Supporting Unified Distributed Management and Autonomic Decisions: Design,Implementation and Deployment

Nowadays, the prevailing use of networks based on traditional centralized management systems reflects on a fast increase of the management costs. The growth in the number of network equipments and services reinforces the need to distribute the management responsibilities throughout the network devices. In this approach, each device executes common network management functionalities, being part of the overall network management platform. In this paper, we present a Unified Distributed Network Management (UDNM) framework that provides a unified (wired and wireless) management network solution, where further different network services can take part of this infrastructure, e.g., flow monitoring, accurate routing decisions, distributed policies dissemination, etc. This framework is divided in two main components: (A) Situation awareness, which sets up initial information through bootstrapping, discovery, fault-management process and exchange of management information; (B) Autonomic Decision System (ADS) that performs distributed decisions in the network with incomplete information. We deploy the UDNM framework in a testbed which involves two cities (\(\approx\)250 km between), different standards (IEEE 802.3, IEEE 802.11 and IEEE 802.16e) and network technologies, such as, wired virtual grid, wireless ad-hoc gateways, ad-hoc mobile access devices. The UDNM framework integrates management functionalities into the managed devices, proving to be a lightweight and easy-respond framework. The performance analysis shows that the UDNM framework is feasible to unify devices management functionalities and to take accurate decisions on top of a real network.     

Randomization can be a healer: consensus with dynamic omission failures

Wireless ad-hoc networks are being increasingly used in diverse contexts, ranging from casual meetings to disaster recovery operations. A promising approach is to model these networks as distributed systems prone to dynamic communication failures. This captures transitory disconnections in communication due to phenomena like interference and collisions, and permits an efficient use of the wireless broadcasting medium. This model, however, is bound by the impossibility result of Santoro and Widmayer, which states that, even with strong synchrony assumptions, there is no deterministic solution to any non-trivial form of agreement if n ? 1 or more messages can be lost per communication round in a system with n processes. In this paper we propose a novel way to circumvent this impossibility result by employing randomization. We present a consensus protocol that ensures safety in the presence of an unrestricted number of omission faults, and guarantees progress in rounds where such faults are bounded by ${f \,{\leq}\,\lceil \frac{n}{2} \rceil (n\,{-}\,k)\,{+}\,k\,{-}\,2}$ , where k is the number of processes required to decide, eventually assuring termination with probability 1.     

Dielectric spectroscopy of MgTiO3-based ceramics in the 109–1014Hz region

Magnesium titanate (MgTiO₃) powder was prepared by a chemical route (Pechini method) and different dopants were added to prepare several compositions. These pure and doped compositions were sintered in air and dense ceramics were obtained. The pure MgTiO₃ samples were also subjected to different heat treatments during sintering. Complex permittivity spectra of ceramic samples were determined by various techniques in the 10⁹–10¹⁴ Hz range. These techniques included infrared spectroscopy in transmission and reflectivity modes and microwave dielectric measurements. Extrapolation to microwave frequencies from infrared data, according to the proportionality (v) v, agrees quite well with the microwave data measured at 8 GHz and it is a useful procedure to estimate intrinsic microwave losses. Fast cooling from high temperatures of MgTiO₃ samples increased dielectric loss, probably due to a structural disorder. Dopants have two types of effect depending on whether they form a distinct second phase or a solid solution with MgTiO₃. In this last case intrinsic losses are strongly affected.     

BENCHMARKING RIVER HABITAT IMPROVEMENT

River ecosystems have witnessed a long history of human pressure, particularly the disruption of freshwater fish populations. The awareness of this situation has led to many habitat improvement projects, with a variable degree of success. In natural situations, fish populations co‐inhabit throughout the hydrological cycle with different degrees of adequacy, and the sequence of favourable and unfavourable conditions dictates abiotic constraints and biotic interactions that shape the final biological assemblages. We postulate that a part of unsuccessful restoration results is related to insufficient closeness to the natural habitat conditions of the river type that is to be restored, including the naturally adverse periods. We used the river2d model to predict habitat availability as weighted usable area (WUA) at a degraded site that is to be restored, for two native Mediterranean species and their life stages—the Southwestern nase Iberochondrostoma almacai and the Arade chub Squalius aradensis. We then analysed the yearly evolution of the natural WUA at a nearby reference site. Overall, the reference site exhibited the longest periods during which the WUA was continuously lower than the chosen WUA thresholds for each of the four bioperiods. Considerable divergences from natural habitat availability values can be seen for the spawning, rearing and growth bioperiods. Restoration outcomes can result in appreciable deviations—favourable or unfavourable to fish populations—from the WUA occurring under natural conditions over the course of the year. Restoration should therefore take account of local hydraulic and habitat patterns that govern population dynamics and result in the final fish assemblage. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Pressureless sintering of in-situ toughened Yb α-SiAlON ceramics by adding seed crystals prepared by combustion synthesis

