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This paper describes an exploding wire experiment to measure the electrical specific action to melt of structural alloys of copper and aluminum, including C10100, C11000, C18000, C18200, Al6061, and Al7075. These alloys, which are commonly used in railguns and other pulsed power devices, are not produced in fine wire form. Instead of wires, we developed a technique to test macroscopic samples ( 0.25~mm\times 0.5~mm cross section) manufactured with wire electrical discharge machining. This paper includes a description of the design considerations for such macroscopic exploding wire experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper, we propose and demonstrate an effective methodology for implementing the generalized extension principle to solve Advanced Computing with Words (ACWW) problems. Such problems involve implicit assignments of linguistic truth, probability, and possibility. To begin, we establish the vocabularies of the words involved in the problems, and then collect data from subjects about the words after which fuzzy set models for the words are obtained by using the Interval Approach (IA) or the Enhanced Interval Approach (EIA). Next, the solutions of the ACWW problems, which involve the fuzzy set models of the words, are formulated using the Generalized Extension Principle. Because the solutions to those problems involve complicated functional optimization problems that cannot be solved analytically, we then develop a numerical method for their solution. Finally, the resulting fuzzy set solutions are decoded into natural language words using Jaccard’s similarity measure. We explain how ACWW problems can solve some potential prototype engineering problems and connect the methodology of this paper with Perceptual Computing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the presence of dependence linkages, changing one element of a product (e.g., functions and components) can trigger changes to other related elements and lead to numerous possible propagation paths (i.e., the “snowball effect”). To address this issue, this paper proposes the matrix-based clustering method. Two matrix models are considered in this research: design structure matrix for the linkages of components and domain mapping matrix for the linkages of functions and parameters. After denoting some product elements as “target” representing the initial changes, the clustering method is used to form and classify the clusters according to the change impacts from target elements. The interfaces between the clusters are also identified to manage the propagation process. The purpose of this method is to provide the cluster and interface information for implementing change requests. In view of the methodical advancement, the clustering method can tailor a clustered matrix for specific change requests and handle two types of matrices. Two examples have been used to demonstrate and support the utility and flexibility of the proposed method to manage matrix-based change propagation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Cognitive dynamic systems provide a broadly defined platform, whereby engineering learns from cognitive neuroscience, and by the same token, cognitive neuroscience learns from engineering. The first part of the paper is of a tutorial nature, addressing recent advances in cognitive perception and cognitive control, which are the dual of each other. The study of cognitive perception, viewed from the perspective of Bayesian inference, starts with sparse coding, well known in neuroscience. However, sparse coding could become ill-posed, particularly when the signal-to-noise ratio is low. In such situations, stability is a necessary requirement, which can only be satisfied if there is sufficient information in the observables. To satisfy this requirement, the sparse-coding algorithm is augmented by the addition of information filtering (i.e., a special case of Bayesian filtering). Accordingly, the performance of sparse coding is improved under the influence of perceptual attention. This improvement enhances the cognitive perceptor to separate relevant information from irrelevant information. Next, moving into cognitive control, viewed from the perspective of Bellman's dynamic programming, two ideas are exploited: entropic state of the perceptor, and the definition of reward as an invertible function of two entropic states, namely, the current state and its immediate past value. The net result of building on these two ideas is a modified form of Bellman's dynamic programming, and, therefore, a new reinforcement learning algorithm, which not only outperforms traditional reinforcement learning algorithms, but also offers some highly desirable properties. Among them is a linear law of computational complexity, which is the best that it could be. The second part of the paper addresses two challenging problems: first, how to mediate between cognitive control and cognitive perception and, second, how to formulate a procedure for risk control. The first problem is resolved by making use of probabilistic reasoning, a branch of probability theory, which leads into the formulation of a probabilistic reasoning machine. With this mediation in place, the conditions for overall system stability are derived, thereby confirming the probabilistic reasoning machine as the overall system stabilizer. The second challenge is risk control, which is by far the most challenging of them all: In the presence of an unexpected disturbance in the environment, risk is brought under control by mimicking the predict and preadapt function, which is considered to be the overarching function in the prefrontal cortex of the brain. To be specific, motor control is expanded by the inclusion of a new preadaptive control mechanism, which involves two different sets of actions: One set is made up of possible actions identified by the policy in the motor control. The other set involves a window of experiences (i.e., optimal actions) gained in the past. In a novel way, by exploiting these two sets, we end up with a preadaptive control mechanism in the form of a closed-loop feedback structure, which brings with it control (executive) attention. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Uncertain and potentially harsh operating environments are often known to alter the operational performance of a system. In order to maintain system performance while coping with varying operating environments and potential disruptions, the resilience of engineered systems is desirable. Engineering systems are often interconnected in a dimensional way inherently from basic components to subsystems to the system of systems, which poses a grand challenge for system designers to analyze the resilience of such a complex system. Moreover, further complications in the assessment of resilience in the engineering domain are attributed to time-varying system performances, random perturbation occurrences, and probable failures caused by adverse events. This paper presents a dynamic Bayesian network (DBN) approach for the modeling and predictive resilience analysis for dynamic engineered systems. With the inter-time-slice links and the conditional probability tables in a DBN, the system performance could be molded as changing in a discrete time slice, while capturing the temporal probabilistic dependencies between the variables. An industrial-based case study of an electricity distribution system is further studied to demonstrate the effectiveness of the DBN approach for resilience analysis. The approach presented in this paper hopes to aid in realizing resiliency in system designs and to pave the way toward enhancements in developing resilient engineered systems. