A New High-Order Jacobian-Free Iterative Method with Memory for Solving Nonlinear Systems

We used a Kurchatov-type accelerator to construct an iterative method with memory for solving nonlinear systems, with sixth-order convergence. It was developed from an initial scheme without memory, with order of convergence four. There exist few multidimensional schemes using more than one previous iterate in the very recent literature, mostly with low orders of convergence. The proposed scheme showed its efficiency and robustness in several numerical tests, where it was also compared with the existing procedures with high orders of convergence. These numerical tests included large nonlinear systems. In addition, we show that the proposed scheme has very stable qualitative behavior, by means of the analysis of an associated multidimensional, real rational function and also by means of a comparison of its basin of attraction with those of comparison methods.

Derivative-Free Iterative Methods with Some Kurchatov-Type Accelerating Parameters for Solving Nonlinear Systems

Some Kurchatov-type accelerating parameters are used to construct some derivative-free iterative methods with memory for solving nonlinear systems. New iterative methods are developed from an initial scheme without memory with order of convergence three. New methods have the convergence order 2+5≈4.236 and 5, respectively. The application of new methods can solve standard nonlinear systems and nonlinear ordinary differential equations (ODEs) in numerical experiments. Numerical results support the theoretical results.

Sentence, Phrase, and Triple Annotations to Build a Knowledge Graph of Natural Language Processing Contributions—A Trial Dataset

Purpose This work aims to normalize the NlpContributions scheme (henceforward, NlpContributionGraph) to structure, directly from article sentences, the contributions information in Natural Language Processing (NLP) scholarly articles via a two-stage annotation methodology: 1) pilot stage—to define the scheme (described in prior work); and 2) adjudication stage—to normalize the graphing model (the focus of this paper). Design/methodology/approach We re-annotate, a second time, the contributions-pertinent information across 50 prior-annotated NLP scholarly articles in terms of a data pipeline comprising: contribution-centered sentences, phrases, and triple statements. To this end, specifically, care was taken in the adjudication annotation stage to reduce annotation noise while formulating the guidelines for our proposed novel NLP contributions structuring and graphing scheme. Findings The application of NlpContributionGraph on the 50 articles resulted finally in a dataset of 900 contribution-focused sentences, 4,702 contribution-information-centered phrases, and 2,980 surface-structured triples. The intra-annotation agreement between the first and second stages, in terms of F1-score, was 67.92% for sentences, 41.82% for phrases, and 22.31% for triple statements indicating that with increased granularity of the information, the annotation decision variance is greater. Research limitations NlpContributionGraph has limited scope for structuring scholarly contributions compared with STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Medicine) scholarly knowledge at large. Further, the annotation scheme in this work is designed by only an intra-annotator consensus—a single annotator first annotated the data to propose the initial scheme, following which, the same annotator reannotated the data to normalize the annotations in an adjudication stage. However, the expected goal of this work is to achieve a standardized retrospective model of capturing NLP contributions from scholarly articles. This would entail a larger initiative of enlisting multiple annotators to accommodate different worldviews into a “single” set of structures and relationships as the final scheme. Given that the initial scheme is first proposed and the complexity of the annotation task in the realistic timeframe, our intra-annotation procedure is well-suited. Nevertheless, the model proposed in this work is presently limited since it does not incorporate multiple annotator worldviews. This is planned as future work to produce a robust model. Practical implications We demonstrate NlpContributionGraph data integrated into the Open Research Knowledge Graph (ORKG), a next-generation KG-based digital library with intelligent computations enabled over structured scholarly knowledge, as a viable aid to assist researchers in their day-to-day tasks. Originality/value NlpContributionGraph is a novel scheme to annotate research contributions from NLP articles and integrate them in a knowledge graph, which to the best of our knowledge does not exist in the community. Furthermore, our quantitative evaluations over the two-stage annotation tasks offer insights into task difficulty.

