Experience with Applying Formal Methods to Protocol Specification and System Architecture

In the last three years or so we at Enterprise Platforms Group at Intel Corporation have been applying formal methods to various problems that arose during the process of defining platform architectures for Intel's processor families. In this paper we give an overview of some of the problems we have worked on, the results we have obtained, and the lessons we have learned. The last topic is addressed mainly from the perspective of platform architects.     

Possibility of sewage and combined sewer overflow reuse with biological aerated filters.

The secondary effluent from municipal plants in Korea generally represents higher BOD with lower SS. Therefore, more soluble forms of organics and NH4-N need to be removed to improve its effluent for reuse. In this study reuse possibility of secondary effluent and CSO (combined sewer overflow) using BAF (biological aerated filter) was evaluated. The tertiary application with 1.2 h EBCT, SS, BOD and COD showed stable concentrations less than 1.3, 1.3 and 6.2 mg/L, respectively. Nitrogen could be nitrified even at 7 degrees suggesting BAF can be used for a water reuse method as well as an effective add-on facility in cold regions. However, BAF was not stable with CSO application at increased flow rates suggesting CSO must be equalised prior to application. Disinfection was necessary even during normal weather conditions.     

Stereo and motion correspondences using nonlinear optimization method

This paper presents a new approach for using stereo and motion correspondences to solve the problem of tracking multiple independently moving features. In this approach, quantitative relational structure (QRS) is proposed as a framework for the integration of stereo–motion correspondences. The similarity function, tightly coupled to stereo and motion cues, is constructed on QRS, and then energy function E² consisting of the similarity function is defined. The tracking problem can be converted into the maximization problem of the energy function E². The stereo and motion correspondences that maximize E² are recovered by applying an extended graduated assignment algorithm. The relaxation labeling method is also presented for the comparison with the proposed method. Experimental results are presented to illustrate the performance of the proposed method.     

Droplet de-entrainment by inertial impaction on vertical rods in an air-droplet mixture flow

We experimentally investigate the de-entrainment of droplets by inertial impaction on an array of vertical rods in an air-droplet mixture flow. The de-entrainment efficiencies are measured for a single rod, for a single row of rods, and for a multi-row of rods. We investigate the effects of the droplet mass flux (0.5–5.4 kg/m² s), the droplet Weber number (3000–8000), the air velocity (0–6 m/s), the rod geometry, and the surface roughness on the de-entrainment, and the rod diameter-to-pitch ratio effect on the de-entrainment. The results for a single rod show that the de-entrainment efficiency decreases slightly as the droplet mass flux increases; however, in our experimental ranges, there is negligible dependence on the droplet Weber number, the air velocity, and the surface roughness. The rod geometry affects the de-entrainment efficiency. The results for a single row of rods show that the existence of neighboring rods promotes de-entrainment due to droplet splashing, and we develop a correlation to show the effect of diameter-to-pitch ratio on the de-entrainment. Using information on the de-entrainment efficiencies of a single rod and those of a single row of rods, we propose a correlation that predicts the de-entrainment efficiency for a multi-row of rods with a staggered array. The RMS errors of the correlation from the de-entrainment efficiencies experimentally obtained are within 13.5%.     

Decision-directed maximum-likelihood estimation of OFDM framesynchronisation offset

The authors propose a method to estimate the synchronisation offset for orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) frame alignment without resort to pilot tones. A decision-directed maximum-likelihood estimation of frame synchronisation offset is derived, and the performance of the proposed scheme is confirmed by computer simulation for QAM systems     

Working memory and articulation rate in children with spastic diplegic cerebral palsy.

A. D. Baddeley, N. Thomson, and M. Buchanan (1975) suggested that articulatory rehearsal rate determines the amount of verbal material that can be maintained in working memory. In the current study, 12 children with spastic diplegic cerebral palsy (SDCP) and 38 normal children were tested on measures of articulation rate and memory span for 1-, 2-, and 3-syllable words. Across all conditions, articulation rate for the SDCP group was significantly slower than for the normal group; nonetheless, memory span was equivalent for both groups. This finding implies that covert rehearsal proceeded normally for the SDCP group, in spite of decrements in speech rate. Thus, the relationship between overt and covert rehearsal rates differs for children with SDCP compared with normal children. Findings from the current study further suggest that normal speech rates are not necessary for development of normal covert rehearsal rates. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Recursive solution of inverse natural convection problems by means of mode reduction

 A recursive method based on the Kalman filtering is developed to solve inverse natural convection problems of estimating the unsteady nonuniform wall heat flux from temperature measurements in the flow. By employing the Karhunen–Loève Galerkin procedure that reduces the Boussinesq equation to a small set of ordinary differential equations, the computational difficulties associated with the Kalman filtering for the partial differential equations are overcome. The present method is assessed through several numerical experiments, and is found to yield satisfactory results. Received 20 January 2001 / Accepted 31 May 2001