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Volume 10
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Computers, Volume 10, Issue 2 (February 2021) – 11 articles

Cover Story (view full-size image): The adoption of model-driven engineering (MDE) is still rare. Empirical data about the quality of generated code can persuade the industry that the adoption of MDE brings added value. This paper reports the assessment of the quality of the code outputted by xGenerator: a Java platform for the development of enterprise web applications, which implements the MDE paradigm. Two papers by Aniche and his colleagues were selected to carry out the measurements. The former study concerns the metrics for MVC web applications, while the latter presents a catalog of six smells. Both studies fix the metric thresholds by taking into account the MVC software architecture. The results of the empirical assessment, carried out on a real-life project, proved that the quality of the code is high. View this paper
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31 pages, 580 KiB  
Review
Automated Machine Learning for Healthcare and Clinical Notes Analysis
by Akram Mustafa and Mostafa Rahimi Azghadi
Computers 2021, 10(2), 24; https://doi.org/10.3390/computers10020024 - 22 Feb 2021
Cited by 70 | Viewed by 15501
Abstract
Machine learning (ML) has been slowly entering every aspect of our lives and its positive impact has been astonishing. To accelerate embedding ML in more applications and incorporating it in real-world scenarios, automated machine learning (AutoML) is emerging. The main purpose of AutoML [...] Read more.
Machine learning (ML) has been slowly entering every aspect of our lives and its positive impact has been astonishing. To accelerate embedding ML in more applications and incorporating it in real-world scenarios, automated machine learning (AutoML) is emerging. The main purpose of AutoML is to provide seamless integration of ML in various industries, which will facilitate better outcomes in everyday tasks. In healthcare, AutoML has been already applied to easier settings with structured data such as tabular lab data. However, there is still a need for applying AutoML for interpreting medical text, which is being generated at a tremendous rate. For this to happen, a promising method is AutoML for clinical notes analysis, which is an unexplored research area representing a gap in ML research. The main objective of this paper is to fill this gap and provide a comprehensive survey and analytical study towards AutoML for clinical notes. To that end, we first introduce the AutoML technology and review its various tools and techniques. We then survey the literature of AutoML in the healthcare industry and discuss the developments specific to clinical settings, as well as those using general AutoML tools for healthcare applications. With this background, we then discuss challenges of working with clinical notes and highlight the benefits of developing AutoML for medical notes processing. Next, we survey relevant ML research for clinical notes and analyze the literature and the field of AutoML in the healthcare industry. Furthermore, we propose future research directions and shed light on the challenges and opportunities this emerging field holds. With this, we aim to assist the community with the implementation of an AutoML platform for medical notes, which if realized can revolutionize patient outcomes. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Artificial Intelligence for Health)
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Figure 1
<p>The structure of this paper at a glance.</p> Full article ">Figure 2
<p>AutoML model main processes.</p> Full article ">Figure 3
<p>JADBIO AutoML [<a href="#B13-computers-10-00024" class="html-bibr">13</a>]: Dataset meta features are fed into the algorithm and hyperparameters space (AHPS), which feeds the configuration generator (CG) with a list of feature selection and data preprocessing methodologies, relevant algorithms list, and hyperparameters scope, then configuration evaluation protocol (CEP) finds the best machine learning model with the best performance.</p> Full article ">Figure 4
<p>FCBF compares symmetrical uncertainty <math display="inline"><semantics> <mrow> <mi>S</mi> <mi>U</mi> <mo>(</mo> <msub> <mi>F</mi> <mi>p</mi> </msub> <mo>,</mo> <msub> <mi>F</mi> <mi>i</mi> </msub> <mo>)</mo> </mrow> </semantics></math> of each feature <math display="inline"><semantics> <msub> <mi>F</mi> <mi>i</mi> </msub> </semantics></math> with the first feature <math display="inline"><semantics> <msub> <mi>F</mi> <mi>p</mi> </msub> </semantics></math>. If <math display="inline"><semantics> <mrow> <mi>U</mi> <mi>S</mi> <mrow> <mo>(</mo> <msub> <mi>F</mi> <mi>p</mi> </msub> <mo>,</mo> <msub> <mi>F</mi> <mi>i</mi> </msub> <mo>)</mo> </mrow> <mo>⩾</mo> <mi>U</mi> <mi>S</mi> <mrow> <mo>(</mo> <msub> <mi>F</mi> <mi>i</mi> </msub> <mo>,</mo> <mi>y</mi> <mo>)</mo> </mrow> </mrow> </semantics></math>, <math display="inline"><semantics> <msub> <mi>F</mi> <mi>i</mi> </msub> </semantics></math> gets removed.</p> Full article ">Figure 5
<p>The wrapper feature selection method. Here, the search method evaluates the feature subsets using the prediction algorithm and then selects the subset with the best result.</p> Full article ">
12 pages, 5530 KiB  
Article
Providing Consistent State to Distributed Storage System
by Laskhmi Siva Rama Krishna Talluri, Ragunathan Thirumalaisamy, Ramgopal Kota, Ram Prasad Reddy Sadi, Ujjwal KC, Ranesh Kumar Naha and Aniket Mahanti
Computers 2021, 10(2), 23; https://doi.org/10.3390/computers10020023 - 15 Feb 2021
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 4013
Abstract
In cloud storage systems, users must be able to shut down the application when not in use and restart it from the last consistent state when required. BlobSeer is a data storage application, specially designed for distributed systems, that was built as an [...] Read more.