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Despite the increasing demand for utilizing high-performance computing (HPC) for CSE applications, software development for HPC historically attracted little attention from the software engineering (SE) community. Paradoxically, the HPC CSE community has increasingly been adopting SE techniques and tools. Indeed, the development of CSE software for HPC differs significantly from the development of more traditional business information systems, from which many SE best practices and tools have been drawn. The workshop summarized in this column, the fourth in the series to be collocated with the Supercomputing conference series, examined two main topics: testing and tradeoffs. Through presentations of work in this area and structured group discussions, the participants highlighted some of the key issues, as well as indicated the direction the community needs to go. In particular, there is a need for more high-quality research in this area that we can use as an evidence base to help developers of CSE applications change practice and benefit from advances in software engineering. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In robotic mapping and simultaneous localization and mapping, the ability to assess the quality of estimated maps is crucial. While concepts exist for quantifying the error in the estimated trajectory of a robot, or a subset of the estimated feature locations, the difference between all current estimated and ground-truth features is rarely considered jointly. In contrast to many current methods, this paper analyzes metrics, which automatically evaluate maps based on their joint detection and description uncertainty. In the tracking literature, the optimal subpattern assignment (OSPA) metric provided a solution to the problem of assessing target tracking algorithms and has recently been applied to the assessment of robotic maps. Despite its advantages over other metrics, the OSPA metric can saturate to a limiting value irrespective of the cardinality errors and it penalizes missed detections and false alarms in an unequal manner. This paper therefore introduces the cardinalized optimal linear assignment (COLA) metric, as a complement to the OSPA metric, for feature map evaluation. Their combination is shown to provide a robust solution for the evaluation of map estimation errors in an intuitive manner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The interpretations of logical expressions found in most introductory textbooks are not suitable for use in software engineering applications because they do not deal with partial functions. More advanced papers and texts deal with partial functions in a variety of complex ways. This paper proposes a very simple change to the classic interpretation of predicate expressions, one that defines their value for all values of all variables, yet is almost identical to the standard definitions. It then illustrates the application of this interpretation in software documentation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The inclusion of various new test types in production test suites with the hope of keeping defect escape level in check continuously increases the test cost while the economics of the intensely competitive consumer marketplace dictates test strategies that are low cost yet still effective in defect detection. An adaptive test methodology is proposed in this paper to address the simultaneous demand for efficiency and effectiveness in testing through an adaptive prioritization of test vectors according to defect detection effectiveness, subsequently, leading to the identification of a compact yet effective test set. Experimental results confirm the effectiveness of the vector prioritization process and show substantial cost reduction levels. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The machine learning (ML) life cycle involves a series of iterative steps, from the effective gathering and preparation of the data—including complex feature engineering processes—to the presentation and improvement of results, with various algorithms to choose from in every step. Feature engineering in particular can be very beneficial for ML, leading to numerous improvements such as boosting the predictive results, decreasing computational times, reducing excessive noise, and increasing the transparency behind the decisions taken during the training. Despite that, while several visual analytics tools exist to monitor and control the different stages of the ML life cycle (especially those related to data and algorithms), feature engineering support remains inadequate. In this paper, we present FeatureEnVi, a visual analytics system specifically designed to assist with the feature engineering process. Our proposed system helps users to choose the most important feature, to transform the original features into powerful alternatives, and to experiment with different feature generation combinations. Additionally, data space slicing allows users to explore the impact of features on both local and global scales. FeatureEnVi utilizes multiple automatic feature selection techniques; furthermore, it visually guides users with statistical evidence about the influence of each feature (or subsets of features). The final outcome is the extraction of heavily engineered features, evaluated by multiple validation metrics. The usefulness and applicability of FeatureEnVi are demonstrated with two use cases and a case study. We also report feedback from interviews with two ML experts and a visualization researcher who assessed the effectiveness of our system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Advertisements: Members share fascinating first-person stories of technological innovations. Come read and contribute your story. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Provides instructions and guidelines to prospective authors who wish to submit manuscripts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

DIscusses the beginning and growth of the Proceedings of the IEEE over the past century. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article discusses articles published within the issue including "Modeling cyber-physical systems," by Derler et al., "Toward a science of cyber-physical system integration," by Sztipanovits et al. and "Distributed real-time software for cyber-physical systems," by Eidson et al.

