Learning user preferences of route choice behaviour for adaptive route guidance

As the use of navigation systems becomes more widespread, the demand for advanced functions of navigation systems also increases. In the light of user satisfaction, personalisation of route guidance by incorporating user preferences is one of the most desired features. A user model applied to personalised route guidance is presented. The user model adaptively updates route selection rules when it discovers the predicted choice differs from the actual choice of the driver. This study employs a decision tree learning algorithm, the C4.5 algorithm, which has advantages over other data mining methods in terms of its comprehensible model structure. Simulation experiments with a real-world network were conducted to analyse the applicability of the model to adaptive route guidance and the accuracy of its prediction     

The evolving patterns of inter-industrial knowledge structure: Case of Korean manufacturing in the 1980s

The notion of knowledge-based economy premises that technological knowledge be created, accumulated and disseminated through the interactive learning among principal actors in the national system. This paper analyzes, from a dynamic perspective, the structure of inter-industrial technological knowledge. Both human-driven disembodied channel and capital-driven embodied channel are investigated based on network analysis. The set of empirical data covers the Korean manufacturing sector during the 1980s. Overall, density of network tends to be increasing over time, implying that knowledge network becomes expanded and intensified. A number of distinctive features are identified between knowledge types and industrial categories. The findings in turn render important policy implications that should be addressed when developing technology policy. Clearly, the policy framework needs to be industry-specific and country-specific in accordance with the development stage and industrial structure of reference time. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Using classification techniques for informal requirements in the requirements analysis-supporting system

In order to efficiently develop large-scale and complicated software, it is important for system engineers to correctly understand users’ requirements. Most requirements in large-scale projects are collected from various stakeholders located in various regions, and they are generally written in natural language. Therefore, the initial collected requirements must be classified into various topics prior to analysis phases in order to be usable as input in several requirements analysis methods. If this classification process is manually done by analysts, it becomes a time-consuming task. To solve this problem, we propose a new bootstrapping method which can automatically classify requirements sentences into each topic category using only topic words as the representative of the analysts’ views. The proposed method is verified through experiments using two requirements data sets: one written in English and the other in Korean. The significant performances were achieved in the experiments: the 84.28 and 87.91 F1 scores for the English and Korean data sets, respectively. As a result, the proposed method can provide an effective function for an Internet-based requirements analysis-supporting system so as to efficiently gather and analyze requirements from various and distributed stakeholders by using the Internet.     

A slotted post-wall waveguide array with interdigital structure for 45/spl deg/ linear and dual polarization

This work proposes a dual-polarized planar antenna; two post-wall slotted waveguide arrays with orthogonal 45/spl deg/ linearly-polarized waves interdigitally share the aperture on a single layer substrate. Uniform excitation of the two-dimensional slot array is confirmed by experiment in the 25 GHz band. The isolation between two slot arrays is also investigated in terms of the relative displacement along the radiation waveguide axis in the interdigital structure. The isolation is 33.0 dB when the relative shift of slot position between the two arrays is -0.5/spl lambda//sub g/, while it is only 12.8 dB when there is no shift. The cross-polarization level in the far field is -25.2 dB for a -0.5/spl lambda//sub g/ shift, which is almost equal to that of the isolated single polarization array. It is degraded down to -9.6 dB when there is no shift.     

Highly ordered microstructures of poly(styrene-b-isoprene) block copolymers induced by solution meniscus

Microstructures of hundreds of micron thick poly(styrene-block-isoprene) copolymer films solution-cast in a cylindrical tube with the solvent evaporation controlled were investigated by transmission electron microscope (TEM), small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) and optical microscope (OM). In a block copolymer with cylindrical polyisoprene microdomains, the orientation of the cylinders was varied along radial direction of the cylindrical tube. Highly aligned hexagonal arrays of in-plane polyisoprene cylinders were formed with their cylindrical axis parallel to the circumference of the tube in the regimes close to the wall edge. In contrast randomly ordered microdomains were observed at the center of the tube. We have also found that the orientation depends on the solvent evaporation rate and an intermediate rate (∼2.3 nL/s) provides the best orientation. In the case of a block copolymer with a bicontinuous double gyroid structure, we obtained a globally ordered microstructure where [111] crystallographic direction was parallel to the circumference of the tube. For both block copolymers, the area of highly ordered arrays of nanoscopic domains is over 1 mm². Development of the orientation was explained by coupling two orthogonal fields: (1) The flow of a solution induced by strong capillary force at a meniscus between the cylindrical tube wall and the block copolymer solution and (2) the solvent evaporation.     