In cloud storage systems, users must be able to shut down the application when not in use and restart it from the last consistent state when required. BlobSeer is a data storage application, specially designed for distributed systems, that was built as an alternative solution for the existing popular open-source storage system-Hadoop Distributed File System (HDFS). In a cloud model, all the components need to stop and restart from a consistent state when the user requires it. One of the limitations of BlobSeer DFS is the possibility of data loss when the system restarts. As such, it is important to provide a consistent start and stop state to BlobSeer components when used in a Cloud environment to prevent any data loss. In this paper, we investigate the possibility of BlobSeer providing a consistent state distributed data storage system with the integration of checkpointing restart functionality. To demonstrate the availability of a consistent state, we set up a cluster with multiple machines and deploy BlobSeer entities with checkpointing functionality on various machines. We consider uncoordinated checkpoint algorithms for their associated benefits over other alternatives while integrating the functionality to various BlobSeer components such as the Version Manager (VM) and the Data Provider. The experimental results show that with the integration of the checkpointing functionality, a consistent state can be ensured for a distributed storage system even when the system restarts, preventing any possible data loss after the system has encountered various system errors and failures. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Integration of Cloud Computing and IoT)
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<p>Framework of BlobSeer distributed file system (DFS) [<a href="#B26-computers-10-00023" class="html-bibr">26</a>].</p> Full article ">Figure 2
<p>Version manager checkpointing.</p> Full article ">Figure 3
<p>After restart of version manager.</p> Full article ">Figure 4
<p>Provider or metadata provider checkpointing.</p> Full article ">Figure 5
<p>After restarting the provider or metadata provider.</p> Full article ">Figure 6
<p>Read operation when version manager is unavailable.</p> Full article ">Figure 7
<p>Read operation when version manager is restarted (without restart approach).</p> Full article ">Figure 8
<p>Read operation when version manager is restarted (with restart approach).</p> Full article ">Figure 9
<p>Read operation performed when the data provider is unavailable.</p> Full article ">Figure 10
<p>Read operation is performed when the data provider is restarted (without restart approach).</p> Full article ">Figure 11
<p>Read operation is performed when the data provider is restarted (with restart approach).</p> Full article ">
24 pages, 6083 KiB  
Article
Symptom Tracking and Experimentation Platform for Covid-19 or Similar Infections
by Nikos Petrellis and George K. Adam
Computers 2021, 10(2), 22; https://doi.org/10.3390/computers10020022 - 7 Feb 2021
Viewed by 3475
Abstract
Remote symptom tracking is critical for the prevention of Covid-19 spread. The qualified medical staff working in the call centers of primary health care units have to take critical decisions often based on vague information about the patient condition. The congestion and the [...] Read more.
