High-level Entities Research Articles

COMPARISON OF POINT MATCHING TECHNIQUES FOR ROAD NETWORK MATCHING

Abstract. Map conflation investigates the unique identification of geographical entities across different maps depicting the same geographic region. It involves a matching process which aims to find commonalities between geographic features. A specific subdomain of conflation called Road Network Matching establishes correspondences between road networks of different maps on multiple layers of abstraction, ranging from elementary point locations to high-level structures such as road segments or even subgraphs derived from the induced graph of a road network. The process of identifying points located on different maps by means of geometrical, topological and semantical information is called point matching. This paper provides an overview of various techniques for point matching, which is a fundamental requirement for subsequent matching steps focusing on complex high-level entities in geospatial networks. Common point matching approaches as well as certain combinations of these are described, classified and evaluated. Furthermore, a novel similarity metric called the Exact Angular Index is introduced, which considers both topological and geometrical aspects. The results offer a basis for further research on a bottom-up matching process for complex map features, which must rely upon findings derived from suitable point matching algorithms. In the context of Road Network Matching, reliable point matches provide an immediate starting point for finding matches between line segments describing the geometry and topology of road networks, which may in turn be used for performing a structural high-level matching on the network level.

Constitution, and Multiple Constitution, in the Sciences: Using the Neuron to Construct a Starting Framework

Inter-level mechanistic explanations in the sciences have long been a focus of philosophical interest, but attention has recently turned to the compositional character of these explanations which work by explaining higher level entities, whether processes, individuals or properties, using the lower level entities they take to compose them. However, we still have no theoretical account of the constitution or parthood relations between individuals deployed in such explanations, nor any accounts of multiple constitution. My primary focus in this paper is to outline a positive account of the constitution/part-whole relations between individuals posited in inter-level mechanistic explanations that takes constituents in the sciences to be `working parts'. Using this account, I then go on to illuminate the nature, and varieties, of multiple constitution that we find in the sciences and provide a starting theoretical framework for multiple constitution as well.

Long-term evolution is surprisingly predictable in lattice proteins

It has long been debated whether natural selection acts primarily upon individual organisms, or whether it also commonly acts upon higher-level entities such as lineages. Two arguments against the effectiveness of long-term selection on lineages have been (i) that long-term evolutionary outcomes will not be sufficiently predictable to support a meaningful long-term fitness and (ii) that short-term selection on organisms will almost always overpower long-term selection. Here, we use a computational model of protein folding and binding called 'lattice proteins'. We quantify the long-term evolutionary success of lineages with two metrics called the k-fitness and k-survivability. We show that long-term outcomes are surprisingly predictable in this model: only a small fraction of the possible outcomes are ever realized in multiple replicates. Furthermore, the long-term fitness of a lineage depends only partly on its short-term fitness; other factors are also important, including the 'evolvability' of a lineage-its capacity to produce adaptive variation. In a system with a distinct short-term and long-term fitness, evolution need not be 'short-sighted': lineages may be selected for their long-term properties, sometimes in opposition to short-term selection. Similar evolutionary basins of attraction have been observed in vivo, suggesting that natural biological lineages will also have a predictive long-term fitness.

Exactly solving a two‐level location problem with modular node capacities

AbstractIn many telecommunication networks, a given set of client nodes must be served by different sets of facilities—providing different services and having different capabilities—which must be located and dimensioned in the design phase. Network topology must be designed as well, by assigning clients to facilities and facilities to higher level entities, when necessary. We tackle a particular location problem, where two sets of facilities have to be located, and in which different devices can be installed at each site, providing different capacities at different costs. We optimize location and dimensioning of these facilities simultaneously. We introduce a compact formulation of that problem, we use discretization and Dantzig–Wolfe reformulation techniques to improve models, and we design an exact optimization algorithm. We test our approach on a set of instances derived from existing literature on facility location. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. NETWORKS, 2012

Emergence, therefore antireductionism? A critique of emergent antireductionism

Emergent antireductionism in biological sciences states that even though all living cells and organisms are composed of molecules, molecular wholes are characterized by emergent properties that can only be understood from the perspective of cellular and organismal levels of composition. Thus, an emergence claim (molecular wholes are characterized by emergent properties) is thought to support a form of antireductionism (properties of higher-level molecular wholes can only be understood by taking into account concepts, theories and explanations dealing with higher-level entities). I argue that this argument is flawed: even if molecular wholes are characterized by emergent properties and even if many successful explanations in biology are not molecular, there is no entailment between the two claims.

