Search and optimization in the context of blackbox objective function evaluation subject to blackbox constraints satisfaction is the thesis of this work. The SEARCH (Search Envisioned As Relation and Class Hierarchizing) framework introduced by Kargupta (1995) offered an alternate perspective of...

The efficient characterization of nonlinear systems is an important goal of vibration and model testing. The authors build a nonlinear system model based on the acceleration time series response of a single input, multiple output system. A series of local linear models are used as a template to...

In most probabilistic risk assessments, there is a subset of accident scenarios that involves physical challenges to the system, such as high heat rates and/or accelerations. The system`s responses to these challenges may be complicated, and their prediction may require the use of long-running...

The contract services department of a U.S. Department of Energy research laboratory is radically revising how it serves its primary customers--the laboratory research and development staff. The department provides services that include contract research initiation (proposal preparation and...

Change is the norm of the 1990s, and it will continue to be a major factor in running a company and/or organization as the coming decades unfold. The former cycle of change followed by stability is gone; change as a continuous reality is the new cycle. The necessity to be customer-driven implies...

The Department awards grants and cooperative agreements and contracts to sponsor scientific research at colleges and universities. Compared to cooperative agreements, contracts, particularly management and operating contracts, often impose duplicative and/or unnecessary administrative and...

This paper explores two issues on TOP performance over ATM networks: ABR parameter tuning and performance comparison of binary mode ABR with enhanced UBR services. Of the fifteen parameters defined for ABR, two parameters dominate binary mode ABR performance: Rate Increase Factor (RIF) and Rate...