Leung, Ka Lun. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 118-126). / Abstract also in Chinese. / Chapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1 --- Constraint Satisfaction and Global Constraints --- p.3 / Chapter 1.2 --- Soft Constraints --- p.4 / Chapter 1.3 --- Motivation and Goal --- p.5 / Chapter 1.4 --- Outline of the Thesis --- p.6 / Chapter 2 --- Background --- p.8 / Chapter 2.1 --- Constraint Satisfaction Problems --- p.8 / Chapter 2.1.1 --- Backtracking Tree Search --- p.10 / Chapter 2.1.2 --- Local Consistency in CSP --- p.11 / Chapter 2.1.3 --- Constraint Optimization Problem --- p.16 / Chapter 2.2 --- Weighted Constraint Satisfaction --- p.21 / Chapter 2.2.1 --- Branch and Bound Search --- p.23 / Chapter 2.2.2 --- Local Consistency in WCSP --- p.26 / Chapter 2.3 --- Global Constraints --- p.35 / Chapter 2.4 --- Flow Theory --- p.37 / Chapter 3 --- Related Work --- p.39 / Chapter 3.1 --- Handling Soft Constraints in COPs --- p.39 / Chapter 3.2 --- Global Constraints --- p.40 / Chapter 3.2.1 --- Hard Global Constraints --- p.40 / Chapter 3.2.2 --- Soft Global Constraints --- p.41 / Chapter 3.3 --- Local Consistency in Weighted CSP --- p.42 / Chapter 4 --- “Soft as Hard´ح Approach --- p.44 / Chapter 4.1 --- The General “Soft as Hard´ح Approach --- p.44 / Chapter 4.2 --- Cost-based GAC --- p.49 / Chapter 4.3 --- Empirical Results --- p.53 / Chapter 5 --- Weighted CSP Approach --- p.55 / Chapter 5.1 --- Strong 0-Inverse Consistency --- p.55 / Chapter 5.1.1 --- 0-Inverse Consistency and Strong 0-Inverse Consistency --- p.56 / Chapter 5.1.2 --- Comparison with Other Consistencies --- p.62 / Chapter 5.2 --- Generalized Arc Consistency Star --- p.65 / Chapter 5.3 --- Full Directional Generalized Arc Consistency Star --- p.72 / Chapter 5.4 --- Generalizing EDAC* --- p.78 / Chapter 5.5 --- Implementation Issues --- p.87 / Chapter 6 --- Towards A Library of Efficient Soft Global Constraints --- p.90 / Chapter 6.1 --- The allDifferent Constraint --- p.91 / Chapter 6.1.1 --- All Interval Series --- p.93 / Chapter 6.1.2 --- Latin Square --- p.95 / Chapter 6.2 --- The GCC Constraint --- p.97 / Chapter 6.2.1 --- Latin Square --- p.100 / Chapter 6.2.2 --- Round Robin Tournament --- p.100 / Chapter 6.3 --- The Same Constraint --- p.102 / Chapter 6.3.1 --- Fair Scheduling --- p.104 / Chapter 6.3.2 --- People-Mission Scheduling --- p.105 / Chapter 6.4 --- The Regular Constraint --- p.106 / Chapter 6.4.1 --- Nurse Rostering Problem --- p.110 / Chapter 6.4.2 --- Modelling Stretch() Constraint --- p.111 / Chapter 6.5 --- Discussion --- p.113 / Chapter 7 --- Conclusion and Remarks --- p.115 / Chapter 7.1 --- Contributions --- p.115 / Chapter 7.2 --- Future Work --- p.117 / Bibliography --- p.118

Determining the identity and pose of occluded objects from noisy data is a critical step in interacting intelligently with an unstructured environment. Previous work has shown that local measurements of position and surface orientation may be used in a constrained search process to solve this problem, for the case of rigid objects, either two-dimensional or three-dimensional. This paper considers the more general problem of recognizing and locating objects that can vary in parameterized ways. We consider objects with rotational, translational, or scaling degrees of freedom, and objects that undergo stretching transformations. We show that the constrained search method can be extended to handle the recognition and localization of such generalized classes of object families.

Determining the identity and pose of occluded objects from noisy data is a critical part of a system's intelligent interaction with an unstructured environment. Previous work has shown that local measurements of the position and surface orientation of small patches of an object's surface may be used in a constrained search process to solve this problem for the case of rigid polygonal objects using two-dimensional sensory data, or rigid polyhedral objects using three-dimensional data. This note extends the recognition system to deal with the problem of recognizing and locating curved objects. The extension is done in two dimensions, and applies to the recognition of two-dimensional objects from two-dimensional data, or to the recognition of three-dimensional objects in stable positions from two- dimensional data.

