Finding the best visualization of an ontology

An ontology is a classification model for a given domain. In information retrieval, ontologies are used to perform broad searches. An ontology can be visualized as nodes and edges. Each node represents an element and each edge a relation between a parent and a child element. Working with an ontology becomes easier with a visual representation. An idea is to use the expressive power of 3D representation to provide visualization for the user. In this paper, we propose a new method for positioning the elements of the visualized concept lattice in the 3D world based on operations research (OR) methods. One method uses a discrete location model to create an initial solution and we propose heuristic methods to further improve the visual result. We evaluate the visual results according to our success criteria and the feedback from users. Running times of the heuristic indicate that an improved version should be feasible for on-line processing and what-if analysis of ontologies.     

Isotopic study of the mechanism of ozone formation

The mechanism of ozone formation has been studied using ¹⁶O and ¹⁸O₂. High-resolution microwave spectroscopy was used to measure the amounts of the isotopomeric ozone species formed. The study is hampered by the very rapid exchange process between the reactants, that tends to scramble the isotopes and hence give a 2:1 statistical ratio between the two possible isotopomers. We have found a strategy to come around this difficulty and conclude that the mechanism is a simple end-on-addition.     

Flat Information Geometries in Black Hole Thermodynamics

The Hessian of either the entropy or the energy function can be regarded as a metric on a Gibbs surface. For two parameter families of asymptotically flat black holes in arbitrary dimension one or the other of these metrics are flat, and the state space is a flat wedge. The mathematical reason for this is traced back to the scale invariance of the Einstein–Maxwell equations. The picture of state space that we obtain makes some properties such as the occurence of divergent specific heats transparent.Supported by VR.     

Existence and convergence for quasi‐static evolution in brittle fracture

This paper investigates the mathematical well‐posedness of the variational model of quasi‐static growth for a brittle crack proposed by Francfort and Marigo in [15]. The starting point is a time discretized version of that evolution which results in a sequence of minimization problems of Mumford and Shah type functionals. The natural weak setting is that of special functions of bounded variation, and the main difficulty in showing existence of the time‐continuous quasi‐static growth is to pass to the limit as the time‐discretization step tends to 0. This is performed with the help of a jump transfer theorem which permits, under weak convergence assumptions for a sequence {u_n} of SBV‐functions to its BV‐limit u, to transfer the part of the jump set of any test field that lies in the jump set of u onto that of the converging sequence {u_n}. In particular, it is shown that the notion of minimizer of a Mumford and Shah type functional for its own jump set is stable under weak convergence assumptions. Furthermore, our analysis justifies numerical methods used for computing the time‐continuous quasi‐static evolution. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Growth and long-run stability

This paper analyses the implications of persistent growth upon the stability properties of dynamic models. Besides the traditional concept of asymptotic stability, new stability criteria-strong/weak absolute, strong/weak relative, strong/weak logarithmic stability-are introduced, and global stability conditions for satisfying these criteria are stated for general first-order autonomous differential equations. The conflict between rapidity of growth and the degree of stability is demonstrated. Economic applications of the stability theorems are illustrated within the growth models of Harrod and Solow.