient function with deterministic weight modification in adaptive learning.

PubMed

Ng, Sin-Chun; Cheung, Chi-Chung; Leung, Shu-Hung

2004-11-01

This paper presents two novel approaches, backpropagation (BP) with magnified gradient function (MGFPROP) and deterministic weight modification (DWM), to speed up the convergence rate and improve the global convergence capability of the standard BP learning algorithm. The purpose of MGFPROP is to increase the convergence rate by magnifying the gradient function of the activation function, while the main objective of DWM is to reduce the system error by changing the weights of a multilayered feedforward neural network in a deterministic way. Simulation results show that the performance of the above two approaches is better than BP and other modified BP algorithms for a number of learning problems. Moreover, the integration of the above two approaches forming a new algorithm called MDPROP, can further improve the performance of MGFPROP and DWM. From our simulation results, the MDPROP algorithm always outperforms BP and other modified BP algorithms in terms of convergence rate and global convergence capability.

Natural Language Interfaces to Database Systems

DTIC Science & Technology

1988-10-01

the power was nff to avoid re-entering data for each run of the calculations. External physical devices were developed such as punched tape and...given rise to more powerful or faster tools. Today, operations with the latest fifth generation database management system are not going to be any faster...database does not represent an evolution of greater power or speed. The fascinating aspect is that it represents an evolution of usability and more

A Novel Iterative Scheme for the Very Fast and Accurate Solution of Non-LTE Radiative Transfer Problems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Trujillo Bueno, J.; Fabiani Bendicho, P.

1995-12-01

Iterative schemes based on Gauss-Seidel (G-S) and optimal successive over-relaxation (SOR) iteration are shown to provide a dramatic increase in the speed with which non-LTE radiation transfer (RT) problems can be solved. The convergence rates of these new RT methods are identical to those of upper triangular nonlocal approximate operator splitting techniques, but the computing time per iteration and the memory requirements are similar to those of a local operator splitting method. In addition to these properties, both methods are particularly suitable for multidimensional geometry, since they neither require the actual construction of nonlocal approximate operators nor the application of any matrix inversion procedure. Compared with the currently used Jacobi technique, which is based on the optimal local approximate operator (see Olson, Auer, & Buchler 1986), the G-S method presented here is faster by a factor 2. It gives excellent smoothing of the high-frequency error components, which makes it the iterative scheme of choice for multigrid radiative transfer. This G-S method can also be suitably combined with standard acceleration techniques to achieve even higher performance. Although the convergence rate of the optimal SOR scheme developed here for solving non-LTE RT problems is much higher than G-S, the computing time per iteration is also minimal, i.e., virtually identical to that of a local operator splitting method. While the conventional optimal local operator scheme provides the converged solution after a total CPU time (measured in arbitrary units) approximately equal to the number n of points per decade of optical depth, the time needed by this new method based on the optimal SOR iterations is only √n/2√2. This method is competitive with those that result from combining the above-mentioned Jacobi and G-S schemes with the best acceleration techniques. Contrary to what happens with the local operator splitting strategy currently in use, these novel methods remain effective even under extreme non-LTE conditions in very fine grids.

Recruitment of faster motor units is associated with greater rates of fascicle strain and rapid changes in muscle force during locomotion

PubMed Central

Lee, Sabrina S. M.; de Boef Miara, Maria; Arnold, Allison S.; Biewener, Andrew A.; Wakeling, James M.

2013-01-01

SUMMARY Animals modulate the power output needed for different locomotor tasks by changing muscle forces and fascicle strain rates. To generate the necessary forces, appropriate motor units must be recruited. Faster motor units have faster activation–deactivation rates than slower motor units, and they contract at higher strain rates; therefore, recruitment of faster motor units may be advantageous for tasks that involve rapid movements or high rates of work. This study identified motor unit recruitment patterns in the gastrocnemii muscles of goats and examined whether faster motor units are recruited when locomotor speed is increased. The study also examined whether locomotor tasks that elicit faster (or slower) motor units are associated with increased (or decreased) in vivo tendon forces, force rise and relaxation rates, fascicle strains and/or strain rates. Electromyography (EMG), sonomicrometry and muscle-tendon force data were collected from the lateral and medial gastrocnemius muscles of goats during level walking, trotting and galloping and during inclined walking and trotting. EMG signals were analyzed using wavelet and principal component analyses to quantify changes in the EMG frequency spectra across the different locomotor conditions. Fascicle strain and strain rate were calculated from the sonomicrometric data, and force rise and relaxation rates were determined from the tendon force data. The results of this study showed that faster motor units were recruited as goats increased their locomotor speeds from level walking to galloping. Slow inclined walking elicited EMG intensities similar to those of fast level galloping but different EMG frequency spectra, indicating that recruitment of the different motor unit types depended, in part, on characteristics of the task. For the locomotor tasks and muscles analyzed here, recruitment patterns were generally associated with in vivo fascicle strain rates, EMG intensity and tendon force. Together, these data provide new evidence that changes in motor unit recruitment have an underlying mechanical basis, at least for certain locomotor tasks. PMID:22972893

Recruitment of faster motor units is associated with greater rates of fascicle strain and rapid changes in muscle force during locomotion.

PubMed

Lee, Sabrina S M; de Boef Miara, Maria; Arnold, Allison S; Biewener, Andrew A; Wakeling, James M

2013-01-15

Animals modulate the power output needed for different locomotor tasks by changing muscle forces and fascicle strain rates. To generate the necessary forces, appropriate motor units must be recruited. Faster motor units have faster activation-deactivation rates than slower motor units, and they contract at higher strain rates; therefore, recruitment of faster motor units may be advantageous for tasks that involve rapid movements or high rates of work. This study identified motor unit recruitment patterns in the gastrocnemii muscles of goats and examined whether faster motor units are recruited when locomotor speed is increased. The study also examined whether locomotor tasks that elicit faster (or slower) motor units are associated with increased (or decreased) in vivo tendon forces, force rise and relaxation rates, fascicle strains and/or strain rates. Electromyography (EMG), sonomicrometry and muscle-tendon force data were collected from the lateral and medial gastrocnemius muscles of goats during level walking, trotting and galloping and during inclined walking and trotting. EMG signals were analyzed using wavelet and principal component analyses to quantify changes in the EMG frequency spectra across the different locomotor conditions. Fascicle strain and strain rate were calculated from the sonomicrometric data, and force rise and relaxation rates were determined from the tendon force data. The results of this study showed that faster motor units were recruited as goats increased their locomotor speeds from level walking to galloping. Slow inclined walking elicited EMG intensities similar to those of fast level galloping but different EMG frequency spectra, indicating that recruitment of the different motor unit types depended, in part, on characteristics of the task. For the locomotor tasks and muscles analyzed here, recruitment patterns were generally associated with in vivo fascicle strain rates, EMG intensity and tendon force. Together, these data provide new evidence that changes in motor unit recruitment have an underlying mechanical basis, at least for certain locomotor tasks.

Kinematics of flap-bounding flight in the zebra finch over a wide range of speeds

PubMed

Tobalske; Peacock; Dial

1999-07-01

It has been proposed elsewhere that flap-bounding, an intermittent flight style consisting of flapping phases interspersed with flexed-wing bounds, should offer no savings in average mechanical power relative to continuous flapping unless a bird flies 1.2 times faster than its maximum range speed (Vmr). Why do some species use intermittent bounds at speeds slower than 1.2Vmr? The 'fixed-gear hypothesis' suggests that flap-bounding is used to vary mean power output in small birds that are otherwise constrained by muscle physiology and wing anatomy to use a fixed muscle shortening velocity and pattern of wing motion at all flight speeds; the 'body-lift hypothesis' suggests that some weight support during bounds could make flap-bounding flight aerodynamically advantageous in comparison with continuous flapping over most forward flight speeds. To test these predictions, we studied high-speed film recordings (300 Hz) of wing and body motion in zebra finches (Taenopygia guttata, mean mass 13.2 g, N=4) taken as the birds flew in a variable-speed wind tunnel (0-14 m s-1). The zebra finches used flap-bounding flight at all speeds, so their flight style was unique compared with that of birds that facultatively shift from continuous flapping or flap-gliding at slow speeds to flap-bounding at fast speeds. There was a significant effect of flight speed on all measured aspects of wing motion except percentage of the wingbeat spent in downstroke. Changes in angular velocity of the wing indicated that contractile velocity in the pectoralis muscle changed with flight speed, which is not consistent with the fixed-gear hypothesis. Although variation in stroke-plane angle relative to the body, pronation angle of the wing and wing span at mid-upstroke showed that the zebra finch changed within-wingbeat geometries according to speed, a vortex-ring gait with a feathered upstroke appeared to be the only gait used during flapping. In contrast, two small species that use continuous flapping during slow flight (0-4 m s-1) either change wingbeat gait according to flight speed or exhibit more variation in stroke-plane and pronation angles relative to the body. Differences in kinematics among species appear to be related to wing design (aspect ratio, skeletal proportions) rather than to pectoralis muscle fiber composition, indicating that the fixed-gear hypothesis should perhaps be modified to exclude muscle physiology and to emphasize constraints due to wing anatomy. Body lift was produced during bounds at speeds from 4 to 14 m s-1. Maximum body lift was 0.0206 N (15.9 % of body weight) at 10 m s-1; body lift:drag ratio declined with increasing air speed. The aerodynamic function of bounds differed with increasing speed from an emphasis on lift production (4-10 m s-1) to an emphasis on drag reduction with a slight loss in lift (12 and 14 m s-1). From a mathematical model of aerodynamic costs, it appeared that flap-bounding offered the zebra finch an aerodynamic advantage relative to continuous flapping at moderate and fast flight speeds (6-14 m s-1), with body lift augmenting any savings offered solely by flap-bounding at speeds faster than 7.1 m s-1. The percentage of time spent flapping during an intermittent flight cycle decreased with increasing speed, so the mechanical cost of transport was likely to be lowest at faster flight speeds (10-14 m s-1).

Exercise Performance and Corticospinal Excitability during Action Observation

PubMed Central

Wrightson, James G.; Twomey, Rosie; Smeeton, Nicholas J.

2016-01-01

Purpose: Observation of a model performing fast exercise improves simultaneous exercise performance; however, the precise mechanism underpinning this effect is unknown. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether the speed of the observed exercise influenced both upper body exercise performance and the activation of a cortical action observation network (AON). Method: In Experiment 1, 10 participants completed a 5 km time trial on an arm-crank ergometer whilst observing a blank screen (no-video) and a model performing exercise at both a typical (i.e., individual mean cadence during baseline time trial) and 15% faster than typical speed. In Experiment 2, 11 participants performed arm crank exercise whilst observing exercise at typical speed, 15% slower and 15% faster than typical speed. In Experiment 3, 11 participants observed the typical, slow and fast exercise, and a no-video, whilst corticospinal excitability was assessed using transcranial magnetic stimulation. Results: In Experiment 1, performance time decreased and mean power increased, during observation of the fast exercise compared to the no-video condition. In Experiment 2, cadence and power increased during observation of the fast exercise compared to the typical speed exercise but there was no effect of observation of slow exercise on exercise behavior. In Experiment 3, observation of exercise increased corticospinal excitability; however, there was no difference between the exercise speeds. Conclusion: Observation of fast exercise improves simultaneous upper-body exercise performance. However, because there was no effect of exercise speed on corticospinal excitability, these results suggest that these improvements are not solely due to changes in the activity of the AON. PMID:27014037

The Impact of Speed of Play in Gambling on Psychological and Behavioural Factors: A Critical Review.

PubMed

Harris, Andrew; Griffiths, Mark D

2018-06-01

Conceptually, there is a common association between gambling games with fast speeds of play and problem gambling. This relationship however, is largely correlational in nature, which comes at the expense of carefully controlled empirical investigation. Research that does exist aimed towards investigating the impact of gambling speeds on psychological and behavioural factors, is in its relative infancy, and the research possesses disparate methodologies and variables of interest. The aims of the current review is therefore to evaluate and summarise the existing body of evidence relating to speed of play in gambling, as well as discuss how this evidence can be used to inform harm minimisation approaches aimed at facilitating self-control during gambling. Eleven studies were selected for review based on the inclusion criteria, comprising nine experimental and two qualitative studies (one self-report focus group study and one observational study). There was a consistent finding across studies that games with faster speeds of play were preferred and rated as more exciting for all gamblers, ranging from non-problem to problem gamblers. Of concern, was the repeated finding that fast games are particularly appealing to those suffering with a gambling problem. Behavioural results were more inconsistent across studies, though the general trend supports the notion that games with faster speeds of play encourage more wagers, longer game play, and caused players, particularly problem gamblers, to experience difficulty in ceasing gambling. The implications of these findings for gambling policy, harm minimisation approaches, and future research are discussed.

Application of a Flip-Flop Nozzle on Plume Mixing Enhancement

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schreck, Stefan; Michaelian, Mark; Ho, Chih-Ming

1999-01-01

Mach wave radiation is a major source of noise in high speed jets. It is created by turbulent eddies which travel at supersonic speed within the shear layer of the jet. Downstream of the potential core, the convection speed of the eddies decays and noise production is reduced. Once the convection speeds drops below the speed of sound, eddy Mach wave radiation ceases. Mach wave radiation may be reduced by shortening the core length of the jet. This requires a faster growth of the shear layer, i.e. enhanced mixing in the jet. We investigated the possibility of mixing enhancement by the excitation of the instability waves in a supersonic rectangular jet.

Parallel performance investigations of an unstructured mesh Navier-Stokes solver

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mavriplis, Dimitri J.

2000-01-01

A Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes solver based on unstructured mesh techniques for analysis of high-lift configurations is described. The method makes use of an agglomeration multigrid solver for convergence acceleration. Implicit line-smoothing is employed to relieve the stiffness associated with highly stretched meshes. A GMRES technique is also implemented to speed convergence at the expense of additional memory usage. The solver is cache efficient and fully vectorizable, and is parallelized using a two-level hybrid MPI-OpenMP implementation suitable for shared and/or distributed memory architectures, as well as clusters of shared memory machines. Convergence and scalability results are illustrated for various high-lift cases.

Wired and wireless convergent extended-reach optical access network using direct-detection of all-optical OFDM super-channel signal.

PubMed

Chow, C W; Yeh, C H; Sung, J Y; Hsu, C W

2014-12-15

We propose and demonstrate the feasibility of using all-optical orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (AO-OFDM) for the convergent optical wired and wireless access networks. AO-OFDM relies on all-optically generated orthogonal subcarriers; hence, high data rate (> 100 Gb/s) can be easily achieved without hitting the speed limit of electronic digital-to-analog and analog-to-digital converters (DAC/ADC). A proof-of-concept convergent access network using AO-OFDM super-channel (SC) is demonstrated supporting 40 - 100 Gb/s wired and gigabit/s 100 GHz millimeter-wave (MMW) ROF transmissions.

Development of an Itemwise Efficiency Scoring Method: Concurrent, Convergent, Discriminant, and Neuroimaging-Based Predictive Validity Assessed in a Large Community Sample

PubMed Central

Moore, Tyler M.; Reise, Steven P.; Roalf, David R.; Satterthwaite, Theodore D.; Davatzikos, Christos; Bilker, Warren B.; Port, Allison M.; Jackson, Chad T.; Ruparel, Kosha; Savitt, Adam P.; Baron, Robert B.; Gur, Raquel E.; Gur, Ruben C.

2016-01-01

Traditional “paper-and-pencil” testing is imprecise in measuring speed and hence limited in assessing performance efficiency, but computerized testing permits precision in measuring itemwise response time. We present a method of scoring performance efficiency (combining information from accuracy and speed) at the item level. Using a community sample of 9,498 youths age 8-21, we calculated item-level efficiency scores on four neurocognitive tests, and compared the concurrent, convergent, discriminant, and predictive validity of these scores to simple averaging of standardized speed and accuracy-summed scores. Concurrent validity was measured by the scores' abilities to distinguish men from women and their correlations with age; convergent and discriminant validity were measured by correlations with other scores inside and outside of their neurocognitive domains; predictive validity was measured by correlations with brain volume in regions associated with the specific neurocognitive abilities. Results provide support for the ability of itemwise efficiency scoring to detect signals as strong as those detected by standard efficiency scoring methods. We find no evidence of superior validity of the itemwise scores over traditional scores, but point out several advantages of the former. The itemwise efficiency scoring method shows promise as an alternative to standard efficiency scoring methods, with overall moderate support from tests of four different types of validity. This method allows the use of existing item analysis methods and provides the convenient ability to adjust the overall emphasis of accuracy versus speed in the efficiency score, thus adjusting the scoring to the real-world demands the test is aiming to fulfill. PMID:26866796

Faster response time, effective use of resources : integrating transportation systems and emergency management systems.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1999-01-01

When emergency services agencies share : facilities and traffic monitoring resources : with transportation management agencies, : the efficiency and speed of incident : response are measurably improved.

Modulation of walking speed by changing optic flow in persons with stroke

PubMed Central

Lamontagne, Anouk; Fung, Joyce; McFadyen, Bradford J; Faubert, Jocelyn

2007-01-01

Background Walking speed, which is often reduced after stroke, can be influenced by the perception of optic flow (OF) speed. The present study aims to: 1) compare the modulation of walking speed in response to OF speed changes between persons with stroke and healthy controls and 2) investigate whether virtual environments (VE) manipulating OF speed can be used to promote volitional changes in walking speed post stroke. Methods Twelve persons with stroke and 12 healthy individuals walked on a self-paced treadmill while viewing a virtual corridor in a helmet-mounted display. Two experiments were carried out on the same day. In experiment 1, the speed of an expanding OF was varied sinusoidally at 0.017 Hz (sine duration = 60 s), from 0 to 2 times the subject's comfortable walking speed, for a total duration of 5 minutes. In experiment 2, subjects were exposed to expanding OFs at discrete speeds that ranged from 0.25 to 2 times their comfortable speed. Each test trial was paired with a control trial performed at comfortable speed with matching OF. For each of the test trials, subjects were instructed to walk the distance within the same time as during the immediately preceding control trial. VEs were controlled by the CAREN-2 system (Motek). Instantaneous changes in gait speed (experiment 1) and the ratio of speed changes in the test trial over the control trial (experiment 2) were contrasted between the two groups of subjects. Results When OF speed was changing continuously (experiment 1), an out-of-phase modulation was observed in the gait speed of healthy subjects, such that slower OFs induced faster walking speeds, and vice versa. Persons with stroke displayed weaker (p < 0.05, T-test) correlation coefficients between gait speed and OF speed, due to less pronounced changes and an altered phasing of gait speed modulation. When OF speed was manipulated discretely (experiment 2), a negative linear relationship was generally observed between the test-control ratio of gait speed and OF speed in healthy and stroke individuals. The slope of this relationship was similar between the stroke and healthy groups (p > 0.05, T-test). Conclusion Stroke affects the modulation of gait speed in response to changes in the perception of movement through different OF speeds. Nevertheless, the preservation of even a modest modulation enabled the persons with stroke to increase walking speed when presented with slower OFs. Manipulation of OF speed using virtual reality technology could be implemented in a gait rehabilitation intervention to promote faster walking speeds after stroke. PMID:17594501

Effects of domain-specific exercise load on speed and accuracy of a domain-specific perceptual-cognitive task.

PubMed

Schapschröer, M; Baker, J; Schorer, J

2016-08-01

In the context of perceptual-cognitive expertise it is important to know whether physiological loads influence perceptual-cognitive performance. This study examined whether a handball specific physical exercise load influenced participants' speed and accuracy in a flicker task. At rest and during a specific interval exercise of 86.5-90% HRmax, 35 participants (experts: n=8, advanced: n=13, novices, n=14) performed a handball specific flicker task with two types of patterns (structured and unstructured). For reaction time, results revealed moderate effect sizes for group, with experts reacting faster than advanced and advanced reacting faster than novices, and for structure, with structured videos being performed faster than unstructured ones. A significant interaction for structure×group was also found, with experts and advanced players faster for structured videos, and novices faster for unstructured videos. For accuracy, significant main effects were found for structure with structured videos solved more accurately. A significant interaction for structure×group was revealed, with experts and advanced more accurate for structured scenes and novices more accurate for unstructured scenes. A significant interaction was also found for condition×structure; at rest, unstructured and structured scenes were performed with the same accuracy while under physical exercise, structured scenes were solved more accurately. No other interactions were found. These results were somewhat surprising given previous work in this area, although the impact of a specific physical exercise on a specific perceptual-cognitive task may be different from those tested generally. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Optical Oversampled Analog-to-Digital Conversion

DTIC Science & Technology

1992-06-29

hologram weights and interconnects in the digital image halftoning configuration. First, no temporal error diffusion occurs in the digital image... halftoning error diffusion ar- chitecture as demonstrated by Equation (6.1). Equation (6.2) ensures that the hologram weights sum to one so that the exact...optimum halftone image should be faster. Similarly, decreased convergence time suggests that an error diffusion filter with larger spatial dimensions

Regional Growth and income convergence in the western black belt counties of Alabama: evidence from census block group data

Treesearch

Buddhi Gyawali; Rory Fraser; James Bukenya; John Schelhas

2010-01-01

This paper examines the effects of growth in African Ameriocan population, employment, and human capital on growth in per capita income at the census block group (CBG) level using ordinary least square and spatial reqression models. The results indicate the presence of conditional incaom conbergence between 1980 and 2000 with poorer CBGs growing faster than the...

Improving decision speed, accuracy and group cohesion through early information gathering in house-hunting ants.

PubMed

Stroeymeyt, Nathalie; Giurfa, Martin; Franks, Nigel R

2010-09-29

Successful collective decision-making depends on groups of animals being able to make accurate choices while maintaining group cohesion. However, increasing accuracy and/or cohesion usually decreases decision speed and vice-versa. Such trade-offs are widespread in animal decision-making and result in various decision-making strategies that emphasize either speed or accuracy, depending on the context. Speed-accuracy trade-offs have been the object of many theoretical investigations, but these studies did not consider the possible effects of previous experience and/or knowledge of individuals on such trade-offs. In this study, we investigated how previous knowledge of their environment may affect emigration speed, nest choice and colony cohesion in emigrations of the house-hunting ant Temnothorax albipennis, a collective decision-making process subject to a classical speed-accuracy trade-off. Colonies allowed to explore a high quality nest site for one week before they were forced to emigrate found that nest and accepted it faster than emigrating naïve colonies. This resulted in increased speed in single choice emigrations and higher colony cohesion in binary choice emigrations. Additionally, colonies allowed to explore both high and low quality nest sites for one week prior to emigration remained more cohesive, made more accurate decisions and emigrated faster than emigrating naïve colonies. These results show that colonies gather and store information about available nest sites while their nest is still intact, and later retrieve and use this information when they need to emigrate. This improves colony performance. Early gathering of information for later use is therefore an effective strategy allowing T. albipennis colonies to improve simultaneously all aspects of the decision-making process--i.e. speed, accuracy and cohesion--and partly circumvent the speed-accuracy trade-off classically observed during emigrations. These findings should be taken into account in future studies on speed-accuracy trade-offs.

Energy cost and lower leg muscle activities during erect bipedal locomotion under hyperoxia.

PubMed

Abe, Daijiro; Fukuoka, Yoshiyuki; Maeda, Takafumi; Horiuchi, Masahiro

2018-06-19

Energy cost of transport per unit distance (CoT) against speed shows U-shaped fashion in walking and linear fashion in running, indicating that there exists a specific walking speed minimizing the CoT, being defined as economical speed (ES). Another specific gait speed is the intersection speed between both fashions, being called energetically optimal transition speed (EOTS). We measured the ES, EOTS, and muscle activities during walking and running at the EOTS under hyperoxia (40% fraction of inspired oxygen) on the level and uphill gradients (+ 5%). Oxygen consumption [Formula: see text] and carbon dioxide output [Formula: see text] were measured to calculate the CoT values at eight walking speeds (2.4-7.3 km h -1 ) and four running speeds (7.3-9.4 km h - 1 ) in 17 young males. Electromyography was recorded from gastrocnemius medialis, gastrocnemius lateralis (GL), and tibialis anterior (TA) to evaluate muscle activities. Mean power frequency (MPF) was obtained to compare motor unit recruitment patterns between walking and running. [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text], and CoT values were lower under hyperoxia than normoxia at faster walking speeds and any running speeds. A faster ES on the uphill gradient and slower EOTS on both gradients were observed under hyperoxia than normoxia. GL and TA activities became lower when switching from walking to running at the EOTS under both FiO 2 conditions on both gradients, so did the MPF in the TA. ES and EOTS were influenced by reduced metabolic demands induced by hyperoxia. GL and TA activities in association with a lower shift of motor unit recruitment patterns in the TA would be related to the gait selection when walking or running at the EOTS. UMIN000017690 ( R000020501 ). Registered May 26, 2015, before the first trial.

Fast thought speed induces risk taking.

PubMed

Chandler, Jesse J; Pronin, Emily

2012-04-01

In two experiments, we tested for a causal link between thought speed and risk taking. In Experiment 1, we manipulated thought speed by presenting neutral-content text at either a fast or a slow pace and having participants read the text aloud. In Experiment 2, we manipulated thought speed by presenting fast-, medium-, or slow-paced movie clips that contained similar content. Participants who were induced to think more quickly took more risks with actual money in Experiment 1 and reported greater intentions to engage in real-world risky behaviors, such as unprotected sex and illegal drug use, in Experiment 2. These experiments provide evidence that faster thinking induces greater risk taking.

Normative Topographic ERP Analyses of Speed of Speech Processing and Grammar Before and After Grammatical Treatment

PubMed Central

Yoder, Paul J.; Molfese, Dennis; Murray, Micah M.; Key, Alexandra P. F.

2013-01-01

Typically developing (TD) preschoolers and age-matched preschoolers with specific language impairment (SLI) received event-related potentials (ERPs) to four monosyllabic speech sounds prior to treatment and, in the SLI group, after 6 months of grammatical treatment. Before treatment, the TD group processed speech sounds faster than the SLI group. The SLI group increased the speed of their speech processing after treatment. Post-treatment speed of speech processing predicted later impairment in comprehending phrase elaboration in the SLI group. During the treatment phase, change in speed of speech processing predicted growth rate of grammar in the SLI group. PMID:24219693

Nonlinearity Analysis for Efficient Modelling of Long-Term CO2 Storage

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Boxiao; Benson, Sally; Tchelepi, Hamdi

2014-05-01

Numerical simulation is widely used to predict the long-term fate of the injected CO2 in a storage formation. Performing large-scale simulations is often limited by the computational speed, where convergence failure of Newton iterations is one of the main bottlenecks. In order to design better numerical schemes and faster nonlinear solvers for modelling long-term CO2 storage, the nonlinearity in the simulations has to be analysed thoroughly, and the cause of convergence failures has to be identified clearly. We focus on the transport of CO2 and water in the presence of viscous, gravity, and heterogeneous capillary forces. We investigate the nonlinearity of the discrete transport equation obtained from finite-volume discretization with single-point phase-based upstream weighting, which is the industry standard. In particular, we study the discretized flux expressed as a function of saturations at the upstream and downstream (with respect to the total velocity) of each gridblock interface. We analyse the locations and complexity of the unit-flux, zero-flux, and inflection lines on the numerical flux. The unit- and zero-flux lines, referred to as kinks, correspond to a change of the flow direction, which often occurs when strong buoyancy and capillarity are present. We observe that these kinks and inflection lines are major sources of nonlinear convergence difficulties. We find that kinks create more challenges than inflection lines, especially when their locations depend on both the upstream and downstream saturations of the total velocity. When the flow is driven by viscous and gravity forces (e.g., during CO2 injection), one kink will occur in the numerical flux and its location depends only on the upstream saturation. However, when capillarity is dominant (e.g., during the post-injection period), two kinks will occur and both are functions of the upstream and downstream saturations, causing severe convergence difficulties particularly when heterogeneity is present. Our analysis of the numerical flux theoretically describes the cause of the convergence failures for simulating long-term CO2 storage. This understanding provides useful guidance in designing numerical schemes and nonlinear solvers that overcome the convergence bottlenecks. For example, to reduce the nonlinearity introduced by the two kinks in the presence of capillarity, we modify the method of Cances (2009) to discretize the capillary flux. Consequently, only one kink will occur even for coupled viscous, buoyancy, and heterogeneous capillary forces, and the kink depends only on the upstream saturation of the total velocity. An efficient nonlinear solver that is a significant refinement of the works of Jenny et al. (2009) and Wang and Tchelepi (2013) has also been proposed and demonstrated. References [1] C. Cances. Finite volume scheme for two-phase flows in heterogeneous porous media involving capillary pressure discontinuities. ESAIM:M2AN., 43, 973-1001, (2009). [2] P. Jenny, H.A. Tchelepi, and S.H. Lee. Unconditionally convergent nonlinear solver for hyperbolic conservation laws with S-shaped flux functions. J. Comput. Phys., 228, 7497-7512, (2009). [3] X. Wang and H.A. Tchelepi. Trust-region based solver for nonlinear transport in heterogeneous porous media. J. Comput. Phys., 253, 114-137, (2013).