Thanks to the favorable advantage of low cost, integrated three-port dc–dc converters with reduced switches have attracted extensive attention. In order to provide more new topologies, this paper aims to propose a programmable topology derivation method, which effectively simplifies the cumbersome process of the conventional combination method. Instead of the manual connection and examination, the proposed alternative can quickly and rigorously derive multiple viable integrated three-port dc–dc topologies from a great number of possible connections with the aid of computer program. Besides, generalized analysis is also accomplished, with which performance characteristics of all derived converters are simultaneously obtained and then a comprehensive comparison can be easily conducted to select a preferred one for the practical application. Finally, an example-specific application with one input and two outputs is given, with topology selection, design, and experimental results demonstrated in detail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contribution: This paper shows that participating in a year-round program for African–American male middle school students (ages 10–14) can positively impact their attitudes toward STEM, their confidence in problem solving and team work, and their interest in STEM careers, but may not impact the interest in taking STEM classes to the same extent. Background: Increasing the number of under-represented minorities pursuing degrees in science and engineering through formal and informal learning activities has been a focus in the United States for many years. Efforts to diversify the engineering workforce have often targeted students in high school and college (ages 15–22), with varying success. Intended Outcomes: This program was designed to increase participants’ content knowledge, interest in STEM courses, interest in STEM careers, interest in attending college, and improve their attitudes about STEM. Application Design: Approaches used included: 1) introducing software tools that encouraged critical thinking, creativity and independent learning; 2) integrating engineering and software design processes; 3) providing projects that were age- and culturally-appropriate; and 4) using ethnically matched mentors. Findings: After almost two years in the program participants show improved attitudes toward STEM, more interest and career choices in computing and engineering, and increased interest in attending college. These findings suggested that summer and academic year programs can be effective for cultivating interest in computing and engineering careers, but their impact on interest in studying related subjects may need further study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past 12 years, a number of changes and enhancements have been made to the Spreadsheet Electrical Reliability Model that was introduced at the 1994 IEEE Petroleum and Chemical Industry Committee (PCIC) Conference. Several papers have been written since then, addressing some of the changes. Papers have also been written related to the application of the spreadsheet methodology to the IEEE Gold Book standard net- work. This paper will briefly review the history of the Spreadsheet Modeling technique and review features of the latest version. This paper discusses the impact that common causes can have on industrial electrical system reliability analysis. This paper also introduces an alternate network for evaluating reliability analysis methodologies. As in the past, the latest version of the Spreadsheet Model will be made available as free shareware on the PCIC web site. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper demonstrates how a probabilistic criterion could be explicitly integrated in the unit commitment (UC) formulation. Both spinning reserve and interruptible load are taken into account as the operating reserve facilities. Incorporating the interruption notice time of interruptible load involves some complexities in the evaluation procedure and problem formulation which is considered in this paper. The expected energy not supplied (EENS) is considered as a probabilistic criterion and a new method is proposed to calculate this index in the presence of interruptible load. The reliability-constrained unit commitment (RCUC) problem is formulated based on the mixed-integer programming (MIP) method that can be solved using large-scale commercial solvers. The effectiveness of the proposed formulation is examined using the IEEE-RTS. Numerical results are presented and the implementation issues are discussed. A number of analyses are examined to evaluate the impact of some important factors on the problem solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the application of the continuous Newton's method to the power flow problem. This method basically consists in formulating the power flow problem as a set of autonomous ordinary differential equations. Based on this formal analogy, we propose an entire family of numerically efficient algorithms for solving ill-conditioned or badly-initialized power flow cases. The paper also shows that the classical Newton-Raphson's method and most robust power flow techniques proposed in the literature are particular cases of the proposed formulation. An example based on a 1254-bus model of the UCTE system is presented and discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate computation of electromagnetic transients for underground cables and overhead transmission lines requires the frequency domain characterization of two matrix functions: propagation and characteristic admittance. The propagation function constitutes a high order Wideband system with inherent time delays. In this paper a weighted fitting technique is presented and advocated for the identification of the propagation function as a rational transfer function. The paper also contributes to theoretical clarifications on vector fitting and orthonormal vector fitting. The application of orthonormal vector fitting is demonstrated together with weighted vector fitting. Although the presentation is also applicable to transmission lines, the numerical examples are focused on underground cables where the frequency dependency problems are more complex. