Scalable Parallel Algorithms for FPT Problems

Algorithmic methods based on the theory of fixed-parameter tractability are combined with powerful computational platforms to launch systematic attacks on combinatorial problems of significance. As a case study, optimal solutions to very large instances of the NP-hard vertex cover problem are computed. To accomplish this, an efficient sequential algorithm and various forms of parallel algorithms are devised, implemented, and compared. The importance of maintaining a balanced decomposition of the search space is shown to be critical to achieving scalability. Target problems need only be amenable to reduction and decomposition. Applications in high throughput computational biology are also discussed.     

Linking learning goals and educational resources through interactive concept map visualizations

Concept browsing interfaces can help educators and learners to locate and use learning resources that are aligned with recognized learning goals. The Strand Map Service enables users to navigate interactive visualizations of related learning goals and to request digital library resources aligned with learning goals. These interfaces are created using a programmatic Web service interface that dynamically generates interactive visual components. Preliminary findings suggest that these library interfaces appear to help users stay focused on the scientific content of their information discovery task, as opposed to focusing on the mechanics of searching.     

Contractors’ Views of the Potential Causes of Inconsistencies between Design and Construction in Saudi Arabia

The study identifies the causes of inconsistencies between the design and construction of large building projects. To achieve the study objectives, a questionnaire survey was carried out to collect information on potential causes of inconsistencies at the project design and construction interface. Responses from 27 contractors were analyzed. The results suggest that the involvement of designer as consultant, communication gap between constructor and designer, insufficient working drawing details, lack of coordination between parties, lack of human resources in design firm, lack of designer’s knowledge of available materials and equipment, and incomplete plans and specifications were considered as the most important causes of the project design and construction interface inconsistencies. On the other hand, project management as a professional service, weather conditions, nationalities of participants, involvement of the contractor in design conceptual phase, unforeseen problems, involvement of the contractor in design development phase, and government regulations were the least important causes of inconsistencies between professionals at the project design and construction interface in large building projects.     

Measurement and Analysis of Thermophysical Properties of Diorites in the Temperature Range from 253 to 333 K

Thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity are simultaneously measured for a collection of diorite samples taken from Shewa-Shahbaz Garhi volcanic complex near Mardan, Pakistan by using the transient plane source (TPS) technique. The temperature dependence of the transport properties of these samples is studied in the temperature range from 253 to 333 K. Different relationships for the temperature dependence of the thermal conductivity and thermal diffusivity are tested. The samples are also characterized by their chemical composition, density, porosity, and specific gravity at room temperature and atmospheric pressure. Theoretical calculation of the specific gravity parameter based on the chemical composition is in good agreement with the experimental observation. No correlation was found for the temperature dependence of the thermal transport behavior on porosity, chemical composition, and density.     

Indoor radon levels and lung cancer risk estimates in seven cities of the Bahawalpur Division, Pakistan

Indoor radon concentration levels were measured in seven major cities of the Bahawalpur Division, Pakistan. These included Fort Abbas, Minchin Abad, Hasilpur, Bahawalpur, Liaqatpur, Rahimyar Khan and Sadiq Abad. In order to select houses for this survey, the inhabitants were approached through their school-registered children. Due to several constraints, only those 100 houses were chosen in each city that were relatively the best representatives of the built-up area. The selected houses were then divided into live categories according to the house locations and building characteristics. CR-39 detectors, placed in polyethylene bags. were installed at head height in bedrooms and sitting rooms of all the selected houses and were exposed to radon and its daughter products for 90 days. Four such measurements were performed over a year in order to average out the seasonal variation in radon levels. After exposure, all the detectors were etched and counted under an optical microscope. The track densities of four measurements were averaged out and related to radon concentration levels. The radon levels were found to be 20, 20, 26, 28, 34, 42, 47 Bq m(-3) in the bedrooms and 24, 26, 27, 26, 37, 40, 43 Bq m(-3) in sitting rooms of Hasilpur, Rahimyar Khan, Minchin Abad, Fort Abbas, Sadiq Abad, Bahawalpur and Liaqatpur respectively. The observed variation in the radon level may be attributed to the geological variation in the area. Based on the observed data, excess lung cancer risk was assessed using the risk factors recommended by the USEPA, UNSCEAR and the ICRP. According to the EPA model, the lifetime excess lung cancer risk due to the lifetime exposure is found to vary from 12-102 per million per year in the houses surveyed. This variation is from 16-114 and 26-62 per million per year if UNSCEAR and ICRP limits are applied respectively.     

