Fast ping‐pong arbitration for input–output queued packet switches

Input–output queued switches have been widely considered as the most feasible solution for large capacity packet switches and IP routers. In this paper, we propose a ping‐pong arbitration scheme (PPA) for output contention resolution in input–output queued switches. The challenge is to develop a high speed and cost‐effective arbitration scheme in order to maximize the switch throughput and delay performance for supporting multimedia services with various quality‐of‐service (QoS) requirements. The basic idea is to divide the inputs into groups and apply arbitration recursively. Our recursive arbiter is hierarchically structured, consisting of multiple small‐size arbiters at each layer. The arbitration time of an n‐input switch is proportional to log₄?n/2? when we group every two inputs or every two input groups at each layer. We present a 256×256 terabit crossbar multicast packet switch using the PPA. The design shows that our scheme can reduce the arbitration time of the 256×256 switch to 11 gates delay, demonstrating the arbitration is no longer the bottleneck limiting the switch capacity. The priority handling in arbitration is also addressed. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Smart Skin-Adhesive Patches: From Design to Biomedical Applications

With the advancement of medical and digital technologies, smart skin adhesive patches have emerged as a key player for complex medical purposes. In particular, skin adhesive patches with integrated electronics have created an excellent platform for monitoring health conditions and intelligent medication. However, the efficient design of the adhesive patches is still challenging as it requires a strong combination of network structure, adhesion, physical properties, and biocompatibility. To design an assimilated device, one must have a deep knowledge of various skin adhesive patches. This article provides a comprehensive review of the recent advances in skin-adhesive patches, including hydrogel-based adhesive patches, transdermal patches, and electronic skin (E-skin) patches, for various biomedical applications such as wound healing, drug delivery, biosensing, and health monitoring. Furthermore, the key challenges, implementable strategies, and future designs that can potentially provide researchers in designing innovative multipurpose smart skin patches are discussed. These advanced approaches are promising for managing the health and fitness of patients who require regular medical care.     

A mathematical analysis of the DCT coefficient distributions forimages

Over the past two decades, there have been various studies on the distributions of the DCT coefficients for images. However, they have concentrated only on fitting the empirical data from some standard pictures with a variety of well-known statistical distributions, and then comparing their goodness of fit. The Laplacian distribution is the dominant choice balancing simplicity of the model and fidelity to the empirical data. Yet, to the best of our knowledge, there has been no mathematical justification as to what gives rise to this distribution. We offer a rigorous mathematical analysis using a doubly stochastic model of the images, which not only provides the theoretical explanations necessary, but also leads to insights about various other observations from the literature. This model also allows us to investigate how certain changes in the image statistics could affect the DCT coefficient distributions.     

Delay guarantee of virtual clock server

In a packet switching network, each communication channel is statistically shared among many traffic flows that belong to different end-to-end sessions. We present and prove a delay guarantee for the virtual clock service discipline (inspired by time division multiplexing). The guarantee has several desirable properties, including the following firewall property: the guarantee to a flow is unaffected by the behavior of other flows sharing the same server. There is no assumption that sources are flow controlled or well behaved. We first introduce and define the concept of an active flow. The delay guarantee is then formally stated as a theorem. We show how to obtain delay bounds from the delay guarantee of a single server for different specifications     

Robust hyperspectral image coding with channel-optimizedtrellis-coded quantization

This paper presents a wavelet-based hyperspectral image coder that is optimized for transmission over the binary symmetric channel (BSC). The proposed coder uses a robust channel-optimized trellis-coded quantization (COTCQ) stage that is designed to optimize the image coding based on the channel characteristics. This optimization is performed only at the level of the source encoder and does not include any channel coding for error protection. The robust nature of the coder increases the security level of the encoded bit stream, and provides a much higher quality decoded image. In the absence of channel noise, the proposed coder is shown to achieve a compression ratio greater than 70:1, with an average peak SNR of the coded hyperspectral sequence exceeding 40 dB. Additionally, the coder is shown to exhibit graceful degradation with increasing channel errors     

AC-Boosting Frequency Compensation with Double Pole-Zero Cancellation for Multistage Amplifiers

In this paper, we present an AC-boosting compensation topology with double pole-zero cancellation (ACBC-DPZ) for a multistage amplifier driving a very large capacitive load. The proposed technique modifies the original AC-boosting compensation (ACBC) topology to increase the power-bandwidth efficiency and reduce the size for the output power transistor and compensation capacitor. Simulation results show that the ACBC-DPZ amplifier using a CSM 0.18 μm CMOS process can achieve a unity gain bandwidth of 14 MHz and an average slew rate of 3.88 V/μs at 1500 pF load. The amplifier dissipates 2.55 mW at a 1.8 V supply.     