Usefulness of a novel slim type FlushKnife-BT over conventional FlushKnife-BT in esophageal endoscopic submucosal dissection.

PubMed

Ohara, Yoshiko; Toyonaga, Takashi; Hoshi, Namiko; Tanaka, Shinwa; Baba, Shinichi; Takihara, Hiroshi; Kawara, Fumiaki; Ishida, Tsukasa; Morita, Yoshinori; Umegaki, Eiji; Azuma, Takeshi

2017-03-07

To investigated the usefulness of a novel slim type ball-tipped FlushKnife (FlushKnife-BTS) over ball-tipped FlushKnife (FlushKnife-BT) in functional experiments and clinical practice. In order to evaluate the functionality of FlushKnife-BTS, water aspiration speed, resistance to knife insertion through the scope, and waterjet flushing speed were compared between FlushKnife-BTS and BT. In clinical practice, esophageal endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) performed using FlushKnife-BTS or BT by an experienced endoscopist between October 2015 and January 2016 were retrospectively reviewed. The treatment speed and frequency of removing and reinserting the knife to aspirate fluid and air during ESD sessions were analyzed. Functional experiments revealed that water aspiration speed by the endoscope equipped with a 2.8-mm working channel with FlushKnife-BTS was 7.7-fold faster than that with conventional FlushKnife-BT. Resistance to knife insertion inside the scope with a 2.8-mm working channel was reduced by 40% with FlushKnife-BTS. The waterjet flushing speed was faster with the use of FlushKnife-BT. In clinical practice, a comparison of 6 and 7 ESD using FlushKnife-BT and BTS, respectively, revealed that the median treatment speed was 25.5 mm 2 /min (range 19.6-30.3) in the BT group and 44.2 mm 2 /min (range 15.5-55.4) in the BTS group ( P = 0.0633). However, the median treatment speed was significantly faster with FlushKnife-BTS when the resection size was larger than 1000 m 2 ( n = 4, median 24.2 mm 2 /min, range 19.6-27.7 vs n = 4, median 47.4 mm 2 /min, range 44.2-55.4, P = 0.0209). The frequency of knife replacement was less in the BTS group (median 1.76 times in one hour, range 0-5.45) than in the BT group (7.02 times in one hour, range 4.23-15) ( P = 0.0065). Our results indicate that FlushKnife-BTS enhances the performance of ESD, particularly for large lesions, by improving air and fluid aspiration and knife insertion during ESD and reducing the frequency of knife removal and reinsertion.

Usefulness of a novel slim type FlushKnife-BT over conventional FlushKnife-BT in esophageal endoscopic submucosal dissection

PubMed Central

Ohara, Yoshiko; Toyonaga, Takashi; Hoshi, Namiko; Tanaka, Shinwa; Baba, Shinichi; Takihara, Hiroshi; Kawara, Fumiaki; Ishida, Tsukasa; Morita, Yoshinori; Umegaki, Eiji; Azuma, Takeshi

2017-01-01

AIM To investigated the usefulness of a novel slim type ball-tipped FlushKnife (FlushKnife-BTS) over ball-tipped FlushKnife (FlushKnife-BT) in functional experiments and clinical practice. METHODS In order to evaluate the functionality of FlushKnife-BTS, water aspiration speed, resistance to knife insertion through the scope, and waterjet flushing speed were compared between FlushKnife-BTS and BT. In clinical practice, esophageal endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) performed using FlushKnife-BTS or BT by an experienced endoscopist between October 2015 and January 2016 were retrospectively reviewed. The treatment speed and frequency of removing and reinserting the knife to aspirate fluid and air during ESD sessions were analyzed. RESULTS Functional experiments revealed that water aspiration speed by the endoscope equipped with a 2.8-mm working channel with FlushKnife-BTS was 7.7-fold faster than that with conventional FlushKnife-BT. Resistance to knife insertion inside the scope with a 2.8-mm working channel was reduced by 40% with FlushKnife-BTS. The waterjet flushing speed was faster with the use of FlushKnife-BT. In clinical practice, a comparison of 6 and 7 ESD using FlushKnife-BT and BTS, respectively, revealed that the median treatment speed was 25.5 mm2/min (range 19.6-30.3) in the BT group and 44.2 mm2/min (range 15.5-55.4) in the BTS group (P = 0.0633). However, the median treatment speed was significantly faster with FlushKnife-BTS when the resection size was larger than 1000 m2 (n = 4, median 24.2 mm2/min, range 19.6-27.7 vs n = 4, median 47.4 mm2/min, range 44.2-55.4, P = 0.0209). The frequency of knife replacement was less in the BTS group (median 1.76 times in one hour, range 0-5.45) than in the BT group (7.02 times in one hour, range 4.23-15) (P = 0.0065). CONCLUSION Our results indicate that FlushKnife-BTS enhances the performance of ESD, particularly for large lesions, by improving air and fluid aspiration and knife insertion during ESD and reducing the frequency of knife removal and reinsertion. PMID:28321167

Laser-Induced Ultrafast Demagnetization: Femtomagnetism, a New Frontier?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Guoping; Huebner, Wolfgang; Beaurepaire, Eric; Bigot, Jean-Yves

The conventional demagnetization process (spin precession, magnetic domain motion and rotation) is governed mainly by spin-lattice, magnetic dipole and Zeeman, and spin-spin interactions. It occurs on a timescale of nanoseconds. Technologically, much faster magnetization changes are always in great demand to improve data processing speed. Unfortunately, the present speed of magnetic devices is already at the limit of the conventional mechanism with little room left. Fortunately and unprecedentedly, recent experimental investigations have evidenced much faster magnetization dynamics which occurs on a femtosecond time scale: femtomagnetism. This novel spin dynamics has not been well-understood until now. This article reviews the current status of ultrafast spin dynamics and presents a perspective for future experimental and theoretical investigations.Present address: Department of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Tennessee at Knoxville, TN 37996-1200, USA; gpzhang@utk.edu

The African disability scooter: efficiency testing in paediatric amputees in Malawi

PubMed Central

Beckles, Verona; McCahill, Jennifer L.; Stebbins, Julie; Mkandawire, Nyengo; Church, John C. T.; Lavy, Chris

2016-01-01

Abstract Purpose: The African Disability Scooter (ADS) was developed for lower limb amputees, to improve mobility and provide access to different terrains. The aim of this study was to test the efficiency of the ADS in Africa over different terrains. Method: Eight subjects with a mean age of 12 years participated. Energy expenditure and speed were calculated over different terrains using the ADS, a prosthetic limb, and crutches. Repeated testing was completed on different days to assess learning effect. Results: Speed was significantly faster with the ADS on a level surface compared to crutch walking. This difference was maintained when using the scooter on rough terrain. Oxygen cost was halved with the scooter on level ground compared to crutch walking. There were no significant differences in oxygen consumption or heart rate. There were significant differences in oxygen cost and speed between days using the scooter over level ground, suggesting the presence of a learning effect. Conclusions: This study demonstrates that the ADS is faster and more energy efficient than crutch walking in young individuals with amputations, and should be considered as an alternative to a prosthesis where this is not available. The presence of a learning effect suggests supervision and training is required when the scooter is first issued.Implications for RehabilitationThe African Disability Scooter:is faster than crutch walking in amputees;is more energy efficient than walking with crutches;supervised use is needed when learning to use the device;is a good alternative/adjunct for mobility. PMID:25316033

Numerical analysis of spectral properties of coupled oscillator Schroedinger operators. I - Single and double well anharmonic oscillators

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Isaacson, D.; Isaacson, E. L.; Paes-Leme, P. J.; Marchesin, D.

1981-01-01

Several methods for computing many eigenvalues and eigenfunctions of a single anharmonic oscillator Schroedinger operator whose potential may have one or two minima are described. One of the methods requires the solution of an ill-conditioned generalized eigenvalue problem. This method has the virtue of using a bounded amount of work to achieve a given accuracy in both the single and double well regions. Rigorous bounds are given, and it is proved that the approximations converge faster than any inverse power of the size of the matrices needed to compute them. The results of computations for the g:phi(4):1 theory are presented. These results indicate that the methods actually converge exponentially fast.

Driven Metadynamics: Reconstructing Equilibrium Free Energies from Driven Adaptive-Bias Simulations

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

We present a novel free-energy calculation method that constructively integrates two distinct classes of nonequilibrium sampling techniques, namely, driven (e.g., steered molecular dynamics) and adaptive-bias (e.g., metadynamics) methods. By employing nonequilibrium work relations, we design a biasing protocol with an explicitly time- and history-dependent bias that uses on-the-fly work measurements to gradually flatten the free-energy surface. The asymptotic convergence of the method is discussed, and several relations are derived for free-energy reconstruction and error estimation. Isomerization reaction of an atomistic polyproline peptide model is used to numerically illustrate the superior efficiency and faster convergence of the method compared with its adaptive-bias and driven components in isolation. PMID:23795244

Acoustic echo cancellation for full-duplex voice transmission on fading channels

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Park, Sangil; Messer, Dion D.

1990-01-01

This paper discusses the implementation of an adaptive acoustic echo canceler for a hands-free cellular phone operating on a fading channel. The adaptive lattice structure, which is particularly known for faster convergence relative to the conventional tapped-delay-line (TDL) structure, is used in the initialization stage. After convergence, the lattice coefficients are converted into the coefficients for the TDL structure which can accommodate a larger number of taps in real-time operation due to its computational simplicity. The conversion method of the TDL coefficients from the lattice coefficients is derived and the DSP56001 assembly code for the lattice and TDL structure is included, as well as simulation results and the schematic diagram for the hardware implementation.

The politics of the face-in-the-crowd.

PubMed

Mills, Mark; Smith, Kevin B; Hibbing, John R; Dodd, Michael D

2014-06-01

Recent work indicates that the more conservative one is, the faster one is to fixate on negative stimuli, whereas the less conservative one is, the faster one is to fixate on positive stimuli. The present series of experiments used the face-in-the-crowd paradigm to examine whether variability in the efficiency with which positive and negative stimuli are detected underlies such speed differences. Participants searched for a discrepant facial expression (happy or angry) amid a varying number of neutral distractors (Experiments 1 and 4). A combination of response time and eye movement analyses indicated that variability in search efficiency explained speed differences for happy expressions, whereas variability in post-selectional processes explained speed differences for angry expressions. These results appear to be emotionally mediated as search performance did not vary with political temperament when displays were inverted (Experiment 2) or when controlled processing was required for successful task performance (Experiment 3). Taken together, the present results suggest political temperament is at least partially instantiated by attentional biases for emotional material. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved.

Compressional and Shear Wakes in a 2D Dusty Plasma Crystal

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nosenko, V.; Goree, J.; Ma, Z. W.; Dubin, D. H. E.

2001-10-01

A 2D crystalline lattice can vibrate with two kinds of sound waves, compressional and shear (transverse), where the latter has a much slower sound speed. When these waves are excited by a moving supersonic disturbance, the superposition of the waves creates a Mach cone, i.e., a V-shaped wake. In our experiments, the supersonic disturbance was a moving spot of argon laser light, and this laser light applied a force, due to radiation pressure, on the particles. The beam was swept across the lattice in a controlled and repeatable manner. The particles were levitated in an argon rf discharge. By moving the laser spot faster than the shear sound speed c_t, but slower than the compressional sound speed c_l, we excited a shear wave Mach cone. Alternatively, by moving the laser spot faster than c_l, we excited both cones. In addition to Mach cones, we also observed a wake structure that arises from the compressional wave’s dispersion. We compare our results to Dubin’s theory (Phys. Plasmas 2000) and to molecular dynamics (MD) simulations.

Global sensitivity analysis for urban water quality modelling: Terminology, convergence and comparison of different methods

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vanrolleghem, Peter A.; Mannina, Giorgio; Cosenza, Alida; Neumann, Marc B.

2015-03-01

Sensitivity analysis represents an important step in improving the understanding and use of environmental models. Indeed, by means of global sensitivity analysis (GSA), modellers may identify both important (factor prioritisation) and non-influential (factor fixing) model factors. No general rule has yet been defined for verifying the convergence of the GSA methods. In order to fill this gap this paper presents a convergence analysis of three widely used GSA methods (SRC, Extended FAST and Morris screening) for an urban drainage stormwater quality-quantity model. After the convergence was achieved the results of each method were compared. In particular, a discussion on peculiarities, applicability, and reliability of the three methods is presented. Moreover, a graphical Venn diagram based classification scheme and a precise terminology for better identifying important, interacting and non-influential factors for each method is proposed. In terms of convergence, it was shown that sensitivity indices related to factors of the quantity model achieve convergence faster. Results for the Morris screening method deviated considerably from the other methods. Factors related to the quality model require a much higher number of simulations than the number suggested in literature for achieving convergence with this method. In fact, the results have shown that the term "screening" is improperly used as the method may exclude important factors from further analysis. Moreover, for the presented application the convergence analysis shows more stable sensitivity coefficients for the Extended-FAST method compared to SRC and Morris screening. Substantial agreement in terms of factor fixing was found between the Morris screening and Extended FAST methods. In general, the water quality related factors exhibited more important interactions than factors related to water quantity. Furthermore, in contrast to water quantity model outputs, water quality model outputs were found to be characterised by high non-linearity.

The annual and interannual variabilities of precipitable water, surface wind speed, and sea surface temperature over the tropical Pacific

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Liu, W. Timothy

1989-01-01

The Nimbus-7 Scanning Multichannel Microwave Radiometer (SSMR) provided simultaneous measurements of three geophysical parameters, each of which describing a certain aspect of the evolution of the 1982-1983 ENSO: the sea-surface temperature (T), precipitable water (W), and surface-wind speed (U). In this paper, values derived from the SSMR were compared with in situ measurements from ships, research buoys, and operational island stations in the tropical Pacific between January 1980 and October 1983, demonstrating the temporal and spatial coherence of the SSMR measurements. The results show that the variabilities of the surface convergence, sea surface temperature, and precipitable water are related. It was found that W anomalies were not always colocated with T anomalies, and that W anomalies were often associated with negative U anomalies, interpreted as surface convergence.

Adaptive Grouping Cloud Model Shuffled Frog Leaping Algorithm for Solving Continuous Optimization Problems

PubMed Central

Liu, Haorui; Yi, Fengyan; Yang, Heli

2016-01-01

The shuffled frog leaping algorithm (SFLA) easily falls into local optimum when it solves multioptimum function optimization problem, which impacts the accuracy and convergence speed. Therefore this paper presents grouped SFLA for solving continuous optimization problems combined with the excellent characteristics of cloud model transformation between qualitative and quantitative research. The algorithm divides the definition domain into several groups and gives each group a set of frogs. Frogs of each region search in their memeplex, and in the search process the algorithm uses the “elite strategy” to update the location information of existing elite frogs through cloud model algorithm. This method narrows the searching space and it can effectively improve the situation of a local optimum; thus convergence speed and accuracy can be significantly improved. The results of computer simulation confirm this conclusion. PMID:26819584

Parameter identification using a creeping-random-search algorithm

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Parrish, R. V.

1971-01-01

A creeping-random-search algorithm is applied to different types of problems in the field of parameter identification. The studies are intended to demonstrate that a random-search algorithm can be applied successfully to these various problems, which often cannot be handled by conventional deterministic methods, and, also, to introduce methods that speed convergence to an extremal of the problem under investigation. Six two-parameter identification problems with analytic solutions are solved, and two application problems are discussed in some detail. Results of the study show that a modified version of the basic creeping-random-search algorithm chosen does speed convergence in comparison with the unmodified version. The results also show that the algorithm can successfully solve problems that contain limits on state or control variables, inequality constraints (both independent and dependent, and linear and nonlinear), or stochastic models.

Brain tissue segmentation in MR images based on a hybrid of MRF and social algorithms.

PubMed

Yousefi, Sahar; Azmi, Reza; Zahedi, Morteza

2012-05-01

Effective abnormality detection and diagnosis in Magnetic Resonance Images (MRIs) requires a robust segmentation strategy. Since manual segmentation is a time-consuming task which engages valuable human resources, automatic MRI segmentations received an enormous amount of attention. For this goal, various techniques have been applied. However, Markov Random Field (MRF) based algorithms have produced reasonable results in noisy images compared to other methods. MRF seeks a label field which minimizes an energy function. The traditional minimization method, simulated annealing (SA), uses Monte Carlo simulation to access the minimum solution with heavy computation burden. For this reason, MRFs are rarely used in real time processing environments. This paper proposed a novel method based on MRF and a hybrid of social algorithms that contain an ant colony optimization (ACO) and a Gossiping algorithm which can be used for segmenting single and multispectral MRIs in real time environments. Combining ACO with the Gossiping algorithm helps find the better path using neighborhood information. Therefore, this interaction causes the algorithm to converge to an optimum solution faster. Several experiments on phantom and real images were performed. Results indicate that the proposed algorithm outperforms the traditional MRF and hybrid of MRF-ACO in speed and accuracy. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Independent tasks scheduling in cloud computing via improved estimation of distribution algorithm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sun, Haisheng; Xu, Rui; Chen, Huaping

2018-04-01

To minimize makespan for scheduling independent tasks in cloud computing, an improved estimation of distribution algorithm (IEDA) is proposed to tackle the investigated problem in this paper. Considering that the problem is concerned with multi-dimensional discrete problems, an improved population-based incremental learning (PBIL) algorithm is applied, which the parameter for each component is independent with other components in PBIL. In order to improve the performance of PBIL, on the one hand, the integer encoding scheme is used and the method of probability calculation of PBIL is improved by using the task average processing time; on the other hand, an effective adaptive learning rate function that related to the number of iterations is constructed to trade off the exploration and exploitation of IEDA. In addition, both enhanced Max-Min and Min-Min algorithms are properly introduced to form two initial individuals. In the proposed IEDA, an improved genetic algorithm (IGA) is applied to generate partial initial population by evolving two initial individuals and the rest of initial individuals are generated at random. Finally, the sampling process is divided into two parts including sampling by probabilistic model and IGA respectively. The experiment results show that the proposed IEDA not only gets better solution, but also has faster convergence speed.

Remote access laboratories in Australia and Europe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ku, H.; Ahfock, T.; Yusaf, T.

2011-06-01

Remote access laboratories (RALs) were first developed in 1994 in Australia and Switzerland. The main purposes of developing them are to enable students to do their experiments at their own pace, time and locations and to enable students and teaching staff to get access to facilities beyond their institutions. Currently, most of the experiments carried out through RALs in Australia are heavily biased towards electrical, electronic and computer engineering disciplines. However, the experiments carried out through RALs in Europe had more variety, in addition to the traditional electrical, electronic and computer engineering disciplines, there were experiments in mechanical and mechatronic disciplines. It was found that RALs are now being developed aggressively in Australia and Europe and it can be argued that RALs will develop further and faster in the future with improving Internet technology. The rising costs of real experimental equipment will also speed up their development because by making the equipment remotely accessible, the cost can be shared by more universities or institutions and this will improve their cost-effectiveness. Their development would be particularly rapid in large countries with small populations such as Australia, Canada and Russia, because of the scale of economy. Reusability of software, interoperability in software implementation, computer supported collaborative learning and convergence with learning management systems are the required development of future RALs.

Plasma motion in the Venus ionosphere: Transition to supersonic flow

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Whitten, R.C.; Barnes, A.; McCormick, P.T.

1991-07-01

A remarkable feature of the ionosphere of Venus is the presence of nightward supersonic flows at high altitude near the terminator. In general the steady flow of an ideal gas admits a subsonic-supersonic transition only in the presence of special conditions, such as a convergence of the flow followed by divergence, or external forces. In this paper, the authors show that the relatively high pressure dayside plasma wells up slowly, and at high altitude it is accelerated horizontally through a relatively constricted region near the terminator toward the low-density nightside. In effect, the plasma flows through a nozzle that ismore » first converging, then diverging, permitting the transition to supersonic flow. Analysis of results from previously published models of the plasma flow in the upper ionosphere of Venus shows how such a nozzle is formed. The model plasma does indeed accelerate to supersonic speeds, reaching sonic speed just behind the terminator. The computed speeds prove to be close to those observed by the Pioneer Venus orbiter, and the ion transport rates are sufficient to produce and maintain the nightside ionosphere.« less

Geologic nozzles

USGS Publications Warehouse

Werner, Kieffer S.

1989-01-01

The importance of the low characteristic velocities of geologic fluids has not been widely recognized, and as a result, the importance of supercritical and supersonic flow in geological processes has generally been underestimated. The lateral blast at Mount St. Helens, Washington, propelled a gas heavily laden with dust into the atmosphere. Because of the low sound speed in this gas (about 100 m/s), the flow was internally supersonic. Old Faithful Geyser, Wyoming, is a converging-diverging nozzle in which liquid water refilling the conduit during the recharge cycle changes during eruption into a two-phase liquid-vapor mixture with a very low sound velocity. The high sound speed of liquid water determines the characteristics of harmonic tremor observed at the geyser during the recharge interval, whereas the low sound speed of the liquid-vapor mixture influences the fluid flow characteristics of the eruption. At the rapids of the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon, Arizona, the channel is constricted into the shape of a converging-diverging nozzle by the debris flows that enter from tributary canyons. Both subcritical and supercritical flow occur within the rapids. -from Author

Widespread neural oscillations in the delta band dissociate rule convergence from rule divergence during creative idea generation.

PubMed

Boot, Nathalie; Baas, Matthijs; Mühlfeld, Elisabeth; de Dreu, Carsten K W; van Gaal, Simon

2017-09-01

Critical to creative cognition and performance is both the generation of multiple alternative solutions in response to open-ended problems (divergent thinking) and a series of cognitive operations that converges on the correct or best possible answer (convergent thinking). Although the neural underpinnings of divergent and convergent thinking are still poorly understood, several electroencephalography (EEG) studies point to differences in alpha-band oscillations between these thinking modes. We reason that, because most previous studies employed typical block designs, these pioneering findings may mainly reflect the more sustained aspects of creative processes that extend over longer time periods, and that still much is unknown about the faster-acting neural mechanisms that dissociate divergent from convergent thinking during idea generation. To this end, we developed a new event-related paradigm, in which we measured participants' tendency to implicitly follow a rule set by examples, versus breaking that rule, during the generation of novel names for specific categories (e.g., pasta, planets). This approach allowed us to compare the oscillatory dynamics of rule convergent and rule divergent idea generation and at the same time enabled us to measure spontaneous switching between these thinking modes on a trial-to-trial basis. We found that, relative to more systematic, rule convergent thinking, rule divergent thinking was associated with widespread decreases in delta band activity. Therefore, this study contributes to advancing our understanding of the neural underpinnings of creativity by addressing some methodological challenges that neuroscientific creativity research faces. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Irreversible Local Markov Chains with Rapid Convergence towards Equilibrium.

PubMed

Kapfer, Sebastian C; Krauth, Werner

2017-12-15

We study the continuous one-dimensional hard-sphere model and present irreversible local Markov chains that mix on faster time scales than the reversible heat bath or Metropolis algorithms. The mixing time scales appear to fall into two distinct universality classes, both faster than for reversible local Markov chains. The event-chain algorithm, the infinitesimal limit of one of these Markov chains, belongs to the class presenting the fastest decay. For the lattice-gas limit of the hard-sphere model, reversible local Markov chains correspond to the symmetric simple exclusion process (SEP) with periodic boundary conditions. The two universality classes for irreversible Markov chains are realized by the totally asymmetric SEP (TASEP), and by a faster variant (lifted TASEP) that we propose here. We discuss how our irreversible hard-sphere Markov chains generalize to arbitrary repulsive pair interactions and carry over to higher dimensions through the concept of lifted Markov chains and the recently introduced factorized Metropolis acceptance rule.

Irreversible Local Markov Chains with Rapid Convergence towards Equilibrium

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kapfer, Sebastian C.; Krauth, Werner

2017-12-01

We study the continuous one-dimensional hard-sphere model and present irreversible local Markov chains that mix on faster time scales than the reversible heat bath or Metropolis algorithms. The mixing time scales appear to fall into two distinct universality classes, both faster than for reversible local Markov chains. The event-chain algorithm, the infinitesimal limit of one of these Markov chains, belongs to the class presenting the fastest decay. For the lattice-gas limit of the hard-sphere model, reversible local Markov chains correspond to the symmetric simple exclusion process (SEP) with periodic boundary conditions. The two universality classes for irreversible Markov chains are realized by the totally asymmetric SEP (TASEP), and by a faster variant (lifted TASEP) that we propose here. We discuss how our irreversible hard-sphere Markov chains generalize to arbitrary repulsive pair interactions and carry over to higher dimensions through the concept of lifted Markov chains and the recently introduced factorized Metropolis acceptance rule.

Cosmic Microwave Background Mapmaking with a Messenger Field

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huffenberger, Kevin M.; Næss, Sigurd K.

2018-01-01

We apply a messenger field method to solve the linear minimum-variance mapmaking equation in the context of Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) observations. In simulations, the method produces sky maps that converge significantly faster than those from a conjugate gradient descent algorithm with a diagonal preconditioner, even though the computational cost per iteration is similar. The messenger method recovers large scales in the map better than conjugate gradient descent, and yields a lower overall χ2. In the single, pencil beam approximation, each iteration of the messenger mapmaking procedure produces an unbiased map, and the iterations become more optimal as they proceed. A variant of the method can handle differential data or perform deconvolution mapmaking. The messenger method requires no preconditioner, but a high-quality solution needs a cooling parameter to control the convergence. We study the convergence properties of this new method and discuss how the algorithm is feasible for the large data sets of current and future CMB experiments.

Investigation and appreciation of optimal output feedback. Volume 1: A convergent algorithm for the stochastic infinite-time discrete optimal output feedback problem

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Halyo, N.; Broussard, J. R.

1984-01-01

The stochastic, infinite time, discrete output feedback problem for time invariant linear systems is examined. Two sets of sufficient conditions for the existence of a stable, globally optimal solution are presented. An expression for the total change in the cost function due to a change in the feedback gain is obtained. This expression is used to show that a sequence of gains can be obtained by an algorithm, so that the corresponding cost sequence is monotonically decreasing and the corresponding sequence of the cost gradient converges to zero. The algorithm is guaranteed to obtain a critical point of the cost function. The computational steps necessary to implement the algorithm on a computer are presented. The results are applied to a digital outer loop flight control problem. The numerical results for this 13th order problem indicate a rate of convergence considerably faster than two other algorithms used for comparison.

Splash-cup plants accelerate raindrops to disperse seeds

PubMed Central

Amador, Guillermo J.; Yamada, Yasukuni; McCurley, Matthew; Hu, David L.

2013-01-01

The conical flowers of splash-cup plants Chrysosplenium and Mazus catch raindrops opportunistically, exploiting the subsequent splash to disperse their seeds. In this combined experimental and theoretical study, we elucidate their mechanism for maximizing dispersal distance. We fabricate conical plant mimics using three-dimensional printing, and use high-speed video to visualize splash profiles and seed travel distance. Drop impacts that strike the cup off-centre achieve the largest dispersal distances of up to 1 m. Such distances are achieved because splash speeds are three to five times faster than incoming drop speeds, and so faster than the traditionally studied splashes occurring upon horizontal surfaces. This anomalous splash speed is because of the superposition of two components of momentum, one associated with a component of the drop's motion parallel to the splash-cup surface, and the other associated with film spreading induced by impact with the splash-cup. Our model incorporating these effects predicts the observed dispersal distance within 6–18% error. According to our experiments, the optimal cone angle for the splash-cup is 40°, a value consistent with the average of five species of splash-cup plants. This optimal angle arises from the competing effects of velocity amplification and projectile launching angle. PMID:23235266

Unifying Speed-Accuracy Trade-Off and Cost-Benefit Trade-Off in Human Reaching Movements.

PubMed

Peternel, Luka; Sigaud, Olivier; Babič, Jan

2017-01-01

Two basic trade-offs interact while our brain decides how to move our body. First, with the cost-benefit trade-off, the brain trades between the importance of moving faster toward a target that is more rewarding and the increased muscular cost resulting from a faster movement. Second, with the speed-accuracy trade-off, the brain trades between how accurate the movement needs to be and the time it takes to achieve such accuracy. So far, these two trade-offs have been well studied in isolation, despite their obvious interdependence. To overcome this limitation, we propose a new model that is able to simultaneously account for both trade-offs. The model assumes that the central nervous system maximizes the expected utility resulting from the potential reward and the cost over the repetition of many movements, taking into account the probability to miss the target. The resulting model is able to account for both the speed-accuracy and the cost-benefit trade-offs. To validate the proposed hypothesis, we confront the properties of the computational model to data from an experimental study where subjects have to reach for targets by performing arm movements in a horizontal plane. The results qualitatively show that the proposed model successfully accounts for both cost-benefit and speed-accuracy trade-offs.

Cloud episode propagation over the Indonesian Maritime Continent from 10 years of infrared brightness temperature observations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marzuki; Hashiguchi, Hiroyuki; Yamamoto, Masayuki K.; Yamamoto, Mamoru; Mori, Shuichi; Yamanaka, Manabu D.; Carbone, Richard E.; Tuttle, John D.

