A fundamental task of vision is to group the image elements that belong to one object and to segregate them from other objects and the background. This review provides a conceptual framework of how perceptual grouping may be implemented in the visual cortex. According to this framework, two mechanisms are responsible for perceptual grouping: base-grouping and incremental grouping. Base-grouping...

System setup problems in flexible manufacturing systems deal with short-term planning problems such as part type selection, machine grouping, operation assignment, tooling, fixture and pallet allocation, and routing. In this article, we consider three of the subproblems: part type selection, machine grouping, and loading. We suggest a heuristic approach to solve the subproblems consistently wit...

We propose a compositionality architecture for perceptual organization which establishes a novel, generic, algorithmic framework for feature binding and condensation of semantic information in images. The underlying algorithmic ideas require a hierarchical structure for various types of objects and their groupings, which are guided by gestalt laws from psychology. A rich set of predefined featu...

Highly scalable wavelet video codec is proposed for Internet video streaming applications based on the simplified JPEG-2000 compression core. Most of existing video solutions are utilizing fixed temporal grouping structure, resulting in quality degradation due to structural mismatch with inherent motion and scene change. Thus, by adopting the adaptive frame grouping based on the fast scene chan...

Within the field of Mobile Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning (mCSCL), we are interested in exploring the space of collaborative activities that enable students to practice communication, negotiation and decision-making skills. Collaboration is via learning activities that circumvent the constraints of fixed seating or locations of students. This paper presents one such collaborative lea...

temperature restrictions on aqueous effluents dictate that streams with a temperature higher than the permitted level needed to pass through cooling systems to reduce the effluent temperature before discharge. in this study, by considering the grouping design rules based on pinch technology, an optimum design for a distributed effluent cooling system, has been developed. a counter-flow wet cool...

This paper investigates the rhythmic organization of Mandarin utterances through both corpus analyses and experimental studies. We propose to add a new prosodic unit, the principle prosodic unit (PPU), into the prosodic hierarchy of Mandarin utterances. The key characteristic of PPU is that innerunit words normally have to be spoken closely, while inter-unit grouping is rather flexible. Because...

In multi-task learning, using task grouping structure has been shown to be effective in preventing inappropriate knowledge transfer among unrelated tasks. However, the group structure often has to be predetermined using prior knowledge or heuristics, which has no theoretical guarantee and could lead to unsatisfactory learning performance. In this paper, we present a flexible multi-task learning...

The increased scrutiny of a product’s effects on the environment has led industry to embrace Environment Conscious Design and Manufacture (ECDM) practices. Disassembly of a product at the end of its useful life is an integral part of the ECDM paradigm. Disassembly facilitates the end-of-product life options such as recycling, remanufacture, reuse and safe disposal. As industries take active ste...

We propose a new grouping operator for logic programs based on the bagof predicate. The novelty of our proposal lies in the use of modes, which allows us to prove properties regarding groundness of computed answer substitutions and termination. Moreover, modes allow us to define a somewhat declarative semantics for it and to relax some rather unpractical constraints on variable occurrences whil...