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we focus on mechanism design for single leader Stackelberg problems, which are a special case of hierarchical decision making problems in which a distinguished agent, known as the leader, makes the first move and this action is followed by the actions of the remaining agents, which are known as the followers. These problems are also known as single leader rest follower (SLRF) problems. There are many examples of such problems in the areas of electronic commerce, supply chain management, manufacturing systems, distributed computing, transportation networks, and multiagent systems. The game induced among the agents for these problems is a Bayesian Stackelberg game, which is more general than a Bayesian game. For this reason, classical mechanism design, which is based on Bayesian games, cannot be applied as is for solving SLRF mechanism design problems. In this paper, we extend classical mechanism design theory to the specific setting of SLRF problems. As a significant application of the theory developed, we explore two examples from the domain of electronic commerce—first-price and second-price electronic procurement auctions with reserve prices. Using an SLRF model for these auctions, we derive certain key results using the SLRF mechanism design framework developed in this paper. The theory developed has many promising applications in modeling and solving emerging game theoretic problems in engineering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, significant progress has been made in the development of physics-based, knowledge-aided (KA) signal processing strategies supported by improvements in real-time embedded computing architectures. These developments provide designers of advanced sensor systems an unprecedented degree of flexibility when implementing next generation adaptive sensor systems. In the case of radar, this has been manifested in the first ever, real-time, KA space-time adaptive processing (KA-STAP) system for advanced clutter/interference suppression. This paper provides exemplars of real-world effects giving rise to the need for "intelligent" adaptation schemes and overviews the KA approach to sensor signal processing in some detail. Moreover, we survey a collection of papers describing recent KA sensor research that follow in this issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The second part of this paper presents a practical implementation and application of the methodology for the stochastic assessment of the annual financial losses due to interruptions and voltage sags discussed in the first part of this paper. The costs of interruptions and voltage sags are determined separately and then combined in order to estimate the total financial losses in the network. The methodology is illustrated on a generic realistic distribution network with all relevant network components modeled appropriately. Finally, different network topologies are compared taking into account total financial losses in the network. It is shown that the inclusion of the financial losses due to voltage sags that may account for up to about 20% of the interruption costs may alter the network topology ranking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A few problems in the present calculation methods in the aspects of insulation flashover criteria, influence of operating voltages, induced overvoltage component, and shielding failure in China are briefly analyzed and discussed. Lightning performance of 500-ky double-circuit line schemes (nine tower types and thirteen schemes of insulation disposition) for the Three-Gorge Project is computed and compared with the existing operation experience of double-circuit lines. Different schemes are compared with each other. The cause of the remarkable increase of the total lightning outage rate of the usual unbalanced double-circuit lines, with one circuit insulation reduced, in the operation is analyzed. Different from the usual unbalanced insulation lines, a one-circuit insulation enhanced scheme is proposed in this paper. It is emphasized in the paper that the key of the lightning protection of double-circuit transmission lines is to reduce the double-circuit simultaneous trip-out rate and to keep a reasonable total trip-out rate at the same time. It can be achieved by choosing the proper insulation disposition scheme referring to the order of the weighted trip-out rate values. The viewpoints and methods in the paper would be useful to others working in this field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article studies IEEE publications using correspondence analysis. The IEEE subset consists of 354, 356 documents published between 1967 and 2003. The documents include papers in journals, conference papers and conference proceedings. The findings show the evolution over time of the contents of IEEE publications. The results also reveal that the engineering field is more attracted to computer science and less rooted to electronics and electrotechnical engineering.

The article reports that the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society introduced the IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering (T-ASE) in July 2004. T-ASE is now included in the Science Citation Index which publishes top papers on research in automation and is presently developing special issues on topics such as nano-scale automation and assembly, automation for the life sciences and distributed sensing for quality and productivity improvement.