2013-02-01

The cloud-top brightness temperature data from 2001 to 2010 are used to derive a climatology of deep convection duration, span, and propagation speed over the Indonesian Maritime Continent (10°S-10°N, 80°E-160°E). The full domain of study is divided into northern (0°-10°N) and southern (0°-10°S) regions to investigate the seasonal and latitudinal variabilities of cloud streaks. The ratio of westward- to eastward-propagating cloud streaks is found to be approximately 3:1. Westward-moving streaks generally have longer spans and faster speeds than eastward-moving systems. Coherent episodes of westward- (eastward-) propagating systems have 9.5 (7.5) h durations and 519 (378) km spans on average; most episodes have zonal phase speeds of 6-30 m s- 1. Median zonal phase speeds of 14.2 (westward) and 13.5 m s- 1 (eastward) are found for events with > 1000 km spans and > 20 h durations. The recurrence frequency, which is categorized from 1 event per day to 1 event per month, is also discussed. The latitudinal and seasonal dependences of statistical properties are strongly influenced by the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone annual cycle. The number of westward-migrating systems is significant every month, while eastward-migrating systems strongly vary by season and latitude. Eastward migration is less frequent in the southern region during June, July and August (JJA) and in the northern region during December, January and February (DJF). In the northern region, the westward-propagating events' mean span is much longer during JJA, September, October, and November (SON) than the other periods; this effect is partially due to the favorable environmental shear conditions necessary to sustain a long-lived system. Eastward- and westward-propagating events are found during the shortwave heating and dissipation modes of diurnal cycle phase. Thus, thermal forcing, which is associated with the elevated terrain found over the islands and the land-sea interface, is dominant on a daily basis. Several possible reasons behind the present results besides the environmental conditions are discussed. It is found that low-level wind may support the precipitation propagation speed, and its support may depend on the Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) phase. However, advection by wind alone is likely insufficient to propagate the precipitation as quickly, as our results show. The speed of precipitation migration particularly around Sumatra is similar to the values reported in the framework of propagating gravity waves and moist Kelvin waves.

The convergence analysis of SpikeProp algorithm with smoothing L1∕2 regularization.

PubMed

Zhao, Junhong; Zurada, Jacek M; Yang, Jie; Wu, Wei

2018-07-01

Unlike the first and the second generation artificial neural networks, spiking neural networks (SNNs) model the human brain by incorporating not only synaptic state but also a temporal component into their operating model. However, their intrinsic properties require expensive computation during training. This paper presents a novel algorithm to SpikeProp for SNN by introducing smoothing L 1∕2 regularization term into the error function. This algorithm makes the network structure sparse, with some smaller weights that can be eventually removed. Meanwhile, the convergence of this algorithm is proved under some reasonable conditions. The proposed algorithms have been tested for the convergence speed, the convergence rate and the generalization on the classical XOR-problem, Iris problem and Wisconsin Breast Cancer classification. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Entropy and Gravity Concepts as New Methodological Indexes to Investigate Technological Convergence: Patent Network-Based Approach

PubMed Central

Cho, Yongrae; Kim, Minsung

2014-01-01

The volatility and uncertainty in the process of technological developments are growing faster than ever due to rapid technological innovations. Such phenomena result in integration among disparate technology fields. At this point, it is a critical research issue to understand the different roles and the propensity of each element technology for technological convergence. In particular, the network-based approach provides a holistic view in terms of technological linkage structures. Furthermore, the development of new indicators based on network visualization can reveal the dynamic patterns among disparate technologies in the process of technological convergence and provide insights for future technological developments. This research attempts to analyze and discover the patterns of the international patent classification codes of the United States Patent and Trademark Office's patent data in printed electronics, which is a representative technology in the technological convergence process. To this end, we apply the physical idea as a new methodological approach to interpret technological convergence. More specifically, the concepts of entropy and gravity are applied to measure the activities among patent citations and the binding forces among heterogeneous technologies during technological convergence. By applying the entropy and gravity indexes, we could distinguish the characteristic role of each technology in printed electronics. At the technological convergence stage, each technology exhibits idiosyncratic dynamics which tend to decrease technological differences and heterogeneity. Furthermore, through nonlinear regression analysis, we have found the decreasing patterns of disparity over a given total period in the evolution of technological convergence. This research has discovered the specific role of each element technology field and has consequently identified the co-evolutionary patterns of technological convergence. These new findings on the evolutionary patterns of technological convergence provide some implications for engineering and technology foresight research, as well as for corporate strategy and technology policy. PMID:24914959

Fiber to the home: next generation network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Chengxin; Guo, Baoping

2006-07-01

Next generation networks capable of carrying converged telephone, television (TV), very high-speed internet, and very high-speed bi-directional data services (like video-on-demand (VOD), Game etc.) strategy for Fiber To The Home (FTTH) is presented. The potential market is analyzed. The barriers and some proper strategy are also discussed. Several technical problems like various powering methods, optical fiber cables, and different network architecture are discussed too.

Pacing Strategy, Muscle Fatigue, and Technique in 1500-m Speed-Skating and Cycling Time Trials.

PubMed

Stoter, Inge K; MacIntosh, Brian R; Fletcher, Jared R; Pootz, Spencer; Zijdewind, Inge; Hettinga, Florentina J

2016-04-01

To evaluate pacing behavior and peripheral and central contributions to muscle fatigue in 1500-m speed-skating and cycling time trials when a faster or slower start is instructed. Nine speed skaters and 9 cyclists, all competing at regional or national level, performed two 1500-m time trials in their sport. Athletes were instructed to start faster than usual in 1 trial and slower in the other. Mean velocity was measured per 100 m. Blood lactate concentrations were measured. Maximal voluntary contraction (MVC), voluntary activation (VA), and potentiated twitch (PT) of the quadriceps muscles were measured to estimate central and peripheral contributions to muscle fatigue. In speed skating, knee, hip, and trunk angles were measured to evaluate technique. Cyclists showed a more explosive start than speed skaters in the fast-start time trial (cyclists performed first 300 m in 24.70 ± 1.73 s, speed skaters in 26.18 ± 0.79 s). Both trials resulted in reduced MVC (12.0% ± 14.5%), VA (2.4% ± 5.0%), and PT (25.4% ± 15.2%). Blood lactate concentrations after the time trial and the decrease in PT were greater in the fast-start than in the slow-start trial. Speed skaters showed higher trunk angles in the fast-start than in the slow-start trial, while knee angles remained similar. Despite similar instructions, behavioral adaptations in pacing differed between the 2 sports, resulting in equal central and peripheral contributions to muscle fatigue in both sports. This provides evidence for the importance of neurophysiological aspects in the regulation of pacing. It also stresses the notion that optimal pacing needs to be studied sport specifically, and coaches should be aware of this.

Partial body weight support treadmill training speed influences paretic and non-paretic leg muscle activation, stride characteristics, and ratings of perceived exertion during acute stroke rehabilitation.

PubMed

Burnfield, Judith M; Buster, Thad W; Goldman, Amy J; Corbridge, Laura M; Harper-Hanigan, Kellee

2016-06-01

Intensive task-specific training is promoted as one approach for facilitating neural plastic brain changes and associated motor behavior gains following neurologic injury. Partial body weight support treadmill training (PBWSTT), is one task-specific approach frequently used to improve walking during the acute period of stroke recovery (<1month post infarct). However, only limited data have been published regarding the relationship between training parameters and physiologic demands during this early recovery phase. To examine the impact of four walking speeds on stride characteristics, lower extremity muscle demands (both paretic and non-paretic), Borg ratings of perceived exertion (RPE), and blood pressure. A prospective, repeated measures design was used. Ten inpatients post unilateral stroke participated. Following three familiarization sessions, participants engaged in PBWSTT at four predetermined speeds (0.5, 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0mph) while bilateral electromyographic and stride characteristic data were recorded. RPE was evaluated immediately following each trial. Stride length, cadence, and paretic single limb support increased with faster walking speeds (p⩽0.001), while non-paretic single limb support remained nearly constant. Faster walking resulted in greater peak and mean muscle activation in the paretic medial hamstrings, vastus lateralis and medial gastrocnemius, and non-paretic medial gastrocnemius (p⩽0.001). RPE also was greatest at the fastest compared to two slowest speeds (p<0.05). During the acute phase of stroke recovery, PBWSTT at the fastest speed (2.0mph) promoted practice of a more optimal gait pattern with greater intensity of effort as evidenced by the longer stride length, increased between-limb symmetry, greater muscle activation, and higher RPE compared to training at the slowest speeds. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A novel approach to estimate emissions from large transportation networks: Hierarchical clustering-based link-driving-schedules for EPA-MOVES using dynamic time warping measures

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Aziz, H. M. Abdul; Ukkusuri, Satish V.

We present that EPA-MOVES (Motor Vehicle Emission Simulator) is often integrated with traffic simulators to assess emission levels of large-scale urban networks with signalized intersections. High variations in speed profiles exist in the context of congested urban networks with signalized intersections. The traditional average-speed-based emission estimation technique with EPA-MOVES provides faster execution while underestimates the emissions in most cases because of ignoring the speed variation at congested networks with signalized intersections. In contrast, the atomic second-by-second speed profile (i.e., the trajectory of each vehicle)-based technique provides accurate emissions at the cost of excessive computational power and time. We addressed thismore » issue by developing a novel method to determine the link-driving-schedules (LDSs) for the EPA-MOVES tool. Our research developed a hierarchical clustering technique with dynamic time warping similarity measures (HC-DTW) to find the LDS for EPA-MOVES that is capable of producing emission estimates better than the average-speed-based technique with execution time faster than the atomic speed profile approach. We applied the HC-DTW on a sample data from a signalized corridor and found that HC-DTW can significantly reduce computational time without compromising the accuracy. The developed technique in this research can substantially contribute to the EPA-MOVES-based emission estimation process for large-scale urban transportation network by reducing the computational time with reasonably accurate estimates. This method is highly appropriate for transportation networks with higher variation in speed such as signalized intersections. Lastly, experimental results show error difference ranging from 2% to 8% for most pollutants except PM 10.« less

A novel approach to estimate emissions from large transportation networks: Hierarchical clustering-based link-driving-schedules for EPA-MOVES using dynamic time warping measures

DOE PAGES

Aziz, H. M. Abdul; Ukkusuri, Satish V.

2017-06-29

We present that EPA-MOVES (Motor Vehicle Emission Simulator) is often integrated with traffic simulators to assess emission levels of large-scale urban networks with signalized intersections. High variations in speed profiles exist in the context of congested urban networks with signalized intersections. The traditional average-speed-based emission estimation technique with EPA-MOVES provides faster execution while underestimates the emissions in most cases because of ignoring the speed variation at congested networks with signalized intersections. In contrast, the atomic second-by-second speed profile (i.e., the trajectory of each vehicle)-based technique provides accurate emissions at the cost of excessive computational power and time. We addressed thismore » issue by developing a novel method to determine the link-driving-schedules (LDSs) for the EPA-MOVES tool. Our research developed a hierarchical clustering technique with dynamic time warping similarity measures (HC-DTW) to find the LDS for EPA-MOVES that is capable of producing emission estimates better than the average-speed-based technique with execution time faster than the atomic speed profile approach. We applied the HC-DTW on a sample data from a signalized corridor and found that HC-DTW can significantly reduce computational time without compromising the accuracy. The developed technique in this research can substantially contribute to the EPA-MOVES-based emission estimation process for large-scale urban transportation network by reducing the computational time with reasonably accurate estimates. This method is highly appropriate for transportation networks with higher variation in speed such as signalized intersections. Lastly, experimental results show error difference ranging from 2% to 8% for most pollutants except PM 10.« less

Performance of Nonlinear Finite-Difference Poisson-Boltzmann Solvers

PubMed Central

Cai, Qin; Hsieh, Meng-Juei; Wang, Jun; Luo, Ray

2014-01-01

We implemented and optimized seven finite-difference solvers for the full nonlinear Poisson-Boltzmann equation in biomolecular applications, including four relaxation methods, one conjugate gradient method, and two inexact Newton methods. The performance of the seven solvers was extensively evaluated with a large number of nucleic acids and proteins. Worth noting is the inexact Newton method in our analysis. We investigated the role of linear solvers in its performance by incorporating the incomplete Cholesky conjugate gradient and the geometric multigrid into its inner linear loop. We tailored and optimized both linear solvers for faster convergence rate. In addition, we explored strategies to optimize the successive over-relaxation method to reduce its convergence failures without too much sacrifice in its convergence rate. Specifically we attempted to adaptively change the relaxation parameter and to utilize the damping strategy from the inexact Newton method to improve the successive over-relaxation method. Our analysis shows that the nonlinear methods accompanied with a functional-assisted strategy, such as the conjugate gradient method and the inexact Newton method, can guarantee convergence in the tested molecules. Especially the inexact Newton method exhibits impressive performance when it is combined with highly efficient linear solvers that are tailored for its special requirement. PMID:24723843

A Least-Squares Commutator in the Iterative Subspace Method for Accelerating Self-Consistent Field Convergence.

PubMed

Li, Haichen; Yaron, David J

2016-11-08

A least-squares commutator in the iterative subspace (LCIIS) approach is explored for accelerating self-consistent field (SCF) calculations. LCIIS is similar to direct inversion of the iterative subspace (DIIS) methods in that the next iterate of the density matrix is obtained as a linear combination of past iterates. However, whereas DIIS methods find the linear combination by minimizing a sum of error vectors, LCIIS minimizes the Frobenius norm of the commutator between the density matrix and the Fock matrix. This minimization leads to a quartic problem that can be solved iteratively through a constrained Newton's method. The relationship between LCIIS and DIIS is discussed. Numerical experiments suggest that LCIIS leads to faster convergence than other SCF convergence accelerating methods in a statistically significant sense, and in a number of cases LCIIS leads to stable SCF solutions that are not found by other methods. The computational cost involved in solving the quartic minimization problem is small compared to the typical cost of SCF iterations and the approach is easily integrated into existing codes. LCIIS can therefore serve as a powerful addition to SCF convergence accelerating methods in computational quantum chemistry packages.

Naming Game with Multiple Hearers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Bing; Chen, Guanrong; Chow, Tommy W. S.

2013-05-01

A new model called Naming Game with Multiple Hearers (NGMH) is proposed in this paper. A naming game over a population of individuals aims to reach consensus on the name of an object through pair-wise local interactions among all the individuals. The proposed NGMH model describes the learning process of a new word, in a population with one speaker and multiple hearers, at each interaction towards convergence. The characteristics of NGMH are examined on three types of network topologies, namely ER random-graph network, WS small-world network, and BA scale-free network. Comparative analysis on the convergence time is performed, revealing that the topology with a larger average (node) degree can reach consensus faster than the others over the same population. It is found that, for a homogeneous network, the average degree is the limiting value of the number of hearers, which reduces the individual ability of learning new words, consequently decreasing the convergence time; for a scale-free network, this limiting value is the deviation of the average degree. It is also found that a network with a larger clustering coefficient takes longer time to converge; especially a small-word network with smallest rewiring possibility takes longest time to reach convergence. As more new nodes are being added to scale-free networks with different degree distributions, their convergence time appears to be robust against the network-size variation. Most new findings reported in this paper are different from that of the single-speaker/single-hearer naming games documented in the literature.

An open-closed-loop iterative learning control approach for nonlinear switched systems with application to freeway traffic control

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sun, Shu-Ting; Li, Xiao-Dong; Zhong, Ren-Xin

2017-10-01

For nonlinear switched discrete-time systems with input constraints, this paper presents an open-closed-loop iterative learning control (ILC) approach, which includes a feedforward ILC part and a feedback control part. Under a given switching rule, the mathematical induction is used to prove the convergence of ILC tracking error in each subsystem. It is demonstrated that the convergence of ILC tracking error is dependent on the feedforward control gain, but the feedback control can speed up the convergence process of ILC by a suitable selection of feedback control gain. A switched freeway traffic system is used to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed ILC law.

An improved VSS NLMS algorithm for active noise cancellation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sun, Yunzhuo; Wang, Mingjiang; Han, Yufei; Zhang, Congyan

2017-08-01

In this paper, an improved variable step size NLMS algorithm is proposed. NLMS has fast convergence rate and low steady state error compared to other traditional adaptive filtering algorithm. But there is a contradiction between the convergence speed and steady state error that affect the performance of the NLMS algorithm. Now, we propose a new variable step size NLMS algorithm. It dynamically changes the step size according to current error and iteration times. The proposed algorithm has simple formulation and easily setting parameters, and effectively solves the contradiction in NLMS. The simulation results show that the proposed algorithm has a good tracking ability, fast convergence rate and low steady state error simultaneously.

Short-distance walking speed tests in people with Parkinson disease: reliability, responsiveness, and validity.

PubMed

Combs, Stephanie A; Diehl, M Dyer; Filip, Jacqueline; Long, Erin

2014-02-01

The aims of this study were to determine test-retest reliability and responsiveness of short-distance walking speed tests for persons with Parkinson disease (PD). Discriminant and convergent validity of walking speed tests were also examined. Eighty-eight participants with PD (mean age, 66 years) with mild to moderate severity (stages 1-4 on the Hoehn and Yahr Scale) were tested on medications. Measures of activity included the comfortable and fast 10-m walk tests (CWT, FWT), 6-min walk test (6MWT), mini balance evaluations systems test (mini-BEST Test), fear of falling (FoF), and the Activity-Specific Balance Confidence Scale (ABC). The mobility subsection of the PD quality of life-39 (PDQ39-M) served as a participation-based measure. Test-retest reliability was high for both walking speed measures (CWT, ICC(2,1) = 0.98; FWT, ICC(2,1) = 0.99). Minimal detectable change (MDC(95)) for the CWT and FWT was 0.09 m/s and 0.13 m/s respectively. Participants at Hoehn & Yahr levels 3/4 demonstrated significantly slower walking speed with the CWT and FWT than participants at Hoehn & Yahr levels 1 and 2 (P < .01). The CWT and FWT were both significantly (P ≤ .002) correlated with all activity and participation-based measures. Short-distance walking speed tests are clinically useful measures for persons with PD. The CWT and FWT are highly reliable and responsive to change in persons with PD. Short distance walking speed can be used to discriminate differences in gait function between persons with mild and moderate PD severity. The CWT and FWT had moderate to strong associations with other activity and participation based measures demonstrating convergent validity. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Relay exchanges in elite short track speed skating.

PubMed

Hext, Andrew; Heller, Ben; Kelley, John; Goodwill, Simon

2017-06-01

In short track speed skating, the relay exchange provides an additional strategic component to races by allowing a team to change the skater involved in the pack race. Typically executed every 1½ laps, it is the belief of skaters and coaches that during this period of the race, time can be gained or lost due to the execution of the relay exchange. As such, the aim of this study was to examine the influence of the relay exchange on a team's progression through a 5000 m relay race. Using data collected from three World Cup relay events during the 2012-2013 season, the time taken to complete the straight for the scenarios with and without the relay exchange were compared at different skating speeds for the corner exit prior to the straight. Overall, the influence of the relay exchange was found to be dependent on this corner exit speed. At slower corner exit speeds (12.01-13.5 m/s), relay exchange straight times were significantly faster than the free skating scenario (P < 0.01). While at faster corner exit speeds (14.01-15 m/s), straight times were significantly slower (P < 0.001). The findings of this study suggest that the current norm of executing relay exchanges every 1½ laps may not be optimal. Instead, varying the frequency of relay exchange execution throughout the race could allow: (1) time to be gained relative to other teams; and (2) facilitate other race strategies by providing an improved opportunity to overtake.

The Enright phenomenon. Stereoscopic distortion of perceived driving speed induced by monocular pupil dilation.

PubMed

Carkeet, Andrew; Wood, Joanne M; McNeill, Kylie M; McNeill, Hamish J; James, Joanna A; Holder, Leigh S

The Enright phenomenon describes the distortion in speed perception experienced by an observer looking sideways from a moving vehicle when viewing with interocular differences in retinal image brightness, usually induced by neutral density filters. We investigated whether the Enright phenomenon could be induced with monocular pupil dilation using tropicamide. We tested 17 visually normal young adults on a closed road driving circuit. Participants were asked to travel at Goal Speeds of 40km/h and 60km/h while looking sideways from the vehicle with: (i) both eyes with undilated pupils; (ii) both eyes with dilated pupils; (iii) with the leading eye only dilated; and (iv) the trailing eye only dilated. For each condition we recorded actual driving speed. With the pupil of the leading eye dilated participants drove significantly faster (by an average of 3.8km/h) than with both eyes dilated (p=0.02); with the trailing eye dilated participants drove significantly slower (by an average of 3.2km/h) than with both eyes dilated (p<0.001). The speed, with the leading eye dilated, was faster by an average of 7km/h than with the trailing eye dilated (p<0.001). There was no significant difference between driving speeds when viewing with both eyes either dilated or undilated (p=0.322). Our results are the first to show a measurable change in driving behaviour following monocular pupil dilation and support predictions based on the Enright phenomenon. Copyright © 2016 Spanish General Council of Optometry. Published by Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

The Psychologist Said Quickly, “Dialogue Descriptions Modulate Reading Speed!”

PubMed Central

Stites, Mallory C.; Luke, Steven G.; Christianson, Kiel

2012-01-01

The current study investigates whether the semantic content of a dialogue description can affect reading times on an embedded quote to determine if the speed at which a character is described as saying a quote influences how quickly it is read. Yao and Scheepers (2011) previously found that readers were faster to read direct quotes when the preceding context implied that the talker generally spoke quickly, an effect attributed to perceptual simulation of talker speed. The current study manipulated the speed of a physical action performed by the speaker independently from character talking rate to determine if these sources have separable effects on perceptual simulation of a direct quote. Results showed that readers spent less time reading direct quotes described as being said quickly compared to slowly (e.g., John walked/bolted into the room and said energetically/nonchalantly, “I finally found my car keys”), an effect that was not present when a nearly identical phrase was presented as an indirect quote (e.g., John…said energetically that he finally found his car keys). The speed of the character’s movement did not affect direct quote reading times. Furthermore, fast adverbs were themselves read significantly faster than slow adverbs, an effect we attribute to implicit effects on the eye movement program stemming from automatically activated semantic features of the adverbs. Our findings add to the literature on perceptual simulation by showing that these effects can be instantiated with only a single adverb, and are strong enough to override effects of global sentence speed. PMID:22927027

A Speech Controlled Information-Retrieval System,

DTIC Science & Technology

1983-01-01

instance, monitoring the speed of articulation continuously could lead to a faster time warping algorithm by restricting the amount of overlapping of...M E (1975) "LEX - a lexical analyser generator" CSTR 39, Bell Laboratories. ’.

Make Development Decisions Predictable and Fair: Green Tape Program, Silver Spring, Maryland

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Montgomery County's Green Tape program is making redevelopment in Silver Spring, Maryland, faster and more cost effective by speeding the permitting process for development in the mixed-use city center.

Reduction Expansion Synthesis of Chromium and Nickel Metal Coatings

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-06-01

to a supersonic speed [24]–[25]. To prevent undesired combustion, an inert gas is required for because the gas temperature increases to 100–500°C in...take place. The metal is added by mechanical means only. In the sputtering process, an inert gas (e.g., argon) is supplied to a vacuum chamber with...technique that uses metal powder and compressed gas to feed the powder to a converging-diverging nozzle [24], as shown in Figure 5. The converging

Does catatonic schizophrenia improve faster with electroconvulsive therapy than other subtypes of schizophrenia?

PubMed

Thirthalli, Jagadisha; Phutane, Vivek H; Muralidharan, Kesavan; Kumar, Channaveerachari Naveen; Munishwar, Bharat; Baspure, Prashant; Gangadhar, Bangalore N

2009-01-01

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is generally recommended for treating catatonic schizophrenia. Non-catatonic schizophrenia patients also receive ECT. We compared the speed of response to ECT among patients with catatonic and other subtypes of schizophrenia. Consecutive schizophrenia patients referred for ECT within 3 months of starting antipsychotic treatment were studied (19 with catatonic and 34 with non-catatonic schizophrenia). Nurse's Observation Scale for Inpatient Evaluation (NOSIE-30) and Clinical Global Impression (CGI) were used to rate improvement. Referring psychiatrists stopped ECTs based on clinical impression of improvement. Total number of ECTs was taken as an indirect measure of speed of response. NOSIE-30 scores were compared using repeated measures analysis of variance. Catatonic schizophrenia patients required significantly fewer ECTs to achieve clinically significant improvement. There was a significant group x occasion effect in NOSIE scores, suggesting faster response to ECT in the catatonia group (F=41.6; P<0.001). Survival analysis suggested that patients with catatonic schizophrenia required significantly fewer ECTs (one less session on an average) to achieve clinical improvement (Log-rank statistic =5.31; P=0.02). Catatonic schizophrenia responds faster to ECT than non-catatonic schizophrenia. However, the magnitude of the difference is modest.

Step-by-step variability of swing phase trajectory area during steady state walking at a range of speeds

PubMed Central

Hurt, Christopher P.; Brown, David A.

2018-01-01

Background Step kinematic variability has been characterized during gait using spatial and temporal kinematic characteristics. However, people can adopt different trajectory paths both between individuals and even within individuals at different speeds. Single point measures such as minimum toe clearance (MTC) and step length (SL) do not necessarily account for the multiple paths that the foot may take during the swing phase to reach the same foot fall endpoint. The purpose of this study was to test a step-by-step foot trajectory area (SBS-FTA) variability measure that is able to characterize sagittal plane foot trajectories of varying areas, and compare this measure against MTC and SL variability at different speeds. We hypothesize that the SBS-FTA variability would demonstrate increased variability with speed. Second, we hypothesize that SBS-FTA would have a stronger curvilinear fit compared with the CV and SD of SL and MTC. Third, we hypothesize SBS-FTA would be more responsive to change in the foot trajectory at a given speed compared to SL and MTC. Fourth, SBS-FTA variability would not strongly co-vary with SL and MTC variability measures since it represents a different construct related to foot trajectory area variability. Methods We studied 15 nonimpaired individuals during walking at progressively faster speeds. We calculated SL, MTC, and SBS-FTA area. Results SBS-FTA variability increased with speed, had a stronger curvilinear fit compared with the CV and SD of SL and MTC, was more responsive at a given speed, and did not strongly co-vary with SL and MTC variability measures. Conclusion SBS foot trajectory area variability was sensitive to change with faster speeds, captured a relationship that the majority of the other measures did not demonstrate, and did not co-vary strongly with other measures that are also components of the trajectory. PMID:29370202

A Case Study on the Walking Speed of Pedestrian at the Bus Terminal Area

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Firdaus Mohamad Ali, Mohd; Salleh Abustan, Muhamad; Hidayah Abu Talib, Siti; Abustan, Ismail; Rahman, Noorhazlinda Abd; Gotoh, Hitoshi

2018-03-01

Walking speed is one of the factors in understanding the pedestrian walking behaviours. Every pedestrian has different level of walking speed that are regulated by some factors such as gender and age. This study was conducted at a bus terminal area with two objectives in which the first one was to determine the average walking speed of pedestrian by considering the factors of age, gender, people with and without carrying baggage; and the second one was to make a comparison of the average walking speed that considered age as the factor of comparison between pedestrian at the bus terminal area and crosswalk. Demographic factor of pedestrian walking speed in this study are gender and age consist of male, female, and 7 groups of age categories that are children, adult men and women, senior adult men and women, over 70 and disabled person. Data of experiment was obtained by making a video recording of the movement of people that were walking and roaming around at the main lobby for 45 minutes by using a camcorder. Hence, data analysis was done by using software named Human Behaviour Simulator (HBS) for analysing the data extracted from the video. The result of this study was male pedestrian walked faster than female with the average of walking speed 1.13m/s and 1.07m/s respectively. Averagely, pedestrian that walked without carrying baggage had higher walking speed compared to pedestrian that were carrying baggage with the speed of 1.02m/s and 0.70m/s respectively. Male pedestrian walks faster than female because they have higher level of stamina and they are mostly taller than female pedestrian. Furthermore, pedestrian with baggage walks slower because baggage will cause distractions such as pedestrian will have more weight to carry and people tend to walk slower.

{lambda} elements for one-dimensional singular problems with known strength of singularity

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wong, K.K.; Surana, K.S.

1996-10-01

This paper presents a new and general procedure for designing special elements called {lambda} elements for one dimensional singular problems where the strength of the singularity is know. The {lambda} elements presented here are of type C{sup 0}. These elements also provide inter-element C{sup 0} continuity with p-version elements. The {lambda} elements do not require a precise knowledge of the extent of singular zone, i.e., their use may be extended beyond the singular zone. When {lambda} elements are used at the singularity, a singular problem behaves like a smooth problem thereby eliminating the need for h, p-adaptive processes all together.more » One dimensional steady state radial flow of an upper convected Maxwell fluid is considered as a sample problem. Least squares approach (or least squares finite element formulation: LSFEF) is used to construct the integral form (error functional I) from the differential equations. Numerical results presented for radially inward flow with inner radius r{sub i} = 0.1, 0.01, 0.001, 0.0001, 0.00001, and Deborah number of 2 (De = 2) demonstrate the accuracy, faster convergence of the iterative solution procedure, faster convergence rate of the error functional and mesh independent characteristics of the {lambda} elements regardless of the severity of the singularity.« less

Iterative integral parameter identification of a respiratory mechanics model.

