Auditory graphsdisplays that represent graphical, quantitative information with soundhave the potential to make graphical representations of data more accessible to blind students and researchers as well as sighted people. No research to date, however, has systematically addressed the attributes of data that contribute to the complexity (the ease or difficulty of comprehension) of auditory graphs. A pair of studies examined the role of both data density (i.e., the number of discrete data points presented per second) and the number of trend reversals for both point estimation and trend identification tasks with auditory graphs. For the point estimation task, results showed main effects of both variables, with a larger effect attributable to performance decrements for graphs with more trend reversals. For the trend identification task, a large main effect was again observed for trend reversals, but an interaction suggested that the effect of the number of trend reversals was different across lower data densities (i.e., as density increased from 1 to 2 data points per second). Results are discussed in terms of data sonification applications and rhythmic theories of auditory pattern perception.

To prove that a polynomial is nonnegative on Rn, one can try to show that it is a sum of squares of polynomials (SOS). The latter problem is now known to be reducible to a semi-definite programming (SDP) computation that is much faster than classical algebraic methods, thus enabling new speed-ups in algebraic optimization. However, exactly how often nonnegative polynomials are in fact sums of squares of polynomials remains an open problem. Blekherman was recently able to show that for degree k polynomials in n variables with k = 4 fixed those that are SOS occupy a vanishingly small fraction of those that are nonnegative on Rn, as n -> 1. With an eye toward the case of small n, we refine Blekherman'[s bounds by incorporating the underlying Newton polytope, simultaneously sharpening some of his older bounds along the way. Our refined asymptotics show that certain Newton polytopes may lead to families of polynomials where efficient SDP can still be used for most inputs.

This research concentrates on the visual aesthetics of a website, investigating the web user's affective/emotional reactions to different designs of web homepage aesthetics and their influence on subsequent behaviors of web users. Drawing on the existing theories and empirical findings in environmental psychology, human-computer interaction, aesthetics, and marketing research literature, a research model is developed to explore the relationships between the visual aesthetic qualities of a website homepage - webpage visual complexity and order, induced emotional states in users, and users' approach behaviors toward the website. The model predicts that the visual aesthetics of a web homepage elicit specific emotional responses by provoking intrinsic feelings of pleasantness / unpleasantness, arousal, as well as motivational pleasantness / unpleasantness in web users. These elicited emotional responses, which mediate the effect of homepage aesthetic features, in turn affect web users' subsequent behaviors toward the website, such as further approaching/exploring or avoiding the website. A set of pilot studies and a main laboratory experiment were conducted to test the model and its associated hypotheses. Based on the results of pilot studies, 12 versions of a Gift website's homepage, which varied at four levels of complexity and three levels of order, were selected the stimuli materials for the main experiment. A total of 467 undergraduate students participated in the main study. During the main study, we instructed the participants to browse the homepage stimuli for a goal-oriented web search activity or an excitement/enjoyment-seeking web browsing activity, measured how they felt about the homepage and their degree of approach/avoidance tendencies toward the entire website. The results of the study generally confirmed the belief that a web user's initial emotional responses (i.e., pleasantness and arousal) evoked by the aesthetic qualities of a website's homepage he/she first encounters will have carry-over effects on his/her subsequent approach behaviors toward the website.

Transform-domain (TD) sampling is seen as a potential candidate for wideband and ultra-wideband high-performance receivers and is investigated in detail in this research. TD receivers expand the signal over a set of basis functions and operate on the digitized basis coefficients. This parallel digital signal processing relaxes the sampling requirements opening the doors to higher dynamic range and wider bandwidth in receivers. This research is focused on the implementation of a high performance multi-channel wideband receiver that is based on Frequency-domain (FD) sampling, a special case of TD sampling. To achieve high dynamic ranges in these receivers, it is critical that the digital post processing block matches the analog RF front end accurately. This accurate matching has to be ensured across several process variations, mismatches and o�sets that can be present in integrated circuit implementations. A unified model has been defined for the FD multi-channel receiver that contains all these imperfections and a joint synchronization and calibration technique, based on the Least-mean-squared (LMS) algorithm, is presented to track them. A maximum likelihood (ML) algorithm is used to estimate the frequency offset in carriers which is corrected prior to LMS calibration. Simulation results are provided to support these concepts. The sampling circuits in FD receivers are based on charge-sampling and a multi-channel charge-sampling receiver creates an inherent sinc filter-bank that has several advantages compared to the conventional analog filter banks used in other multi-channel receivers. It is shown that the sinc filter banks, besides reduced analog complexity, have very low computational complexity in data estimation which greatly reduces the digital power consumption of these filters. The digital complexity of data estimation in the sinc fiter bank is shown to be less than 1=10th of the complexity in analog filter banks.