Digital single event transients induced in combinatorial logic are quickly becoming a significant error source as circuit feature sizes shrink and digital circuits operate faster. In this paper, we are able to compare the combinatorial logic error rate to the sequential logic error rate in both heavy ion and proton environments in a simple digital circuit created in a 0.18 μm CMOS technology. We are able to do this by comparing data from two unique test chips. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reports on news and developments of interest to members of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), compiled as of September 2005. Highlights of the ISI Thomson's 2004 Journal Citation Report of English language scholarly publications worldwide; Multimedia submissions to the "IEEE Transactions on Robotics"; Online submission and review of all technical articles for the magazine through the Papercept tracking system.

A frequency domain analysis of the influence of non- linear distortions on linear frequency response function measurements performed using multisine test signals is presented in this paper. The aim is to provide a closer insight into the mechanisms at work when multisine signals are subjected to static power-series nonlinearities. Emphasis is given to the behavior of a class of nonlinear distortions, termed hype II contributions, when different types of multisine signals are applied to a cubic, fifth-, seventh-, and ninth-order static nonlinear element The original results presented in this paper are a development of work conducted by the current authors as well as other authors in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we introduce a new class of operators called quasi-triangular norms. They are denoted by H and parameterized by a parameter ν : H(a1, a2, . . . , an; ν). From the construction of function H, it follows that it becomes a t-norm for ν = 0 and a dual t-conorm for ν = 1. For ν close to 0, function H resembles a t-norm and for ν close to 1, it resembles a t-conorm. In the paper, we also propose adjustable quasi-implications and a new class of neuro-fuzzy systems. Most neuro-fuzzy systems pro- posed in the past decade employ ‘engineering implications’ defined by a t-norm as the minimum or product. In our proposition, a quasi-implication I(a, b; ν) varies from an ‘engineering implication’ T(a, b) to corresponding S-implication as ν goes from 0 to 1. Consequently, the structure of neuro-fuzzy systems presented in this paper is determined in the process of learning. Learning procedures are derived and simulation examples are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inductive learning of nonlinear functions plays an important role in constructing predictive models and classifiers from data. This paper explores a novel randomized approach to construct linear representations of nonlinear functions proposed elsewhere [14], [17]. This approach makes use of randomized codebooks, called the Genetic Code-Like Transformations (GCTs) for constructing an approximately linear representation of a nonlinear target function. This paper first derives some of the results presented elsewhere [17] in a more general context. Next, it investigates different probabilistic and limit properties of GCTs. It also presents several experimental results to demonstrate the potential of this approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is one of a series of papers discussing the application and accuracy of different analysis techniques supporting the determination of industrial and commercial power system reliability and availability. There is a need recognized in the power industry to identify and utilize a standard tool, or a set of tools, to analyze the reliability of power systems. historically, the results of applying different reliability methodologies and tools varied significantly, and comparisons were difficult. The Reliability Analysis Techniques Working Group of the Gold Book (WEE Std. 493-1997) developed a standard network to enable comparison of analytical techniques. This paper describes the approach of simulations via reliability block diagrams as applied to the Gold Book standard network. Reliability indexes of the load points are presented, and are compared with ones obtained from other techniques in the series to determine the accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An electrical and mechanical design process for a traction motor in a hybrid bus application is studied. Usually, the design process of an electric machine calls for close cooperation between various engineering disciplines. Compromises may be required to satisfy the boundary conditions of electrical, thermal, and mechanical performances. From the mechanical point of view, the stress values and the safety factors should be at a reasonable level and the construction lifetime predicted by a fatigue analysis. In a vehicle application, the motor has to be capable of generating high torque when accelerating, and in normal operation, the losses of the machine should be low to be able to cool the machine. Minimization of the no-load iron losses becomes a very important electrical design requirement if the traction motor and the generator are mechanically connected with an internal combustion engine when it is operating as the only source of torque. The manufacturing costs of the motor are also taken into account in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The design structure matrix (DSM), also called the dependency structure matrix, has become a widely used modeling framework across many areas of research and practice. The DSM brings advantages of simplicity and conciseness in representation, and, supported by appropriate analysis, can also highlight important patterns in system architectures (design structures), such as modules and