Single-phase Yb α-SiAlON ceramics in-situ toughened by elongated grains were prepared by pressureless sintering, with the crystalline powder prepared by combustion synthesis used as seed crystals. The effects of seed addition on the densification, phase transformation, microstructure development, and mechanical properties of the samples were investigated in detail. From the experimental results, it was found that the added seed crystals could promote the phase transformation and facilitate the growth of elongated grains. By adding seed crystals the fracture toughness of the sintered α-SiAlON ceramics was considerably improved, with no obvious degradation in the bulk density and hardness at the same time.     

Natural frequencies of functionally graded plates by a meshless method

We use the global collocation method, the first and the third-order shear deformation plate theories, the Mori–Tanaka technique to homogenize material properties, and approximate the trial solution with multiquadric radial basis functions to analyze free vibrations of functionally graded plates. Frequencies computed by the present method are found to agree well with those from the analytical solution of Vel and Batra, and the numerical solution of Qian et al. based on the meshless local Petrov–Galerkin formulation.     

电力系统电流互感器饱和特性的柔性神经网络补偿法

电流互感器(CT)由于饱和使得副边电流变形,进而导致保护与测量应用中的许多问题。为此,提出一种补偿CT饱和特性的方法,以改善其测量性能。所提算法基于具有2个可变参数的sigmoid函数,构建了新型柔性神经网络,以估算CT励磁电流。实时地将估算所得励磁电流与扭曲的副边测量电流相加,即得补偿后原边电流。在学习过程中,所建补偿器的各柔性神经元柔性地改变其形状以适应各自的角色,高度柔性特点增强了网络学习能力,不但可减少网络节点数,而且可减少迭代学习时间。仿真研究中,应用一个900:5A的CT测试所提出的补偿器,测试时考虑了CT原边电流不同直流分量、CT剩磁大小与CT负载特性的影响。仿真结果验证了所提补偿方法的高精度,而且不受CT负载特性、CT剩磁情况及原边电流直流成分的影响。     

Nanostructured Ni-Co alloys with tailorable grain size and twin density

We present an experimental approach to systematically produce nanostructures with various grain sizes and twin densities in the Ni-Co binary system. Using electrodeposition with various applied current densities and organic additive contents in the deposition bath, we synthesize nanostructured fcc and hcp solid solutions with a range of compositions. Due to the low stacking fault energy (SFE) of these alloys, growth twins are readily formed during deposition, and by adjusting the deposition conditions, a range of twin boundary densities is possible. The resulting nanostructured alloys cannot be described by a single characteristic length scale, but instead must be characterized in terms of (1) a true grain size pertaining to general high-angle grain boundaries and (2) an effective grain size that incorporates twin boundaries. Analysis of Hall-Petch strength scaling for these materials is complicated by their dual length scales, but the hardness trends found in Ni-80Co are found to be roughly in line with those seen in pure nanocrystalline nickel.     

A high-density heat-sink-mounted inductor for automotive applications

Passive components, and inductors, in particular, contribute greatly to the overall volume of power electronic converters. These components are normally packaged individually with little concern for the overall system. For high-density switching power supplies it is imperative to minimize the volume to as great an extent as possible which implies that the passive component volume usage needs to be improved. This can be accomplished by applying suitable packaging and cooling techniques to these components. In this paper, two inductor structures finding application in a 2.1-kW synchronous automotive converter are described. The air-gap placement, losses, cooling methods, and thermal profiles are analyzed and verified experimentally with an inductor designed for operation at 85/spl deg/C ambient.