Evaluation of performance enhancing proxies in internet over satellite

Performance enhancing proxies (PEPs) are widely used to improve the performance of TCP over high delay‐bandwidth product links and links with high error probability. In this paper we analyse the performance of using TCP connection splitting in combination with web caching via traces obtained from a commercial satellite system. We examine the resulting performance gain under different scenarios, including the effect of caching, congestion, random loss and file sizes. We show, via analysing our measurements, that the performance gain from using splitting is highly sensitive to random losses and the number of simultaneous connections, and that such sensitivity is alleviated by caching. On the other hand, the use of a splitting proxy enhances the value of web caching in that cache hits result in much more significant performance improvement over cache misses when TCP splitting is used. We also compare the performance of using different versions of HTTP in such a system. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Nonflat surface level pyramid: a high connectivity multidimensional interconnection network

Parallel machines are extensively used to increase computational speed in solving different scientific problems. Various topologies with different properties have been proposed so far and each one is suitable for specific applications. Pyramid interconnection networks have potentially powerful architecture for many applications such as image processing, visualization, and data mining. The major advantage of pyramids which is important for image processing systems is hierarchical abstracting and transferring the data toward the apex node, just like the human being vision system, which reach to an object from an image. There are rapidly growing applications in which the multidimensional datasets should be processed simultaneously. For such a system, we need a symmetric and expandable interconnection network to process data from different directions and forward them toward the apex. In this paper, a new type of pyramid interconnection network called Non-Flat Surface Level (NFSL) pyramid is proposed. NFSL pyramid interconnection networks constructed by L-level A-lateral-base pyramids that are named basic-pyramids. So, the apex node is surrounded by the level-one surfaces of NFSL that are the first nearest level of nodes to apex in the basic pyramids. Two topologies which are called NFSL-T and NFSL-Q originated from Trilateral-base and Quadrilateral-base basic-pyramids are studied to exemplify the proposed structure. To evaluate the proposed architecture, the most important properties of the networks are determined and compared with those of the standard pyramid networks and its variants.     

Thermo economic evaluation of oxy fuel combustion cycle in Kazeroon power plant considering enhanced oil recovery revenues简

Oxy fuel combustion and conventional cycle （currently working cycle） in Kazeroon plant are modeled using commercial thermodynamic modeling software. Economic evaluation of the two models regarding the resources of transport and injection of carbon dioxide into oil fields at Gachsaran for enhanced oil recovery in the various oil price indices is conducted and indices net present value （NPV） and internal rate of return on investment （IRR） are calculated. The results of the two models reveal that gross efficiency of the oxy fuel cycle is more than reference cycle （62% compared to 49.03%）, but the net efficiency is less （41.85% compared to 47.92%） because of the high-energy consumption of the components, particularly air separation unit （ASU） in the oxy fuel cycle. In this model, pure carbon dioxide with pressure of 20~ 105 Pa and purity of 96.84% was captured. NOx emissions also decrease by 4289.7 tons per year due to separation of nitrogen in ASU. In this model, none of the components of oxy fuel cycle is a major engineering challenge. With increasing oil price, economic justification of oxy fuel combustion model increases. With the price of oil at $ 80 per barrel in mind and $ 31 per ton fines for emissions of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, IRR is the same for both models.     

Solving singular control problems using uniform trigonometrization method

This study investigates the application of a recently developed construct, the uniform trigonometrization method (UTM), to the singular control problems in chemical engineering. The UTM involves minimal modifications to the original problem, thereby generating near-singular control solutions that can be used for conceptual design and serve as an alternate to direct techniques like nested and simultaneous approaches. Eight classical singular control problems with known analytical solutions and three complex singular control problems from chemical engineering domain are solved in this study. The results obtained using the UTM for these problems are found to match well with the literature and are of higher resolution as compared to the results obtained using a direct pseudospectral-based solver. The ability of the UTM to handle complex chemical engineering problems with both singular controls and state path constraints has also been demonstrated in this study.     

Preparation and characterization of poly(vinyl alcohol)/gum tragacanth/cellulose nanocomposite film

The effects of gum tragacanth obtained from two species of Astragalus Gossypinus (GT-G) and A. Parrowianus (GT-P) at two levels of 10% and 30% combined with cellulose nanofibers (CNF; 5%) on the physico-mechanical and structural properties of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) nanocomposite film were investigated in this study. The water solubility and water vapor permeability of the films decreased with increasing the content of both gums, especially in the film containing 30% GT-P. The highest values of the tensile strength (39.3 MPa) and elongation at break (445%) belonged to the treatment containing 10% GT-P (90/10P/0). The FTIR and DSC analyses confirmed good interactions between GT and PVA in the 90/10P/0 treatment. SEM images indicated the dense structure of this film as the optimum treatment. Although the presence of CNF in the films containing GT-G improved some properties, especially the Young modulus, it impaired all the functional properties of nanocomposite GT-P film.     