cycles. A literature review in 2001 cited about 100 DSM papers; there have been over 1000 since. Thus, it is useful to survey the latest DSM extensions and innovations to help consolidate progress and identify promising opportunities for further research. This paper surveys the DSM literature, primarily from archival journals, and organizes the developments pertaining to building, displaying, analyzing, and applying product, process, and organization DSMs. It then addresses DSM applications in other domains, as well as recent developments with domain mapping matrices (DMMs) and multidomain matrices (MDMs). Overall, DSM methods are becoming more mainstream, especially in the areas of engineering design, engineering management, management/organization science, and systems engineering. Despite significant research contributions, however, DSM awareness seems to be spreading more slowly in the realm of project management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A wide range of inconsistencies can arise during requirements engineering as goals and requirements are elicited from multiple stakeholders. Resolving such inconsistencies sooner or later in the process is a necessary condition for successful development of the software implementing those requirements. The paper first reviews the main types of inconsistency that can arise during requirements elaboration, defining them in an integrated framework and exploring their interrelationships. It then concentrates on the specific case of conflicting formulations of goals and requirements among different stakeholder viewpoints or within a single viewpoint. A frequent, weaker form of conflict called divergence is introduced and studied in depth. Formal techniques and heuristics are proposed for detecting conflicts and divergences from specifications of goals/ requirements and of domain properties. Various techniques are then discussed for resolving conflicts and divergences systematically by introduction of new goals or by transformation of specifications of goals/objects toward conflict-free versions. Numerous examples are given throughout the paper to illustrate the practical relevance of the concepts and techniques presented. The latter are discussed in the framework of the KAOS methodology for goal-driven requirements engineering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spin-transfer torque random access memory (STT-RAM) is a promising technology for future nonvolatile caches and memories. To increase the storage density, multilevel cell (MLC) technique was recently introduced to STT-RAM designs at the cost of degraded access speed, reliability, and energy efficiency. Existing MLC STT-RAM cache architectures primarily focus on the performance and energy optimizations but ignore the crucial demand for reliability. In this paper, we propose “TriZone”—a holistic design scheme for MLC STT-RAM cache to simultaneously meet the requirements of performance, energy, and reliability. Three cache block configurations, namely hard, soft, and mixed, are constructed with the hard-bit, soft-bit, and both hard-bit and soft-bit of MLC STT-RAM, respectively. By observing the difference of these cache blocks, a nonuniform strength ECC (NUS-ECC) is developed to guarantee the operational reliability of a cache block with a variable decoding delay adapting to the needs of error correction (e.g., the number of the erroneous bits). The whole MLC STT-RAM cache is then partitioned into three regions, each of which is composed of different cache blocks. In order to achieve the best tradeoff among performance, energy, and reliability, we then introduce the dynamic cache partitioning to determine the partition of this tri-way MLC STT-RAM cache according to the runtime characteristic of various applications. Experiment results show that compared with conventional performance-driven MLC STT-RAM cache design with pessimistic ECC, TriZone can improve the system performance and energy by averagely 11.7% (10.0%) and 13.3% (15.7%), respectively, for single-threaded (multiprogram) applications. The additional area overhead associated with NUS-ECC is limited by ~ 3%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accelerated life testing has been widely applied to obtain the reliability information of an asset (component) at use conditions when the component is highly reliable. In accelerated life testing, tested components are exposed to stress levels more severe than usual so that more component failures can be observed in a short period of time. Most existing statistical models assume a known parametric relationship between the lifetime (or lifetime characteristic) and accelerating stresses. In this paper, we propose semiparametric modeling for the relationship between the lifetime characteristic and accelerating stresses. The proposed model is suitable for both single and multiple accelerating stress cases. A maximum penalized likelihood estimation method is developed to estimate the model parameters. A simulation study is implemented to illustrate the performance of the proposed model, and a real-world case study is conducted to demonstrate the proposed model. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

