Extracting safe thread schedules from incomplete model checking results

Model checkers frequently fail to completely verify a concurrent program, even if partial-order reduction is applied. The verification engineer is left in doubt whether the program is safe and the effort toward verifying the program is wasted. We present a technique that uses the results of such incomplete verification attempts to construct a (fair) scheduler that allows the safe execution of the partially verified concurrent program. This scheduler restricts the execution to schedules that have been proven safe (and prevents executions that were found to be erroneous). We evaluate the performance of our technique and show how it can be improved using partial-order reduction. While constraining the scheduler results in a considerable performance penalty in general, we show that in some cases our approach—somewhat surprisingly—even leads to faster executions.

     

Integration of textual cues for fine-grained image captioning using deep CNN and LSTM

Neural Computing and Applications - The automatic narration of a natural scene is an important trait in artificial intelligence that unites computer vision and natural language processing. Caption...     

Signature of Meyer-Neldel compensation rule in iso-conversional crystallization under the influence of γ-ray irradiation

In the current article, the influence of three different doses of gamma-rays on the thermally assisted crystal growth in a novel ternary chalcogenide glassy Se₇₈Te₂₀Sn₂ semiconductor has been reported in terms of the re-crystallization. The iso-conversional kinetic approach is used in the present study. The variation of crystal growth rate with temperature obeys the Arrhenius relation for all the doses of gamma-rays irradiation. Further analysis confirms that pre-factor K₀ of crystal growth rate and the corresponding energy ΔE involved in thermally governed crystallization follows Meyer-Neldel compensation rule (MNCR). Further, we have observed a linear correlation i.e., Further Meyer-Neldel compensation rule (FMNCR) between Meyer-Neldel pre-factor K₀₀ and Meyer-Neldel energy kT₀. The observed correlations between these significant parameters (MNCR between K₀ & ΔE and FMNCR between K₀₀ & kT₀) may open a new gateway for revealing the external effects on crystal growth rate during the iso-conversional analysis of crystallization kinetics.     

Analytical approach towards available bandwidth estimation in wireless ad hoc networks

Wireless Networks - Since 1999 IEEE 802.11 has become a dominating wireless technology for providing WLAN in both public and private places. The protocol has evolved with time and the current...     

Effect of 100 KeV Ar+ ion beam irradiation on ZnO thin films – Influence of morphology vis-a-vis electrode/electrolyte interface and its impact on photoelectrochemical water splitting

The present study attempts quantitative determination of changes in the morphological surface features viz. fractal dimension, lower and upper cut off length scale through Power Spectral Density analysis prior to and after irradiation of 100 KeV Ar⁺ ion beam at incidence angles of 0°, 40° and 60° on ZnO thin films. All the unirradiated and irradiated samples are subjected to photoelectrochemical characterization and a correlation between photoelectrochemical performance and morphological parameters is established. Sample irradiated at 40° angle at the fluence of 5 × 10¹⁶ ions/cm² is found to possess maximum fractal dimension of 2.72, lower and upper cut off length scale of 3.16 nm and 63.00 nm respectively. This sample exhibits maximum photocurrent density of 3.19 mA/cm² and applied bias photon-to-current efficiency of 1.12% at 1.23 V/RHE. Hydrogen gas collected for duration of 1 h for the same sample was ~4.83 mLcm^?2.     

A Particle Grey Wolf Hybrid Algorithm for Workflow Scheduling in Cloud Computing

Wireless Personal Communications - A workflow consists of a set of tasks that are dependent on each other and scheduling these dependent tasks to the virtual machines is one of the complex problems...     

Ultrasonic study of silver nanoparticles for various applications

ABSTRACT

Acoustic properties of aqueous solution of AgNO₃ at various concentrations, in presence of Tannic Acid at a fixed concentration (1 × 10^?4 M/L) are studied by ultrasonic method. Tannic acid, a compound derived from plant extracts, is used as the reducing and stabilizing agent to synthesize Ag-NPs and also enables variation of the mean size of Ag-NPs by taking a suitable concentration ratio of AgNO₃ and Tannic acid in distilled water. Ag-NPs are synthesized at room temperature and further stabilized with the aid of sonication. The temperature dependence of acoustic properties is studied and discussed in this paper. Acoustic properties were measured using multi-frequency nano fluid interferometer. It is found that there is a systematic increase in ultrasonic velocity upto 60 ^oC for almost all the concentrations studied and thereafter its value decreases, while this velocity decreases with increasing concentration of AgNO₃ in solution at higher concentrations only. This study is important to find optimum concentration required for a particular application. The present result will be useful as data for various applications.     

Optimal placement of piezoelectric patches over a smart structure

Control of structural vibrations has significant applications in manufacturing, infrastructure engineering, aerospace engineering and various consumer products. In last two decades, considerable attention has been focused to suppress structural vibrations using active vibration control technique. Various researchers have proposed various optimization criteria for optimal placement of piezoelectric patches over a smart structure to suppress vibrations using various optimization techniques. This paper presents a review of various optimization criteria and techniques that have been used by various researchers in the field of smart structures. Mathematical expressions of objective functions of twelve optimization criteria have been presented and their justifications have been reasoned. Step by step procedures of commonly used optimization techniques have also been presented.     

Knowledge contribution in information system development teams: An empirical research from a social cognitive perspective

The extent of knowledge contribution is the key to the success of system development projects. Knowledge contribution refers to the knowledge that is provided to increase a team's efficiency and achieve its goal. This study proposes a research model exploring factors that influence the extent of knowledge contribution from a social cognitive perspective. These factors include the team relationship commitment, team relationship norms, and awareness of expertise location. Additionally, this study argues that a team's awareness of expertise location mediates the effects of affective commitment and relationship norms on knowledge contribution. The result shows that the awareness of expertise location plays a crucial mediating role in the relationships between the two socially prescribed motivations and knowledge contribution. Moreover, team relationship commitment has an important impact on team established relational norms.