PubMed

Schranz, Christoph; Docherty, Paul D; Chiew, Yeong Shiong; Möller, Knut; Chase, J Geoffrey

2012-07-18

Patient-specific respiratory mechanics models can support the evaluation of optimal lung protective ventilator settings during ventilation therapy. Clinical application requires that the individual's model parameter values must be identified with information available at the bedside. Multiple linear regression or gradient-based parameter identification methods are highly sensitive to noise and initial parameter estimates. Thus, they are difficult to apply at the bedside to support therapeutic decisions. An iterative integral parameter identification method is applied to a second order respiratory mechanics model. The method is compared to the commonly used regression methods and error-mapping approaches using simulated and clinical data. The clinical potential of the method was evaluated on data from 13 Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) patients. The iterative integral method converged to error minima 350 times faster than the Simplex Search Method using simulation data sets and 50 times faster using clinical data sets. Established regression methods reported erroneous results due to sensitivity to noise. In contrast, the iterative integral method was effective independent of initial parameter estimations, and converged successfully in each case tested. These investigations reveal that the iterative integral method is beneficial with respect to computing time, operator independence and robustness, and thus applicable at the bedside for this clinical application.

Natural learning in NLDA networks.

PubMed

González, Ana; Dorronsoro, José R

2007-07-01

Non Linear Discriminant Analysis (NLDA) networks combine a standard Multilayer Perceptron (MLP) transfer function with the minimization of a Fisher analysis criterion. In this work we will define natural-like gradients for NLDA network training. Instead of a more principled approach, that would require the definition of an appropriate Riemannian structure on the NLDA weight space, we will follow a simpler procedure, based on the observation that the gradient of the NLDA criterion function J can be written as the expectation nablaJ(W)=E[Z(X,W)] of a certain random vector Z and defining then I=E[Z(X,W)Z(X,W)(t)] as the Fisher information matrix in this case. This definition of I formally coincides with that of the information matrix for the MLP or other square error functions; the NLDA J criterion, however, does not have this structure. Although very simple, the proposed approach shows much faster convergence than that of standard gradient descent, even when its costlier complexity is taken into account. While the faster convergence of natural MLP batch training can be also explained in terms of its relationship with the Gauss-Newton minimization method, this is not the case for NLDA training, as we will see analytically and numerically that the hessian and information matrices are different.

Examples of the Influence of Turbine Wakes on Downwind Power Output, Surface Wind Speed, Turbulence and Flow Convergence in Large Wind Farms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Takle, E. S.; Rajewski, D. A.; Lundquist, J. K.; Doorenbos, R. K.

2014-12-01

We have analyzed turbine power and concurrent wind speed, direction and turbulence data from surface 10-m flux towers in a large wind farm for experiments during four summer periods as part of the Crop Wind Energy Experiment (CWEX). We use these data to analyze surface differences for a near-wake (within 2.5 D of the turbine line), far wake (17 D downwind of the turbine line), and double wake (impacted by two lines of turbines about 34 D downwind of the first turbine line) locations. Composites are categorized by10 degree directional intervals and three ambient stability categories as defined by Rajewski et al. (2013): neutral (|z/L|<0.05), stable (z/L>0.05) and unstable (z/L<-0.05), where z is the height of the measurement and L is the Monin-Obhukov length. The dominant influence of the turbines is under stably stratified conditions (i. e., mostly at night). A 25% to 40% increase in mean wind speed occurs when turbine wakes are moving over the downwind station at a distance of 2.8 D and 5.4 D (D = fan diameter). For the double wake condition (flux station leeward of two lines of turbines) we find a daytime (unstable conditions) speed reduction of 20% for southerly wind, but for nighttime (stable conditions) the surface speeds are enhancedby 40-60% for SSW-SW winds. The speedup is reduced as wind directions shift to the west. We interpret these speed variations as due to the rotation of the wake and interaction (or not) with higher speed air above the rotor layer in highly sheared nocturnal low-level jet conditions. From a cluster of flux stations and three profiling lidars deployed within and around a cluster of turbines in 2013 (CWEX-13) we found evidence of mesoscale influences. In particular, surface convergence (wind direction deflection of 10-20 degrees) was observed during periods of low nighttime winds (hub-height winds of 4-6 m/s) with power reduction of 50-75%. This is consistent with a similar range of deflection observed from a line of turbines in CWEX-11, In the mid to late afternoon hours when hub-height wind speeds are between 5-10 m/s convergence periods have been observed, with power enhancements of 20-40% at several locations around the farm.

Interaction of strong converging shock wave with SF6 gas bubble

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liang, Yu; Zhai, ZhiGang; Luo, XiSheng

2018-06-01

Interaction of a strong converging shock wave with an SF6 gas bubble is studied, focusing on the effects of shock intensity and shock shape on interface evolution. Experimentally, the converging shock wave is generated by shock dynamics theory and the gas bubble is created by soap film technique. The post-shock flow field is captured by a schlieren photography combined with a high-speed video camera. Besides, a three-dimensional program is adopted to provide more details of flow field. After the strong converging shock wave impact, a wide and pronged outward jet, which differs from that in planar shock or weak converging shock condition, is derived from the downstream interface pole. This specific phenomenon is considered to be closely associated with shock intensity and shock curvature. Disturbed by the gas bubble, the converging shocks approaching the convergence center have polygonal shapes, and the relationship between shock intensity and shock radius verifies the applicability of polygonal converging shock theory. Subsequently, the motion of upstream point is discussed, and a modified nonlinear theory considering rarefaction wave and high amplitude effects is proposed. In addition, the effects of shock shape on interface morphology and interface scales are elucidated. These results indicate that the shape as well as shock strength plays an important role in interface evolution.

Computational Software to Fit Seismic Data Using Epidemic-Type Aftershock Sequence Models and Modeling Performance Comparisons

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chu, A.

2016-12-01

Modern earthquake catalogs are often analyzed using spatial-temporal point process models such as the epidemic-type aftershock sequence (ETAS) models of Ogata (1998). My work implements three of the homogeneous ETAS models described in Ogata (1998). With a model's log-likelihood function, my software finds the Maximum-Likelihood Estimates (MLEs) of the model's parameters to estimate the homogeneous background rate and the temporal and spatial parameters that govern triggering effects. EM-algorithm is employed for its advantages of stability and robustness (Veen and Schoenberg, 2008). My work also presents comparisons among the three models in robustness, convergence speed, and implementations from theory to computing practice. Up-to-date regional seismic data of seismic active areas such as Southern California and Japan are used to demonstrate the comparisons. Data analysis has been done using computer languages Java and R. Java has the advantages of being strong-typed and easiness of controlling memory resources, while R has the advantages of having numerous available functions in statistical computing. Comparisons are also made between the two programming languages in convergence and stability, computational speed, and easiness of implementation. Issues that may affect convergence such as spatial shapes are discussed.

Filtered-x generalized mixed norm (FXGMN) algorithm for active noise control

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Song, Pucha; Zhao, Haiquan

2018-07-01

The standard adaptive filtering algorithm with a single error norm exhibits slow convergence rate and poor noise reduction performance under specific environments. To overcome this drawback, a filtered-x generalized mixed norm (FXGMN) algorithm for active noise control (ANC) system is proposed. The FXGMN algorithm is developed by using a convex mixture of lp and lq norms as the cost function that it can be viewed as a generalized version of the most existing adaptive filtering algorithms, and it will reduce to a specific algorithm by choosing certain parameters. Especially, it can be used to solve the ANC under Gaussian and non-Gaussian noise environments (including impulsive noise with symmetric α -stable (SαS) distribution). To further enhance the algorithm performance, namely convergence speed and noise reduction performance, a convex combination of the FXGMN algorithm (C-FXGMN) is presented. Moreover, the computational complexity of the proposed algorithms is analyzed, and a stability condition for the proposed algorithms is provided. Simulation results show that the proposed FXGMN and C-FXGMN algorithms can achieve better convergence speed and higher noise reduction as compared to other existing algorithms under various noise input conditions, and the C-FXGMN algorithm outperforms the FXGMN.

A fast global fitting algorithm for fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy based on image segmentation.

PubMed

Pelet, S; Previte, M J R; Laiho, L H; So, P T C

2004-10-01

Global fitting algorithms have been shown to improve effectively the accuracy and precision of the analysis of fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy data. Global analysis performs better than unconstrained data fitting when prior information exists, such as the spatial invariance of the lifetimes of individual fluorescent species. The highly coupled nature of global analysis often results in a significantly slower convergence of the data fitting algorithm as compared with unconstrained analysis. Convergence speed can be greatly accelerated by providing appropriate initial guesses. Realizing that the image morphology often correlates with fluorophore distribution, a global fitting algorithm has been developed to assign initial guesses throughout an image based on a segmentation analysis. This algorithm was tested on both simulated data sets and time-domain lifetime measurements. We have successfully measured fluorophore distribution in fibroblasts stained with Hoechst and calcein. This method further allows second harmonic generation from collagen and elastin autofluorescence to be differentiated in fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy images of ex vivo human skin. On our experimental measurement, this algorithm increased convergence speed by over two orders of magnitude and achieved significantly better fits. Copyright 2004 Biophysical Society

Practical differences among probabilities, possibilities, and credibilities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Grandin, Jean-Francois; Moulin, Caroline

2002-03-01

This paper presents some important differences that exist between theories, which allow the uncertainty management in data fusion. The main comparative results illustrated in this paper are the followings: Incompatibility between decisions got from probabilities and credibilities is highlighted. In the dynamic frame, as remarked in [19] or [17], belief and plausibility of Dempster-Shafer model do not frame the Bayesian probability. This framing can however be obtained by the Modified Dempster-Shafer approach. It also can be obtained in the Bayesian framework either by simulation techniques, or with a studentization. The uncommitted in the Dempster-Shafer way, e.g. the mass accorded to the ignorance, gives a mechanism similar to the reliability in the Bayesian model. Uncommitted mass in Dempster-Shafer theory or reliability in Bayes theory act like a filter that weakens extracted information, and improves robustness to outliners. So, it is logical to observe on examples like the one presented particularly by D.M. Buede, a faster convergence of a Bayesian method that doesn't take into account the reliability, in front of Dempster-Shafer method which uses uncommitted mass. But, on Bayesian masses, if reliability is taken into account, at the same level that the uncommited, e.g. F=1-m, we observe an equivalent rate for convergence. When Dempster-Shafer and Bayes operator are informed by uncertainty, faster or lower convergence can be exhibited on non Bayesian masses. This is due to positive or negative synergy between information delivered by sensors. This effect is a direct consequence of non additivity when considering non Bayesian masses. Unknowledge of the prior in bayesian techniques can be quickly compensated by information accumulated as time goes on by a set of sensors. All these results are presented on simple examples, and developed when necessary.

A novel constructive-optimizer neural network for the traveling salesman problem.

PubMed

Saadatmand-Tarzjan, Mahdi; Khademi, Morteza; Akbarzadeh-T, Mohammad-R; Moghaddam, Hamid Abrishami

2007-08-01

In this paper, a novel constructive-optimizer neural network (CONN) is proposed for the traveling salesman problem (TSP). CONN uses a feedback structure similar to Hopfield-type neural networks and a competitive training algorithm similar to the Kohonen-type self-organizing maps (K-SOMs). Consequently, CONN is composed of a constructive part, which grows the tour and an optimizer part to optimize it. In the training algorithm, an initial tour is created first and introduced to CONN. Then, it is trained in the constructive phase for adding a number of cities to the tour. Next, the training algorithm switches to the optimizer phase for optimizing the current tour by displacing the tour cities. After convergence in this phase, the training algorithm switches to the constructive phase anew and is continued until all cities are added to the tour. Furthermore, we investigate a relationship between the number of TSP cities and the number of cities to be added in each constructive phase. CONN was tested on nine sets of benchmark TSPs from TSPLIB to demonstrate its performance and efficiency. It performed better than several typical Neural networks (NNs), including KNIES_TSP_Local, KNIES_TSP_Global, Budinich's SOM, Co-Adaptive Net, and multivalued Hopfield network as wall as computationally comparable variants of the simulated annealing algorithm, in terms of both CPU time and accuracy. Furthermore, CONN converged considerably faster than expanding SOM and evolved integrated SOM and generated shorter tours compared to KNIES_DECOMPOSE. Although CONN is not yet comparable in terms of accuracy with some sophisticated computationally intensive algorithms, it converges significantly faster than they do. Generally speaking, CONN provides the best compromise between CPU time and accuracy among currently reported NNs for TSP.

Thermal dependence of sprint performance in the lizard Psammodromus algirus along a 2200-meter elevational gradient: Cold-habitat lizards do not perform better at low temperatures.

PubMed

Zamora-Camacho, Francisco Javier; Rubiño-Hispán, María Virtudes; Reguera, Senda; Moreno-Rueda, Gregorio

2015-08-01

Sprint speed has a capital relevance in most animals' fitness, mainly for fleeing from predators. Sprint performance is maximal within a certain range of body temperatures in ectotherms, whose thermal upkeep relies on exogenous thermal sources. Ectotherms can respond to diverse thermal environments either by shifting their thermal preferences or maintaining them through different adaptive mechanisms. Here, we tested whether maximum sprint speed of a lizard that shows conservative thermal ecology along a 2200-meter elevational gradient differs with body temperature in lizards from different elevations. Lizards ran faster at optimum than at suboptimum body temperature. Notably, high-elevation lizards were not faster than mid- and low-elevation lizards at suboptimum body temperature, despite their low-quality thermal environment. This result suggests that both preferred body temperature and thermal dependence of speed performance are co-adapted along the elevational gradient. High-elevation lizards display a number of thermoregulatory strategies that allow them to achieve high optimum body temperatures in a low thermal-quality habitat and thus maximize speed performance. As for reproductive condition, we did not find any effect of it on sprint speed, or any significant interaction with elevation or body temperature. However, strikingly, gravid females were significantly slower than males and non-gravid females at suboptimum temperature, but performed similarly well at optimal temperature. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Three-dimensional Force and Kinematic Interactions in V1 Skating at High Speeds.

PubMed

Stöggl, Thomas; Holmberg, Hans-Christer

2015-06-01

To describe the detailed kinetics and kinematics associated with use of the V1 skating technique at high skiing speeds and to identify factors that predict performance. Fifteen elite male cross-country skiers performed an incremental roller-skiing speed test (Vpeak) on a treadmill using the V1 skating technique. Pole and plantar forces and whole-body kinematics were monitored at four submaximal speeds. The propulsive force of the "strong side" pole was greater than that of the "weak side" (P < 0.01), but no difference was observed for the legs. The poles generated approximately 44% of the total propulsion, being more effective than the legs in this respect (∼59% vs 11%, P < 0.001). Faster skiers exhibited more well-synchronized poling, exhibited more symmetric edging by and forces from the legs, and were more effective in transformation of resultant forces into propulsion. Cycle length was not correlated with either Vpeak or the impulse of total propulsive forces. The present findings provide novel insights into the coordination, kinetics, and kinematics of the arm and leg motion by elite athletes while V1 skating at high speeds. The faster skiers exhibit more symmetric leg motion on the "strong" and "weak" sides, as well as more synchronized poling. With respect to methods, the pressure insoles and three-dimensional kinematics in combination with the leg push-off model described here can easily be applied to all skating techniques, aiding in the evaluation of skiing techniques and comparison of effectiveness.

A STRICTLY CONTRACTIVE PEACEMAN-RACHFORD SPLITTING METHOD FOR CONVEX PROGRAMMING.

PubMed

Bingsheng, He; Liu, Han; Wang, Zhaoran; Yuan, Xiaoming

2014-07-01

In this paper, we focus on the application of the Peaceman-Rachford splitting method (PRSM) to a convex minimization model with linear constraints and a separable objective function. Compared to the Douglas-Rachford splitting method (DRSM), another splitting method from which the alternating direction method of multipliers originates, PRSM requires more restrictive assumptions to ensure its convergence, while it is always faster whenever it is convergent. We first illustrate that the reason for this difference is that the iterative sequence generated by DRSM is strictly contractive, while that generated by PRSM is only contractive with respect to the solution set of the model. With only the convexity assumption on the objective function of the model under consideration, the convergence of PRSM is not guaranteed. But for this case, we show that the first t iterations of PRSM still enable us to find an approximate solution with an accuracy of O (1/ t ). A worst-case O (1/ t ) convergence rate of PRSM in the ergodic sense is thus established under mild assumptions. After that, we suggest attaching an underdetermined relaxation factor with PRSM to guarantee the strict contraction of its iterative sequence and thus propose a strictly contractive PRSM. A worst-case O (1/ t ) convergence rate of this strictly contractive PRSM in a nonergodic sense is established. We show the numerical efficiency of the strictly contractive PRSM by some applications in statistical learning and image processing.

Sublid Speeds Growth Of Silicon Ribbon

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Seidensticker, R. G.; Mchugh, J. P.

1988-01-01

Heat shield permits enhancement of exit cooling without formation of unwanted crystals. Thermal barrier between molten silicon and lid of susceptor and crucible allows solidifying ribbon of silicon to be withdrawn faster. Barrier, or sublid, increases production rate.

Carbon Atom Hybridization Matters: Ultrafast Humidity Response of Graphdiyne Oxides.

PubMed

Yan, Hailong; Guo, Shuyue; Wu, Fei; Yu, Ping; Liu, Huibiao; Li, Yuliang; Mao, Lanqun

2018-04-03

Graphdiyne oxide (GDO), the oxidized form of graphdiyne (GDY), exhibits an ultrafast humidity response with an unprecedented response speed (ca. 7 ms), which is three times faster than that of graphene oxide (GO) with the same thickness and O/C ratio. The ultrafast humidity response of GDO is considered to benefit from the unique carbon hybridization of GDO, which contains acetylenic bonds that are more electron-withdrawing than ethylenic bonds in GO, consequently giving rise to a faster binding rate with water. This distinctive structure-based property enables the fabrication of a novel GDO-based humidity sensor with an ultrafast response speed and good selectivity against other kinds of gas molecules as well as high sensitivity. These properties allow the sensor to accurately monitor the respiration rate change of human and hypoxic rats. © 2018 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Priming effects for affective vs. neutral faces.

PubMed

Burton, Leslie A; Rabin, Laura; Wyatt, Gwinne; Frohlich, Jonathan; Bernstein Vardy, Susan; Dimitri, Diana

2005-12-01

Affective and Neutral Tasks (faces with negative or neutral content, with different lighting and orientation) requiring reaction time judgments of poser identity were administered to 32 participants. Speed and accuracy were better for the Affective than Neutral Task, consistent with literature suggesting facilitation of performance by affective content. Priming effects were significant for the Affective but not Neutral Task. An Explicit Post-Test indicated no conscious knowledge of the stimulus frequency that was associated with performance facilitation. Faster performance by female vs. male participants, and differential speeds and susceptibility to priming of different emotions were also found. Anger and shock were responded to most rapidly and accurately in several conditions, showed no gender differences, and showed significant priming for both RT and accuracy. Fear and pain were responded to least accurately, were associated with faster female than male reaction time, and the accuracy data showed a kind of reverse priming.

Psychophysical estimation of the effects of aging on direction-of-heading judgments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Raghuram, Aparna; Lakshminarayanan, Vasudevan

2011-11-01

We conducted psychophysical experiments on direction-of-heading judgments using old and young subjects. Subjects estimated heading directions on a translation perpendicular to the vertical plane (frontoparallel); we found that heading judgments were affected by age. Increasing the random dot density in the stimulus from 24 to 400 dots did not improve threshold significantly. Older subjects started performing worse at the highest dots condition of 400. The speed of the radial motion was important, as heading judgments with slower radial motion were difficult to judge than faster radial motion, as the focus of expansion was easier to locate owing to the larger displacement of dots. Gender differences indicated that older women had a higher threshold than older men. This was only significant for the faster simulated radial speed. A general trend of women having a higher threshold than men was noticed.

Heat engine generator control system

DOEpatents

Rajashekara, K.; Gorti, B.V.; McMullen, S.R.; Raibert, R.J.

1998-05-12

An electrical power generation system includes a heat engine having an output member operatively coupled to the rotor of a dynamoelectric machine. System output power is controlled by varying an electrical parameter of the dynamoelectric machine. A power request signal is related to an engine speed and the electrical parameter is varied in accordance with a speed control loop. Initially, the sense of change in the electrical parameter in response to a change in the power request signal is opposite that required to effectuate a steady state output power consistent with the power request signal. Thereafter, the electrical parameter is varied to converge the output member speed to the speed known to be associated with the desired electrical output power. 8 figs.

Heat engine generator control system

DOEpatents

Rajashekara, Kaushik; Gorti, Bhanuprasad Venkata; McMullen, Steven Robert; Raibert, Robert Joseph

1998-01-01

An electrical power generation system includes a heat engine having an output member operatively coupled to the rotor of a dynamoelectric machine. System output power is controlled by varying an electrical parameter of the dynamoelectric machine. A power request signal is related to an engine speed and the electrical parameter is varied in accordance with a speed control loop. Initially, the sense of change in the electrical parameter in response to a change in the power request signal is opposite that required to effectuate a steady state output power consistent with the power request signal. Thereafter, the electrical parameter is varied to converge the output member speed to the speed known to be associated with the desired electrical output power.

Further We Travel the Faster We Go.

PubMed

Varga, Levente; Kovács, András; Tóth, Géza; Papp, István; Néda, Zoltán

2016-01-01

The average travelling speed increases in a nontrivial manner with the travel distance. This leads to scaling-like relations on quite extended spatial scales, for all mobility modes taken together and also for a given mobility mode in part. We offer a wide range of experimental results, investigating and quantifying this universal effect and its measurable causes. The increasing travelling speed with the travel distance arises from the combined effects of: choosing the most appropriate travelling mode; the structure of the travel networks; the travel times lost in the main hubs, starting or target cities; and the speed limit of roads and vehicles.

Towards a Complete Commonsense Theory of Motion: The interaction of dimensions in children's predictions of natural object motion

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hast, Michael; Howe, Christine

2013-07-01

Events involving motion in fall are differentiated psychologically from events involving horizontal motion. Do children associate motion down inclines more with motion along horizontals or more with motion in fall, or do they even treat it as an integration of the two? The question was raised over 20 years ago but never satisfactorily answered, so the principal aim of the reported research was to take matters forward. Children (n = 144) aged 5-11 years were assessed while predicting natural dynamic events along a horizontal, in fall and down an incline. They were required to make predictions of speed with heavy and light balls and under changes in incline heights. The results show that, consistent with previous work, faster horizontal motion was associated with the light ball across all ages, whereas faster fall was associated with the heavy ball. However, while the younger children predicted faster incline motion for the lighter ball, there was a shift in this conception towards older children predicting faster motion for the heavier ball. Understanding of how changes in incline height affect speed was generally good, with this aspect of the study helping to establish how children perceive diagonal dimensions. How supported horizontal motion and unsupported fall motion may affect children's changing understanding of incline motion is discussed, thus providing more complete insight into children's understanding of natural object motion than has been established so far.

Speed tuning of motion segmentation and discrimination

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Masson, G. S.; Mestre, D. R.; Stone, L. S.

1999-01-01

Motion transparency requires that the visual system distinguish different motion vectors and selectively integrate similar motion vectors over space into the perception of multiple surfaces moving through or over each other. Using large-field (7 degrees x 7 degrees) displays containing two populations of random-dots moving in the same (horizontal) direction but at different speeds, we examined speed-based segmentation by measuring the speed difference above which observers can perceive two moving surfaces. We systematically investigated this 'speed-segmentation' threshold as a function of speed and stimulus duration, and found that it increases sharply for speeds above approximately 8 degrees/s. In addition, speed-segmentation thresholds decrease with stimulus duration out to approximately 200 ms. In contrast, under matched conditions, speed-discrimination thresholds stay low at least out to 16 degrees/s and decrease with increasing stimulus duration at a faster rate than for speed segmentation. Thus, motion segmentation and motion discrimination exhibit different speed selectivity and different temporal integration characteristics. Results are discussed in terms of the speed preferences of different neuronal populations within the primate visual cortex.

Fuzzy adaptive strong tracking scaled unscented Kalman filter for initial alignment of large misalignment angles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Jing; Song, Ningfang; Yang, Gongliu; Jiang, Rui

2016-07-01

In the initial alignment process of strapdown inertial navigation system (SINS), large misalignment angles always bring nonlinear problem, which can usually be processed using the scaled unscented Kalman filter (SUKF). In this paper, the problem of large misalignment angles in SINS alignment is further investigated, and the strong tracking scaled unscented Kalman filter (STSUKF) is proposed with fixed parameters to improve convergence speed, while these parameters are artificially constructed and uncertain in real application. To further improve the alignment stability and reduce the parameters selection, this paper proposes a fuzzy adaptive strategy combined with STSUKF (FUZZY-STSUKF). As a result, initial alignment scheme of large misalignment angles based on FUZZY-STSUKF is designed and verified by simulations and turntable experiment. The results show that the scheme improves the accuracy and convergence speed of SINS initial alignment compared with those based on SUKF and STSUKF.

New Enhanced Artificial Bee Colony (JA-ABC5) Algorithm with Application for Reactive Power Optimization

PubMed Central

2015-01-01

The standard artificial bee colony (ABC) algorithm involves exploration and exploitation processes which need to be balanced for enhanced performance. This paper proposes a new modified ABC algorithm named JA-ABC5 to enhance convergence speed and improve the ability to reach the global optimum by balancing exploration and exploitation processes. New stages have been proposed at the earlier stages of the algorithm to increase the exploitation process. Besides that, modified mutation equations have also been introduced in the employed and onlooker-bees phases to balance the two processes. The performance of JA-ABC5 has been analyzed on 27 commonly used benchmark functions and tested to optimize the reactive power optimization problem. The performance results have clearly shown that the newly proposed algorithm has outperformed other compared algorithms in terms of convergence speed and global optimum achievement. PMID:25879054

New enhanced artificial bee colony (JA-ABC5) algorithm with application for reactive power optimization.

PubMed

Sulaiman, Noorazliza; Mohamad-Saleh, Junita; Abro, Abdul Ghani

2015-01-01

The standard artificial bee colony (ABC) algorithm involves exploration and exploitation processes which need to be balanced for enhanced performance. This paper proposes a new modified ABC algorithm named JA-ABC5 to enhance convergence speed and improve the ability to reach the global optimum by balancing exploration and exploitation processes. New stages have been proposed at the earlier stages of the algorithm to increase the exploitation process. Besides that, modified mutation equations have also been introduced in the employed and onlooker-bees phases to balance the two processes. The performance of JA-ABC5 has been analyzed on 27 commonly used benchmark functions and tested to optimize the reactive power optimization problem. The performance results have clearly shown that the newly proposed algorithm has outperformed other compared algorithms in terms of convergence speed and global optimum achievement.

Optimization of Stereo Matching in 3D Reconstruction Based on Binocular Vision

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gai, Qiyang

2018-01-01

Stereo matching is one of the key steps of 3D reconstruction based on binocular vision. In order to improve the convergence speed and accuracy in 3D reconstruction based on binocular vision, this paper adopts the combination method of polar constraint and ant colony algorithm. By using the line constraint to reduce the search range, an ant colony algorithm is used to optimize the stereo matching feature search function in the proposed search range. Through the establishment of the stereo matching optimization process analysis model of ant colony algorithm, the global optimization solution of stereo matching in 3D reconstruction based on binocular vision system is realized. The simulation results show that by the combining the advantage of polar constraint and ant colony algorithm, the stereo matching range of 3D reconstruction based on binocular vision is simplified, and the convergence speed and accuracy of this stereo matching process are improved.

Adaptive Disturbance Tracking Theory with State Estimation and State Feedback for Region II Control of Large Wind Turbines

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Balas, Mark J.; Thapa Magar, Kaman S.; Frost, Susan A.

2013-01-01

A theory called Adaptive Disturbance Tracking Control (ADTC) is introduced and used to track the Tip Speed Ratio (TSR) of 5 MW Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine (HAWT). Since ADTC theory requires wind speed information, a wind disturbance generator model is combined with lower order plant model to estimate the wind speed as well as partial states of the wind turbine. In this paper, we present a proof of stability and convergence of ADTC theory with lower order estimator and show that the state feedback can be adaptive.

Finite Time Control Design for Bilateral Teleoperation System With Position Synchronization Error Constrained.

