Positive temperature dependence of the electron impact ionizationcoefficient in In0.53Ga0.47As/InP HBTs

Impact ionization is a major limiting factor to the maximum operating voltage of InGaAs-based, high-speed transistors. In this work, data on the positive temperature dependence of the electron impact ionization coefficient α_n in In_0.53Ga_0.47As at medium-low electric fields are reported for the first time. The increase of α_n with temperature is opposite to the behavior normally observed in most semiconductors. This anomalous behavior implies the onset of a positive feedback between power dissipation and avalanche generation which may adversely affect the power handling capability of In_0.53Ga _0.47As-based devices, and which should be taken into account in device thermal modeling. In the experimental procedure, based on the measurement of the multiplication factor M-1 in npn In_0.53Ga _0.47As/InP Heterojunction Bipolar Transistors (HBT), particular care has been taken in order to rule out possible spurious, temperature-dependent contributions to the measured multiplication current     

Application of neural networks and machine learning in networkdesign

Communication network design is becoming increasingly complex, involving making networks more usable, affordable, and reliable. To help with this, we have proposed an expert network designer (END) for configuring, modeling, simulating, and evaluating large structured computer networks, employing artificial intelligence, knowledge representation, and network simulation tools. We present a neural network/knowledge acquisition machine-learning approach to improve the END's efficiency in solving the network design problem and to extend its scope to acquire new networking technologies, learn new network design techniques, and update the specifications of existing technologies     

Series equivalence/operation of current-controlled boost-typesingle-phase voltage source converters for bidirectional power flow

Single-phase voltage source power converters (VSCs) under consideration are AC-DC current-controlled boost-type power converters with bidirectional power-handling capability. Equivalence between two series-connected two-level power converters and a single three-level power converter is considered here. Further considered is the series operation of three-level power converters. Simulation results and experimental verification for both are provided. Economical configurations of three-level power converters leading to multilevel waveforms are presented thereafter     

Conditions for reliable dewatering systems based on voidless drainage in slightly permeable soils

Conclusions 1. Use of dewatering systems based on voidless drainage is most effective when dewatering slightly permeable soils in regions with a deep seasonal frost. 2. Two-story drainage with the upper and lower stories spaced 30 m apart accelerates the discharge of gravitational water from the arable layer. Results of observations on two-story drainage in experimental-production sections indicated that it discharges 2 – 3.8 times more water than systematic tubular drainage with an interdrain spacing of 10 m and a 0.2-m thick three-dimensional filter of a sandy-gravelly mixture. 3. It is recommended to use crushed stone and porous-clay gravel with a fineness of 10 – 20 mm as a filler. In that case, protection of the drain filler is, as a rule, required only from the intrusion of soil from above during construction in cohesive soils with a plasticity indexW _p≥7. 4. seepage rate in a voidless drain should be lower than the scouring velocity for the soil in which the voidless drainage is placed. In the opposite case, it is necessary to lower the grade of the drains or select a filler gradation such that the seepage rate in the drain be lower than the scouring velocity. Translated from Gidrotekhnicheskoe Stroitel’stvo, No. 8, pp. 41–43, August, 1998.     

Cultural adaptation and information design: two contrasting views

Approaches to using visual language in a cultural context can be placed on a continuum, with global (universal) on one end and culture-focused on the other. Each approach reveals contrasting assumptions about three central design issues: perception, aesthetics and pragmatics. The global approach is characterized by attempts to invent an objective, universal visual language or to define such a language through perceptual principles and empirical research. The culture-focused perspective is founded on the principle that visual communication is intimately bound to experience and hence can function only within a given cultural context, to which designers must be sensitive. While the modernist, universal approach has been losing ground to the postmodern, culture-focused approach, the two complement each other in a variety of ways and, depending on the rhetorical situation, offer pragmatic benefits and drawbacks     