Traditional field seismic measurements have been performed for more than 50 years to determine the small-strain shear and constrained moduli of geotechnical materials under existing conditions. Field measurements to characterize the nonlinear response of the constrained modulus have received essentially no attention in the engineering community. This study was undertaken to characterize the in-situ response of the linear and nonlinear constrained moduli in one testing method. In this dissertation, a field method is presented which uses large shakers to impart vertical sinusoidal excitations directly above an embedded sensor array. This methodology essentially performs parametric studies on the constrained moduli of geotechnical materials in-situ over a wide range of axial strains. In this study, embedded sensor arrays at two different locations were constructed. A staged loading sequence was used to determine the constrained compression wave velocities between sensors in the linear, i.e. small-strain, and nonlinear strain ranges. Constrained moduli were determined using the mass density of the soil and the constrained compression wave velocities. The axial strains generated between sensors were estimated using a displacement-based method. At both sensor arrays, the method successfully measured in the field: (1) the variation of the small-strain constrained compression wave velocity with increasing confining pressure and (2) the effect of axial strain on the constrained moduli of soil in various states of stress. The field measurements indicate that, at lower levels of confining pressure, the constrained modulus increases slightly with increasing axial strain, but then decreases with increasing axial strain. However, in other cases, the constrained modulus increased with increasing axial strain and showed little or no tendency to reach a "peak" value. The nonlinear stress-strain behavior of the constrained modulus is quite complex and appears to be a function of several factors, including the amount of overconsolidation and cementation in the soil and the locations of the sensors in the array. Therefore, while the results of this study indicate that the proposed field method can be successfully used to investigate the constrained modulus, more work is required in this area to fully quantify the response of the constrained modulus in the nonlinear strain range. / text

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Delaware, 2009. / Principal faculty advisor: Keith S. Decker, Dept. of Computer & Information Sciences. Includes bibliographical references.

The Internet of Things and the constrained environment that comes from the growth of constrained devices connected to the Internet brings new security challenges that cannot be solved in a satisfactory way with only transport layer security. A more flexible solution is required, both to protect sensitive data and user privacy but also to distribute policies in a secure and standardized way. The same privacy problems arise in the general web setting with processing and storage more and more moving into the cloud. One solution is to move the security higher up in the network stack and to protect objects instead of byte streams, as proposed in the IETF draft [15] evaluated in this thesis. Focusing on this solution, an implementation has been proposed, and tests and measurements have been carried out to show its overhead. The implementation, as well as the measurement results, is presented in this work. / I takt med att ”Internet of things” växer och antalet begränsade enheter ökar uppstår allt fler säkerhetsutmaningar som inte kan lösas tillräckligt bra med transport layer security. Det finns ett behov av en mer flexibel lösning, dels för att skydda känslig data och användarnas integritet och dels för att distribuera policyer på ett säkert och standardiserat sätt. Samma integritetsproblem återfinns i generella webbmiljön då beräkning och lagring blir mer molnbaserat. En lösning på problemet är att flytta säkerhetsåtgärder högre upp i internetstacken och skydda objekt istället för byte-strömmar. Dessa säkerhetsåtgärder har föreslagits i utkastet från IETF [15] som utvärderas i denna avhandling. En implementation, med fokus på denna lösningen, föreslås i avhandlingen. Tester och mätningar har utförts för att visa lösningens overhead. Genomförandet av testerna och mätresultaten presenteras också i detta arbete.

This dissertation studies how to characterize strategic behaviors in electricity markets from a transmission-constrained residual demand perspective. This dissertation generalizes the residual demand concept, widely used by economists in general markets, to electricity markets, which are constrained by transmission networks. The transmission-constrained residual demand is characterized by a sensitivity analysis of the optimal power flow program, which is the electricity market clearing engine. Methods are proposed to optimize a generator or generation firm's profit utilizing the residual demand sensitivity information, which has several advantages over existing methods. The transmission-constrained residual demand concept and the methods are helpful for market participants to develop bidding strategies and for market monitors to analyze market power in electricity markets. / text

Jiang, Kening. / "August 2011." / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2011. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 90-93). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Chapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter 2 --- Portfolio Selection Using Clustering Methodology --- p.7 / Chapter 2.1 --- Heuristic algorithm --- p.8 / Chapter 2.1.1 --- Step 1: Security transformation by factor model --- p.8 / Chapter 2.1.2 --- Step 2: Clustering algorithm --- p.10 / Chapter 2.1.3 --- Step 3: Representative selection by t he Sliarpe ratio --- p.16 / Chapter 2.2 --- Numerical results --- p.17 / Chapter 3 --- Modified Portfolio Selection Using Clustering Methodology --- p.22 / Chapter 3.1 --- Analysis of artificial factors --- p.23 / Chapter 3.2 --- Problem reformulation --- p.27 / Chapter 3.3 --- Numerical results --- p.29 / Chapter 4 --- Minimum Variance Point --- p.70 / Chapter 4.1 --- Iterative elimination scheme I --- p.72 / Chapter 4.2 --- Iterative elimination scheme II --- p.74 / Chapter 4.3 --- Orthogonal matrix mapping --- p.76 / Chapter 4.4 --- Condition to solve diagonal dominant problem --- p.77 / Chapter 4.5 --- L1 formulation --- p.82 / Chapter 4.6 --- Numerical results --- p.85 / Chapter 5 --- Summary and Future work --- p.88