Remote symptom tracking is critical for the prevention of Covid-19 spread. The qualified medical staff working in the call centers of primary health care units have to take critical decisions often based on vague information about the patient condition. The congestion and the medical protocols that are constantly changing often lead to incorrect decisions. The proposed platform allows the remote assessment of symptoms and can be useful for patients, health institutes and researchers. It consists of mobile desktop applications and medical sensors connected to cloud infrastructure. The unique features offered by the proposed solution are: (a) dynamic adaptation of Medical Protocols (MP) is supported (for the definition of alert rules, sensor sampling strategy and questionnaire structure) covering different medical cases (pre- or post-hospitalization, vulnerable population, etc.), (b) anonymous medical data can be statistically processed in the context of the research about an infection such as Covid-19, (c) reliable diagnosis is supported since several factors are taken into consideration, (d) the platform can be used to drastically reduce the congestion in various healthcare units. For the demonstration of (b), new classification methods based on similarity metrics have been tested for cough sound classification with an accuracy in the order of 90%. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Real-Time Systems in Emerging IoT-Embedded Applications)
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<p>The Coronario platform architecture.</p> Full article ">Figure 2
<p>Data exchanged between the Coronario modules.</p> Full article ">Figure 3
<p>User App pages. Selection of language (<b>a</b>), connection to the cloud and authentication (<b>b</b>), updating of Medical Protocols (MP) and alerts (<b>c</b>), personal info and habit questionnaire (<b>d</b>), symptom questionnaire with checkboxes (<b>e</b>), symptom questionnaire with analog description (<b>f</b>), geolocation of the user (<b>g</b>) and display on the map (<b>h</b>), sound processing page (<b>i</b>), selection of sound file (<b>j</b>) and a page with notifications to the user (<b>k</b>).</p> Full article ">Figure 4
<p>The main page of the SupervisorApp.</p> Full article ">Figure 5
<p>The sound processor page of the Scientific App.</p> Full article ">Figure 6
<p>List of the supported similarity analysis methods.</p> Full article ">Figure 7
<p>The results of the sound classification.</p> Full article ">Figure 8
<p>Customization of the questionnaire in User App from MP file.</p> Full article ">Figure 9
<p>Converting the Sampling section of the MP file to instructions for the user.</p> Full article ">Figure 10
<p>Sampling scenario for a dialysis patient.</p> Full article ">Figure 11
<p>Sensitivity results corresponding to <a href="#computers-10-00022-t003" class="html-table">Table 3</a>.</p> Full article ">Figure 12
<p>Accuracy results corresponding to <a href="#computers-10-00022-t006" class="html-table">Table 6</a>.</p> Full article ">Figure 13
<p>Sensitivity results.</p> Full article ">Figure 14
<p>Accuracy results.</p> Full article ">
15 pages, 3256 KiB  
Article
Deep Feature Fusion of Fingerprint and Online Signature for Multimodal Biometrics
by Mehwish Leghari, Shahzad Memon, Lachhman Das Dhomeja, Akhtar Hussain Jalbani and Asghar Ali Chandio
Computers 2021, 10(2), 21; https://doi.org/10.3390/computers10020021 - 7 Feb 2021
Cited by 23 | Viewed by 4841
Abstract
The extensive research in the field of multimodal biometrics by the research community and the advent of modern technology has compelled the use of multimodal biometrics in real life applications. Biometric systems that are based on a single modality have many constraints like [...] Read more.
The extensive research in the field of multimodal biometrics by the research community and the advent of modern technology has compelled the use of multimodal biometrics in real life applications. Biometric systems that are based on a single modality have many constraints like noise, less universality, intra class variations and spoof attacks. On the other hand, multimodal biometric systems are gaining greater attention because of their high accuracy, increased reliability and enhanced security. This research paper proposes and develops a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) based model for the feature level fusion of fingerprint and online signature. Two types of feature level fusion schemes for the fingerprint and online signature have been implemented in this paper. The first scheme named early fusion combines the features of fingerprints and online signatures before the fully connected layers, while the second fusion scheme named late fusion combines the features after fully connected layers. To train and test the proposed model, a new multimodal dataset consisting of 1400 samples of fingerprints and 1400 samples of online signatures from 280 subjects was collected. To train the proposed model more effectively, the size of the training data was further increased using augmentation techniques. The experimental results show an accuracy of 99.10% achieved with early feature fusion scheme, while 98.35% was achieved with late feature fusion scheme. Full article
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Figure 1

Figure 1
<p>A view of the Multimodal Biometric Dataset collected for this paper: Fingerprint Samples (left), Online Signature Sample (right).</p> Full article ">Figure 2
<p>Some of the fingerprint images from proposed dataset after binarization, enhancement and thinning. (<b>a</b>) Presents original fingerprint images (<b>b</b>) presents the images after binarization and enhancement and (<b>c</b>) represents their corresponding images after skeletonization.</p> Full article ">Figure 3
<p>Architecture of the proposed deep feature fusion network for the early fusion of fingerprint and online signature recognition. “conv” represents the convolutional layers, “pool” represents the max-pooling layers, “FC” represents the fully connected layers, “drop” represents the dropout layers.</p> Full article ">Figure 4
<p>Architecture of the proposed deep feature fusion network for the late fusion of fingerprint and online signature recognition.</p> Full article ">
18 pages, 1670 KiB  
Article
Empirical Assessment of the Quality of MVC Web Applications Returned by xGenerator
by Gaetanino Paolone, Romolo Paesani, Martina Marinelli and Paolino Di Felice
Computers 2021, 10(2), 20; https://doi.org/10.3390/computers10020020 - 4 Feb 2021
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 4293
Abstract
Many scholars have reported that the adoption of Model Driven Engineering (MDE) in the industry is still marginal. Real-life case studies, completed with convincing empirical data about the quality of the developed source code, is an effective way to persuade the industry that [...] Read more.