PubMed

Yang, Yana; Hua, Changchun; Guan, Xinping

2016-03-01

Due to the cognitive limitations of the human operator and lack of complete information about the remote environment, the work performance of such teleoperation systems cannot be guaranteed in most cases. However, some practical tasks conducted by the teleoperation system require high performances, such as tele-surgery needs satisfactory high speed and more precision control results to guarantee patient' health status. To obtain some satisfactory performances, the error constrained control is employed by applying the barrier Lyapunov function (BLF). With the constrained synchronization errors, some high performances, such as, high convergence speed, small overshoot, and an arbitrarily predefined small residual constrained synchronization error can be achieved simultaneously. Nevertheless, like many classical control schemes only the asymptotic/exponential convergence, i.e., the synchronization errors converge to zero as time goes infinity can be achieved with the error constrained control. It is clear that finite time convergence is more desirable. To obtain a finite-time synchronization performance, the terminal sliding mode (TSM)-based finite time control method is developed for teleoperation system with position error constrained in this paper. First, a new nonsingular fast terminal sliding mode (NFTSM) surface with new transformed synchronization errors is proposed. Second, adaptive neural network system is applied for dealing with the system uncertainties and the external disturbances. Third, the BLF is applied to prove the stability and the nonviolation of the synchronization errors constraints. Finally, some comparisons are conducted in simulation and experiment results are also presented to show the effectiveness of the proposed method.

Indirect addressing and load balancing for faster solution to Mandelbrot Set on SIMD architectures

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Tomboulian, Sherryl

1989-01-01

SIMD computers with local indirect addressing allow programs to have queues and buffers, making certain kinds of problems much more efficient. Examined here are a class of problems characterized by computations on data points where the computation is identical, but the convergence rate is data dependent. Normally, in this situation, the algorithm time is governed by the maximum number of iterations required by each point. Using indirect addressing allows a processor to proceed to the next data point when it is done, reducing the overall number of iterations required to approach the mean convergence rate when a sufficiently large problem set is solved. Load balancing techniques can be applied for additional performance improvement. Simulations of this technique applied to solving Mandelbrot Sets indicate significant performance gains.

Improving control and estimation for distributed parameter systems utilizing mobile actuator-sensor network.

PubMed

Mu, Wenying; Cui, Baotong; Li, Wen; Jiang, Zhengxian

2014-07-01

This paper proposes a scheme for non-collocated moving actuating and sensing devices which is unitized for improving performance in distributed parameter systems. By Lyapunov stability theorem, each moving actuator/sensor agent velocity is obtained. To enhance state estimation of a spatially distributes process, two kinds of filters with consensus terms which penalize the disagreement of the estimates are considered. Both filters can result in the well-posedness of the collective dynamics of state errors and can converge to the plant state. Numerical simulations demonstrate that the effectiveness of such a moving actuator-sensor network in enhancing system performance and the consensus filters converge faster to the plant state when consensus terms are included. Copyright © 2014 ISA. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Neural Generalized Predictive Control: A Newton-Raphson Implementation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Soloway, Donald; Haley, Pamela J.

1997-01-01

An efficient implementation of Generalized Predictive Control using a multi-layer feedforward neural network as the plant's nonlinear model is presented. In using Newton-Raphson as the optimization algorithm, the number of iterations needed for convergence is significantly reduced from other techniques. The main cost of the Newton-Raphson algorithm is in the calculation of the Hessian, but even with this overhead the low iteration numbers make Newton-Raphson faster than other techniques and a viable algorithm for real-time control. This paper presents a detailed derivation of the Neural Generalized Predictive Control algorithm with Newton-Raphson as the minimization algorithm. Simulation results show convergence to a good solution within two iterations and timing data show that real-time control is possible. Comments about the algorithm's implementation are also included.

Wind speed response of marine non-precipitating stratocumulus clouds over a diurnal cycle in cloud-system resolving simulations

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kazil, Jan; Feingold, Graham; Yamaguchi, Takanobu

Observed and projected trends in large-scale wind speed over the oceans prompt the question: how do marine stratocumulus clouds and their radiative properties respond to changes in large-scale wind speed? Wind speed drives the surface fluxes of sensible heat, moisture, and momentum and thereby acts on cloud liquid water path (LWP) and cloud radiative properties. We present an investigation of the dynamical response of non-precipitating, overcast marine stratocumulus clouds to different wind speeds over the course of a diurnal cycle, all else equal. In cloud-system resolving simulations, we find that higher wind speed leads to faster boundary layer growth and strongermore » entrainment. The dynamical driver is enhanced buoyant production of turbulence kinetic energy (TKE) from latent heat release in cloud updrafts. LWP is enhanced during the night and in the morning at higher wind speed, and more strongly suppressed later in the day. Wind speed hence accentuates the diurnal LWP cycle by expanding the morning–afternoon contrast. The higher LWP at higher wind speed does not, however, enhance cloud top cooling because in clouds with LWP ≳50 gm –2, longwave emissions are insensitive to LWP. This leads to the general conclusion that in sufficiently thick stratocumulus clouds, additional boundary layer growth and entrainment due to a boundary layer moistening arises by stronger production of TKE from latent heat release in cloud updrafts, rather than from enhanced longwave cooling. Here, we find that large-scale wind modulates boundary layer decoupling. At nighttime and at low wind speed during daytime, it enhances decoupling in part by faster boundary layer growth and stronger entrainment and in part because shear from large-scale wind in the sub-cloud layer hinders vertical moisture transport between the surface and cloud base. With increasing wind speed, however, in decoupled daytime conditions, shear-driven circulation due to large-scale wind takes over from buoyancy-driven circulation in transporting moisture from the surface to cloud base and thereby reduces decoupling and helps maintain LWP. Furthermore, the total (shortwave + longwave) cloud radiative effect (CRE) responds to changes in LWP and cloud fraction, and higher wind speed translates to a stronger diurnally averaged total CRE. However, the sensitivity of the diurnally averaged total CRE to wind speed decreases with increasing wind speed.« less

Wind speed response of marine non-precipitating stratocumulus clouds over a diurnal cycle in cloud-system resolving simulations

DOE PAGES

Kazil, Jan; Feingold, Graham; Yamaguchi, Takanobu

2016-05-12

Observed and projected trends in large-scale wind speed over the oceans prompt the question: how do marine stratocumulus clouds and their radiative properties respond to changes in large-scale wind speed? Wind speed drives the surface fluxes of sensible heat, moisture, and momentum and thereby acts on cloud liquid water path (LWP) and cloud radiative properties. We present an investigation of the dynamical response of non-precipitating, overcast marine stratocumulus clouds to different wind speeds over the course of a diurnal cycle, all else equal. In cloud-system resolving simulations, we find that higher wind speed leads to faster boundary layer growth and strongermore » entrainment. The dynamical driver is enhanced buoyant production of turbulence kinetic energy (TKE) from latent heat release in cloud updrafts. LWP is enhanced during the night and in the morning at higher wind speed, and more strongly suppressed later in the day. Wind speed hence accentuates the diurnal LWP cycle by expanding the morning–afternoon contrast. The higher LWP at higher wind speed does not, however, enhance cloud top cooling because in clouds with LWP ≳50 gm –2, longwave emissions are insensitive to LWP. This leads to the general conclusion that in sufficiently thick stratocumulus clouds, additional boundary layer growth and entrainment due to a boundary layer moistening arises by stronger production of TKE from latent heat release in cloud updrafts, rather than from enhanced longwave cooling. Here, we find that large-scale wind modulates boundary layer decoupling. At nighttime and at low wind speed during daytime, it enhances decoupling in part by faster boundary layer growth and stronger entrainment and in part because shear from large-scale wind in the sub-cloud layer hinders vertical moisture transport between the surface and cloud base. With increasing wind speed, however, in decoupled daytime conditions, shear-driven circulation due to large-scale wind takes over from buoyancy-driven circulation in transporting moisture from the surface to cloud base and thereby reduces decoupling and helps maintain LWP. Furthermore, the total (shortwave + longwave) cloud radiative effect (CRE) responds to changes in LWP and cloud fraction, and higher wind speed translates to a stronger diurnally averaged total CRE. However, the sensitivity of the diurnally averaged total CRE to wind speed decreases with increasing wind speed.« less

Clinically important improvement in function is common in people with or at high risk of knee OA: the MOST study

PubMed Central

White, Daniel K.; Keysor, Julie J.; LaValley, Michael P.; Lewis, Cora E.; Torner, James C.; Nevitt, Michael C.; Felson, David T.

2010-01-01

To calculate the frequency of clinically important improvement in function over 30 months and identify risk factors in people who have or are at risk of knee OA. Subjects were from MOST, a longitudinal study of persons with or at high risk of knee OA. We defined Minimal Clinically Important Improvement (MCII) with WOMAC physical function using three different methods. Baseline risk factors tested for improvement included age, gender, educational attainment, presence of radiographic knee OA (ROA), the number of comorbidities, Body Mass Index (BMI), knee pain, walking speed, isokinetic knee extensor strength, depressive symptoms, physical activity, and medication usage. We used logistic regression to evaluate the association of baseline risk factors with MCII. Of the 1801 subjects (age= 63, BMI= 31, 63% female), most had mild limitations in baseline function (WOMAC = 19 +/− 11). Regardless how defined, a substantial percentage of subjects (24%–39%) reached MCII at 30 months. Compared to their counterparts, people with MCII were less likely to have ROA and to use medications, and were more likely to have a lower BMI, less knee pain, a faster walking speed, more knee strength, and fewer depressive symptoms. After adjustment, MCII was 40% to 50% less likely in those with ROA, and 1.9 to 2.0 times more likely in those walking 1.0 m/s faster than counterparts. Clinically important improvement is frequent in people with or at high risk of knee OA. The absence of ROA and a faster walking speed appear to be associated with clinically important improvements. PMID:20395640

A faster running speed is associated with a greater body weight loss in 100-km ultra-marathoners.

PubMed

Knechtle, Beat; Knechtle, Patrizia; Wirth, Andrea; Alexander Rüst, Christoph; Rosemann, Thomas

2012-01-01

In 219 recreational male runners, we investigated changes in body mass, total body water, haematocrit, plasma sodium concentration ([Na(+)]), and urine specific gravity as well as fluid intake during a 100-km ultra-marathon. The athletes lost 1.9 kg (s = 1.4) of body mass, equal to 2.5% (s = 1.8) of body mass (P < 0.001), 0.7 kg (s = 1.0) of predicted skeletal muscle mass (P < 0.001), 0.2 kg (s = 1.3) of predicted fat mass (P < 0.05), and 0.9 L (s = 1.6) of predicted total body water (P < 0.001). Haematocrit decreased (P < 0.001), urine specific gravity (P < 0.001), plasma volume (P < 0.05), and plasma [Na(+)] (P < 0.05) all increased. Change in body mass was related to running speed (r = -0.16, P < 0.05), change in plasma volume was associated with change in plasma [Na(+)] (r = -0.28, P < 0.0001), and change in body mass was related to both change in plasma [Na(+)] (r = -0.36) and change in plasma volume (r = 0.31) (P < 0.0001). The athletes consumed 0.65 L (s = 0.27) fluid per hour. Fluid intake was related to both running speed (r = 0.42, P < 0.0001) and change in body mass (r = 0.23, P = 0.0006), but not post-race plasma [Na(+)] or change in plasma [Na(+)] (P > 0.05). In conclusion, faster runners lost more body mass, runners lost more body mass when they drank less fluid, and faster runners drank more fluid than slower runners.

Seismic behaviour of mountain belts controlled by plate convergence rate

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dal Zilio, Luca; van Dinther, Ylona; Gerya, Taras V.; Pranger, Casper C.

2018-01-01

The relative contribution of tectonic and kinematic processes to seismic behaviour of mountain belts is still controversial. To understand the partitioning between these processes we developed a model that simulates both tectonic and seismic processes in a continental collision setting. These 2D seismo-thermo-mechanical (STM) models obtain a Gutenberg-Richter frequency-magnitude distribution due to spontaneous events occurring throughout the orogen. Our simulations suggest that both the corresponding slope (b value) and maximum earthquake magnitude (MWmax) correlate linearly with plate convergence rate. By analyzing 1D rheological profiles and isotherm depths we demonstrate that plate convergence rate controls the brittle strength through a rheological feedback with temperature and strain rate. Faster convergence leads to cooler temperatures and also results in more larger seismogenic domains, thereby increasing both MWmax and the relative number of large earthquakes (decreasing b value). This mechanism also predicts a more seismogenic lower crust, which is confirmed by a transition from uni- to bi-modal hypocentre depth distributions in our models. This transition and a linear relation between convergence rate and b value and MWmax is supported by our comparison of earthquakes recorded across the Alps, Apennines, Zagros and Himalaya. These results imply that deformation in the Alps occurs in a more ductile manner compared to the Himalayas, thereby reducing its seismic hazard. Furthermore, a second set of experiments with higher temperature and different orogenic architecture shows the same linear relation with convergence rate, suggesting that large-scale tectonic structure plays a subordinate role. We thus propose that plate convergence rate, which also controls the average differential stress of the orogen and its linear relation to the b value, is the first-order parameter controlling seismic hazard of mountain belts.

Combining Speed Information Across Space

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Verghese, Preeti; Stone, Leland S.

1995-01-01

We used speed discrimination tasks to measure the ability of observers to combine speed information from multiple stimuli distributed across space. We compared speed discrimination thresholds in a classical discrimination paradigm to those in an uncertainty/search paradigm. Thresholds were measured using a temporal two-interval forced-choice design. In the discrimination paradigm, the n gratings in each interval all moved at the same speed and observers were asked to choose the interval with the faster gratings. Discrimination thresholds for this paradigm decreased as the number of gratings increased. This decrease was not due to increasing the effective stimulus area as a control experiment that increased the area of a single grating did not show a similar improvement in thresholds. Adding independent speed noise to each of the n gratings caused thresholds to decrease at a rate similar to the original no-noise case, consistent with observers combining an independent sample of speed from each grating in both the added- and no-noise cases. In the search paradigm, observers were asked to choose the interval in which one of the n gratings moved faster. Thresholds in this case increased with the number of gratings, behavior traditionally attributed to an input bottleneck. However, results from the discrimination paradigm showed that the increase was not due to observers' inability to process these gratings. We have also shown that the opposite trends of the data in the two paradigms can be predicted by a decision theory model that combines independent samples of speed information across space. This demonstrates that models typically used in classical detection and discrimination paradigms are also applicable to search paradigms. As our model does not distinguish between samples in space and time, it predicts that discrimination performance should be the same regardless of whether the gratings are presented in two spatial intervals or two temporal intervals. Our last experiment largely confirmed this prediction.

Multidirectional hybrid algorithm for the split common fixed point problem and application to the split common null point problem.

PubMed

Li, Xia; Guo, Meifang; Su, Yongfu

2016-01-01

In this article, a new multidirectional monotone hybrid iteration algorithm for finding a solution to the split common fixed point problem is presented for two countable families of quasi-nonexpansive mappings in Banach spaces. Strong convergence theorems are proved. The application of the result is to consider the split common null point problem of maximal monotone operators in Banach spaces. Strong convergence theorems for finding a solution of the split common null point problem are derived. This iteration algorithm can accelerate the convergence speed of iterative sequence. The results of this paper improve and extend the recent results of Takahashi and Yao (Fixed Point Theory Appl 2015:87, 2015) and many others .

Convergent optical wired and wireless long-reach access network using high spectral-efficient modulation.

PubMed

Chow, C W; Lin, Y H

2012-04-09

To provide broadband services in a single and low cost perform, the convergent optical wired and wireless access network is promising. Here, we propose and demonstrate a convergent optical wired and wireless long-reach access networks based on orthogonal wavelength division multiplexing (WDM). Both the baseband signal and the radio-over-fiber (ROF) signal are multiplexed and de-multiplexed in optical domain, hence it is simple and the operation speed is not limited by the electronic bottleneck caused by the digital signal processing (DSP). Error-free de-multiplexing and down-conversion can be achieved for all the signals after 60 km (long-reach) fiber transmission. The scalability of the system for higher bit-rate (60 GHz) is also simulated and discussed.

Supporting Social Data Observatory with Customizable Index Structures on HBase - Architecture and Performance

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-01-01

commercial NoSQL database system. The results show that In-dexedHBase provides a data loading speed that is 6 times faster than Riak, and is...compare it with Riak, a widely adopted commercial NoSQL database system. The results show that In- dexedHBase provides a data loading speed that is 6...events. This chapter describes our research towards building an efficient and scalable storage platform for Truthy. Many existing NoSQL databases

Speed ratio but cabin temperature positively correlated with increased heart rates among professional drivers during car races.

PubMed

Yanagida, Ryo; Takahashi, Kiichi; Miura, Masaru; Nomura, Masahiro; Ogawa, Yojiro; Aoki, Ken; Iwasaki, Ken-Ichi

2016-11-01

The present study measures heart rate (HR) on a number of professional race-car drivers during actual car races through annual seasons to test hypotheses that faster relative speed and higher cabin temperature would induce higher HR. Heart rates in fifteen male drivers (31.2 ± 5.5 years old) were obtained by chest-strap sensors during official-professional 13 races. Average HR was calculated while the driver was racing from the start to the end of each race. The average HR during races was 164.5 ± 15.1 beats min -1 and the average amount of time each driver spent driving per race was 54.2 ± 13.7 min. Average HR significantly and positively correlated with mean speed ratio (P < 0.001), but not with the average cabin temperatures (P = 0.533, range 25.6-41.8 °C) by the multiple linear regression analysis. Both average HR and mean speed ratio were significantly lower under wet, than dry conditions (151.9 ± 16.5 vs. 168.3 ± 12.5 beats min -1 , 86.9 ± 4.4 vs. 93.4 ± 1.5 %). The cardiovascular system of drivers is considerably stressed at extremely high HR. This high average HR positively correlated with mean speed ratio, suggesting that faster driving speed would induce greater cardiovascular stress to professional drivers during actual races. However, contrary to our hypothesis, cabin temperature was not significantly correlated with average HR. It is speculated that direct body cooling systems used in this professional race category work well against increases in HR by thermal stress under the temperature range found herein.

Lower Extremity Muscle Activity During a Women’s Overhand Lacrosse Shot

PubMed Central

Millard, Brianna M.; Mercer, John A.

2014-01-01

The purpose of this study was to describe lower extremity muscle activity during the lacrosse shot. Participants (n=5 females, age 22±2 years, body height 162.6±15.2 cm, body mass 63.7±23.6 kg) were free from injury and had at least one year of lacrosse experience. The lead leg was instrumented with electromyography (EMG) leads to measure muscle activity of the rectus femoris (RF), biceps femoris (BF), tibialis anterior (TA), and medial gastrocnemius (GA). Participants completed five trials of a warm-up speed shot (Slow) and a game speed shot (Fast). Video analysis was used to identify the discrete events defining specific movement phases. Full-wave rectified data were averaged per muscle per phase (Crank Back Minor, Crank Back Major, Stick Acceleration, Stick Deceleration). Average EMG per muscle was analyzed using a 4 (Phase) × 2 (Speed) ANOVA. BF was greater during Fast vs. Slow for all phases (p<0.05), while TA was not influenced by either Phase or Speed (p>0.05). RF and GA were each influenced by the interaction of Phase and Speed (p<0.05) with GA being greater during Fast vs. Slow shots during all phases and RF greater during Crank Back Minor and Major as well as Stick Deceleration (p<0.05) but only tended to be greater during Stick Acceleration (p=0.076) for Fast vs. Slow. The greater muscle activity (BF, RF, GA) during Fast vs. Slow shots may have been related to a faster approach speed and/or need to create a stiff lower extremity to allow for faster upper extremity movements. PMID:25114727

Speed of response in ultrabrief and brief pulse width right unilateral ECT.

PubMed

Loo, Colleen K; Garfield, Joshua B B; Katalinic, Natalie; Schweitzer, Isaac; Hadzi-Pavlovic, Dusan

2013-05-01

Ultrabrief pulse width stimulation electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) results in less cognitive side-effects than brief pulse ECT, but recent work suggests that more treatment sessions may be required to achieve similar efficacy. In this retrospective analysis of subjects pooled from three research studies, time to improvement was analysed in 150 depressed subjects who received right unilateral ECT with a brief pulse width (at five times seizure threshold) or ultrabrief pulse width (at six times seizure threshold). Multivariate Cox regression analyses compared the number of treatments required for 50% reduction in depression scores (i.e. speed of response) in these two samples. The analyses controlled for clinical, demographic and treatment variables that differed between the samples or that were found to be significant predictors of speed of response in univariate analyses. In the multivariate analysis, older age predicted faster speed of response. There was a non-significant trend for faster time to 50% improvement with brief pulse ECT (p = 0.067). Remission rates were higher after brief pulse ECT than ultrabrief pulse ECT (p = 0.007) but response rates were similar. This study, the largest of its kind reported to date, suggests that fewer treatments may be needed to attain response with brief than ultrabrief pulse ECT and that remission rates are higher with brief pulse ECT. Further research with a larger randomized and blinded study is recommended.

Throwing speed and accuracy in baseball and cricket players.

PubMed

Freeston, Jonathan; Rooney, Kieron

2014-06-01

Throwing speed and accuracy are both critical to sports performance but cannot be optimized simultaneously. This speed-accuracy trade-off (SATO) is evident across a number of throwing groups but remains poorly understood. The goal was to describe the SATO in baseball and cricket players and determine the speed that optimizes accuracy. 20 grade-level baseball and cricket players performed 10 throws at 80% and 100% of maximal throwing speed (MTS) toward a cricket stump. Baseball players then performed a further 10 throws at 70%, 80%, 90%, and 100% of MTS toward a circular target. Baseball players threw faster with greater accuracy than cricket players at both speeds. Both groups demonstrated a significant SATO as vertical error increased with increases in speed; the trade-off was worse for cricketers than baseball players. Accuracy was optimized at 70% of MTS for baseballers. Throwing athletes should decrease speed when accuracy is critical. Cricket players could adopt baseball-training practices to improve throwing performance.

Initial Observations of Lingual Movement Characteristics of Children With Cerebral Palsy

PubMed Central

Arias, Carlos R.; Morita, Kristen; Richardson, Hannah

2017-01-01

Purpose This preliminary study compared the speech motor control of the tongue and jaw between children with cerebral palsy (CP) and their typically developing (TD) peers. Method Tongue tip and jaw movements of 4 boys with spastic CP and 4 age- and sex-matched TD peers were recorded using an electromagnetic articulograph during 10 repetitions of “Dad told stories today.” The duration, path distance, average speed, and speech movement stability of the movements were calculated for each repetition. Results The children with CP had longer durations than their TD peers. Children with CP had longer path distances and faster average speed as compared with their TD peers for both articulators. The TD group but not the CP group had longer path distances and faster average speeds for the tongue than the jaw. The CP group had reduced speech movement stability for the tongue as compared with their TD peers, but both groups had similar speech movement stability for the jaw. Conclusions Children with CP had impaired speech motor control of the tongue and jaw as compared with their TD peers, and these speech motor control deficits were more pronounced in the tongue tip than the jaw. PMID:28655047

Idling speed control system of an internal combustion engine

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Miyazaki, M.; Ishii, M.; Kako, H.

1986-09-16

This patent describes an idling speed control system of an internal combustion engine comprising: a valve device which controls the amount of intake air for the engine; an actuator which includes an electric motor for variably controlling the opening of the value device; rotation speed detector means for detecting the rotation speed of the engine; idling condition detector means for detecting the idling condition of the engine; feedback control means responsive to the detected output of the idling condition detector means for generating feedback control pulses to intermittently drive the electric motor so that the detected rotation speed of themore » engine under the idling condition may converge into a target idling rotation speed; and control means responsive to the output of detector means that detects an abnormally low rotation speed of the engine detected by the rotation speed detector means for generating control pulses that do not overlap the feedback control pulses to drive the electric motor in a predetermined direction.« less

Experimental and numerical analysis of convergent nozzlex

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Srinivas, G.; Rakham, Bhupal

2017-05-01

In this paper the main focus was given to convergent nozzle where both the experimental and numerical calculations were carried out with the support of standardized literature. In the recent years the field of air breathing and non-air breathing engine developments significantly increase its performance. To enhance the performance of both the type of engines the nozzle is the one of the component which will play a vital role, especially selecting the type of nozzle depends upon the vehicle speed requirement and aerodynamic behavior at most important in the field of propulsion. The convergent nozzle flow experimental analysis done using scaled apparatus and the similar setup was arranged artificially in the ANSYS software for doing the flow analysis across the convergent nozzle. The consistent calculation analysis are done based on the public literature survey to validate the experimental and numerical simulation results of convergent nozzle. Using these two experimental and numerical simulation approaches the best fit results will bring up to meet the design requirements. However the comparison also made to meet the reliability of the work on design criteria of convergent nozzle which can entrench in the field of propulsion applications.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kang, Moses; Kim, Keonhui; Muljadi, Eduard

This paper proposes a torque limit-based inertial control scheme of a doubly-fed induction generator (DFIG) that supports the frequency control of a power system. If a frequency deviation occurs, the proposed scheme aims to release a large amount of kinetic energy (KE) stored in the rotating masses of a DFIG to raise the frequency nadir (FN). Upon detecting the event, the scheme instantly increases its output to the torque limit and then reduces the output with the rotor speed so that it converges to the stable operating range. To restore the rotor speed while causing a small second frequency dipmore » (SFD), after the rotor speed converges the power reference is reduced by a small amount and maintained until it meets the reference for maximum power point tracking control. The test results demonstrate that the scheme can improve the FN and maximum rate of change of frequency while causing a small SFD in any wind conditions and in a power system that has a high penetration of wind power, and thus the scheme helps maintain the required level of system reliability. The scheme releases the KE from 2.9 times to 3.7 times the Hydro-Quebec requirement depending on the power reference.« less

Stable Adaptive Inertial Control of a Doubly-Fed Induction Generator

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kang, Moses; Muljadi, Eduard; Hur, Kyeon

2016-11-01

This paper proposes a stable adaptive inertial control scheme of a doubly-fed induction generator. The proposed power reference is defined in two sections: the deceleration period and the acceleration period. The power reference in the deceleration period consists of a constant and the reference for maximum power point tracking (MPPT) operation. The latter contributes to preventing a second frequency dip (SFD) in this period because its reduction rate is large at the early stage of an event but quickly decreases with time. To improve the frequency nadir (FN), the constant value is set to be proportional to the rotor speedmore » prior to an event. The reference ensures that the rotor speed converges to a stable operating region. To accelerate the rotor speed while causing a small SFD, when the rotor speed converges, the power reference is reduced by a small amount and maintained until it meets the MPPT reference. The results show that the scheme causes a small SFD while improving the FN and the rate of change of frequency in any wind conditions, even in a grid that has a high penetration of wind power.« less

The effect of travel speed on thermal response in CO2 laser welding of small electronic components

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gianoulakis, S. E.; Burchett, S. N.; Fuerschbach, P. W.; Knorovsky, G. A.

A comprehensive three-dimensional numerical investigation of the effect of beat source travel speed on temperatures and resulting thermal stresses was performed for CO2-laser welding. The test specimen was a small thermal battery header containing several stress-sensitive glass-to-metal seals surrounding the electrical connections and a temperature sensitive ignitor located under the header near the center. Predictions of the thermal stresses and temperatures in the battery header were made for several travel speeds of the laser. The travel speeds examined ranged from 10mm/sec to 50mm/sec. The results indicate that faster weld speeds result in lower temperatures and stresses for the same size weld. This is because the higher speed welds are more efficient, requiring less energy to produce a given weld. Less energy absorbed by the workpiece results in lower temperatures, which results in lower stresses.

Optimal forwarding ratio on dynamical networks with heterogeneous mobility

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gan, Yu; Tang, Ming; Yang, Hanxin

2013-05-01

Since the discovery of non-Poisson statistics of human mobility trajectories, more attention has been paid to understand the role of these patterns in different dynamics. In this study, we first introduce the heterogeneous mobility of mobile agents into dynamical networks, and then investigate packet forwarding strategy on the heterogeneous dynamical networks. We find that the faster speed and the higher proportion of high-speed agents can enhance the network throughput and reduce the mean traveling time in random forwarding. A hierarchical structure in the dependence of high-speed is observed: the network throughput remains unchanged at small and large high-speed value. It is also interesting to find that a slightly preferential forwarding to high-speed agents can maximize the network capacity. Through theoretical analysis and numerical simulations, we show that the optimal forwarding ratio stems from the local structural heterogeneity of low-speed agents.

Reconstructing Tsunami Flow Speed from Sedimentary Deposits

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jaffe, B. E.; Gelfenbaum, G. R.

2014-12-01

Paleotsunami deposits contain information about the flow that created them that can be used to reconstruct tsunami flow speed and thereby improving assessment of tsunami hazard. We applied an inverse tsunami sediment transport model to sandy deposits near Sendai Airport, Japan, that formed during the 11 March 2011 Tohoku-oki tsunami to test model performance and explore the spatial variations in tsunami flow speed. The inverse model assumes the amount of suspended sediment in the water column is in equilibrium with local flow speed and that sediment transport convergences, primarily from bedload transport, do not contribute significantly to formation of the portion of the deposit we identify as formed by sediment settling out of suspension. We interpret massive or inversely graded intervals as forming from sediment transport convergences and do not model them. Sediment falling out of suspension forms a specific type of normal grading, termed 'suspension' grading, where the entire grain size distribution shifts to finer sizes higher up in a deposit. Suspension grading is often observed in deposits of high-energy flows, including turbidity currents and tsunamis. The inverse model calculates tsunami flow speed from the thickness and bulk grain size of a suspension-graded interval. We identified 24 suspension-graded intervals from 7 trenches located near the Sendai Airport from ~250-1350 m inland from the shoreline. Flow speeds were highest ~500 m from the shoreline, landward of the forested sand dunes where the tsunami encountered lower roughness in a low-lying area as it traveled downslope. Modeled tsunami flow speeds range from 2.2 to 9.0 m/s. Tsunami flow speeds are sensitive to roughness, which is unfortunately poorly constrained. Flow speed calculated by the inverse model was similar to those calculated from video taken from a helicopter about 1-2 km inland. Deposit reconstructions of suspension-graded intervals reproduced observed upward shifts in grain size distributions reasonably well. As approaches to estimating paleo-roughness improve, the flow speed and size of paleotsunamis will be better understood and the ability to assess tsunami hazard from paleotsunami deposits will improve.