Dispersal (Entropy) and Recognition (Information) as Foundations of Emergence and Dissolvence

The objective of this essay is to reflect on a possible relation between entropy and emergence. A qualitative, relational approach is followed. We begin by highlighting that entropy includes the concept of dispersal, relevant to our enquiry. Emergence in complex systems arises from the coordinated behavior of their parts. Coordination in turn necessitates recognition between parts, i.e., information exchange. What will be argued here is that the scope of recognition processes between parts is increased when preceded by their dispersal, which multiplies the number of encounters and creates a richer potential for recognition. A process intrinsic to emergence is dissolvence (aka submergence or top-down constraints), which participates in the information-entropy interplay underlying the creation, evolution and breakdown of higher-level entities.

Hierarchies and levels of reality

We examine some assumptions about the nature of ‘levels of reality’ in the light of examples drawn from physics. Three central assumptions of the standard view of such levels (for instance, Oppenheim and Putnam 1958) are (i) that levels are populated by entities of varying complexity, (ii) that there is a unique hierarchy of levels, ranging from the very small to the very large, and (iii) that the inhabitants of adjacent levels are related by the parthood relation. Using examples from physics, we argue that it is more natural to view the inhabitants of levels as the behaviors of entities, rather than entities themselves. This suggests an account of reduction between levels, according to which one behavior reduces to another if the two are related by an appropriate limit relation. By considering cases where such inter-level reduction fails, we show that the hierarchy of behaviors differs in several respects from the standard hierarchy of entities. In particular, while on the standard view, lower-level entities are ‘micro’ parts of higher-level entities, on our view, a system’s macro-level behavior can be seen as a (‘non-spatial’) part of its micro-level behavior. We argue that this second hierarchy is not really in conflict with the standard view and that it better suits examples of explanation in science.

A Hierarchical Framework for Levels of Reality: Understanding Through Representation

Levels of reality reflect one kind of complexity, which can be modeled using a specification hierarchy. Levels emerged during the Big Bang, as physical degrees of freedom became increasingly fixed as the expanding universe developed, and new degrees of freedom associated with higher levels opened up locally, requiring new descriptive semantics. History became embodied in higher level entities, which are increasingly individuated, aggregate patterns of lower level entities. Development is an epigenetic trajectory from vaguer to more definite and individuated embodiment, punctuated by the emergence of new integrative levels. It is constrained by being subsumed by lower levels (e.g., physical dynamics) and may be guided by structural attractors as well as by internally stored information (e.g., genes) in the higher levels. I conjecture, on a thermodynamic basis, that the number of levels that become manifest in an expanding universe depends upon its rate of expansion.

Temporal Matching in Endoscopic Images for Remote-Controlled Robotic Surgery

Temporal matching is applied in the frame of the formation of high-level entities in remote-controlled robotic surgery. The objective is to track tumor boundaries over time to improve the segmentation stage in each image of the sequence to facilitate the tracking and localization of the tumor. It makes use of an attributed string matching technique to find the correspondence between tumor boundaries over time. Relationships are then exploited to reconstitute the tumor boundaries and remove the inconsistencies coming from the detection errors. Input data are free form shapes of different length representing the tumor boundary, extracted at a previous stage.

Development of IFC Modeling Extension for Supporting Drawing Information Exchange in the Model-Based Construction Environment

The Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) has been known as a common product model that has interoperability between similar and dissimilar IT systems for the architecture, engineering, construction, and facility management (AEC/FM) industries covering all life cycle phases. Continuous efforts have been undertaken regarding the development of standardized specifications based on the IFC, a product model used in the AEC/FM industries. In accordance, the XM-4 project has been initiated by the Korea Chapter of the International Alliance for Interoperability (IAI) organizations to develop a two-dimensional (2D) extension model for IFC. The XM-4 project aims to add to the IFC2x platform the ability to exchange 2D computer-aided design data within representations of virtual building models, including annotations and styles mainly adapted from the ISO 10303. The focus of this research has been on developing a 2D extension model for the IFC as part of the IAI XM-4 project. This paper provides the scope and rationale of the model extension, major modeling concepts, defined high-level entities and row-level entities, and implementation issues to be considered.