Many scholars have reported that the adoption of Model Driven Engineering (MDE) in the industry is still marginal. Real-life case studies, completed with convincing empirical data about the quality of the developed source code, is an effective way to persuade the industry that the adoption of MDE brings an actual added value. This paper reports about the assessment of the quality of the code outputted by xGenerator: a Java technology platform for the development of enterprise Web applications, which implements the MDE paradigm. Two recent papers from Aniche and his colleagues were selected to carry out the measurements. The former study is about metrics and thresholds for MVC Web applications, while the latter presents a catalog of six smells tailored to MVC Web applications. A big merit of both of these proposals is that they fix the metric thresholds by taking into account the MVC software architecture. The results of the empirical assessment, carried out on a real-life project, proved that the quality of the code is high. Full article
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Figure 1

Figure 1
<p>The standard Model-View-Controller (MVC) pattern of Web applications.</p> Full article ">Figure 2
<p>The Use Case (UC) abstraction levels across the Model Driven Architecture (MDA) layers of the Software Development Process in [<a href="#B14-computers-10-00020" class="html-bibr">14</a>].</p> Full article ">Figure 3
<p>Overview of the MDA transformational approach in [<a href="#B14-computers-10-00020" class="html-bibr">14</a>].</p> Full article ">Figure 4
<p>The architecture of the enterprise Web applications developed with <tt>xGenerator</tt>.</p> Full article ">Figure 5
<p>The Spring MVC architecture as depicted in [<a href="#B16-computers-10-00020" class="html-bibr">16</a>].</p> Full article ">Figure 6
<p>The Business UC Diagram.</p> Full article ">Figure 7
<p>The Business UC Realization Diagram.</p> Full article ">Figure 8
<p>The Business UC Realization the Business Actor <tt>Bank</tt> communicates with.</p> Full article ">Figure 9
<p>The Business UC Realizations the Business Worker <tt>Customer</tt> communicates with.</p> Full article ">Figure 10
<p>The Business UC Realizations the Business Actor <tt>ATM Technician</tt> communicates with.</p> Full article ">Figure 11
<p>The Business object diagram.</p> Full article ">Figure 12
<p>The Bean class diagram.</p> Full article ">Figure 13
<p>The database of the <tt>ATMProject</tt>.</p> Full article ">Figure 14
<p>The classes of the <tt>ATMProject</tt>.</p> Full article ">Figure 15
<p>The graphical output of <tt>Springlint</tt> with the metrics of <a href="#computers-10-00020-t002" class="html-table">Table 2</a> for the <tt>Controller</tt> classes.</p> Full article ">Figure 16
<p>The graphical output of <tt>Springlint</tt> with the metrics of <a href="#computers-10-00020-t002" class="html-table">Table 2</a> for the <tt>Entity</tt> classes.</p> Full article ">Figure 17
<p>The graphical output of <tt>Springlint</tt> with the metrics of <a href="#computers-10-00020-t002" class="html-table">Table 2</a> for the <tt>Repository</tt> classes.</p> Full article ">
15 pages, 4922 KiB  
Article
The Effect of a Phase Change on the Temperature Evolution during the Deposition Stage in Fused Filament Fabrication
by Sidonie F. Costa, Fernando M. Duarte and José A. Covas
Computers 2021, 10(2), 19; https://doi.org/10.3390/computers10020019 - 1 Feb 2021
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3626
Abstract
Additive Manufacturing Techniques such as Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) produce 3D parts with complex geometries directly from a computer model without the need of using molds and tools, by gradually depositing material(s), usually in layers. Due to the rapid growth of these techniques, [...] Read more.