Convergence speeding up in the calculation of the viscous flow about an airfoil

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Radespiel, R.; Rossow, C.

1988-01-01

A finite volume method to solve the three dimensional Navier-Stokes equations was developed. It is based on a cell-vertex scheme with central differences and explicit Runge-Kutta time steps. A good convergence for a stationary solution was obtained by the use of local time steps, implicit smoothing of the residues, a multigrid algorithm, and a carefully controlled artificial dissipative term. The method is illustrated by results for transonic profiles and airfoils. The method allows a routine solution of the Navier-Stokes equations.

Electronic neural networks for global optimization

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Thakoor, A. P.; Moopenn, A. W.; Eberhardt, S.

1990-01-01

An electronic neural network with feedback architecture, implemented in analog custom VLSI is described. Its application to problems of global optimization for dynamic assignment is discussed. The convergence properties of the neural network hardware are compared with computer simulation results. The neural network's ability to provide optimal or near optimal solutions within only a few neuron time constants, a speed enhancement of several orders of magnitude over conventional search methods, is demonstrated. The effect of noise on the circuit dynamics and the convergence behavior of the neural network hardware is also examined.

78 FR 12060 - Sunshine Act Meeting; Open Commission Meeting Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-02-21

... accelerate the growth and expansion of new Wi-Fi technology offering consumers faster speeds and less network congestion at Wi-Fi hot spots. The meeting site is fully accessible to people using wheelchairs or other...

Officials nationwide give a green light to automated traffic enforcement

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2000-03-11

There has been resistance to using cameras to automatically identify vehicles driven by motorists who run red lights and drive faster than the posted speed limits. Fairness, privacy, and "big brother" have been cited as reasons. The article examines ...

Sex Difference in Draft-Legal Ultra-Distance Events - A Comparison between Ultra-Swimming and Ultra-Cycling.

PubMed

Salihu, Lejla; Rüst, Christoph Alexander; Rosemann, Thomas; Knechtle, Beat

2016-04-30

Recent studies reported that the sex difference in performance in ultra-endurance sports such as swimming and cycling changed over the years. However, the aspect of drafting in draft-legal ultra-endurance races has not yet been investigated. This study investigates the sex difference in ultra-swimming and ultra-cycling draft-legal races where drafting - swimming or cycling behind other participants to save energy and have more power at the end of the race to overtake them, is allowed. The change in performance of the annual best and the annual three best in an ultra-endurance swimming race (16-km 'Faros Swim Marathon') over 38 years and in a 24-h ultra-cycling race ('World Cycling Race') over 13 years were compared and analysed with respect to sex difference. Furthermore, performances of the fastest female and male finishers ever were compared. In the swimming event, the sex difference of the annual best male and female decreased non-significantly (P = 0.262) from 5.3% (1976) to 1.0% (2013). The sex gap of speed in the annual three fastest swimmers decreased significantly (P = 0.043) from 5.9 ± 1.6% (1979) to 4.7 ± 3.1% (2013). In the cycling event, the difference in cycling speed between the annual best male and female decreased significantly (P = 0.026) from 33.31% (1999) to 10.89% (2011). The sex gap of speed in the annual three fastest decreased significantly (P = 0.001) from 32.9 ± 0.6% (1999) to 16.4 ± 5.9% (2011). The fastest male swimmer ever (swimming speed 5.3 km/h, race time: 03:01:55 h:min:s) was 1.5% faster than the fastest female swimmer (swimming speed 5.2 km/h, race time: 03:04:09 h:min:s). The three fastest male swimmers ever (mean 5.27 ± 0.13 km/h) were 4.4% faster than the three fastest female swimmers (mean 5.05 ± 0.20 km/h) (P < 0.05). In the cycling event, the best male ever (cycling speed 45.8 km/h) was 26.4% faster than the best female (cycling speed 36.1 km/h). The three fastest male cyclists ever (45.9 km/h) (mean 45.85 ± 0.05 km/h) were 32.1% faster (P < 0.05) than the three fastest female cyclists ever (34.7 km/h) (mean 34.70 ± 1.87 km/h). In summary, in draft-legal ultra-distance events such as swimming and cycling, the sex difference in the annual top and annual top three swimmers and cyclists decreased (i.e. non-linearly in swimmers and linearly in cyclists) over the years. The sex difference of the fastest athletes ever was smaller in swimming (1.5%) than in cycling (26.4%). This finding is different from reports about races where drafting was not possible or even prohibited and where the sex difference remained stable over years.

Transport of Particle Swarms Through Fractures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Boomsma, E.; Pyrak-Nolte, L. J.

2011-12-01

The transport of engineered micro- and nano-scale particles through fractured rock is often assumed to occur as dispersions or emulsions. Another potential transport mechanism is the release of particle swarms from natural or industrial processes where small liquid drops, containing thousands to millions of colloidal-size particles, are released over time from seepage or leaks. Swarms have higher velocities than any individual colloid because the interactions among the particles maintain the cohesiveness of the swarm as it falls under gravity. Thus particle swarms give rise to the possibility that engineered particles may be transported farther and faster in fractures than predicted by traditional dispersion models. In this study, the effect of fractures on colloidal swarm cohesiveness and evolution was studied as a swarm falls under gravity and interacts with fracture walls. Transparent acrylic was used to fabricate synthetic fracture samples with either (1) a uniform aperture or (2) a converging aperture followed by a uniform aperture (funnel-shaped). The samples consisted of two blocks that measured 100 x 100 x 50 mm. The separation between these blocks determined the aperture (0.5 mm to 50 mm). During experiments, a fracture was fully submerged in water and swarms were released into it. The swarms consisted of dilute suspensions of either 25 micron soda-lime glass beads (2% by mass) or 3 micron polystyrene fluorescent beads (1% by mass) with an initial volume of 5μL. The swarms were illuminated with a green (525 nm) LED array and imaged optically with a CCD camera. In the uniform aperture fracture, the speed of the swarm prior to bifurcation increased with aperture up to a maximum at a fracture width of approximately 10 mm. For apertures greater than ~15 mm, the velocity was essentially constant with fracture width (but less than at 10 mm). This peak suggests that two competing mechanisms affect swarm velocity in fractures. The wall provides both drag, which slows the swarm, and a cohesive force that prevents swarm expansion and the corresponding decrease in particle density. For apertures >15mm, though the drag force is small, the loss of swarm cohesion dominates. In small apertures (<5mm), the drag from the wall dominates causing a loss in speed even though there is strong confinement. From a force-based particle interaction approach, the initial simulation did not capture the observed experimental behavior, i.e., the distinct peak in swarm velocities was not observed. For the funnel shaped aperture, the swarm was observed to bifurcate immediately upon reaching the intersection between the converging aperture and the uniform aperture portions of the fracture. Furthermore, converging apertures resulted in the deceleration of a swarm. Thus, the rate of transport of particle swarms is strongly affected by fracture aperture. Acknowledgment: The authors wish to acknowledge support of this work by the Geosciences Research Program, Office of Basic Energy Sciences US Department of Energy (DE-FG02-09ER16022).

Cued Memory Retrieval Exhibits Reinstatement of High Gamma Power on a Faster Timescale in the Left Temporal Lobe and Prefrontal Cortex

PubMed Central

Shaikhouni, Ammar

2017-01-01

Converging evidence suggests that reinstatement of neural activity underlies our ability to successfully retrieve memories. However, the temporal dynamics of reinstatement in the human cortex remain poorly understood. One possibility is that neural activity during memory retrieval, like replay of spiking neurons in the hippocampus, occurs at a faster timescale than during encoding. We tested this hypothesis in 34 participants who performed a verbal episodic memory task while we recorded high gamma (62–100 Hz) activity from subdural electrodes implanted for seizure monitoring. We show that reinstatement of distributed patterns of high gamma activity occurs faster than during encoding. Using a time-warping algorithm, we quantify the timescale of the reinstatement and identify brain regions that show significant timescale differences between encoding and retrieval. Our data suggest that temporally compressed reinstatement of cortical activity is a feature of cued memory retrieval. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT We show that cued memory retrieval reinstates neural activity on a faster timescale than was present during encoding. Our data therefore provide a link between reinstatement of neural activity in the cortex and spontaneous replay of cortical and hippocampal spiking activity, which also exhibits temporal compression, and suggest that temporal compression may be a universal feature of memory retrieval. PMID:28336569

Global Plate Velocities from the Global Positioning System

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Larson, Kristine M.; Freymueller, Jeffrey T.; Philipsen, Steven

1997-01-01

We have analyzed 204 days of Global Positioning System (GPS) data from the global GPS network spanning January 1991 through March 1996. On the basis of these GPS coordinate solutions, we have estimated velocities for 38 sites, mostly located on the interiors of the Africa, Antarctica, Australia, Eurasia, Nazca, North America, Pacific, and South America plates. The uncertainties of the horizontal velocity components range from 1.2 to 5.0 mm/yr. With the exception of sites on the Pacific and Nazca plates, the GPS velocities agree with absolute plate model predictions within 95% confidence. For most of the sites in North America, Antarctica, and Eurasia, the agreement is better than 2 mm/yr. We find no persuasive evidence for significant vertical motions (less than 3 standard deviations), except at four sites. Three of these four were sites constrained to geodetic reference frame velocities. The GPS velocities were then used to estimate angular velocities for eight tectonic plates. Absolute angular velocities derived from the GPS data agree with the no net rotation (NNR) NUVEL-1A model within 95% confidence except for the Pacific plate. Our pole of rotation for the Pacific plate lies 11.5 deg west of the NNR NUVEL-1A pole, with an angular speed 10% faster. Our relative angular velocities agree with NUVEL-1A except for some involving the Pacific plate. While our Pacific-North America angular velocity differs significantly from NUVEL-1A, our model and NUVEL-1A predict very small differences in relative motion along the Pacific-North America plate boundary itself. Our Pacific-Australia and Pacific- Eurasia angular velocities are significantly faster than NUVEL-1A, predicting more rapid convergence at these two plate boundaries. Along the East Pacific Pise, our Pacific-Nazca angular velocity agrees in both rate and azimuth with NUVFL-1A.

Introducing TreeCollapse: a novel greedy algorithm to solve the cophylogeny reconstruction problem.

PubMed

Drinkwater, Benjamin; Charleston, Michael A

2014-01-01

Cophylogeny mapping is used to uncover deep coevolutionary associations between two or more phylogenetic histories at a macro coevolutionary scale. As cophylogeny mapping is NP-Hard, this technique relies heavily on heuristics to solve all but the most trivial cases. One notable approach utilises a metaheuristic to search only a subset of the exponential number of fixed node orderings possible for the phylogenetic histories in question. This is of particular interest as it is the only known heuristic that guarantees biologically feasible solutions. This has enabled research to focus on larger coevolutionary systems, such as coevolutionary associations between figs and their pollinator wasps, including over 200 taxa. Although able to converge on solutions for problem instances of this size, a reduction from the current cubic running time is required to handle larger systems, such as Wolbachia and their insect hosts. Rather than solving this underlying problem optimally this work presents a greedy algorithm called TreeCollapse, which uses common topological patterns to recover an approximation of the coevolutionary history where the internal node ordering is fixed. This approach offers a significant speed-up compared to previous methods, running in linear time. This algorithm has been applied to over 100 well-known coevolutionary systems converging on Pareto optimal solutions in over 68% of test cases, even where in some cases the Pareto optimal solution has not previously been recoverable. Further, while TreeCollapse applies a local search technique, it can guarantee solutions are biologically feasible, making this the fastest method that can provide such a guarantee. As a result, we argue that the newly proposed algorithm is a valuable addition to the field of coevolutionary research. Not only does it offer a significantly faster method to estimate the cost of cophylogeny mappings but by using this approach, in conjunction with existing heuristics, it can assist in recovering a larger subset of the Pareto front than has previously been possible.

Instantaneous global spatial interaction? Exploring the Gaussian inequality, distance and Internet pings in a global network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baker, R. G. V.

2005-12-01

The Internet has been publicly portrayed as a new technological horizon yielding instantaneous interaction to a point where geography no longer matters. This research aims to dispel this impression by applying a dynamic form of trip modelling to investigate pings in a global computer network compiled by the Stanford Linear Accelerator Centre (SLAC) from 1998 to 2004. Internet flows have been predicted to have the same mathematical operators as trips to a supermarket, since they are both periodic and constrained by a distance metric. Both actual and virtual trips are part of a spectrum of origin-destination pairs in the time-space convergence of trip time-lines. Internet interaction is very near to the convergence of these time-lines (at a very small time scale in milliseconds, but with interactions over thousands of kilometres). There is a lag effect and this is formalised by the derivation of Gaussian and gravity inequalities between the time taken (Δ t) and the partitioning of distance (Δ x). This inequality seems to be robust for a regression of Δ t to Δ x in the SLAC data set for each year (1998 to 2004). There is a constant ‘forbidden zone’ in the interaction, underpinned by the fact that pings do not travel faster than the speed of light. Superimposed upon this zone is the network capacity where a linear regression of Δ t to Δ x is a proxy summarising global Internet connectivity for that year. The results suggest that there has been a substantial improvement in connectivity over the period with R 2 increasing steadily from 0.39 to 0.65 from less Gaussian spreading of the ping latencies. Further, the regression line shifts towards the inequality boundary from 1998 to 2004, where the increased slope shows a greater proportional rise in local connectivity over global connectivity. A conclusion is that national geography still does matter in spatial interaction modelling of the Internet.

Rapid divergence and convergence of life-history in experimentally evolved Drosophila melanogaster.

PubMed

Burke, Molly K; Barter, Thomas T; Cabral, Larry G; Kezos, James N; Phillips, Mark A; Rutledge, Grant A; Phung, Kevin H; Chen, Richard H; Nguyen, Huy D; Mueller, Laurence D; Rose, Michael R

2016-09-01

Laboratory selection experiments are alluring in their simplicity, power, and ability to inform us about how evolution works. A longstanding challenge facing evolution experiments with metazoans is that significant generational turnover takes a long time. In this work, we present data from a unique system of experimentally evolved laboratory populations of Drosophila melanogaster that have experienced three distinct life-history selection regimes. The goal of our study was to determine how quickly populations of a certain selection regime diverge phenotypically from their ancestors, and how quickly they converge with independently derived populations that share a selection regime. Our results indicate that phenotypic divergence from an ancestral population occurs rapidly, within dozens of generations, regardless of that population's evolutionary history. Similarly, populations sharing a selection treatment converge on common phenotypes in this same time frame, regardless of selection pressures those populations may have experienced in the past. These patterns of convergence and divergence emerged much faster than expected, suggesting that intermediate evolutionary history has transient effects in this system. The results we draw from this system are applicable to other experimental evolution projects, and suggest that many relevant questions can be sufficiently tested on shorter timescales than previously thought. © 2016 The Author(s). Evolution © 2016 The Society for the Study of Evolution.

Fast and accurate computation of system matrix for area integral model-based algebraic reconstruction technique

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Shunli; Zhang, Dinghua; Gong, Hao; Ghasemalizadeh, Omid; Wang, Ge; Cao, Guohua

2014-11-01

Iterative algorithms, such as the algebraic reconstruction technique (ART), are popular for image reconstruction. For iterative reconstruction, the area integral model (AIM) is more accurate for better reconstruction quality than the line integral model (LIM). However, the computation of the system matrix for AIM is more complex and time-consuming than that for LIM. Here, we propose a fast and accurate method to compute the system matrix for AIM. First, we calculate the intersection of each boundary line of a narrow fan-beam with pixels in a recursive and efficient manner. Then, by grouping the beam-pixel intersection area into six types according to the slopes of the two boundary lines, we analytically compute the intersection area of the narrow fan-beam with the pixels in a simple algebraic fashion. Overall, experimental results show that our method is about three times faster than the Siddon algorithm and about two times faster than the distance-driven model (DDM) in computation of the system matrix. The reconstruction speed of our AIM-based ART is also faster than the LIM-based ART that uses the Siddon algorithm and DDM-based ART, for one iteration. The fast reconstruction speed of our method was accomplished without compromising the image quality.

H-BLAST: a fast protein sequence alignment toolkit on heterogeneous computers with GPUs.

PubMed

Ye, Weicai; Chen, Ying; Zhang, Yongdong; Xu, Yuesheng

2017-04-15

The sequence alignment is a fundamental problem in bioinformatics. BLAST is a routinely used tool for this purpose with over 118 000 citations in the past two decades. As the size of bio-sequence databases grows exponentially, the computational speed of alignment softwares must be improved. We develop the heterogeneous BLAST (H-BLAST), a fast parallel search tool for a heterogeneous computer that couples CPUs and GPUs, to accelerate BLASTX and BLASTP-basic tools of NCBI-BLAST. H-BLAST employs a locally decoupled seed-extension algorithm for better performance on GPUs, and offers a performance tuning mechanism for better efficiency among various CPUs and GPUs combinations. H-BLAST produces identical alignment results as NCBI-BLAST and its computational speed is much faster than that of NCBI-BLAST. Speedups achieved by H-BLAST over sequential NCBI-BLASTP (resp. NCBI-BLASTX) range mostly from 4 to 10 (resp. 5 to 7.2). With 2 CPU threads and 2 GPUs, H-BLAST can be faster than 16-threaded NCBI-BLASTX. Furthermore, H-BLAST is 1.5-4 times faster than GPU-BLAST. https://github.com/Yeyke/H-BLAST.git. yux06@syr.edu. Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com

Transport of a helicon plasma by a convergent magnetic field for high speed and compact plasma etching

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Takahashi, Kazunori; Motomura, Taisei; Ando, Akira; Kasashima, Yuji; Kikunaga, Kazuya; Uesugi, Fumihiko; Hara, Shiro

2014-10-01

A high density argon plasma produced in a compact helicon source is transported by a convergent magnetic field to the central region of a substrate located downstream of the source. The magnetic field converging near the source exit is applied by a solenoid and further converged by installing a permanent magnet (PM) behind the substrate, which is located downstream of the source exit. Then a higher plasma density above 5 × 1012 cm-3 can be obtained in 0.2 Pa argon near the substrate, compared with the case without the PM. As no noticeable changes in the radially integrated density near the substrate and the power transfer efficiency are detected when testing the source with and without the PM, it can be deduced that the convergent field provided by the PM plays a role in constricting the plasma rather than in improving the plasma production. Furthermore it is applied to physical ion etching of silicon and aluminum substrates; then high etching rates of 6.5 µm min-1 and 8 µm min-1 are obtained, respectively.

An insulin resistance associated neural correlate of impulsivity in type 2 diabetes mellitus

PubMed Central

Eckstrand, Kristen L.; Mummareddy, Nishit; Kang, Hakmook; Cowan, Ronald; Zhou, Minchun; Zald, David; Silver, Heidi J.; Niswender, Kevin D.; Avison, Malcolm J.

2017-01-01

Central insulin resistance (IR) influences striatal dopamine (DA) tone, an important determinant of behavioral self-regulation. We hypothesized that an association exists between the degree of peripheral IR and impulse control, mediated by the impact of IR on brain circuits controlling the speed of executing “go” and/or “stop” responses. We measured brain activation and associated performance on a stop signal task (SST) in obese adults with type 2 diabetes (age, 48.1 ± 6.9 yrs (mean ± SD); BMI, 36.5 ± 4.0 kg/m2; HOMA-IR, 7.2 ± 4.1; 12 male, 18 female). Increasing IR, but not BMI, was a predictor of shorter critical stop signal delay (cSSD), a measure of the time window during which a go response can be successfully countermanded (R2 = 0.12). This decline was explained by an IR-associated increase in go speed (R2 = 0.13) with little impact of IR or BMI on stop speed. Greater striatal fMRI activation contrast in stop error (SE) compared with stop success (SS) trials (CONSE>SS) was a significant predictor of faster go speeds (R2 = 0.33, p = 0.002), and was itself predicted by greater IR (CONSE>SS vs HOMA-IR: R2 = 0.10, p = 0.04). Furthermore, this impact of IR on striatal activation was a significant mediator of the faster go speeds and greater impulsivity observed with greater IR. These findings suggest a neural mechanism by which IR may increase impulsivity and degrade behavioral self-regulation. PMID:29228027

Faster and More Accurate Transport Procedures for HZETRN

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Slaba, Tony C.; Blattnig, Steve R.; Badavi, Francis F.

2010-01-01

Several aspects of code verification are examined for HZETRN. First, a detailed derivation of the numerical marching algorithms is given. Next, a new numerical method for light particle transport is presented, and improvements to the heavy ion transport algorithm are discussed. A summary of various coding errors is also given, and the impact of these errors on exposure quantities is shown. Finally, a coupled convergence study is conducted. From this study, it is shown that past efforts in quantifying the numerical error in HZETRN were hindered by single precision calculations and computational resources. It is also determined that almost all of the discretization error in HZETRN is caused by charged target fragments below 50 AMeV. Total discretization errors are given for the old and new algorithms, and the improved accuracy of the new numerical methods is demonstrated. Run time comparisons are given for three applications in which HZETRN is commonly used. The new algorithms are found to be almost 100 times faster for solar particle event simulations and almost 10 times faster for galactic cosmic ray simulations.

Conjugate-gradient preconditioning methods for shift-variant PET image reconstruction.

PubMed

Fessler, J A; Booth, S D

1999-01-01

Gradient-based iterative methods often converge slowly for tomographic image reconstruction and image restoration problems, but can be accelerated by suitable preconditioners. Diagonal preconditioners offer some improvement in convergence rate, but do not incorporate the structure of the Hessian matrices in imaging problems. Circulant preconditioners can provide remarkable acceleration for inverse problems that are approximately shift-invariant, i.e., for those with approximately block-Toeplitz or block-circulant Hessians. However, in applications with nonuniform noise variance, such as arises from Poisson statistics in emission tomography and in quantum-limited optical imaging, the Hessian of the weighted least-squares objective function is quite shift-variant, and circulant preconditioners perform poorly. Additional shift-variance is caused by edge-preserving regularization methods based on nonquadratic penalty functions. This paper describes new preconditioners that approximate more accurately the Hessian matrices of shift-variant imaging problems. Compared to diagonal or circulant preconditioning, the new preconditioners lead to significantly faster convergence rates for the unconstrained conjugate-gradient (CG) iteration. We also propose a new efficient method for the line-search step required by CG methods. Applications to positron emission tomography (PET) illustrate the method.

Dynamics of the near response under natural viewing conditions with an open-view sensor

PubMed Central

Chirre, Emmanuel; Prieto, Pedro; Artal, Pablo

2015-01-01

We have studied the temporal dynamics of the near response (accommodation, convergence and pupil constriction) in healthy subjects when accommodation was performed under natural binocular and monocular viewing conditions. A binocular open-view multi-sensor based on an invisible infrared Hartmann-Shack sensor was used for non-invasive measurements of both eyes simultaneously in real time at 25Hz. Response times for each process under different conditions were measured. The accommodative responses for binocular vision were faster than for monocular conditions. When one eye was blocked, accommodation and convergence were triggered simultaneously and synchronized, despite the fact that no retinal disparity was available. We found that upon the onset of the near target, the unblocked eye rapidly changes its line of sight to fix it on the stimulus while the blocked eye moves in the same direction, producing the equivalent to a saccade, but then converges to the (blocked) target in synchrony with accommodation. This open-view instrument could be further used for additional experiments with other tasks and conditions. PMID:26504666

Linear homotopy solution of nonlinear systems of equations in geodesy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Paláncz, Béla; Awange, Joseph L.; Zaletnyik, Piroska; Lewis, Robert H.

2010-01-01

A fundamental task in geodesy is solving systems of equations. Many geodetic problems are represented as systems of multivariate polynomials. A common problem in solving such systems is improper initial starting values for iterative methods, leading to convergence to solutions with no physical meaning, or to convergence that requires global methods. Though symbolic methods such as Groebner bases or resultants have been shown to be very efficient, i.e., providing solutions for determined systems such as 3-point problem of 3D affine transformation, the symbolic algebra can be very time consuming, even with special Computer Algebra Systems (CAS). This study proposes the Linear Homotopy method that can be implemented easily in high-level computer languages like C++ and Fortran that are faster than CAS by at least two orders of magnitude. Using Mathematica, the power of Homotopy is demonstrated in solving three nonlinear geodetic problems: resection, GPS positioning, and affine transformation. The method enlarging the domain of convergence is found to be efficient, less sensitive to rounding of numbers, and has lower complexity compared to other local methods like Newton-Raphson.

Convergence of shock waves generated by underwater electrical explosion of cylindrical wire arrays between different boundary geometries

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Yanuka, D.; Zinowits, H. E.; Krasik, Ya. E.

The results of experiments and numerical simulations of a shock wave propagating between either conical or parabolic bounding walls are presented. The shock wave was generated by a microsecond timescale underwater electrical explosion of a cylindrical wire array supplied by a current pulse having an amplitude of ∼230 kA and a rise time of ∼1 μs. It is shown that with the same energy density deposition into the exploding wire array, the shock wave converges faster between parabolic walls, and as a result, the pressure in the vicinity of convergence is ∼2.3 times higher than in the case of conical walls. Themore » results obtained are compared to those of earlier experiments [Antonov et al., Appl. Phys. Lett. 102, 124104 (2013)] with explosions of spherical wire arrays. It is shown that at a distance of ∼400 μm from the implosion origin the pressure obtained in the current experiments is higher than for the case of spherical wire arrays.« less

Computational and Physical Analysis of Catalytic Compounds

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, Richard; Sohn, Jung Jae; Kyung, Richard

2015-03-01

Nanoparticles exhibit unique physical and chemical properties depending on their geometrical properties. For this reason, synthesis of nanoparticles with controlled shape and size is important to use their unique properties. Catalyst supports are usually made of high-surface-area porous oxides or carbon nanomaterials. These support materials stabilize metal catalysts against sintering at high reaction temperatures. Many studies have demonstrated large enhancements of catalytic behavior due to the role of the oxide-metal interface. In this paper, the catalyzing ability of supported nano metal oxides, such as silicon oxide and titanium oxide compounds as catalysts have been analyzed using computational chemistry method. Computational programs such as Gamess and Chemcraft has been used in an effort to compute the efficiencies of catalytic compounds, and bonding energy changes during the optimization convergence. The result illustrates how the metal oxides stabilize and the steps that it takes. The graph of the energy computation step(N) versus energy(kcal/mol) curve shows that the energy of the titania converges faster at the 7th iteration calculation, whereas the silica converges at the 9th iteration calculation.

An analysis of numerical convergence in discrete velocity gas dynamics for internal flows

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sekaran, Aarthi; Varghese, Philip; Goldstein, David

2018-07-01

The Discrete Velocity Method (DVM) for solving the Boltzmann equation has significant advantages in the modeling of non-equilibrium and near equilibrium flows as compared to other methods in terms of reduced statistical noise, faster solutions and the ability to handle transient flows. Yet the DVM performance for rarefied flow in complex, small-scale geometries, in microelectromechanical (MEMS) devices for instance, is yet to be studied in detail. The present study focuses on the performance of the DVM for locally large Knudsen number flows of argon around sharp corners and other sources for discontinuities in the distribution function. Our analysis details the nature of the solution for some benchmark cases and introduces the concept of solution convergence for the transport terms in the discrete velocity Boltzmann equation. The limiting effects of the velocity space discretization are also investigated and the constraints on obtaining a robust, consistent solution are derived. We propose techniques to maintain solution convergence and demonstrate the implementation of a specific strategy and its effect on the fidelity of the solution for some benchmark cases.

Matching optical flow to motor speed in virtual reality while running on a treadmill.

PubMed

Caramenti, Martina; Lafortuna, Claudio L; Mugellini, Elena; Abou Khaled, Omar; Bresciani, Jean-Pierre; Dubois, Amandine

2018-01-01

We investigated how visual and kinaesthetic/efferent information is integrated for speed perception in running. Twelve moderately trained to trained subjects ran on a treadmill at three different speeds (8, 10, 12 km/h) in front of a moving virtual scene. They were asked to match the visual speed of the scene to their running speed-i.e., treadmill's speed. For each trial, participants indicated whether the scene was moving slower or faster than they were running. Visual speed was adjusted according to their response using a staircase until the Point of Subjective Equality (PSE) was reached, i.e., until visual and running speed were perceived as equivalent. For all three running speeds, participants systematically underestimated the visual speed relative to their actual running speed. Indeed, the speed of the visual scene had to exceed the actual running speed in order to be perceived as equivalent to the treadmill speed. The underestimation of visual speed was speed-dependent, and percentage of underestimation relative to running speed ranged from 15% at 8km/h to 31% at 12km/h. We suggest that this fact should be taken into consideration to improve the design of attractive treadmill-mediated virtual environments enhancing engagement into physical activity for healthier lifestyles and disease prevention and care.