Application of Support Vector Machines in Assessing Conceptual Cost Estimates

Total conceptual cost estimates and the assessment of the quality of these estimates are critical in the early stages of a building construction project. In this study, the support vector machine (SVM) model for assessing the quality of conceptual cost estimates is proposed, and the application of SVM in construction areas is investigated. The results show that the SVM model assessed the quality of conceptual cost estimates slightly more accurately than the discriminant analysis model. This shows that using the SVM has potential in construction areas. In addition, the SVM model can assist clients in their evaluation of the quality of the estimated cost and the probability of exceeding the target cost, and in their decision on whether or not it is necessary to seek a more accurate estimate in the early stages of a project.     

Fast DCT algorithm with fewer multiplication stages

A novel fast DCT scheme with reduced multiplication stages and fewer additions and multiplications is proposed. The proposed algorithm is structured so that most multiplications tend to be performed at the final stage, which reduces the propagation error that could occur in the fixed-point computation. Minimisation of the multiplication stages can further decrease the error     

Development of a monoclonal antibody to 6 beta-hydroxycortisol and its application in an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for 6 beta-hydroxycortisol in urine

A novel monoclonal antibody to 6 beta-hydroxycortisol (6 beta-OHC) was generated and incorporated into an antigen-coated indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) using 6 beta-OHC-protein conjugate as the steroid-coating antigen. The monoclonal antibody is specific to 6 beta-OHC and 6 beta-OHC-3-carboxymethyloxime. Cross-reactivity with other structurally related steroids such as cortisol, cortisone, and 6 beta-hydroxycortisone was less than 10%. Two different clones (clone 5C1 and 19F) of the monoclonal anti-6 beta-OHC antibody have been developed, each with slightly different sensitivity and specificity. The sensitivity of the MAb clones was not significantly improved when compared to the rabbit polyclonal antibodies in this study, but still within the accepted detection limit for 6 beta-OHC in both human and laboratory animals. The assay had a detection limit of 200 ng/ml, an intraassay variation of 6.4% and an interassay variation of 7.3%. The application of the anti-6 beta-OHC-MAb-based-ELISA was tested by measuring the urinary output of 6 beta-OHC in human before and after enzyme induction by rifampicin treatment. The mean 24-h urine output of 6 beta-OHC in human subjects was 485 +/- 100 micrograms and 1478 +/- 281 micrograms before and after rifampicin administration, respectively. In conclusion, the monoclonal anti-6 beta-OHC antibody developed in this study has the required specificity and sensitivity as an alternative method for measuring urinary 6 beta-OHC in the detection of enzyme induction or enzyme inhibition of CYP3A in humans and laboratory animals.     

A time-domain approach to transmission network equivalents viaProny analysis for electromagnetic transients analysis

This paper presents a method of obtaining transmission network equivalents from the network's response to a pulse excitation signal. The proposed method is based on modal decomposition representation for the large-scale interconnected system. In this framework we use Prony analysis to identify the network function of the system and to decompose the large system into a parallel combination of simple first-order systems. As a result the network function of the transmission network can be identified easily, and a Thevenin-type of discrete-time filter model can be generated. It can reproduce the driving-point impedance characteristic of the network. Furthermore, the proposed model can be implemented into the EMTP in a direct manner. The simulation results with the full system representation and the developed equivalent system showed a good agreement     

Effect of the pressure drop rate on cell nucleation in continuous processing of microcellular polymers

Microllular plastics are cellular polymers characterized by cell densities greater than 10⁹ cells/cm³ and cells smaller than 10 μm. One of the critical steps in the continuous production of microcellular plastics is the promotion of high cell nucleation rates in a flowing polymer matrix. These high nucleation rates can be achieved by first forming a polymer/gas solution followed by rapidly decreasing the solubility of gas in the polymer. Since, in the processing range of interest, the gas solubility in the polymer decreases as the pressure decreases, a rapid pressure drop element, consisting of a nozzle, has been employed as a continuous microcellular nucleation device. In this paper, the effects of the pressure drop rate on the nucleation of cells and the cell density are discussed. The experimental results indicate that both the magnitude and the cell density are discussed. The experimental results indicate that both the magnitude and the rate of pressure drop play a strong role in microcellular processing. The pressure phenomenon affects the thermodynamic instability induced in the polymer/gas solution and the competition between cell nucleation and growth.