Additive Manufacturing Techniques such as Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) produce 3D parts with complex geometries directly from a computer model without the need of using molds and tools, by gradually depositing material(s), usually in layers. Due to the rapid growth of these techniques, researchers have been increasingly interested in the availability of strategies, models or data that may assist process optimization. In fact, 3D printed parts often exhibit limited mechanical performance, which is usually the result of poor bonding between adjacent filaments. In turn, the latter is influenced by the temperature field history during deposition. This study aims at evaluating the influence of the phase change from the melt to the solid state undergone by semi-crystalline polymers such as Polylactic Acid (PLA), on the heat transfer during the deposition stage. The energy equation considering solidification is solved analytically and then inserted into a MatLab® code to model cooling in FFF. The deposition and cooling of simple geometries is studied first, in order to assess the differences in cooling of amorphous and semi-crystalline polymers. Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS) was taken as representing an amorphous material. Then, the deposition and cooling of a realistic 3D part is investigated, and the influence of the build orientation is discussed. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Selected Papers from ICCSA 2020)
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Graphical abstract

Graphical abstract
Full article ">Figure 1
<p>Algorithm to predict temperatures and adhesion of amorphous parts made by FFF.</p> Full article ">Figure 2
<p>Schematics of the typical temperature evolution (cooling) when a phase change occurs.</p> Full article ">Figure 3
<p>Simplified flowchart of the section of the code dealing with the phase change.</p> Full article ">Figure 4
<p>Section of the code dealing with the phase change.</p> Full article ">Figure 4 Cont.
<p>Section of the code dealing with the phase change.</p> Full article ">Figure 5
<p>(<b>a</b>) Deposition of a single filament; (<b>b</b>) Deposition of a part made of 10 filaments.</p> Full article ">Figure 6
<p>Evolution of temperature with time for a single PLA filament with and without phase change (at <span class="html-italic">x</span> = 30 mm from the edge).</p> Full article ">Figure 7
<p>Evolution of temperature with time for filament no. 2 (PLA) with and without phase change (at <span class="html-italic">x</span> = 30 mm from the edge).</p> Full article ">Figure 8
<p>Evolution of temperature with time for filament no. 2 for ABS and PLA (at <span class="html-italic">x</span> = 30 mm from the edge).</p> Full article ">Figure 9
<p>Selected geometry, deposition sequence and build orientations.</p> Full article ">Figure 10
<p>Temperature evolution during 3800 s of the cross-section at the middle of the central filament of the 20th layer (counting from the support) for the six build orientations, for ABS and PLA. The curves follow the evolution with time of temperature from the beginning of the deposition of the filament. The actual instants where the deposition began for each build orientation are identified in the respective labels.</p> Full article ">Figure 11
<p>Temperature evolution of the cross-section at the middle of the central filament of the 20th layer (counting from the support) for the six build orientations (P1 to P6), for ABS and PLA. The curves follow the evolution with time of temperature from the beginning of the deposition of the part. The insets are magnifications of the progress of temperature during short time periods. A, B and C identify the peaks used to prepare <a href="#computers-10-00019-t004" class="html-table">Table 4</a>.</p> Full article ">Figure 11 Cont.
<p>Temperature evolution of the cross-section at the middle of the central filament of the 20th layer (counting from the support) for the six build orientations (P1 to P6), for ABS and PLA. The curves follow the evolution with time of temperature from the beginning of the deposition of the part. The insets are magnifications of the progress of temperature during short time periods. A, B and C identify the peaks used to prepare <a href="#computers-10-00019-t004" class="html-table">Table 4</a>.</p> Full article ">Figure 11 Cont.
<p>Temperature evolution of the cross-section at the middle of the central filament of the 20th layer (counting from the support) for the six build orientations (P1 to P6), for ABS and PLA. The curves follow the evolution with time of temperature from the beginning of the deposition of the part. The insets are magnifications of the progress of temperature during short time periods. A, B and C identify the peaks used to prepare <a href="#computers-10-00019-t004" class="html-table">Table 4</a>.</p> Full article ">
26 pages, 3769 KiB  
Article
Network Analysis of Local Gene Regulators in Arabidopsis thaliana under Spaceflight Stress
by Vidya Manian, Harshini Gangapuram, Jairo Orozco, Heeralal Janwa and Carlos Agrinsoni
Computers 2021, 10(2), 18; https://doi.org/10.3390/computers10020018 - 28 Jan 2021
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 4197
Abstract
Spaceflight microgravity affects normal plant growth in several ways. The transcriptional dataset of the plant model organism Arabidopsis thaliana grown in the international space station is mined using graph-theoretic network analysis approaches to identify significant gene transcriptions in microgravity essential for the plant’s [...] Read more.