Further We Travel the Faster We Go

PubMed Central

Varga, Levente; Kovács, András; Tóth, Géza; Papp, István; Néda, Zoltán

2016-01-01

The average travelling speed increases in a nontrivial manner with the travel distance. This leads to scaling-like relations on quite extended spatial scales, for all mobility modes taken together and also for a given mobility mode in part. We offer a wide range of experimental results, investigating and quantifying this universal effect and its measurable causes. The increasing travelling speed with the travel distance arises from the combined effects of: choosing the most appropriate travelling mode; the structure of the travel networks; the travel times lost in the main hubs, starting or target cities; and the speed limit of roads and vehicles. PMID:26863605

A study on airborne integrated display system and human information processing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mizumoto, K.; Iwamoto, H.; Shimizu, S.; Kuroda, I.

1983-01-01

The cognitive behavior of pilots was examined in an experiment involving mock ups of an eight display electronic attitude direction indicator for an airborne integrated display. Displays were presented in digital, analog digital, and analog format to experienced pilots. Two tests were run, one involving the speed of memorization in a single exposure and the other comprising two five second exposures spaced 30 sec apart. Errors increased with the speed of memorization. Generally, the analog information was assimilated faster than the digital data, with regard to the response speed. Information processing was quantified as 25 bits for the first five second exposure and 15 bits during the second.

Rotor cascade shape optimization with unsteady passing wakes using implicit dual time stepping method

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Eun Seok

2000-10-01

An improved aerodynamics performance of a turbine cascade shape can be achieved by an understanding of the flow-field associated with the stator-rotor interaction. In this research, an axial gas turbine airfoil cascade shape is optimized for improved aerodynamic performance by using an unsteady Navier-Stokes solver and a parallel genetic algorithm. The objective of the research is twofold: (1) to develop a computational fluid dynamics code having faster convergence rate and unsteady flow simulation capabilities, and (2) to optimize a turbine airfoil cascade shape with unsteady passing wakes for improved aerodynamic performance. The computer code solves the Reynolds averaged Navier-Stokes equations. It is based on the explicit, finite difference, Runge-Kutta time marching scheme and the Diagonalized Alternating Direction Implicit (DADI) scheme, with the Baldwin-Lomax algebraic and k-epsilon turbulence modeling. Improvements in the code focused on the cascade shape design capability, convergence acceleration and unsteady formulation. First, the inverse shape design method was implemented in the code to provide the design capability, where a surface transpiration concept was employed as an inverse technique to modify the geometry satisfying the user specified pressure distribution on the airfoil surface. Second, an approximation storage multigrid method was implemented as an acceleration technique. Third, the preconditioning method was adopted to speed up the convergence rate in solving the low Mach number flows. Finally, the implicit dual time stepping method was incorporated in order to simulate the unsteady flow-fields. For the unsteady code validation, the Stokes's 2nd problem and the Poiseuille flow were chosen and compared with the computed results and analytic solutions. To test the code's ability to capture the natural unsteady flow phenomena, vortex shedding past a cylinder and the shock oscillation over a bicircular airfoil were simulated and compared with experiments and other research results. The rotor cascade shape optimization with unsteady passing wakes was performed to obtain an improved aerodynamic performance using the unsteady Navier-Stokes solver. Two objective functions were defined as minimization of total pressure loss and maximization of lift, while the mass flow rate was fixed. A parallel genetic algorithm was used as an optimizer and the penalty method was introduced. Each individual's objective function was computed simultaneously by using a 32 processor distributed memory computer. One optimization took about four days.

An Angular Method with Position Control for Block Mesh Squareness Improvement

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Yao, J.; Stillman, D.

We optimize a target function de ned by angular properties with a position control term for a basic stencil with a block-structured mesh, to improve element squareness in 2D and 3D. Comparison with the condition number method shows that besides a similar mesh quality regarding orthogonality can be achieved as the former does, the new method converges faster and provides a more uniform global mesh spacing in our numerical tests.

Pacing Behavior and Tactical Positioning in 1500-m Short-Track Speed Skating.

PubMed

Konings, Marco J; Noorbergen, Olaf S; Parry, David; Hettinga, Florentina J

2016-01-01

To gain more insight in pacing behavior and tactical positioning in 1500-m short-track speed skating, a sport in which several athletes directly compete in the same race. Lap times and intermediate rankings of elite 1500-m short-track- skating competitors were collected over the season 2012-13 (N = 510, 85 races). Two statistical approaches were used to assess pacing behavior and tactical positioning. First, lap times were analyzed using a MANOVA, and for each lap differences between sex, race type, final rankings, and stage of competition were determined. Second, Kendall tau b correlations were used to assess relationships between intermediate and final rankings. In addition, intermediate rankings of the winner of each race were examined. In 1500 m (13.5 laps of 111.12 m), correlations between intermediate and final ranking gradually increased throughout the race (eg, lap 1, r = .05; lap 7, r = .26; lap 13, r = .85). Moreover, the percentage of race winners skating in the leading position was over 50% during the last 3 laps. Top finishers were faster than bottom-place finishers only during the last 5 laps, with on average 0.1- to 1.5-s faster lap times of the race winners compared with the others during the last 5 laps. Although a fast start led to faster finishing times, top finishers were faster than bottom-placed finishers only during the last 5 laps. Moreover, tactical positioning at 1 of the foremost positions during the latter phase of the race appeared to be a strong determinant of finishing position.

Matching optical flow to motor speed in virtual reality while running on a treadmill

PubMed Central

Lafortuna, Claudio L.; Mugellini, Elena; Abou Khaled, Omar

2018-01-01

We investigated how visual and kinaesthetic/efferent information is integrated for speed perception in running. Twelve moderately trained to trained subjects ran on a treadmill at three different speeds (8, 10, 12 km/h) in front of a moving virtual scene. They were asked to match the visual speed of the scene to their running speed–i.e., treadmill’s speed. For each trial, participants indicated whether the scene was moving slower or faster than they were running. Visual speed was adjusted according to their response using a staircase until the Point of Subjective Equality (PSE) was reached, i.e., until visual and running speed were perceived as equivalent. For all three running speeds, participants systematically underestimated the visual speed relative to their actual running speed. Indeed, the speed of the visual scene had to exceed the actual running speed in order to be perceived as equivalent to the treadmill speed. The underestimation of visual speed was speed-dependent, and percentage of underestimation relative to running speed ranged from 15% at 8km/h to 31% at 12km/h. We suggest that this fact should be taken into consideration to improve the design of attractive treadmill-mediated virtual environments enhancing engagement into physical activity for healthier lifestyles and disease prevention and care. PMID:29641564

The metabolic cost of changing walking speeds is significant, implies lower optimal speeds for shorter distances, and increases daily energy estimates.

PubMed

Seethapathi, Nidhi; Srinivasan, Manoj

2015-09-01

Humans do not generally walk at constant speed, except perhaps on a treadmill. Normal walking involves starting, stopping and changing speeds, in addition to roughly steady locomotion. Here, we measure the metabolic energy cost of walking when changing speed. Subjects (healthy adults) walked with oscillating speeds on a constant-speed treadmill, alternating between walking slower and faster than the treadmill belt, moving back and forth in the laboratory frame. The metabolic rate for oscillating-speed walking was significantly higher than that for constant-speed walking (6-20% cost increase for ±0.13-0.27 m s(-1) speed fluctuations). The metabolic rate increase was correlated with two models: a model based on kinetic energy fluctuations and an inverted pendulum walking model, optimized for oscillating-speed constraints. The cost of changing speeds may have behavioural implications: we predicted that the energy-optimal walking speed is lower for shorter distances. We measured preferred human walking speeds for different walking distances and found people preferred lower walking speeds for shorter distances as predicted. Further, analysing published daily walking-bout distributions, we estimate that the cost of changing speeds is 4-8% of daily walking energy budget. © 2015 The Author(s).

The metabolic cost of changing walking speeds is significant, implies lower optimal speeds for shorter distances, and increases daily energy estimates

PubMed Central

Seethapathi, Nidhi; Srinivasan, Manoj

2015-01-01

Humans do not generally walk at constant speed, except perhaps on a treadmill. Normal walking involves starting, stopping and changing speeds, in addition to roughly steady locomotion. Here, we measure the metabolic energy cost of walking when changing speed. Subjects (healthy adults) walked with oscillating speeds on a constant-speed treadmill, alternating between walking slower and faster than the treadmill belt, moving back and forth in the laboratory frame. The metabolic rate for oscillating-speed walking was significantly higher than that for constant-speed walking (6–20% cost increase for ±0.13–0.27 m s−1 speed fluctuations). The metabolic rate increase was correlated with two models: a model based on kinetic energy fluctuations and an inverted pendulum walking model, optimized for oscillating-speed constraints. The cost of changing speeds may have behavioural implications: we predicted that the energy-optimal walking speed is lower for shorter distances. We measured preferred human walking speeds for different walking distances and found people preferred lower walking speeds for shorter distances as predicted. Further, analysing published daily walking-bout distributions, we estimate that the cost of changing speeds is 4–8% of daily walking energy budget. PMID:26382072

A STRICTLY CONTRACTIVE PEACEMAN–RACHFORD SPLITTING METHOD FOR CONVEX PROGRAMMING

PubMed Central

BINGSHENG, HE; LIU, HAN; WANG, ZHAORAN; YUAN, XIAOMING

2014-01-01

In this paper, we focus on the application of the Peaceman–Rachford splitting method (PRSM) to a convex minimization model with linear constraints and a separable objective function. Compared to the Douglas–Rachford splitting method (DRSM), another splitting method from which the alternating direction method of multipliers originates, PRSM requires more restrictive assumptions to ensure its convergence, while it is always faster whenever it is convergent. We first illustrate that the reason for this difference is that the iterative sequence generated by DRSM is strictly contractive, while that generated by PRSM is only contractive with respect to the solution set of the model. With only the convexity assumption on the objective function of the model under consideration, the convergence of PRSM is not guaranteed. But for this case, we show that the first t iterations of PRSM still enable us to find an approximate solution with an accuracy of O(1/t). A worst-case O(1/t) convergence rate of PRSM in the ergodic sense is thus established under mild assumptions. After that, we suggest attaching an underdetermined relaxation factor with PRSM to guarantee the strict contraction of its iterative sequence and thus propose a strictly contractive PRSM. A worst-case O(1/t) convergence rate of this strictly contractive PRSM in a nonergodic sense is established. We show the numerical efficiency of the strictly contractive PRSM by some applications in statistical learning and image processing. PMID:25620862

Magnetic Cloud Field Intensities and Solar Wind Velocities

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gonzalez, Walter D.; Clau de Gonzalez, Alicia D.; Tsurutani, Bruce T.; Arballo, John K.

1997-01-01

For the sets of magnetic clouds studied in this work we have shown that there is a general relationship between their magnetic fields strength and velocities. With a clear tendency that the faster the speed of the cloud the higher the magnetic field.

Old PCs: Upgrade or Abandon?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Perez, Ernest

1997-01-01

Examines the practical realities of upgrading Intel personal computers in libraries, considering budgets and technical personnel availability. Highlights include adding RAM; putting in faster processor chips, including clock multipliers; new hard disks; CD-ROM speed; motherboards and interface cards; cost limits and economic factors; and…

As time passes by: Observed motion-speed and psychological time during video playback.

PubMed

Nyman, Thomas Jonathan; Karlsson, Eric Per Anders; Antfolk, Jan

2017-01-01

Research shows that psychological time (i.e., the subjective experience and assessment of the passage of time) is malleable and that the central nervous system re-calibrates temporal information in accordance with situational factors so that psychological time flows slower or faster. Observed motion-speed (e.g., the visual perception of a rolling ball) is an important situational factor which influences the production of time estimates. The present study examines previous findings showing that observed slow and fast motion-speed during video playback respectively results in over- and underproductions of intervals of time. Here, we investigated through three separate experiments: a) the main effect of observed motion-speed during video playback on a time production task and b) the interactive effect of the frame rate (frames per second; fps) and motion-speed during video playback on a time production task. No main effect of video playback-speed or interactive effect between video playback-speed and frame rate was found on time production.

As time passes by: Observed motion-speed and psychological time during video playback

PubMed Central

Karlsson, Eric Per Anders; Antfolk, Jan

2017-01-01

Research shows that psychological time (i.e., the subjective experience and assessment of the passage of time) is malleable and that the central nervous system re-calibrates temporal information in accordance with situational factors so that psychological time flows slower or faster. Observed motion-speed (e.g., the visual perception of a rolling ball) is an important situational factor which influences the production of time estimates. The present study examines previous findings showing that observed slow and fast motion-speed during video playback respectively results in over- and underproductions of intervals of time. Here, we investigated through three separate experiments: a) the main effect of observed motion-speed during video playback on a time production task and b) the interactive effect of the frame rate (frames per second; fps) and motion-speed during video playback on a time production task. No main effect of video playback-speed or interactive effect between video playback-speed and frame rate was found on time production. PMID:28614353

Psychophysical estimation of speed discrimination. II. Aging effects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Raghuram, Aparna; Lakshminarayanan, Vasudevan; Khanna, Ritu

2005-10-01

We studied the effects of aging on a speed discrimination task using a pair of first-order drifting luminance gratings. Two reference speeds of 2 and 8 deg/s were presented at stimulus durations of 500 ms and 1000 ms. The choice of stimulus parameters, etc., was determined in preliminary experiments and described in Part I. Thresholds were estimated using a two-alternative-forced-choice staircase methodology. Data were collected from 16 younger subjects (mean age 24 years) and 17 older subjects (mean age 71 years). Results showed that thresholds for speed discrimination were higher for the older age group. This was especially true at stimulus duration of 500 ms for both slower and faster speeds. This could be attributed to differences in temporal integration of speed with age. Visual acuity and contrast sensitivity were not statistically observed to mediate age differences in the speed discrimination thresholds. Gender differences were observed in the older age group, with older women having higher thresholds.

Computations of Internal and External Axisymmetric Nozzle Aerodynamics at Transonic Speeds

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dalbello, Teryn; Georgiadis, Nicholas; Yoder, Dennis; Keith, Theo

2003-01-01

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analyses of axisymmetric circular-arc boattail nozzles have been completed in support of NASA's Next Generation Launch Technology Program to investigate the effects of high-speed nozzle geometries on the nozzle internal flow and the surrounding boattail regions. These computations span the very difficult transonic flight regime, with shock-induced separations and strong adverse pressure gradients. External afterbody and internal nozzle pressure distributions computed with the Wind code are compared with experimental data. A range of turbulence models were examined in Wind, including an Explicit Algebraic Stress model (EASM). Computations on two nozzle geometries have been completed at freestream Mach numbers ranging from 0.6 to 0.9, driven by nozzle pressure ratios (NPR) ranging from 2.9 to 5. Results obtained on converging-only geometry indicate reasonable agreement to experimental data, with the EASM and Shear Stress Transport (SST) turbulence models providing the best agreement. Calculations completed on a converging-diverging geometry involving large-scale internal flow separation did not converge to a true steady-state solution when run with variable timestepping (steady-state). Calculations obtained using constant timestepping (time-accurate) indicate less variations in flow properties compared with steady-state solutions. This failure to converge to a steady-state solution was found to be the result of difficulties in using variable time-stepping with large-scale separations present in the flow. Nevertheless, time-averaged boattail surface pressure coefficient and internal nozzle pressures show fairly good agreement with experimental data. The SST turbulence model demonstrates the best over-all agreement with experimental data.

A shifted hyperbolic augmented Lagrangian-based artificial fish two-swarm algorithm with guaranteed convergence for constrained global optimization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rocha, Ana Maria A. C.; Costa, M. Fernanda P.; Fernandes, Edite M. G. P.

2016-12-01

This article presents a shifted hyperbolic penalty function and proposes an augmented Lagrangian-based algorithm for non-convex constrained global optimization problems. Convergence to an ?-global minimizer is proved. At each iteration k, the algorithm requires the ?-global minimization of a bound constrained optimization subproblem, where ?. The subproblems are solved by a stochastic population-based metaheuristic that relies on the artificial fish swarm paradigm and a two-swarm strategy. To enhance the speed of convergence, the algorithm invokes the Nelder-Mead local search with a dynamically defined probability. Numerical experiments with benchmark functions and engineering design problems are presented. The results show that the proposed shifted hyperbolic augmented Lagrangian compares favorably with other deterministic and stochastic penalty-based methods.

Desert ants achieve reliable recruitment across noisy interactions

PubMed Central

Razin, Nitzan; Eckmann, Jean-Pierre; Feinerman, Ofer

2013-01-01

We study how desert ants, Cataglyphis niger, a species that lacks pheromone-based recruitment mechanisms, inform each other about the presence of food. Our results are based on automated tracking that allows us to collect a large database of ant trajectories and interactions. We find that interactions affect an ant's speed within the nest. Fast ants tend to slow down, whereas slow ones increase their speed when encountering a faster ant. Faster ants tend to exit the nest more frequently than slower ones. So, if an ant gains enough speed through encounters with others, then she tends to leave the nest and look for food. On the other hand, we find that the probability for her to leave the nest depends only on her speed, but not on whether she had recently interacted with a recruiter that has found the food. This suggests a recruitment system in which ants communicate their state by very simple interactions. Based on this assumption, we estimate the information-theoretical channel capacity of the ants’ pairwise interactions. We find that the response to the speed of an interacting nest-mate is very noisy. The question is then how random interactions with ants within the nest can be distinguished from those interactions with a recruiter who has found food. Our measurements and model suggest that this distinction does not depend on reliable communication but on behavioural differences between ants that have found the food and those that have not. Recruiters retain high speeds throughout the experiment, regardless of the ants they interact with; non-recruiters communicate with a limited number of nest-mates and adjust their speed following these interactions. These simple rules lead to the formation of a bistable switch on the level of the group that allows the distinction between recruitment and random noise in the nest. A consequence of the mechanism we propose is a negative effect of ant density on exit rates and recruitment success. This is, indeed, confirmed by our measurements. PMID:23486172

Prism adaptation speeds reach initiation in the direction of the prism after-effect.

PubMed

Striemer, Christopher L; Borza, Carley A

2017-10-01

Damage to the temporal-parietal cortex in the right hemisphere often leads to spatial neglect-a disorder in which patients are unable to attend to sensory input from their contralesional (left) side. Neglect has been associated with both attentional and premotor deficits. That is, in addition to having difficulty with attending to the left side, patients are often slower to initiate leftward vs. rightward movements (i.e., directional hypokinesia). Previous research has indicated that a brief period of adaptation to rightward shifting prisms can reduce symptoms of neglect by adjusting the patient's movements leftward, toward the neglected field. Although prism adaptation has been shown to reduce spatial attention deficits in patients with neglect, very little work has examined the effects of prisms on premotor symptoms. In the current study, we examined this in healthy individuals using leftward shifting prisms to induce a rightward shift in the egocentric reference frame, similar to neglect patients prior to prism adaptation. Specifically, we examined the speed with which healthy participants initiated leftward and rightward reaches (without visual feedback) prior to and following adaptation to either 17° leftward (n = 16) or 17° rightward (n = 15) shifting prisms. Our results indicated that, following adaptation, participants were significantly faster to initiate reaches towards targets located in the direction opposite the prism shift. That is, participants were faster to initiate reaches to right targets following leftward prism adaptation and were faster to initiate reaches to left targets following rightward prism adaptation. Overall, these results are consistent with the idea that prism adaptation can influence the speed with which a reach can be initiated toward a target in the direction opposite the prism shift, possibly through altering activity in neural circuits involved in reach planning.

Influence of flow velocity on motor behavior of sea cucumber Apostichopus japonicus.

PubMed

Pan, Yang; Zhang, Libin; Lin, Chenggang; Sun, Jiamin; Kan, Rentao; Yang, Hongsheng

2015-05-15

The influence of flow velocity on the motor behavior of the sea cucumber, Apostichopus japonicus was investigated in the laboratory. Cameras were used to record sea cucumber movements and behavior analysis software was used to measure the distance traveled, time spent, upstream or downstream of the start position and the speed of movements. In general, the mean velocity of A. japonicus was below 0.7mms(-1). The maximum velocity recorded for all the sea cucumbers tested was for a large individual (89.25±17.11g), at a flow rate of 4.6±0.5cms(-1). Medium sized (19.68±5.53g) and large individuals moved significantly faster than small individuals (2.65±1.24g) at the same flow rate. A. japonicus moved significantly faster when there was a moderate current (4.6±0.5cms(-1) and 14.7±0.3cms(-1)), compared with the fast flow rate (29.3±3.7cms(-1)) and when there was no flow (0cms(-1)). Sea cucumbers did not show positive rheotaxis in general, but did move in a downstream direction at faster current speeds. Large, medium and small sized individuals moved downstream at the fastest current speed tested, 29.3±3.7cms(-1). When there was no water flow, sea cucumbers tended to move in an irregular pattern. The movement patterns show that the sea cucumber, A. japonicus can move across the direction of flow, and can move both upstream and downstream along the direction of flow. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Mass flux in the ecliptic plane and near the Sun deduced from Doppler scintillation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Woo, Richard; Gazis, Paul R.

1994-01-01

During the late declining phase of the solar cycle, the tilt of the solar magnetic dipole with respect to the Sun's rotation axis leads to large-scale organization of the solar wind, such that alternating regions of high- and low-speed solar wind are observed in the ecliptic plane. In this paper, we use Doppler scintillation measurements to investigate mass flux of these two types of solar wind in the ecliptic plane and inside 0.3 AU, where in situ measurements have not been possible. To the extent that Doppler scintillation reflects mass flux, we find that mass flux in high-speed streams: (1) is lower (by a factor of approximately 2.2) than the mass flux of the average solar wind in the heliocentric distance range of 0.3-0.5 AU; (2) is lower still (by as much as a factor of about 4) than the mass flux of the slow solar wind associated with the streamer belt; and (3) appears to grow with heliocentric distance. These Doppler scintillation results are consistent with the equator to pole decrease in mass flux observed in earlier spectral broadening measurements, and with trends and differences between high- and low-speed solar wind observed by in situ measurements in the range of 0.3-0.1 AU. The mass flux results suggest that the solar wind flow in high-speed streams is convergent towards the ecliptic near the Sun, becoming less convergent and approaching radial with increasing heliocentric distance beyond 0.3 AU. The variability of mass flux observed within equatorial and polar high-speed streams close to the Sun is strikingly low. This low variability implies that, as Ulysses currently ascends to higher latitudes and spends more time in the south polar high-speed stream after crossing the heliocentric current sheet, it can expect to observe a marked decrease in variations of both mass flux and solar wind speed, a trend that appears to have started already.

Massively Parallel Dantzig-Wolfe Decomposition Applied to Traffic Flow Scheduling

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rios, Joseph Lucio; Ross, Kevin

2009-01-01

Optimal scheduling of air traffic over the entire National Airspace System is a computationally difficult task. To speed computation, Dantzig-Wolfe decomposition is applied to a known linear integer programming approach for assigning delays to flights. The optimization model is proven to have the block-angular structure necessary for Dantzig-Wolfe decomposition. The subproblems for this decomposition are solved in parallel via independent computation threads. Experimental evidence suggests that as the number of subproblems/threads increases (and their respective sizes decrease), the solution quality, convergence, and runtime improve. A demonstration of this is provided by using one flight per subproblem, which is the finest possible decomposition. This results in thousands of subproblems and associated computation threads. This massively parallel approach is compared to one with few threads and to standard (non-decomposed) approaches in terms of solution quality and runtime. Since this method generally provides a non-integral (relaxed) solution to the original optimization problem, two heuristics are developed to generate an integral solution. Dantzig-Wolfe followed by these heuristics can provide a near-optimal (sometimes optimal) solution to the original problem hundreds of times faster than standard (non-decomposed) approaches. In addition, when massive decomposition is employed, the solution is shown to be more likely integral, which obviates the need for an integerization step. These results indicate that nationwide, real-time, high fidelity, optimal traffic flow scheduling is achievable for (at least) 3 hour planning horizons.

A fully automatic microcalcification detection approach based on deep convolution neural network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cai, Guanxiong; Guo, Yanhui; Zhang, Yaqin; Qin, Genggeng; Zhou, Yuanpin; Lu, Yao

2018-02-01

Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers and has high morbidity and mortality worldwide, posing a serious threat to the health of human beings. The emergence of microcalcifications (MCs) is an important signal of early breast cancer. However, it is still challenging and time consuming for radiologists to identify some tiny and subtle individual MCs in mammograms. This study proposed a novel computer-aided MC detection algorithm on the full field digital mammograms (FFDMs) using deep convolution neural network (DCNN). Firstly, a MC candidate detection system was used to obtain potential MC candidates. Then a DCNN was trained using a novel adaptive learning strategy, neutrosophic reinforcement sample learning (NRSL) strategy to speed up the learning process. The trained DCNN served to recognize true MCs. After been classified by DCNN, a density-based regional clustering method was imposed to form MC clusters. The accuracy of the DCNN with our proposed NRSL strategy converges faster and goes higher than the traditional DCNN at same epochs, and the obtained an accuracy of 99.87% on training set, 95.12% on validation set, and 93.68% on testing set at epoch 40. For cluster-based MC cluster detection evaluation, a sensitivity of 90% was achieved at 0.13 false positives (FPs) per image. The obtained results demonstrate that the designed DCNN plays a significant role in the MC detection after being prior trained.

Automatic sleep stage classification of single-channel EEG by using complex-valued convolutional neural network.

PubMed

Zhang, Junming; Wu, Yan

2018-03-28

Many systems are developed for automatic sleep stage classification. However, nearly all models are based on handcrafted features. Because of the large feature space, there are so many features that feature selection should be used. Meanwhile, designing handcrafted features is a difficult and time-consuming task because the feature designing needs domain knowledge of experienced experts. Results vary when different sets of features are chosen to identify sleep stages. Additionally, many features that we may be unaware of exist. However, these features may be important for sleep stage classification. Therefore, a new sleep stage classification system, which is based on the complex-valued convolutional neural network (CCNN), is proposed in this study. Unlike the existing sleep stage methods, our method can automatically extract features from raw electroencephalography data and then classify sleep stage based on the learned features. Additionally, we also prove that the decision boundaries for the real and imaginary parts of a complex-valued convolutional neuron intersect orthogonally. The classification performances of handcrafted features are compared with those of learned features via CCNN. Experimental results show that the proposed method is comparable to the existing methods. CCNN obtains a better classification performance and considerably faster convergence speed than convolutional neural network. Experimental results also show that the proposed method is a useful decision-support tool for automatic sleep stage classification.

Distinctive Features of Surface Winds over Indian Ocean Between Strong and Weak Indian Summer Monsoons: Implications With Respect To Regional Rainfall Change in India

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zheng, Y.; Bourassa, M. A.; Ali, M. M.

2017-12-01

This observational study focuses on characterizing the surface winds in the Arabian Sea (AS), the Bay of Bengal (BoB), and the southern Indian Ocean (SIO) with special reference to the strong and weak Indian summer monsoon rainfall (ISMR) using the latest daily gridded rainfall dataset provided by the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) and the Cross-Calibrated Multi-Platform (CCMP) gridded wind product version 2.0 produced by Remote Sensing System (RSS) over the overlapped period 1991-2014. The potential links between surface winds and Indian regional rainfall are also examined. Results indicate that the surface wind speeds in AS and BoB during June-August are almost similar during strong ISMRs and weak ISMRs, whereas significant discrepancies are observed during September. By contrast, the surface wind speeds in SIO during June-August are found to be significantly different between strong and weak ISMRs, where they are similar during September. The significant differences in monthly mean surface wind convergence between strong and weak ISMRs are not coherent in space in the three regions. However, the probability density function (PDF) distributions of daily mean area-averaged values are distinctive between strong and weak ISMRs in the three regions. The correlation analysis indicates the area-averaged surface wind speeds in AS and the area-averaged wind convergence in BoB are highly correlated with regional rainfall for both strong and weak ISMRs. The wind convergence in BoB during strong ISMRs is relatively better correlated with regional rainfall than during weak ISMRs. The surface winds in SIO do not greatly affect Indian rainfall in short timescales, however, they will ultimately affect the strength of monsoon circulation by modulating Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) mode via atmosphere-ocean interactions.

Pilot-in-the-Loop CFD Method Development

DTIC Science & Technology

2017-02-01

Penn State University. All software supporting piloted simulations must run at real time speeds or faster. This requirement drives the number of...dynamics of interacting blade tip vortices with a ground plane,” American Helicopter Society 64 th Annual Forum Proceedings, 2008. [2] Johnson, W

An improved data transfer and storage technique for hybrid computation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hansing, A. M.