The Visualization of Computer-Assisted Music Analysis Information in PWGL

We describe our recent developments in dealing with computer-assisted music analysis. Our focus is on a syntax that extends the pattern-matching part of our constraint-based system, called PWGLConstraints. This syntax is also the basis of our scripting language, which in turn is used to analyse scores. Our system allows reference to various high-level entities in a score, resulting in compact analysis rules that use only a minimal set of primitives. These rules can also be used to add information to the musical score when a visualization of the results is needed. Furthermore, the compiler can be extended to support new score-accessor keywords through the application of special compiler methods. Several examples are given to explain and demonstrate the syntax and visualization of the analysis data.

Knowledge acquisition techniques for feature recognition in CAD models

Automatic Feature Recognition (AFR) techniques are an important tool for achieving a true integration of design and manufacturing stages during the product development. In particular, AFR systems offer capabilities for recognising high-level geometrical entities, features, in Computer-Aided Design (CAD) models. However, the recognition performances of most of the existing AFR systems are limited to the requirements of specific applications. This paper presents automatic knowledge acquisition techniques to support the development of AFR systems that could be deployed in different application domains. In particular, a method to generate automatically feature recognition rules is proposed. These rules are formed by applying an inductive learning algorithm on training data consisting of feature examples. In addition, a technique for defining automatically feature hints from such rule sets is described. The knowledge acquisition techniques presented in this study are implemented within a prototype feature recognition system and its capabilities are verified on two benchmarking parts.

Attention to Surfaces Modulates Motion Processing in Extrastriate Area MT

In the visual system, early atomized representations are grouped into higher-level entities through processes of perceptual organization. Here we present neurophysiological evidence that a representation of a simple object, a surface defined by color and motion, can be the unit of attentional selection at an early stage of visual processing. Monkeys were cued by the color of a fixation spot to attend to one of two transparent random-dot surfaces, one red and one green, which occupied the same region of space. Motion of the attended surface drove neurons in the middle temporal (MT) visual area more strongly than physically identical motion of the non-attended surface, even though both occurred within the spotlight of attention. Surface-based effects of attention persisted even without differential surface coloring, but attentional modulation was stronger with color. These results show that attention can select surface representations to modulate visual processing as early as cortical area MT.

Synthesis of prosody using multi-level unit sequences

Generating meaningful and natural sounding prosody is a central challenge in text-to-speech synthesis (TTS). In traditional synthesis, the challenge consists of how to generate natural target prosodic contours and how to impose these contours on recorded speech without causing audible distortions. In unit selection synthesis, the challenge is the sheer size of the speech corpus that is needed to cover all combinations of phone sequences and prosodic contexts that can occur in a given language. This paper describes new methods that are being explored, based on the principle of superpositional prosody transplant. Both methods are based on the following procedure. In a recorded, prosodically and phonemically labeled corpus, the log pitch contours are additively decomposed into component curves according to a prosodic hierarchy, typically phrase curves (corresponding to phrases), accent curves (corresponding to feet), and segmental perturbation (or residuals) curves. During synthesis, the corpus is searched for multiple unit sequences: A unit sequence that covers the target phoneme string, and one or more unit sequences that cover the prosodic labels at a given phonological level (e.g., the foot or phrase) and are constrained by being matched to the phone match sequence in terms of the phonetic classes of the phonemes (or in terms of higher level entities, such as the number of feet and their sizes measured in syllables). The methods differ in terms of the level of detail of these constraints. A superpositional prosody transplant procedure generates a target pitch contour by extracting and recombining component curves from these sequences, and imposing this contour on the sequence that matches the phone string using standard speech modification methods. This process minimizes prosodic modification artifacts, optimizes the naturalness of the target pitch contour, yet avoids the combinatorial explosion of standard unit selection synthesis.

Fully free-form deformation features for aesthetic shape design

Geometric models, such as B-Rep or CSG, are often used as a shared reference representation of the product along the whole design process. However, they do not provide capabilities for conveying complex information related to the involved product development tasks. This also applies for the initial styling activity, in which the shape is described by complex mathematical models handled by tools still not sufficiently suited to the creative designer mentality. To overcome these limits, we introduce the so-called Fully Free-Form Deformation Features (δ–F4) concept and the related manipulation tools. Advantages of both the free-form surface deformation method and the feature-based approach are combined to define these high-level modelling entities enabling the direct shape-oriented modification of surfaces through a restricted set of parameters. They are mainly defined by characteristic curves in order to better cope with the curve-oriented designers’ way of working. In addition, a (δ–F4) classification is proposed to enable a fast access to the desired shape. The proposed approach is illustrated with some examples from our prototype software.