The design of envelope-constrained (EC) filters is considered for the time-domain synthesis of filters for signal processing problems. The objective is to achieve minimal noise enhancement where the shape of the filter output to a specified input signal is constrained to lie within prescribed upper and lower bounds. Traditionally, problems of this type were treated by using the least-square (LS) approach. However, in many practical signal processing problems, this "soft" least-square approach is unsatisfactory because large narrow excursions from the desired shape occur so that the norm of the filter can be large and the choice of an appropriate weighting function is not obvious. Moreover, the solution can be sensitive to the detailed structure of the desired pulse, and it is usually not obvious how the shape of the desired pulse should be altered in order to improve on the solution. The "hard" EC filter formulation is more relevant than the "soft" LS approach in a variety of signal processing fields such as robust antenna and filter design, communication channel equalization, and pulse compression in radar and sonar. The distinctive feature is the set of inequality constraints on the output waveform: rather than attempting to match a specific desired pulse, we deal with a whole set of allowable outputs and seek an optimal point of that set.The EC optimal filter design problems involve a convex quadratic cost function and a number of linear inequality constraints. These EC filtering problems are classified into: discrete-time EC filtering problem, continuous-time EC filtering problem, and adaptive discrete-time EC filtering problem.The discrete-time EC filtering problem is handled using the discrete Lagrangian duality theory in combination with the space transformation function. The optimal solution of the dual problem can be computed by finding the limiting point of ++ / an ordinary differential equation given in terms of the gradient flow. Two iterative algorithms utilizing the simple structure of the gradient flow are developed via discretizing the differential equations. Their convergence properties are derived for a deterministic environment. From the primal-dual relationship, the corresponding sequence of approximate solutions to the original discrete-time EC filtering problem is obtained.The continuous-time EC filtering problem (semi-infinite convex programming problem) is handled using the continuous Lagrangian duality theory and Caratheodory's dimensionality theory. Several important properties are derived and discussed in relation to practical engineering requirements. These include the observation that the continuous-time optimal filter via orthonormal filters has the structure of a matched filter in cascade with another filter. Furthermore, the semi-infinite convex programming problem is converted into an equivalent finite dual optimization problem, which can be solved by the optimization methods developed. Another issue, which relates to the continuous-time optimal filter design problem, is the design of robust optimal EC filters. The robustness issue arises because the solution of the EC filtering problem lies on the boundary of the feasible region. Thus, any disturbance in the prescribed input signal or errors in the implementation of the optimal filter are likely to result in the output constraints being violated. A detailed formulation and a corresponding design method for improving the robustness of optimal EC filters are given.Finally, an adaptive algorithm suitable for a stochastic environment is presented. The convergence properties of the algorithm in a stochastic environment are established.

All pharmaceutical products are required by law to display an expiry date on the packaging. The period between the date of manufacture and expiry date is known as the label shelf-life. The label shelf-life indicates the period of time during which the consumer can expect the product to be safe and effective. Methods for determining the label shelf-life from stability data are discussed in the guidelines on the evaluation of stability data issued by the International Conference for Harmonization. These methods are limited to data that can be analysed using linear model methods. Furthermore, in the situation where a number of batches are used to determine a label shelf-life, the current regulatory method (unintentionally) penalizes good statistical design. In addition, the label shelf-life obtained this way may not be a reliable guide to the properties of future batches produced under similar conditions. In this thesis it is shown that the current definition of the label shelf-life may not provide the consumer with the desired level of confidence that the product is safe and effective. This is especially the case when the manufacturer has performed a well designed stability study with many assays. Consequently, a new definition for the label shelf-life is proposed, such that the consumer can be confident that a certain percentage of the product will meet the specification by the expiry date. Several methods for obtaining such a label shelf-life under linear model and generalized linear model assumptions are proposed and evaluated using simulation studies. The new definition of label shelf-life is extended to allow a label shelf-life to be obtained from stability studies that make use of many batches, such that a proportion of product over all batches can be assured to meet specifications by the expiry date. Several methods for estimating the label shelf-life in the multi-batch case are proposed and evaluated with the help of simulation studies. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--School of Agriculture and Wine, 2003.