Spaceflight microgravity affects normal plant growth in several ways. The transcriptional dataset of the plant model organism Arabidopsis thaliana grown in the international space station is mined using graph-theoretic network analysis approaches to identify significant gene transcriptions in microgravity essential for the plant’s survival and growth in altered environments. The photosynthesis process is critical for the survival of the plants in spaceflight under different environmentally stressful conditions such as lower levels of gravity, lesser oxygen availability, low atmospheric pressure, and the presence of cosmic radiation. Lasso regression method is used for gene regulatory network inferencing from gene expressions of four different ecotypes of Arabidopsis in spaceflight microgravity related to the photosynthetic process. The individual behavior of hub-genes and stress response genes in the photosynthetic process and their impact on the whole network is analyzed. Logistic regression on centrality measures computed from the networks, including average shortest path, betweenness centrality, closeness centrality, and eccentricity, and the HITS algorithm is used to rank genes and identify interactor or target genes from the networks. Through the hub and authority gene interactions, several biological processes associated with photosynthesis and carbon fixation genes are identified. The altered conditions in spaceflight have made all the ecotypes of Arabidopsis sensitive to dehydration-and-salt stress. The oxidative and heat-shock stress-response genes regulate the photosynthesis genes that are involved in the oxidation-reduction process in spaceflight microgravity, enabling the plant to adapt successfully to the spaceflight environment. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Methods for Information Extraction in Medicine and Space Biology)
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Figure 1
<p>Flow chart for GRN construction and network analysis.</p> Full article ">Figure 2
<p>The photosynthetic and carbon fixation GRN of Col-0 ecotype in spaceflight microgravity and ground control. (<b>A</b>) Photosynthetic GRN of Col-0 ecotype in spaceflight microgravity. (<b>B</b>) Photosynthetic GRN of Col-0 ecotype in ground control. (<b>C</b>) Carbon fixation GRN of Col-0 ecotype in spaceflight microgravity. (<b>D</b>) Carbon fixation GRN of Col-0 ecotype in ground control.</p> Full article ">Figure 2 Cont.
<p>The photosynthetic and carbon fixation GRN of Col-0 ecotype in spaceflight microgravity and ground control. (<b>A</b>) Photosynthetic GRN of Col-0 ecotype in spaceflight microgravity. (<b>B</b>) Photosynthetic GRN of Col-0 ecotype in ground control. (<b>C</b>) Carbon fixation GRN of Col-0 ecotype in spaceflight microgravity. (<b>D</b>) Carbon fixation GRN of Col-0 ecotype in ground control.</p> Full article ">Figure 3
<p>Fold-change analyses of the genes in the different ecotypes of <span class="html-italic">Arabidopsis</span> in spaceflight microgravity when compared to ground control. (<b>A</b>) Fold-change for photosynthetic hub-genes for spaceflight microgravity vs. ground control. (<b>B</b>) Fold-change for carbon fixation hub-genes for spaceflight microgravity vs. ground control. (<b>C</b>) Fold-change for photosynthetic stress-response genes for spaceflight microgravity vs. ground control. (<b>D</b>) Fold-change for carbon fixation stress-response genes for spaceflight microgravity vs. ground control.</p> Full article ">Figure 3 Cont.
<p>Fold-change analyses of the genes in the different ecotypes of <span class="html-italic">Arabidopsis</span> in spaceflight microgravity when compared to ground control. (<b>A</b>) Fold-change for photosynthetic hub-genes for spaceflight microgravity vs. ground control. (<b>B</b>) Fold-change for carbon fixation hub-genes for spaceflight microgravity vs. ground control. (<b>C</b>) Fold-change for photosynthetic stress-response genes for spaceflight microgravity vs. ground control. (<b>D</b>) Fold-change for carbon fixation stress-response genes for spaceflight microgravity vs. ground control.</p> Full article ">Figure 4
<p>Outdegree distributions of photosynthesis and carbon fixation genes in all ecotypes in spaceflight microgravity and ground control. (<b>A</b>) Outdegree distributions of photosynthesis and carbon fixation hub-genes. (<b>B</b>) Outdegree distributions of photosynthesis and carbon fixation stress response genes.</p> Full article ">Figure 5
<p>Average shortest path lengths of photosynthesis and carbon fixation genes in all ecotypes in spaceflight microgravity and ground control. (<b>A</b>) Average shortest path lengths of photosynthesis and carbon fixation hub-genes. (<b>B</b>) Average shortest path lengths of photosynthesis and carbon fixation stress response genes.</p> Full article ">Figure 6
<p>Betweenness centrality of photosynthesis and carbon fixation genes in all ecotypes in spaceflight microgravity and ground control. (<b>A</b>) Betweenness centrality of photosynthesis and carbon fixation hub-genes. (<b>B</b>) Betweenness centrality of photosynthesis and carbon fixation stress response genes.</p> Full article ">Figure 7