A complexity drain on cells in the evolution of multicellularity.

A hypothesis has been advanced recently predicting that, in evolution, as higher-level entities arise from associations of lower-level organisms, and as these entities acquire the ability to feed, reproduce, defend themselves, and so on, the lower-level organisms will tend to lose much of their internal complexity (McShea 2001a). In other words, in hierarchical transitions, there is a drain on numbers of part types at the lower level. One possible rationale is that the transfer of functional demands to the higher level renders many part types at the lower level useless, and thus their loss in evolution is favored by selection for economy. Here, a test is conducted at the cell level, comparing numbers of part types in free-living eukaryotic cells (protists) and the cells of metazoans and land plants. Differences are significant and consistent with the hypothesis, suggesting that tests at other hierarchical levels may be worthwhile.

A COMPLEXITY DRAIN ON CELLS IN THE EVOLUTION OF MULTICELLULARITY

A hypothesis has been advanced recently predicting that, in evolution, as higher-level entities arise from associations of lower-level organisms, and as these entities acquire the ability to feed, reproduce, defend themselves, and so on, the lower-level organisms will tend to lose much of their internal complexity (McShea 2001a). In other words, in hierarchical transitions, there is a drain on numbers of part types at the lower level. One possible rationale is that the transfer of functional demands to the higher level renders many part types at the lower level useless, and thus their loss in evolution is favored by selection for economy. Here, a test is conducted at the cell level, comparing numbers of part types in free-living eukaryotic cells (protists) and the cells of metazoans and land plants. Differences are significant and consistent with the hypothesis, suggesting that tests at other hierarchical levels may be worthwhile.Corresponding Editor: M. Foote

FREE FORM FEATURES FOR AESTHETIC DESIGN

This paper presents an analysis of the concept of free form features in the context of aesthetic design. Features are well known in mechanical environments as high semantic level entities, which associate functional information to pure geometry, suitable for modeling parts by means of few meaningful elements. Thus, modeling with features allows a faster creation of the geometric model and a possible re-use of information. Feature types are here formally described in terms of surface local modifications through deformation and elimination laws. In particular, the paper suggests a possible classification of free form features, which can be generated and recognized on the surface, through a formal definition of shape classes according to topological and geometric criteria. Such a classification is also aimed at considering a suitable set of parameters possibly having an aesthetic meaning, and conditions, which can be hard coded, for the direct manipulation of the free form surfaces at a high operational level.

A High Level Engineering Tool to Master Flexible Control Systems

Ensuring data consistency of distributed control systems through the studies, tests, commissioning and maintenance phases necessitates a powerful engineering tool, manipulating high level entities such as objects and assemblies, allowing concurrent multiuser and multi-site access, solidly connected to the control system in order to load data and back animated with real time values. Systematic use of such a tool brings substantial cost savings, in particular thanks to its utility in standardization and the capitalization of knowhow. CEGELEC's CONTROCAD® is designed to provide these advantages in the field of control systems for power plants

Motivation and organizational principles for anatomical knowledge representation: the digital anatomist symbolic knowledge base.

Conceptualization of the physical objects and spaces that constitute the human body at the macroscopic level of organization, specified as a machine-parseable ontology that, in its human-readable form, is comprehensible to both expert and novice users of anatomical information. Conceived as an anatomical enhancement of the UMLS Semantic Network and Metathesaurus, the anatomical ontology was formulated by specifying defining attributes and differentia for classes and subclasses of physical anatomical entities based on their partitive and spatial relationships. The validity of the classification was assessed by instantiating the ontology for the thorax. Several transitive relationships were used for symbolically modeling aspects of the physical organization of the thorax. By declaring Organ as the macroscopic organizational unit of the body, and defining the entities that constitute organs and higher level entities constituted by organs, all anatomical entities could be assigned to one of three top level classes (Anatomical structure, Anatomical spatial entity and Body substance). The ontology accommodates both the systemic and regional (topographical) views of anatomy, as well as diverse clinical naming conventions of anatomical entities. The ontology formulated for the thorax is extendible to microscopic and cellular levels, as well as to other body parts, in that its classes subsume essentially all anatomical entities that constitute the body. Explicit definitions of these entities and their relationships provide the first requirement for standards in anatomical concept representation. Conceived from an anatomical viewpoint, the ontology can be generalized and mapped to other biomedical domains and problem solving tasks that require anatomical knowledge.