Facile Synthesis of Red/NIR AIE Luminogens with Simple Structures,Bright Emissions,and High Photostabilities,and Their Applications for Specific Imaging of Lipid Droplets and Image‐Guided Photodynamic Therapy

Red/near‐infrared (NIR) fluorescent molecules with aggregation‐induced emission (AIE) characteristics are of great interest in bioimaging and therapeutic applications. However, their complicated synthetic approaches remain the major barrier to implementing these applications. Herein, a one‐pot synthetic strategy to prepare a series of red/NIR‐emissive AIE luminogens (AIEgens) by fine‐tuning their molecular structures and substituents is reported. The obtained AIEgens possess simple structures, good solubilities, large Stokes shifts, and bright emissions, which enable their applications toward in vitro and in vivo imaging without any pre‐encapsulation or ‐modification steps. Excellent targeting specificities to lipid droplets (LDs), remarkable photostabilities, high brightness, and low working concentrations in cell imaging application make them remarkably impressive and superior to commercially available LD‐specific dyes. Interestingly, these AIEgens can efficiently generate reactive oxygen species upon visible light irradiation, endowing their effective application for photodynamic ablation of cancer cells. This study, thus, not only demonstrates a facile synthesis of red/NIR AIEgens for dual applications in simultaneous imaging and therapy, but also offers an ideal architecture for the construction of AIEgens with long emission wavelengths.     

Secure group communications using key graphs

Many emerging network applications are based upon a group communications model. As a result, securing group communications, i.e., providing confidentiality, authenticity, and integrity of messages delivered between group members, will become a critical networking issue. We present, in this paper, a novel solution to the scalability problem of group/multicast key management. We formalize the notion of a secure group as a triple (U,K,R) where U denotes a set of users, K a set of keys held by the users, and R a user-key relation. We then introduce key graphs to specify secure groups. For a special class of key graphs, we present three strategies for securely distributing rekey messages after a join/leave and specify protocols for joining and leaving a secure group. The rekeying strategies and join/leave protocols are implemented in a prototype key server we have built. We present measurement results from experiments and discuss performance comparisons. We show that our group key management service, using any of the three rekeying strategies, is scalable to large groups with frequent joins and leaves. In particular, the average measured processing time per join/leave increases linearly with the logarithm of group size     

Adaptive filtering of evoked potentials with radial-basis-function neural network prefilter

Evoked potentials (EPs) are time-varying signals typically buried in relatively large background noise. To extract the EP more effectively from noise, we had previously developed an approach using an adaptive signal enhancer (ASE) (Chen et al., 1995). ASE requires a proper reference input signal for its optimal performance. Ensemble- and moving window-averages were formerly used with good results. In this paper, we present a new method to provide even more effective reference inputs for the ASE. Specifically, a Gaussian radial basis function neural network (RBFNN) was used to preprocess raw EP signals before serving as the reference input. Since the RBFNN has built-in nonlinear activation functions that enable it to closely fit any function mapping, the output of RBFNN can effectively track the signal variations of EP. Results confirmed the superior performance of ASE with RBFNN over the previous method.     

Application of the hybrid Hopkins–Abbe method in full-chip OPC

The hybrid Hopkins–Abbe method is presented and shown to resolve the problem of the traditional Hopkins theory, namely the requirement for constant mask diffraction efficiencies. Simulation of electromagnetic scattering from the mask that takes into account the oblique angles of incidence from the illumination is performed by application of the domain decomposition method that is extended for offaxis illumination. Examples of 45 nm and 32 nm lines and spaces through pitch and through focus are presented to demonstrate the validity and accuracy of the hybrid Hopkins–Abbe method. The results obtained are in excellent agreement with a rigorous and independent (third party) simulator.