<p>Closeness centrality of photosynthesis and carbon fixation genes in all ecotypes in spaceflight microgravity and ground control. (<b>A</b>) Closeness centrality of photosynthesis and carbon fixation hub-genes. (<b>B</b>) Closeness centrality of photosynthesis and carbon fixation stress response genes.</p> Full article ">Figure 8
<p>Eccentricity of photosynthesis and carbon fixation genes in all ecotypes in spaceflight microgravity and ground control. (<b>A</b>) The eccentricity of photosynthesis and carbon fixation hub-genes. (<b>B</b>) The eccentricity of photosynthesis and carbon fixation stress response genes.</p> Full article ">Figure 9
<p>Sub-network of interactions of HSP70b and RCI3 genes with the photosynthesis genes.</p> Full article ">Figure 10
<p>Biological processes associated with photosynthesis and carbon fixation genes. Two pathways (nodes) are connected if they share 20% (default) or more genes. Darker nodes are more significantly enriched gene sets. Bigger nodes represent larger gene sets. Thicker edges represent more overlapped genes.</p> Full article ">Figure 11
<p>Comparison of the stress response genes in photosynthesis and carbon fixation processes of <span class="html-italic">Arabidopsis</span> under different stress conditions.</p> Full article ">
19 pages, 557 KiB  
Article
Hardware–Software Co-Design for Decimal Multiplication
by Riaz-ul-haque Mian, Michihiro Shintani and Michiko Inoue
Computers 2021, 10(2), 17; https://doi.org/10.3390/computers10020017 - 27 Jan 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 4254
Abstract
Decimal arithmetic using software is slow for very large-scale applications. On the other hand, when hardware is employed, extra area overhead is required. A balanced strategy can overcome both issues. Our proposed methods are compliant with the IEEE 754-2008 standard for decimal floating-point [...] Read more.
Decimal arithmetic using software is slow for very large-scale applications. On the other hand, when hardware is employed, extra area overhead is required. A balanced strategy can overcome both issues. Our proposed methods are compliant with the IEEE 754-2008 standard for decimal floating-point arithmetic and combinations of software and hardware. In our methods, software with some area-efficient decimal component (hardware) is used to design the multiplication process. Analysis in a RISC-V-based integrated co-design evaluation framework reveals that the proposed methods provide several Pareto points for decimal multiplication solutions. The total execution process is sped up by 1.43× to 2.37× compared with a full software solution. In addition, 7–97% less hardware is required compared with an area-efficient full hardware solution. Full article
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<p>Area-delay relationship with precision for decimal arithmetic.</p> Full article ">Figure 2
<p>Decimal multiplication process. Hardware–software co-design solutions are considered in the dotted rectangle in this paper.</p> Full article ">Figure 3
<p>Software decimal multiplication.</p> Full article ">Figure 4
<p>Hardware decimal multiplication.</p> Full article ">Figure 5
<p>Relationship among binary-coded decimal (BCD), densely packed decimal (DPD), and base-billion formats.</p> Full article ">Figure 6
<p>Flow of the proposed methods: (<b>a</b>) Method-1, (<b>b</b>) Method-2, (<b>c</b>) Method-3, and (<b>d</b>) Method-4. White and gray blocks indicate software parts and hardware parts, respectively.</p> Full article ">Figure 7
<p>The 64-bit partial product selector.</p> Full article ">Figure 8
<p>Parallel Accumulator for 64-bit operation.</p> Full article ">Figure 9
<p>Base-billion to BCD converter.</p> Full article ">Figure 10
<p>Overview of RISC-V-based evaluation environment. The dotted region is the framework proposed in Reference [<a href="#B21-computers-10-00017" class="html-bibr">21</a>].</p> Full article ">Figure 11
<p>High-level architecture of Rocket Chip with Rocket Custom Coprocessor (RoCC) interface with accelerator.</p> Full article ">Figure 12
<p>Execution cycle distributions for the proposed methods and the software solution for a 64-bit format. Curves of probability density functions for the proposed methods and software and full hardware solutions are depicted.</p> Full article ">Figure 13
<p>Comparison of the execution cycles for different input types. Each bar shows the average execution cycle for each pair of solution and input type. The black color indicates the cycles used by the hardware, e.g., the bar with blue and black colors shows the total execution time for Method-1, and the black area shows the cycles for the hardware.</p> Full article ">Figure 14
<p>Area-delay tradeoff for the 64-bit precision.</p> Full article ">
15 pages, 289 KiB  
Review
A Review of Agent-Based Programming for Multi-Agent Systems
by Rafael C. Cardoso and Angelo Ferrando
Computers 2021, 10(2), 16; https://doi.org/10.3390/computers10020016 - 27 Jan 2021
Cited by 71 | Viewed by 12017
Abstract
Intelligent and autonomous agents is a subarea of symbolic artificial intelligence where these agents decide, either reactively or proactively, upon a course of action by reasoning about the information that is available about the world (including the environment, the agent itself, and other [...] Read more.