For the development of communications software com- posed of many modules, protocol validation is essential to detect errors in the interactions among the modules. A number of protocol validation techniques were proposed in the past, but the validation time required by these techniques is too long for many actual protocols. This paper proposes a new fast protocol validation technique to overcome this drawback. The proposed technique is to construct the minimum acyclic form of state transitions in individual processes of the protocol, and to detect protocol errors such as system deadlocks and channel overflows fast. This paper also presents a protocol validation system based on the proposed technique to confirm its feasibility and shows validation results for some actual protocols obtained with this system. As a result, the protocol validation system is expected to contribute to a great extent to the improvement of the productivity in development and maintenance of communications software. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a computational method that employs Natural Language Processing (NLP) and text mining techniques to support requirements engineers in extracting and modeling goals from textual documents. We developed a NLP-based goal elicitation approach within the context of KAOS goal-oriented requirements engineering method. The hierarchical relationships among goals are inferred by automatically building taxonomies from extracted goals. We use smart metering system as a case study to investigate the proposed approach. Smart metering system is an important subsystem of the next generation of power systems (smart grids). Goals are extracted by semantically parsing the grammar of goal-related phrases in abstracts of research publications. The results of this case study show that the developed approach is an effective way to model goals for complex systems, and in particular, for the research-intensive complex systems. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this paper, we review the theoretical and software tools used to construct Spaun, the first (and so far only) brain model capable of performing cognitive tasks. This tool set allowed us to configure 2.5 million simple nonlinear components (neurons) with 60 billion connections between them (synapses) such that the resulting model can perform eight different perceptual, motor, and cognitive tasks. To reverse-engineer the brain in this way, a method is needed that shows how large numbers of simple components, each of which receives thousands of inputs from other components, can be organized to perform the desired computations. We achieve this through the neural engineering framework (NEF), a mathematical theory that provides methods for systematically generating biologically plausible spiking networks to implement nonlinear and linear dynamical systems. On top of this, we propose the semantic pointer architecture (SPA), a hypothesis regarding some aspects of the organization, function, and representational resources used in the mammalian brain. We conclude by discussing Spaun, which is an example model that uses the SPA and is implemented using the NEF. Throughout, we discuss the software tool Neural ENGineering Objects (Nengo), which allows for the synthesis and simulation of neural models efficiently on the scale of Spaun, and provides support for constructing models using the NEF and the SPA. The resulting NEF/SPA/Nengo combination is a general tool set for both evaluating hypotheses about how the brain works, and for building systems that compute particular functions using neuron-like components. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This special issue focuses on elucidating computational neuroscience: an interdisciplinary field of scientific research in which one of the primary goals is to understand how electronic activity in brain cells and networks enables biological intelligence. The objective is to provide a selection of papers that expose and review research efforts in aspects of computational neuroscience that demonstrate its rapidly growing intersection with electrical, electronic and computer engineering, and the prospects for interaction in the near and long-term future. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Context: Variability (i.e., the ability of software systems or artifacts to be adjusted for different contexts) became a key property of many systems. Objective: We analyze existing research on variability in software systems. We investigate variability handling in major software engineering phases (e.g., requirements engineering, architecting). Method: We performed a systematic literature review. A manual search covered 13 premium software engineering journals and 18 premium conferences, resulting in 15,430 papers searched and 196 papers considered for analysis. To improve reliability and to increase reproducibility, we complemented the manual search with a targeted automated search. Results: Software quality attributes have not received much attention in the context of variability. Variability is studied in all software engineering phases, but testing is underrepresented. Data to motivate the applicability of current approaches are often insufficient; research designs are vaguely described. Conclusions: Based on our findings we propose dimensions of variability in software engineering. This empirically grounded classification provides a step towards a unifying, integrated perspective of variability in software systems, spanning across disparate or loosely coupled research themes in the software engineering community. Finally, we provide recommendations to bridge the gap between research and practice and point to opportunities for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article focuses on the issue of the journal "IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management." The journal includes nine research articles, one technical management note, one comment on the technical management note, one comment on the technical management note and one focus on practice paper. The papers published in the journal claim that concurrent engineering project management and team organization represent an important area of management research that has drawn a great deal of attention from academia and industry alike.

An introduction to the paper "Cognitive Radar: Step Toward Bridging the Gap Between Neuroscience and Engineering," by S. Haykin, Y. Xue and P. Setoodeh is presented.