Nanchizi New Courtyard Housing in Beijing: Residents’ Perceptions and Experiences of the Redevelopment

Cultural sustainability is the theoretical framework for this study, which investigates Nanchizi (“South Pond”) new courtyard housing experimental project constructed in Beijing, China, in 2003. It is located in a traditional courtyard house neighborhood right to the east of the Forbidden City, in a culturally and politically sensitive area that the initial scheme had even caught the attention of UNESCO. The redevelopment project has restored numerous single-storey traditional courtyard houses that were in relatively good condition, demolished those in poor condition, and rebuilt two-storey new courtyard housing units with modern facilities and shared courtyards whose style and features resemble some aspects of Beijing siheyuan. This 2007-2008 onsite survey and semi-structured interviews with residents, project architect, and lead developer critically examine this approach to historic preservation in China. The findings reveal that communal courtyards promote social interaction and private courtyards facilitate cultural activities, despite some issues raised by the residents, including irrational unit design and poor construction quality, among others. The study attempts to offer valuable lessons and proposes a new courtyard garden house design template for discussion and future practice.

Commercial-scale aquaculture of tilapia species in Zambia.

This case study describes the piloting and subsequent commercialization of an integrated pig and fish operation in Zambia. The initial scheme began in October 1981 using indigenous Zambian species including Oreochromis andersonii, Oreochromis macrochir and Tilapia rendalli. Different fertilization techniques were trialled, including organic (chicken manure) and inorganic (compound) fertilisers, and different integration systems were tested; ducks over fish and pigs over fish. Over the 29 years the project has been running, the variety of methods originally trialled have been refined to the extremely productive system in place today. Oreochromis niloticus is the dominant fish species produced, and members of the Clarias genus used as the main predator. The hatchery has been intensified (and now incorporates mono-sexing), aeration systems have been implemented in grow-out ponds and a green-water floating fish pellet has been developed. Yields have increased from an initial average of 2.5 to 3 tons/ha to present yields of over 11 tons/ha. The initial five hectare project has grown to over 45 ha of water producing over 600 tons of fish a year, and a stable herd of 200 sows producing in excess of 4100 slaughter stock per annum.

An Interval Fuzzy, Double-Sided, Chance-Constrained Stochastic Programming Model for Planning the Ecological Service Value of Interconnected River Systems

The western region of Jilin Province is an ecologically fragile area with scarce water resources. The effective allocation of the limited water resources in order to obtain a higher ecological service value is an urgent requirement. In this paper, an interval fuzzy, double-sided chance-constrained, stochastic programming (IFDCP) model was used based on the interconnected river system network project in the western Jilin Province. With the objective of maximizing the value of regional ecological services, the water diversion and supplement schemes were optimized and adjusted. The model results showed that the restored water surface area of all lakes and ponds in the western region of Jilin Province was higher than the initially planned scheme in the high flow year. The water surface area fulfilled the minimum constraints, but did not fulfill the initial scheme in the normal flow year. In the low flow year, the lower limit of some of the regions had to be decreased in order to meet the allocation of the limited water resources. The proportion of floodwater resource utilization gradually increased with an increase in the flood amount. The ecological service value produced in the normal and high flow years was found to be higher than the initial scheme. The marsh wetland can produce higher ecological service value. Therefore, the core of the model optimization was introducing more water to the marsh wetland after fulfilling the basic consumption of ponds and the reed wetland. In addition, the IFDCP model was more flexible in water diversion and supplement as compared to other models that had been developed previously.

Towards a Model for a Virtual Reality Experience: The Virtual Subjectiveness

After analyzing how VR experiences are modeled within human computer interaction (CHI) we have found there is a deep theoretical gap. Similarly to how the scientific community has defined CHI models for multimedia applications, it would be very important to have such models for VR—obviously the standpoint cannot be the same because multimedia and VR applications differ in essence. Indeed, there is no formal model to unify the way in which scientists and designers of VR applications define their experiences. More specifically, apart from the isolated initial scheme defined by S.R. Ellis (Ellis, 1991, Computing Systems in Engineering, 2(4) 321–347; Ellis, 1993, Pictorial Communication in Virtual and Real Environment, 3–11), and a low level model defined by Latta and Oberg (Latta & Oberg, 1994, IEEE Computer Graphics & Applications, 14, 23–29), there is no model to fully describe the relationship with which the user will be experiencing the VR application. In this paper we shall explain where exactly we think this gap is found, which elements and concepts are involved in the definition of a model of experience, and finally propose a definition of a model that we think, eventually, will fill this gap.