Intelligent and autonomous agents is a subarea of symbolic artificial intelligence where these agents decide, either reactively or proactively, upon a course of action by reasoning about the information that is available about the world (including the environment, the agent itself, and other agents). It encompasses a multitude of techniques, such as negotiation protocols, agent simulation, multi-agent argumentation, multi-agent planning, and many others. In this paper, we focus on agent programming and we provide a systematic review of the literature in agent-based programming for multi-agent systems. In particular, we discuss both veteran (still maintained) and novel agent programming languages, their extensions, work on comparing some of these languages, and applications found in the literature that make use of agent programming. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Feature Paper in Computers)
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<p>The BDI model.</p> Full article ">Figure 2
<p>Systematic review flow diagram.</p> Full article ">
16 pages, 3102 KiB  
Article
A Compromise Programming for Multi-Objective Task Assignment Problem
by Son Tung Ngo, Jafreezal Jaafar, Izzatdin Abdul Aziz and Bui Ngoc Anh
Computers 2021, 10(2), 15; https://doi.org/10.3390/computers10020015 - 25 Jan 2021
Cited by 27 | Viewed by 6479
Abstract
The problem of scheduling is an area that has attracted a lot of attention from researchers for many years. Its goal is to optimize resources in the system. The lecturer’s assigning task is an example of the timetabling problem, a class of scheduling. [...] Read more.
The problem of scheduling is an area that has attracted a lot of attention from researchers for many years. Its goal is to optimize resources in the system. The lecturer’s assigning task is an example of the timetabling problem, a class of scheduling. This study introduces a mathematical model to assign constrained tasks (the time and required skills) to university lecturers. Our model is capable of generating a calendar that maximizes faculty expectations. The formulated problem is in the form of a multi-objective problem that requires the trade-off between two or more conflicting objectives to indicate the optimal solution. We use the compromise programming approach to the multi-objective problem to solve this. We then proposed the new version of the Genetic Algorithm to solve the introduced model. Finally, we tested the model and algorithm with real scheduling data, including 139 sections of 17 subjects to 27 lecturers in 10 timeslots. Finally, a web application supports the decision-maker to visualize and manipulate the obtained results. Full article
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<p>The teacher assignment problem.</p> Full article ">Figure 2
<p>Basic workflow of the proposed Genetic Algorithm’s scheme.</p> Full article ">Figure 3
<p>Webpage to collect the preferences of a particular lecturer on the subjects and time-slots.</p> Full article ">Figure 4
<p>Fitness values of GA over several executions.</p> Full article ">Figure 5
<p>Execution time of GA over several executions.</p> Full article ">Figure 6
<p>Fitness values changing over generations.</p> Full article ">Figure 7
<p>Satisfaction degrees of the lecturers. (<b>A</b>) Satisfaction degree on the assigned subjects. (<b>B</b>) Satisfaction degree on the assigned timeslots. (<b>C</b>) Satisfaction degree on the assigned number of classes. (<b>D</b>) The returned values of the part of the day function (pod).</p> Full article ">Figure 8
<p>Obtained solution visualized by a directed graph.</p> Full article ">Figure 9
<p>Global Solution obtained by Brute Force.</p> Full article ">Figure 10
<p>The webpage allows the decision-maker to customize the generated schedule.</p> Full article ">
3 pages, 158 KiB  
Editorial
Acknowledgment to Reviewers of Computers in 2020
by Computers Editorial Office
Computers 2021, 10(2), 14; https://doi.org/10.3390/computers10020014 - 22 Jan 2021
Viewed by 2079
Abstract
Peer review is the driving force of journal development, and reviewers are gatekeepers who ensure that Computers maintains its standards for the high quality of its published papers [...] Full article
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