Despite intensive investigations in the past, energetic efficiency is still one of the most important unsolved challenges in legged robot locomotion. This paper presents an unconventional approach to the problem of energetically efficient legged locomotion by applying actuation for spring mass running. This approach makes use of mechanical springs incorporated in parallel with relatively low-torque actuation, which is capable of both accommodating large payload and locomotion with low power input by exploiting self-excited vibration. For a systematic analysis, this paper employs both simulation models and physical platforms. The experiments show that the proposed approach is scalable across different payload between 0 and 150 kg, and is able to achieve a total cost of transport of 0.10, which is significantly lower than the previous locomotion robots and most of the biological systems in the similar scale, when actuated with the near-to natural frequency with the maximum payload. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent progress in high-level synthesis (HLS) has helped raise the abstraction level of hardware design. HLS flows reduce designer effort by allowing development in a high-level language, which improves debugging, code reuse and ability to explore different implementation options. However, although the HLS process is fast, implementation and performance analysis still require lengthy logic synthesis and physical design. For design optimization, HLS tools require design space exploration to obtain parallelism at multiple levels of granularity including parallelism within a single HLS-generated core and parallelism between multiple instances of cores. Core interconnect and external bandwidth limitations can significantly impact feasible options in the design space. With many dimensions in a design space exploration, it quickly becomes infeasible to perform full logic synthesis and physical design for each possible design point. However, generation and evaluation of communications infrastructure as part of the exploration is critical to determine the system performance. Thus, in this paper, we extend the prior multilevel granularity parallelism exploration in the FCUDA HLS flow, which takes CUDA code as design input and generates a corresponding field programmable gate array implementation. Our framework performs an initial characterization of the application design space, then analytically explores the design space considering parallelism, core interconnect, and external memory bandwidth, and selects a pareto-optimal set of designs. Our flow is completely automated to perform the exploration to characterize the analytical model, perform the exploration, select a solution, and integrate multiple instantiations of FCUDA cores via an advanced extensible interface bus interconnect. Our results demonstrate that this new FCUDA flow efficiently identifies and generates implementations with up to $5\times $ improved system performance compared to single-level granularity parallelism (core-level optimization). [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper introduces a speed-sensorless method for detecting rotor asymmetries in wound rotor induction machines working under nonstationary conditions. The method is based on the time–frequency analysis of rotor currents and on a subsequent transformation, which leads to the following goals: unlike conventional spectrograms, it enables to show the diagnostic results as a simple graph, similar to a Fourier spectrum, but where the fault components are placed always at the same positions, regardless the working conditions of the machine; moreover, it enables to assess the machine condition through a very small set of parameters. These characteristics facilitate the understanding and processing of the diagnostic results, and thus, help to design improved monitoring and predictive maintenance systems. Also these features make the proposed method very suitable for condition monitoring of wind power generators, because it fits well with the usual nonstationary working conditions of wind turbines, and makes feasible the transmission of significant diagnostic information to the remote monitoring center using standard data transmission systems. Simulation results and experimental tests, carried out on a 5-kW laboratory rig, show the validity of the proposed method and illustrate its advantages regarding previously developed diagnostic methods under nonstationary conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dynamic frequency regulation and effect of penetration of static and inertial sources on system stability are important issues for islanded microgrid power quality and reliability. This paper presents a novel strategy of utilizing an inverter-based source as a voltage source inverter or virtual synchronous generator (VSG). Electromechanical and power modes are critical for small signal stability of an isolated microgrid having static and inertial sources. Interaction of these modes is analyzed through eigenvalue analysis of microgrid model and differential equations describing respective modes. Inertia is important for providing fault current, determining steady state and transient stability, and better system frequency profile. A novel technique is proposed to include inertia virtually to the inverter-based sources by adding swing equation. Furthermore, inverter-based sources with traditional and modified droop controls and VSGs are compared with respect to inertia, energy, and stability. The proposed control and stability comparison are verified through experimental microgrid setup having three inverter-based sources, which can be alternately operated as VSGs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Advanced mobile applications demand low power and high performance systems. In this paper, a technology computer aided design (TCAD)-based feasibility investigation of a recently proposed area tunneling field effect transistor (FET) structure is carried out from the point of high volume and ultralow power mobile applications. We demonstrate that for realization of future ultralow power and high performance systems, unique properties of area tunneling class of tunnel FET structures need to be employed. These devices are realized by engineering the tunneling region profile and tunneling cross-sectional area. The optimized devices are found to leverage up to \sim7\times energy reduction when compared with the 20-nm node MOS device options while meeting the high performance targets. Device design insights for such an area tunneling class of tunnel FET structures are discussed in this paper for the first time. It is shown that by lowering the supply voltage below 0.5 V, up to 10\times reduction of the energy delay product is feasible by using area tunneling devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a result of their involvement in several research and development and innovation (R&D&I) projects developed in various companies, the authors acquired knowledge of two basic concepts: quality and innovation. The application of these concepts in the teaching–learning process can help teachers to incorporate informal changes in the curriculum to provide for continuous improvement. This paper presents a simple methodology to apply quality and innovation concepts and tools in the daily teaching activity. In order to show the ease of use, as well as the efficiency and effectiveness of this methodology, the experience of applying it in an engineering course over nine years, the actions undertaken, the results obtained, and the lessons learned are described here. The methodology incorporates reflection, innovation, and decision taking based on objective data. Contact with the companies involved has enabled the teachers to learn continuously and to enhance their motivation when working with students. The methodology applied and the example described in this paper can be a starting point for other teachers interested in improving the quality of their teaching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]