Biosynthesized Gold Nanoclusters and Iron Complexes as Scaffolds for Multimodal Cancer Bioimaging

Cancer treatment has a far greater chance of success if the neoplasm is diagnosed before the onset of metastasis to vital organs. Hence, cancer early diagnosis is extremely important and remains a major challenge in modern therapeutics. In this contribution, facile and new method for rapid multimodal tumor bioimaging is reported by using biosynthesized iron complexes and gold nanoclusters via simple introduction of AuCl₄ ^? and Fe²⁺ ions. The observations demonstrate that the biosynthesized Au nanoclusters may act as fluorescent and computed tomography probes for cancer bioimaging while the iron complexes behave as effective contrast agent for magnetic resonance imaging. The biosynthesized iron complexes and gold nanoclusters are found biocompatible in vitro (MTT (3‐(4, 5‐dimethylthiazol‐2‐yl)‐2, 5‐diphenyltetrazolium bromide) assay) and in vivo for all the vital organs of circulatory and excretory system. These observations raise the possibility that the biosynthesized probes may find applications in future clinical diagnosis for deep seated early neoplasms by multimodal imaging.     

A survey on resource allocation in high performance distributed computing systems

An efficient resource allocation is a fundamental requirement in high performance computing (HPC) systems. Many projects are dedicated to large-scale distributed computing systems that have designed and developed resource allocation mechanisms with a variety of architectures and services. In our study, through analysis, a comprehensive survey for describing resource allocation in various HPCs is reported. The aim of the work is to aggregate under a joint framework, the existing solutions for HPC to provide a thorough analysis and characteristics of the resource management and allocation strategies. Resource allocation mechanisms and strategies play a vital role towards the performance improvement of all the HPCs classifications. Therefore, a comprehensive discussion of widely used resource allocation strategies deployed in HPC environment is required, which is one of the motivations of this survey. Moreover, we have classified the HPC systems into three broad categories, namely: (a) cluster, (b) grid, and (c) cloud systems and define the characteristics of each class by extracting sets of common attributes. All of the aforementioned systems are cataloged into pure software and hybrid/hardware solutions. The system classification is used to identify approaches followed by the implementation of existing resource allocation strategies that are widely presented in the literature.     

Evolving Recurrent Neural Network using Cartesian Genetic Programming to Predict The Trend in Foreign Currency Exchange Rates

Forecasting the foreign exchange rate is an uphill task. Numerous methods have been used over the years to develop an efficient and reliable network for forecasting the foreign exchange rate. This study utilizes recurrent neural networks (RNNs) for forecasting the foreign currency exchange rates. Cartesian genetic programming (CGP) is used for evolving the artificial neural network (ANN) to produce the prediction model. RNNs that are evolved through CGP have shown great promise in time series forecasting. The proposed approach utilizes the trends present in the historical data for its training purpose. Thirteen different currencies along with the trade-weighted index (TWI) and special drawing rights (SDR) is used for the performance analysis of recurrent Cartesian genetic programming-based artificial neural networks (RCGPANN) in comparison with various other prediction models proposed to date. The experimental results show that RCGPANN is not only capable of obtaining an accurate but also a computationally efficient prediction model for the foreign currency exchange rates. The results demonstrated a prediction accuracy of 98.872 percent (using 6 neurons only) for a single-day prediction in advance and, on average, 92% for predicting a 1000 days’ exchange rate in advance based on ten days of data history. The results prove RCGPANN to be the ultimate choice for any time series data prediction, and its capabilities can be explored in a range of other fields.     

Enhanced dynamic credential generation scheme for protection of user identity in mobile-cloud computing

To improve the resource limitation of mobile devices, mobile users may utilize cloud-computational and storage services. Although the utilization of the cloud services improves the processing and storage capacity of mobile devices, the migration of confidential information on untrusted cloud raises security and privacy issues. Considering the security of mobile-cloud-computing subscribers’ information, a mechanism to authenticate legitimate mobile users in the cloud environment is sought. Usually, the mobile users are authenticated in the cloud environment through digital credential methods, such as password. Once the users’ credential information theft occurs, the adversary can use the hacked information for impersonating the mobile user later on. The alarming situation is that the mobile user is unaware about adversary’s malicious activities. In this paper, a light-weight security scheme is proposed for mobile user in cloud environment to protect the mobile user’s identity with dynamic credentials. The proposed scheme offloads the frequently occurring dynamic credential generation operations on a trusted entity to keep minimum processing burden on the mobile device. To enhance the security and reliability of the scheme, the credential information is updated frequently on the basis of mobile-cloud packets exchange. Furthermore, the proposed scheme is compared with the existing scheme on the basis of performance metrics i.e. turnaround time and energy consumption. The experimental results for the proposed scheme showed significant improvement in turnaround time and energy consumption as compared to the existing scheme.     

Embedded passive components in advanced 3D chips and micro/nano electronic systems

Microsystem Technologies - Electronic devices are shrinking day by day, while the speed and reliability is increasing. At the same time, IC designs and micro/nano electronic systems are becoming...