We consider several related problems arising in geometric graphs. In particular, we investigate the computational complexity and approximability properties of several optimization problems in unit ball graphs and develop algorithms to find exact and approximate solutions. In addition, we establish complexity-based theoretical justifications for several greedy heuristics. Unit ball graphs, which are defined in the three dimensional Euclidian space, have several application areas such as computational geometry, facility location and, particularly, wireless communication networks. Efficient operation of wireless networks involves several decision problems that can be reduced to well known optimization problems in graph theory. For instance, the notion of a \virtual backbone" in a wire- less network is strongly related to a minimum connected dominating set in its graph theoretic representation. Motivated by the vastness of application areas, we study several problems including maximum independent set, minimum vertex coloring, minimum clique partition, max-cut and min-bisection. Although these problems have been widely studied in the context of unit disk graphs, which are the two dimensional version of unit ball graphs, there is no established result on the complexity and approximation status for some of them in unit ball graphs. Furthermore, unit ball graphs can provide a better representation of real networks since the nodes are deployed in the three dimensional space. We prove complexity results and propose solution procedures for several problems using geometrical properties of these graphs. We outline a matching-based branch and bound solution procedure for the maximum k-clique problem in unit disk graphs and demonstrate its effectiveness through computational tests. We propose using minimum bottleneck connected dominating set problem in order to determine the optimal transmission range of a wireless network that will ensure a certain size of "virtual backbone". We prove that this problem is NP-hard in general graphs but solvable in polynomial time in unit disk and unit ball graphs. We also demonstrate work on theoretical foundations for simple greedy heuristics. Particularly, similar to the notion of "best" approximation algorithms with respect to their approximation ratios, we prove that several simple greedy heuristics are "best" in the sense that it is NP-hard to recognize the gap between the greedy solution and the optimal solution. We show results for several well known problems such as maximum clique, maximum independent set, minimum vertex coloring and discuss extensions of these results to a more general class of problems. In addition, we propose a "worst-out" heuristic based on edge contractions for the max-cut problem and provide analytical and experimental comparisons with a well known "best-in" approach and its modified versions.

Abstract Strategy Map shows the cause and effect relationships diagram which is selected the goal projects of four perspectives from Balanced Scorecard (BSC) , it is a more advanced managed tool than BSC. But both have not contained the feedback circulation of the strategies also fail to judge and prove the influence of events¡¦ time delays , they are unable to simulate the complicated environment, to lack the strategy¡¦s simulation, and not to inspect the impact on performance of the strategy further. This research proceeds case study with the method of System Dynamics and uses ¡§the strategy¡¦s goal planning and dynamic decision procedure¡¨, it launches the case¡¦s Strategy Map and Balanced Scorecard then proceeds System Dynamics modeling, simulation , testing and analyzing, and proposes the conclusion of this research. This research discovers mainly as: 1. The use of Strategy Map and Balanced Scorecard can help system Dynamics to make the system boundary conveniently while the enterprise¡¦s strategy model are developing. 2. Strategy Map and Balanced Scorecard are static, simple, without positive and negative relationships, and one-way causality link from bottom to top. They pay close attention to the short-term goal and neglect the long-term goal, also don¡¦t consider the time delays, but System Dynamics can make up their deficiency. 3. The levels and auxiliaries of System Dynamics Model Structure can assist the measures of Balanced Scorecard to be instituted and be discussed. 4. The system thinking from System Dynamics can prove general objective and intuitional thought, also can get counterintuition. 5. Each KPI of Balanced Scorecard only knows the ¡§up and down¡¨ change in itself, doesn¡¦t understand the dynamic colloction between each other, from System Dynamics simulation can tell the influence of each other KPI. Finally, propound 5 points of this research: 1. To integrate the theories of strategy management for application. 2. To explain the changeful meaning of the performance indicator and to strengthen the performance management. 3. To assist the examing of the strategies to obtain proper decision. 4. To find the counterintuition which can help enterprises to dig unexpected questions out of the objective intuition. 5. To analyze the revenue of the strategy actions and the cost benefit, also to help the system of the budget and the strategies estimate.