Stream fusion for multi-stream automatic speech recognition

Multi-stream automatic speech recognition (MS-ASR) has been confirmed to boost the recognition performance in noisy conditions. In this system, the generation and the fusion of the streams are the essential parts and need to be designed in such a way to reduce the effect of noise on the final decision. This paper shows how to improve the performance of the MS-ASR by targeting two questions; (1) How many streams are to be combined, and (2) how to combine them. First, we propose a novel approach based on stream reliability to select the number of streams to be fused. Second, a fusion method based on Parallel Hidden Markov Models is introduced. Applying the method on two datasets (TIMIT and RATS) with different noises, we show an improvement of MS-ASR.     

Related Fritz Carlson type inequalities for Sugeno integrals

In this paper, two general related inequalities to Carlson type inequality for the Sugeno integrals on an abstract fuzzy measure space $(X, \mathcal{F})$ are studied. Several examples are given to illustrate the validity of these inequalities.     

Critical power as an endurance index

The relationship between exhaustion time (t(lim)) and the work performed at the end of constant-power exercises can be described by a linear relationship (Wlim = a + b t(lim)) for work involving the whole body (eg cycling) or part of the body (eg knee extensions). The slope b in the equation is termed the critical power and has been proposed as an index of the capacity to perform work over a long period of time. The first objective of the present study was to compare the values of slopes b calculated from whole-body work of short duration, ie maximal and supra-maximal cycling exercises (slope b1), with the values calculated from the same work, the durations of which were between 3.5 and 35 min (slope b3), as in the protocols used by Scherrer and Monod (1960) for body-part work. Slope b1 was significantly higher than slope b3 in 10 subjects who performed 5 cycling exhausting exercises (60, 73, 86, 100 and 120% of maximal aerobic power (MAP) in watts). Exhaustion times corresponding to power outputs equivalent to b1 and b3 were equal to 29.0 +/- 19.1 min and 48.6 +/- 9.8 min respectively. Moreover, the exhaustion times at 60 and 73%,MAP were significantly correlated with slope b3 (expressed in %MAP) but not with slope b1. Consequently, slope b3 should be considered as the critical power instead of slope b1 as in some studies in the literature (Moritani et al, 1981). The second objective was to study the physiological significance of the critical power (slope b3) of whole-body work (cycling). The workload that corresponded to a lactate steady state was not significantly different from b3 (68.8 +/- 6.0 vs 68.7 +/- 6.3% MAP). Nevertheless, slope b3 represents a workload corresponding to a slight but significant drift of heart rate or oxygen uptake. These results probably explain why b3 is a power which can be maintained for a long time but not beyond about l h in an average subject.     

Low voltage second-order alpha function synapse

This paper introduces a Transimpedance Amplifier (TIA) design capable of producing an incremental input resistance in the ohmic range, for input signals in the microampere range, such as are encountered in the design of instrumentation for electrochemical ampero-metric sensors, optical-sensing and current-mode circuits. This low input-resistance is achieved using an input stage incorporating negative feedback. In a Cadence simulation of an exemplary design using a 180 nm CMOS process and operating with?±?1.8 V supply rails, the input resistance is 1.05 ohms and the power dissipation is 93.6 µW. The bandwidth, for a gain of 100 dBohm, exceeded 9 MHz. For a 1µA, 1 MHz sinusoidal input signal the Total Harmonic Distortion, with this gain, is less than 1%. The input referred noise current with zero photodiode capacitance is 2.09 pA/√Hz and with a photodiode capacitance of 2pF is 8.52 pA/√Hz. Graphical data is presented to show the effect of a photodiode capacitance varying from 0.5 to 2 pF, when the TIA is used in optical sensing. In summary, the required very low input resistance, at a low input current level (µA) is achieved and furthermore a Table is included comparing the characteristics and a widely used Figure of Merit (FOM) for the proposed TIA and similar published low-power TIAs. It is apparent from the Table that the FOM of the proposed TIA is better than the FOMs of the other TIAs mentioned.

     

Selective toxicity of hydroxyl-rich carbon nanodots for cancer research

Nano Research - The toxicity of nanoparticles in a biological system is an integration of effects arising from surface functionality, particle size, ionic dissolution, etc. This complexity suggests...