1972-01-01

Improved technique was developed for transferring and storing data at faster than real time speeds on hybrid computer. Predominant advantage is combined use of electronic relays, track and store units, and analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog conversion units of hybrid computer.

Distinct Motivational Effects of Contingent and Noncontingent Rewards.

PubMed

Manohar, Sanjay G; Finzi, Rebecca Dawn; Drew, Daniel; Husain, Masud

2017-07-01

When rewards are available, people expend more energy, increasing their motivational vigor. In theory, incentives might drive behavior for two distinct reasons: First, they increase expected reward; second, they increase the difference in subjective value between successful and unsuccessful performance, which increases contingency-the degree to which action determines outcome. Previous studies of motivational vigor have never compared these directly. Here, we indexed motivational vigor by measuring the speed of eye movements toward a target after participants heard a cue indicating how outcomes would be determined. Eye movements were faster when the cue indicated that monetary rewards would be contingent on performance than when the cue indicated that rewards would be random. But even when the cue indicated that a reward was guaranteed regardless of speed, movement was still faster than when no reward was available. Motivation by contingent and certain rewards was uncorrelated across individuals, which suggests that there are two separable, independent components of motivation. Contingent motivation generated autonomic arousal, and unlike noncontingent motivation, was effective with penalties as well as rewards.

Electron drift in a large scale solid xenon

DOE PAGES

Yoo, J.; Jaskierny, W. F.

2015-08-21

A study of charge drift in a large scale optically transparent solid xenon is reported. A pulsed high power xenon light source is used to liberate electrons from a photocathode. The drift speeds of the electrons are measured using a 8.7 cm long electrode in both the liquid and solid phase of xenon. In the liquid phase (163 K), the drift speed is 0.193 ± 0.003 cm/μs while the drift speed in the solid phase (157 K) is 0.397 ± 0.006 cm/μs at 900 V/cm over 8.0 cm of uniform electric fields. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that a factor twomore » faster electron drift speed in solid phase xenon compared to that in liquid in a large scale solid xenon.« less

Computing with a single qubit faster than the computation quantum speed limit

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sinitsyn, Nikolai A.

2018-02-01

The possibility to save and process information in fundamentally indistinguishable states is the quantum mechanical resource that is not encountered in classical computing. I demonstrate that, if energy constraints are imposed, this resource can be used to accelerate information-processing without relying on entanglement or any other type of quantum correlations. In fact, there are computational problems that can be solved much faster, in comparison to currently used classical schemes, by saving intermediate information in nonorthogonal states of just a single qubit. There are also error correction strategies that protect such computations.

Faster simulation plots

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fowell, Richard A.

1989-01-01

Most simulation plots are heavily oversampled. Ignoring unnecessary data points dramatically reduces plot time with imperceptible effect on quality. The technique is suited to most plot devices. The departments laser printer's speed was tripled for large simulation plots by data thinning. This reduced printer delays without the expense of a faster laser printer. Surpisingly, it saved computer time as well. All plot data are now thinned, including PostScript and terminal plots. The problem, solution, and conclusions are described. The thinning algorithm is described and performance studies are presented. To obtain FORTRAN 77 or C source listings, mail a SASE to the author.

An adaptive bit synchronization algorithm under time-varying environment.

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chow, L. R.; Owen, H. A., Jr.; Wang, P. P.

1973-01-01

This paper presents an adaptive estimation algorithm for bit synchronization, assuming that the parameters of the incoming data process are time-varying. Experiment results have proved that this synchronizer is workable either judged by the amount of data required or the speed of convergence.

Modified Backtracking Search Optimization Algorithm Inspired by Simulated Annealing for Constrained Engineering Optimization Problems

PubMed Central

Wang, Hailong; Sun, Yuqiu; Su, Qinghua; Xia, Xuewen

2018-01-01

The backtracking search optimization algorithm (BSA) is a population-based evolutionary algorithm for numerical optimization problems. BSA has a powerful global exploration capacity while its local exploitation capability is relatively poor. This affects the convergence speed of the algorithm. In this paper, we propose a modified BSA inspired by simulated annealing (BSAISA) to overcome the deficiency of BSA. In the BSAISA, the amplitude control factor (F) is modified based on the Metropolis criterion in simulated annealing. The redesigned F could be adaptively decreased as the number of iterations increases and it does not introduce extra parameters. A self-adaptive ε-constrained method is used to handle the strict constraints. We compared the performance of the proposed BSAISA with BSA and other well-known algorithms when solving thirteen constrained benchmarks and five engineering design problems. The simulation results demonstrated that BSAISA is more effective than BSA and more competitive with other well-known algorithms in terms of convergence speed. PMID:29666635

How fast are antidepressants?

PubMed

Gelenberg, A J; Chesen, C L

2000-10-01

For years, investigators have tried to determine the speed of onset of antidepressant drugs. Claims that particular drugs may produce a faster response in patients than other agents have been made, but such claims have never been confirmed. The authors reviewed reports from studies of the speed of onset of antidepressant therapies and other studies that revealed information on this topic. We compiled a list of factors that can affect the results of such studies and interpretations of study results. In addition, we reviewed literature concerned with methods of speeding up antidepressant responses. No antidepressant medication currently available has been shown conclusively to have a more rapid onset of action than any other. However, some methods of augmentation may have the potential to speed responses. Somatic therapies such as electroconvulsive therapy, phototherapy, and therapeutic sleep deprivation may be the fastest options available at this time. All available antidepressant medications are usually taken for several weeks before future responders will display a significant therapeutic benefit. If a patient does not show at least a 20% improvement within the first 2 to 4 weeks of treatment, the treatment regimen should be altered. For patients who do show early benefits from a medication trial, one can expect additional benefits to accrue over an 8- to 12-week period and to improve overall outcome compared with those slower to respond. Future trials need to address methodological confounds, but a truly "faster antidepressant" will probably require new neuroscience technology.

Optimizer convergence and local minima errors and their clinical importance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jeraj, Robert; Wu, Chuan; Mackie, Thomas R.

2003-09-01

Two of the errors common in the inverse treatment planning optimization have been investigated. The first error is the optimizer convergence error, which appears because of non-perfect convergence to the global or local solution, usually caused by a non-zero stopping criterion. The second error is the local minima error, which occurs when the objective function is not convex and/or the feasible solution space is not convex. The magnitude of the errors, their relative importance in comparison to other errors as well as their clinical significance in terms of tumour control probability (TCP) and normal tissue complication probability (NTCP) were investigated. Two inherently different optimizers, a stochastic simulated annealing and deterministic gradient method were compared on a clinical example. It was found that for typical optimization the optimizer convergence errors are rather small, especially compared to other convergence errors, e.g., convergence errors due to inaccuracy of the current dose calculation algorithms. This indicates that stopping criteria could often be relaxed leading into optimization speed-ups. The local minima errors were also found to be relatively small and typically in the range of the dose calculation convergence errors. Even for the cases where significantly higher objective function scores were obtained the local minima errors were not significantly higher. Clinical evaluation of the optimizer convergence error showed good correlation between the convergence of the clinical TCP or NTCP measures and convergence of the physical dose distribution. On the other hand, the local minima errors resulted in significantly different TCP or NTCP values (up to a factor of 2) indicating clinical importance of the local minima produced by physical optimization.

Optimizer convergence and local minima errors and their clinical importance.

PubMed

Jeraj, Robert; Wu, Chuan; Mackie, Thomas R

2003-09-07

Two of the errors common in the inverse treatment planning optimization have been investigated. The first error is the optimizer convergence error, which appears because of non-perfect convergence to the global or local solution, usually caused by a non-zero stopping criterion. The second error is the local minima error, which occurs when the objective function is not convex and/or the feasible solution space is not convex. The magnitude of the errors, their relative importance in comparison to other errors as well as their clinical significance in terms of tumour control probability (TCP) and normal tissue complication probability (NTCP) were investigated. Two inherently different optimizers, a stochastic simulated annealing and deterministic gradient method were compared on a clinical example. It was found that for typical optimization the optimizer convergence errors are rather small, especially compared to other convergence errors, e.g., convergence errors due to inaccuracy of the current dose calculation algorithms. This indicates that stopping criteria could often be relaxed leading into optimization speed-ups. The local minima errors were also found to be relatively small and typically in the range of the dose calculation convergence errors. Even for the cases where significantly higher objective function scores were obtained the local minima errors were not significantly higher. Clinical evaluation of the optimizer convergence error showed good correlation between the convergence of the clinical TCP or NTCP measures and convergence of the physical dose distribution. On the other hand, the local minima errors resulted in significantly different TCP or NTCP values (up to a factor of 2) indicating clinical importance of the local minima produced by physical optimization.

Physics of overarm throwing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cross, Rod

2004-03-01

Measurements are presented of the speed at which objects of different mass can be projected by an overarm throw. Light objects can be thrown faster than heavy objects, although the difference in speed is not as large as one might expect. For a factor of 60 increase in the thrown mass, there was a decrease of only 2.4 in the throw speed. The relatively small change in throw speed is due to the fact that the force that can be applied to a thrown object increases with object mass. Estimates of the muscle forces involved indicate that the increase in force with mass is primarily an inertial rather than a physiological effect. The total kinetic energy of the mass, hand, and the forearm was found to be almost independent of the object mass, and the throw speed is almost independent of the mass of the upper arm.

Speed correlation and emission of truck vehicles on dynamic conditions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lutfie, M.; Samang, L.; Adisasmita, S. A.; Ramli, M. I.

2018-04-01

Concentration of CO2, NOx, smoke, CO, and HC released from several truck vehicles taken emission and speed data every 5 second through measurements using the mobile emission analyzer as an emission test vehicle that absorbs the gas from exhaust of sample vehicles. Implementation in field is to put emission test equipment on the right side of truck, which will absorb 5 gas compounds for 5 - 20 minutes with a view to knowing truck emissions of moving conditions by considering load factors. The sample vehicles are diesel-fueled trucks. From the research on gas emissions, it is generally found that the tendency that arises is the faster the vehicle speed then the CO2, NOx, Smoke, CO, and HC gases released will be greater or will increase as the vehicle speed increases. Thus, the relationship of CO2, NOx, smoke, CO, and HC concentration with vehicle speed is a linear relationship.

Preconditioned conjugate-gradient methods for low-speed flow calculations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ajmani, Kumud; Ng, Wing-Fai; Liou, Meng-Sing

1993-01-01

An investigation is conducted into the viability of using a generalized Conjugate Gradient-like method as an iterative solver to obtain steady-state solutions of very low-speed fluid flow problems. Low-speed flow at Mach 0.1 over a backward-facing step is chosen as a representative test problem. The unsteady form of the two dimensional, compressible Navier-Stokes equations is integrated in time using discrete time-steps. The Navier-Stokes equations are cast in an implicit, upwind finite-volume, flux split formulation. The new iterative solver is used to solve a linear system of equations at each step of the time-integration. Preconditioning techniques are used with the new solver to enhance the stability and convergence rate of the solver and are found to be critical to the overall success of the solver. A study of various preconditioners reveals that a preconditioner based on the Lower-Upper Successive Symmetric Over-Relaxation iterative scheme is more efficient than a preconditioner based on Incomplete L-U factorizations of the iteration matrix. The performance of the new preconditioned solver is compared with a conventional Line Gauss-Seidel Relaxation (LGSR) solver. Overall speed-up factors of 28 (in terms of global time-steps required to converge to a steady-state solution) and 20 (in terms of total CPU time on one processor of a CRAY-YMP) are found in favor of the new preconditioned solver, when compared with the LGSR solver.

Preconditioned Conjugate Gradient methods for low speed flow calculations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ajmani, Kumud; Ng, Wing-Fai; Liou, Meng-Sing

1993-01-01

An investigation is conducted into the viability of using a generalized Conjugate Gradient-like method as an iterative solver to obtain steady-state solutions of very low-speed fluid flow problems. Low-speed flow at Mach 0.1 over a backward-facing step is chosen as a representative test problem. The unsteady form of the two dimensional, compressible Navier-Stokes equations are integrated in time using discrete time-steps. The Navier-Stokes equations are cast in an implicit, upwind finite-volume, flux split formulation. The new iterative solver is used to solve a linear system of equations at each step of the time-integration. Preconditioning techniques are used with the new solver to enhance the stability and the convergence rate of the solver and are found to be critical to the overall success of the solver. A study of various preconditioners reveals that a preconditioner based on the lower-upper (L-U)-successive symmetric over-relaxation iterative scheme is more efficient than a preconditioner based on incomplete L-U factorizations of the iteration matrix. The performance of the new preconditioned solver is compared with a conventional line Gauss-Seidel relaxation (LGSR) solver. Overall speed-up factors of 28 (in terms of global time-steps required to converge to a steady-state solution) and 20 (in terms of total CPU time on one processor of a CRAY-YMP) are found in favor of the new preconditioned solver, when compared with the LGSR solver.

Size-extensive QCISDT — implementation and application

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cremer, Dieter; He, Zhi

1994-05-01

A size-extensive quadratic CI method with single (S), double (D), and triple (T) excitations, QCISDT, has been derived by appropriate cancellation of disconnected terms in the CISDT projection equations. Matrix elements of the new QCI method have been evaluated in terms of two-electron integrals and applied to a number of atoms and small molecules. While QCISDT results are of similar accuracy to CCSDT results, the new method is easier to implement, converges in many cases faster and, thereby, leads to advantages compared to CCSDT.

Development of a Compound Optimization Approach Based on Imperialist Competitive Algorithm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Qimei; Yang, Zhihong; Wang, Yong

In this paper, an improved novel approach is developed for the imperialist competitive algorithm to achieve a greater performance. The Nelder-Meand simplex method is applied to execute alternately with the original procedures of the algorithm. The approach is tested on twelve widely-used benchmark functions and is also compared with other relative studies. It is shown that the proposed approach has a faster convergence rate, better search ability, and higher stability than the original algorithm and other relative methods.

Stimulus fear relevance and the speed, magnitude, and robustness of vicariously learned fear.

PubMed

Dunne, Güler; Reynolds, Gemma; Askew, Chris

2017-08-01

Superior learning for fear-relevant stimuli is typically indicated in the laboratory by faster acquisition of fear responses, greater learned fear, and enhanced resistance to extinction. Three experiments investigated the speed, magnitude, and robustness of UK children's (6-10 years; N = 290; 122 boys, 168 girls) vicariously learned fear responses for three types of stimuli. In two experiments, children were presented with pictures of novel animals (Australian marsupials) and flowers (fear-irrelevant stimuli) alone (control) or together with faces expressing fear or happiness. To determine learning speed the number of stimulus-face pairings seen by children was varied (1, 10, or 30 trials). Robustness of learning was examined via repeated extinction procedures over 3 weeks. A third experiment compared the magnitude and robustness of vicarious fear learning for snakes and marsupials. Significant increases in fear responses were found for snakes, marsupials and flowers. There was no indication that vicarious learning for marsupials was faster than for flowers. Moreover, vicariously learned fear was neither greater nor more robust for snakes compared to marsupials, or for marsupials compared to flowers. These findings suggest that for this age group stimulus fear relevance may have little influence on vicarious fear learning. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Star Clusters Simulations Using GRAPE-5

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fukushige, Toshiyuki

We discuss simulations of star cluster, such as globular cluster, galaxy, and galaxy cluster, using GRAPE(GRAvity PipE)-5. GRAPE-5 is a new version of special-purpose computer for many-body simulation, GRAPE. GRAPE-5 has eight custom pipeline LSI (G5 chip) per board, and its peak performance is 38.4 Gflops. GRAPE-5 is different from its predecessor, GRAPE-3, regarding four points: a) the calculation speed per chip is 8 time faster, b) the PCI bus is adapted as an interface between host computer and GRAPE-5, and, therefore, the communication speed is order of magnitude faster, c) in addition to the pure 1/r potential, GRAPE-5 can calculate force with arbitrary cutoff function so that it can be applied to the Ewald or P3M methods, and d) the pair wise force calculated on GRAPE-5 is about 10 times more accurate. Using the GRAPE-5 system with Barnes-Hut tree algorithm, we can complete force calculations for one timestep in 10(N/106) seconds. This speed enables us to perform a pre-collapse globular cluster simulation with real number of particles, and a galaxy simulation with more than 1 million particles, within several days. We also present some results of star cluster simulations using the GRAPE-5 system.

Analysis of proximal and distal muscle activity during handwriting tasks.

PubMed

Naider-Steinhart, Shoshana; Katz-Leurer, Michal

2007-01-01

In this study we sought to describe upper-extremity proximal and distal muscle activity in typically developing children during a handwriting task and to explore the relationship between muscle activity and speed and quality of writing. We evaluated 35 third- and fourth-grade Israeli children using the Alef-Alef Ktav Yad Hebrew Handwriting Test. Simultaneously, we recorded the participants' upper trapezius and thumb muscle activity by surface electromyography. Using the coefficient of variation (standard deviation divided by mean amplitude) as a measure of variability within each muscle, we analyzed differences in muscle activity variability within and between muscles. The proximal muscle displayed significantly less variability than the distal muscles. Decreased variability in proximal muscle activity was associated with decreased variability in distal muscle activity, and decreased variability in the distal muscles was significantly associated with faster speed of writing. The lower amount of variability exhibited in the proximal muscle compared with the distal muscles seems to indicate that the proximal muscle functions as a stabilizer during a handwriting task. In addition, decreased variability in both proximal and distal muscle activity appears to be more economical and is related to faster writing speed. Knowledge of the type of proximal and distal muscle activity used during handwriting can help occupational therapists plan treatment for children with handwriting disabilities.

Cortical correlates of neuromotor development in healthy children.

PubMed

Garvey, M A; Ziemann, U; Bartko, J J; Denckla, M B; Barker, C A; Wassermann, E M

2003-09-01

To examine the relationship between acquisition of fine motor skills in childhood and development of the motor cortex. We measured finger tapping speed and mirror movements in 43 healthy right-handed subjects (6-26 years of age). While recording surface electromyographic activity from right and left first dorsal interosseus, we delivered focal transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) over the hand areas of each motor cortex. We measured motor evoked potential (MEP) threshold, and ipsilateral (iSP) and contralateral (CSP) silent periods. As children got older, finger speeds got faster, MEP threshold decreased, iSP duration increased and latency decreased. Finger tapping speed got faster as motor thresholds and iSP latency decreased, but was unrelated to CSP duration. In all subjects right hemisphere MEP thresholds were higher than those on the left and duration of right hemisphere CSP was longer than that on the left. Children under 10 years of age had higher left hand mirror movement scores, and fewer left hemisphere iSPs which were of longer duration. Maturation of finger tapping skills is closely related to developmental changes in the motor threshold and iSP latency. Studies are warranted to explore the relationship between these measures and other neuromotor skills in children with motor disorders. TMS can provide important insights into certain functional aspects of neurodevelopment in children.

An extended heterogeneous car-following model accounting for anticipation driving behavior and mixed maximum speeds

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sun, Fengxin; Wang, Jufeng; Cheng, Rongjun; Ge, Hongxia

2018-02-01

The optimal driving speeds of the different vehicles may be different for the same headway. In the optimal velocity function of the optimal velocity (OV) model, the maximum speed vmax is an important parameter determining the optimal driving speed. A vehicle with higher maximum speed is more willing to drive faster than that with lower maximum speed in similar situation. By incorporating the anticipation driving behavior of relative velocity and mixed maximum speeds of different percentages into optimal velocity function, an extended heterogeneous car-following model is presented in this paper. The analytical linear stable condition for this extended heterogeneous traffic model is obtained by using linear stability theory. Numerical simulations are carried out to explore the complex phenomenon resulted from the cooperation between anticipation driving behavior and heterogeneous maximum speeds in the optimal velocity function. The analytical and numerical results all demonstrate that strengthening driver's anticipation effect can improve the stability of heterogeneous traffic flow, and increasing the lowest value in the mixed maximum speeds will result in more instability, but increasing the value or proportion of the part already having higher maximum speed will cause different stabilities at high or low traffic densities.

Optical and Radar Measurements of the Meteor Speed Distribution

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Moorhead, A. V.; Brown, P. G.; Campbell-Brown, M. D.; Kingery, A.; Cooke, W. J.

2016-01-01

The observed meteor speed distribution provides information on the underlying orbital distribution of Earth-intersecting meteoroids. It also affects spacecraft risk assessments; faster meteors do greater damage to spacecraft surfaces. Although radar meteor networks have measured the meteor speed distribution numerous times, the shape of the de-biased speed distribution varies widely from study to study. Optical characterizations of the meteoroid speed distribution are fewer in number, and in some cases the original data is no longer available. Finally, the level of uncertainty in these speed distributions is rarely addressed. In this work, we present the optical meteor speed distribution extracted from the NASA and SOMN allsky networks [1, 2] and from the Canadian Automated Meteor Observatory (CAMO) [3]. We also revisit the radar meteor speed distribution observed by the Canadian Meteor Orbit Radar (CMOR) [4]. Together, these data span the range of meteoroid sizes that can pose a threat to spacecraft. In all cases, we present our bias corrections and incorporate the uncertainty in these corrections into uncertainties in our de-biased speed distribution. Finally, we compare the optical and radar meteor speed distributions and discuss the implications for meteoroid environment models.

Development of Monte Carlo based real-time treatment planning system with fast calculation algorithm for boron neutron capture therapy.

PubMed

Takada, Kenta; Kumada, Hiroaki; Liem, Peng Hong; Sakurai, Hideyuki; Sakae, Takeji

2016-12-01

We simulated the effect of patient displacement on organ doses in boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT). In addition, we developed a faster calculation algorithm (NCT high-speed) to simulate irradiation more efficiently. We simulated dose evaluation for the standard irradiation position (reference position) using a head phantom. Cases were assumed where the patient body is shifted in lateral directions compared to the reference position, as well as in the direction away from the irradiation aperture. For three groups of neutron (thermal, epithermal, and fast), flux distribution using NCT high-speed with a voxelized homogeneous phantom was calculated. The three groups of neutron fluxes were calculated for the same conditions with Monte Carlo code. These calculated results were compared. In the evaluations of body movements, there were no significant differences even with shifting up to 9mm in the lateral directions. However, the dose decreased by about 10% with shifts of 9mm in a direction away from the irradiation aperture. When comparing both calculations in the phantom surface up to 3cm, the maximum differences between the fluxes calculated by NCT high-speed with those calculated by Monte Carlo code for thermal neutrons and epithermal neutrons were 10% and 18%, respectively. The time required for NCT high-speed code was about 1/10th compared to Monte Carlo calculation. In the evaluation, the longitudinal displacement has a considerable effect on the organ doses. We also achieved faster calculation of depth distribution of thermal neutron flux using NCT high-speed calculation code. Copyright © 2016 Associazione Italiana di Fisica Medica. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Relativistic generalization of the incentive trap of interstellar travel with application to Breakthrough Starshot

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Heller, René

2017-09-01

As new concepts of sending interstellar spacecraft to the nearest stars are now being investigated by various research teams, crucial questions about the timing of such a vast financial and labour investment arise. If humanity could build high-speed interstellar lightsails and reach α Centauri 20 yr after launch, would it be better to wait a few years, then take advantage of further technology improvements and arrive earlier despite waiting? The risk of being overtaken by a future, faster probe has been described earlier as the incentive trap. Based on 211 yr of historical data, we find that the speed growth of artificial vehicles, from steam-driven locomotives to Voyager 1, is much faster than previously believed, about 4.72 per cent annually or a doubling every 15 yr. We derive the mathematical framework to calculate the minimum of the wait time to launch t plus travel time τ(t) and extend it into the relativistic regime. We show that the t + τ(t) minimum disappears for nearby targets. There is no use of waiting once we can reach an object within about 20 yr of travel, irrespective of the actual speed. In terms of speed, the t + τ(t) minimum for a travel to α Centauri occurs at 19.6 per cent the speed of light (c), in agreement with the 20 per cent c proposed by the Breakthrough Starshot initiative. If interstellar travel at 20 per cent c could be achieved within 45 yr from today and the kinetic energy be increased at a rate consistent with the historical record, then humans can reach the 10 most nearby stars within 100 yr from today.

Electronic Data Interchange: Using Technology to Exchange Transcripts.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Stewart, John T.

1994-01-01

Describes the Florida Automated System for Transferring Educational Records (FASTER) project, which permits the electronic exchange of student transcripts; uses of similar electronic data interchange (EDI) programs in other states; and the national SPEEDE/ExPRESS project, which uses a standard format for transferring electronic transcripts.…

Two Autistic Savant Readers.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

O'Connor, N.; Hermelin, B.

1994-01-01

Two young autistic children exhibited normal reading comprehension but reading speeds considerably faster than controls. The effect of randomizing word order was minimal for the older of the two autistic boys. Results indicate that efficient grapheme-phoneme conversion is primarily responsible for the fast reading of the autistic children.…

Pushing the Envelope

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-10-12

The first generation X-1 aircraft changed aviation history in numerous ways, and not simply because they were the first aircraft to fly faster than the speed of sound. Rather, they established the concept of the research aircraft, built solely for experimental purposes. NASA continues this legacy of experimental aircraft today.

Speeding Up Chemical Searches Using the Inverted Index: the Convergence of Chemoinformatics and Text Search Methods

PubMed Central

Nasr, Ramzi; Vernica, Rares; Li, Chen; Baldi, Pierre

2012-01-01

In ligand-based screening, retrosynthesis, and other chemoinformatics applications, one of-ten seeks to search large databases of molecules in order to retrieve molecules that are similar to a given query. With the expanding size of molecular databases, the efficiency and scalability of data structures and algorithms for chemical searches are becoming increasingly important. Remarkably, both the chemoinformatics and information retrieval communities have converged on similar solutions whereby molecules or documents are represented by binary vectors, or fingerprints, indexing their substructures such as labeled paths for molecules and n-grams for text, with the same Jaccard-Tanimoto similarity measure. As a result, similarity search methods from one field can be adapted to the other. Here we adapt recent, state-of-the-art, inverted index methods from information retrieval to speed up similarity searches in chemoinformatics. Our results show a several-fold speed-up improvement over previous methods for both thresh-old searches and top-K searches. We also provide a mathematical analysis that allows one to predict the level of pruning achieved by the inverted index approach, and validate the quality of these predictions through simulation experiments. All results can be replicated using data freely downloadable from http://cdb.ics.uci.edu/. PMID:22462644

Increased hunger and speed of eating in obese children and adolescents.

PubMed

Slyper, Arnold H; Kopfer, Kim; Huang, Wei-Min; Re'em, Yochai

2014-05-01

This quality improvement program examined self-reported hunger, over-eating, and eating speed in obese and normal-weight children and adolescents prior to an interventional component. Food frequency questionnaires were presented to 127 obese and 42 normal-weight patients, and perceived hunger, food intake and eating speed were rated. Obese patients reported significantly greater hunger than normal-weight patients (62.2% vs. 21.4%, p<0.001) and faster eating (55.7% vs. 23.3%, p<0.001). Patients reporting being "always" or "often hungry" were more than six times likely to be obese (OR=6.49, 2.86-14.73, p<0.001), while rapid speed of eating yielded a four-fold increase in likelihood of obesity (OR=4.15, 1.77-9.72, p<0.001). Hunger and speed of eating were also highly associated (p<0.001). Increased hunger and eating speed were highly prevalent in these obese pediatric patients and may reflect abnormalities of satiety and satiation.

Ultra High-Speed Radio Frequency Switch Based on Photonics.

PubMed

Ge, Jia; Fok, Mable P

2015-11-26

Microwave switches, or Radio Frequency (RF) switches have been intensively used in microwave systems for signal routing. Compared with the fast development of microwave and wireless systems, RF switches have been underdeveloped particularly in terms of switching speed and operating bandwidth. In this paper, we propose a photonics based RF switch that is capable of switching at tens of picoseconds speed, which is hundreds of times faster than any existing RF switch technologies. The high-speed switching property is achieved with the use of a rapidly tunable microwave photonic filter with tens of gigahertz frequency tuning speed, where the tuning mechanism is based on the ultra-fast electro-optics Pockels effect. The RF switch has a wide operation bandwidth of 12 GHz and can go up to 40 GHz, depending on the bandwidth of the modulator used in the scheme. The proposed RF switch can either work as an ON/OFF switch or a two-channel switch, tens of picoseconds switching speed is experimentally observed for both type of switches.

Convergence issues in domain decomposition parallel computation of hovering rotor

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xiao, Zhongyun; Liu, Gang; Mou, Bin; Jiang, Xiong

2018-05-01

Implicit LU-SGS time integration algorithm has been widely used in parallel computation in spite of its lack of information from adjacent domains. When applied to parallel computation of hovering rotor flows in a rotating frame, it brings about convergence issues. To remedy the problem, three LU factorization-based implicit schemes (consisting of LU-SGS, DP-LUR and HLU-SGS) are investigated comparatively. A test case of pure grid rotation is designed to verify these algorithms, which show that LU-SGS algorithm introduces errors on boundary cells. When partition boundaries are circumferential, errors arise in proportion to grid speed, accumulating along with the rotation, and leading to computational failure in the end. Meanwhile, DP-LUR and HLU-SGS methods show good convergence owing to boundary treatment which are desirable in domain decomposition parallel computations.