Function materialization in object bases: design, realization, andevaluation

View materialization is a well-known optimization technique of relational database systems. We present a similar, yet more powerful, optimization concept for object-oriented data models: function materialization. Exploiting the object-oriented paradigm-namely, classification, object identity, and encapsulation-facilitates a rather easy incorporation of function materialization into (existing) object-oriented systems. Only those types (classes) whose instances are involved in some materialization are appropriately modified and recompiled, thus leaving the remainder of the object system invariant. Furthermore, the exploitation of encapsulation (information hiding) and object identity provides for additional performance tuning measures that drastically decrease the invalidation and rematerialization overhead incurred by updates in the object base. First, it allows us to cleanly separate the object instances that are irrelevant for the materialized functions from those that are involved in the materialization of some function result, and this to penalize only those involved objects upon update. Second, the principle of information hiding facilitates fine-grained control over the invalidation of precomputed results. Based on specifications given by the data type implementor, the system can exploit operational semantics to better distinguish between update operations that invalidate a materialized result and those that require no rematerialization. The paper concludes with a quantitative analysis of function materialization based on two sample performance benchmarks obtained from our experimental object base system GOM     

Site and query scheduling policies in multicomputer databasesystems

We study run-time issues, such as site allocation and query scheduling policies, in executing read-only queries in a hierarchical, distributed memory, multicomputer system. The particular architecture considered is based on the hypercube interconnection. The data are stored in a base cube, which is controlled by a control cube and host node hierarchy. Input query trees are transformed into operation sequence trees, and the operation sequences become the units of scheduling. These sequences are scheduled dynamically at run-time. Algorithms for dynamic site allocation are provided. Several query scheduling policies that support interquery concurrency are also studied. Average query completion times and initiation delays are obtained for the various policies using simulations     

Partial indexing for nonuniform data distributions in relationalDBMS's

It is well known that the effectiveness of relational database systems is greatly dependent on the efficiency of the data access strategies. For this reason, much work has been devoted to the development of new access techniques, supported by adequate access structures such as the B⁺trees. The effectiveness of the B ⁺tree also depends on the data distribution characteristics; in particular, poor performance results when the data show strong key value distribution unbalancing. The aim of this paper is to present the partial index: a new access structure that is useful in such cases of unbalancing, as an alternative to the B⁺tree unclustered indexes. The access structures are built in the physical design phase, and at execution (or compilation) time, the optimizer chooses the most efficient access path. Thus, integration of the partial indexing technique in the design and in the optimization process are also described     

Evaluation of a parallel branch-and-bound algorithm on a class ofmultiprocessors

We propose and evaluate a parallel “decomposite best-first” search branch-and-bound algorithm (dbs) for MIN-based multiprocessor systems. We start with a new probabilistic model to estimate the number of evaluated nodes for a serial best-first search branch-and-bound algorithm. This analysis is used in predicting the parallel algorithm speed-up. The proposed algorithm initially decomposes a problem into N subproblems, where N is the number of processors available in a multiprocessor. Afterwards, each processor executes the serial best-first search to find a local feasible solution. Local solutions are broadcasted through the network to compute the final solution. A conflict-free mapping scheme, known as the step-by-step spread, is used for subproblem distribution on the MIN. A speedup expression for the parallel algorithm is then derived using the serial best-first search node evaluation model. Our analysis considers both computation and communication overheads for providing realistic speed-up. Communication modeling is also extended for the parallel global best-first search technique. All the analytical results are validated via simulation. For large systems, when communication overhead is taken into consideration, it is observed that the parallel decomposite best-first search algorithm provides better speed-up compared to other reported schemes     

Processor membership in asynchronous distributed systems

Presents protocols for determining processor membership in asynchronous distributed systems that are subject to processor and communication faults. These protocols depend on the placement of a total order on broadcast messages. The types of systems for which each of these protocols is applicable are characterized by the properties of the communication mechanisms and by the availability of stable storage. In the absence of stable storage or of a mechanism for distinguishing promptly delivered messages, the authors show that no membership protocol can exist. They also discuss their experience in implementing these membership protocols