With the changeable and complex business models, the enterprise needs high integration, flexibility and diversifies to face to the market changes. It is necessary to have a set of perfect integration management strategy in the globalization market environment. Strategy Maps provide the enterprise covert strategy a series of performance activities. With Balance Scorecard, the high level manager can realize the enterprise strategy execution result easily. However, Strategy Maps and Balance Scorecard are linear thinking which can¡¦t express what kind of the feedback of the strategy. Meanwhile, it is hard to explain and analysis the problems burst from the events delay. Enterprise management is dynamic not linear thinking mode. This research is provide the W company assembly planet better method to execute¡Bmanage and analysis with Strategy Maps and Balance Scorecard to solve dynamic problems. We use System Dynamics to solve dynamic complex problems. Also we can use System Dynamics to view the practical example utilizing the Strategy Maps, Balance Scorecard and supply chain management. In this research, we find the following points. Firstly, the Strategy Maps and Balance Scorecard is linear thinking. Secondly, the System Dynamics is possible the way to find out the key point of the problem. Thirdly, With the KPI variation can supply discover where the enterprise problem is. Fourthly, applying dynamic simulation can supply to solve enterprise management problem. Fifthly, VMI management can solve material reservation question, but it depends on the situation to the most profit. In the end, we have some contributions in this field. Management and strategy tools need integration. Then it is necessary to modify and change the strategies after they put into practice. Keyword¡GBalance Scorecard¡BStrategy Maps¡BSystem Dynamics¡BDynamic Complexity¡BSuply chain management

OOPS stands for Opensource Opencourseware Prototype System, a project sponsored by Fantasy Foundation. Aiming to benefit Chinese readers, this project recruit volunteer translators all over the world through internet to translate Opencourseware materials from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) into Chinese. This research was a qualitative case study conducted between 2004/2 ~ 2007/1. Multiple data sources were surveyed, including OOPS¡¦ online discussion forum, and archival information from OOPS website. Online archival data ranged from media reports, activity reports, e-newsletters, volunteer reports, survey summaries, and sub-group websites. Interviews with group leaders were also conducted. Evidence collected through these means were used to describe how OOPS employed the Internet to coordinate translation efforts and promote Opencourseware. In addition, this research applied Science of Complexity to explain the self organizing phenomenon within the network arisen from its participants. This research looked further into how Science of Complexity can clarify the organic process of a self organizing network going from simple to complex. This research found 1) the degree of openness in a collaborative knowledge network influenced its degree of self organization; 2) volunteer¡¦s willingness to participate was related to environment¡¦s fitness; 3) critical mass, diversity, variety, interaction and feedback promoted evolution; 4) a collaborative knowledge network¡¦s key to an organic expansion depended on participants¡¦ outgrowth and self organization; and 5) effective facilitation at the edge of chaos would foster new organization growth.

Let n and l be positive integers and f (x) be an irreducible polynomial over Fq such that ldeg( f (x)) &lt / 2n - 1, where q is 2 or 3. We obtain an effective upper bound for the multiplication complexity of n-term polynomials modulo f (x)^l. This upper bound allows a better selection of the moduli when Chinese Remainder Theorem is used for polynomial multiplication over Fq. We give improved formulae to multiply polynomials of small degree over Fq. In particular we improve the best known multiplication complexities over Fq in the literature in some cases. Moreover, we present a method for multiplication in finite fields improving finite field multiplication complexity muq(n) for certain values of q and n. We use local expansions, the lengths of which are further parameters that can be used to optimize the bounds on the bilinear complexity, instead of evaluation into residue class field. We show that we obtain improved bounds for multiplication in Fq^n for certain values of q and n where 2 &lt / = n &lt / =18 and q = 2, 3, 4.

Order-picking operations constitute the costliest activities in a warehouse. The order-picking problem (OPP) aims to determine the route of the picker(s) in such a way that the total order-picking time, hence the order-picking costs are minimized. In this study, a warehouse that consists of parallel pick aisles is assumed, and various versions of the OPP are considered. Although the single-picker version of the problem has been well studied in the literature, the multiple-picker version has not received much attention in terms of algorithmic approaches. The literature also does not take into account the time taken by the number of turns during the picking route. In this thesis, a detailed discussion is made regarding the computational complexity of the OPP with a single picker. A heuristic procedure, which makes use of the exact algorithm for the OPP with no middle aisles, is proposed for the single-picker OPP with middle aisles, and computational results on randomly generated problems are given. Additionally, an evolutionary algorithm that makes use of the cluster-first, route-second and route-first, cluster-second heuristics for the VRP is provided. The parameters of the algorithm are determined based on preliminary runs and the algorithm is also tested on randomly generated problems, with different weights given to the cluster-first, route-second and route-first, cluster-second approaches. Lastly, a polynomial time algorithm is proposed for the problem of minimizing the number of turns in a parallel-aisle warehouse.