Conflict-preserving abstraction of discrete event systems using annotated automata

This paper proposes to enhance compositional verification of the nonblocking property of discrete event systems by introducing annotated automata. Annotations store nondeterministic branching information, which would otherwise be stored in extra states and transitions. This succinct representation makes it easier to simplify automata and enables new efficient means of abstraction, reducing the size of automata to be composed and thus the size of the synchronous product state space encountered in verification. The abstractions proposed are of polynomial complexity, and they have been successfully applied to model check the nonblocking property of the same set of large-scale industrial examples as used in related work.     

Bandwidth requirements for accurate detection of direct path in multipath environment

The accurate detection of the direct path in a dense multipath environment is critical in time-based and angle-of-arrival-based location estimation techniques. It is generally assumed that an infinitely large bandwidth is helpful in the accurate detection of the direct path and high-range resolution. It is experimentally demonstrated that, for a wideband system, a bandwidth of up to 4 GHz, centred on 12.5 GHz, is sufficient for accurate detection of direct path in a typical indoor scattering environment. Additionally, the bandwidth gain, incremental range accuracy with bandwidth, is an effective indicator of the bandwidth requirements for accurate detection of the direct path.     

A simplified approach to independent component analysis

Independent Component Analysis (ICA) is one of the fastest growing fields in the area of neural networks and signal processing. Blind Source Separation (BSS) is one of the applications of ICA. In this paper, ICA has been used for separating unknown source signals. BSS is used to extract independent signal components from their observed linear mixtures at an array of sensors. Various statistical techniques based on information theoretic and algebraic approaches exist for performing ICA. In this paper, we have used an objective function based on independence criterion of the signals. Optimisation of this objective function yields a neural algorithm along with a non-linear function for signal separation. Performance of the algorithm for artificially generated signals as well as audio signals has been evaluated.     

Statistical evaluation of water tree lengths in XLPE cables at different temperatures

Accelerated aging of two types of commercially produced medium voltage XLPE insulated cables was carried out under the combined stresses of three types consisting of ionic aqueous species, elevated electrical stress and temperature cycling. After 1000 h of aging, the water tree parameters were evaluated. Results show that external ionic species exert profound impact on the generation of bow tie and vented water trees, while impurities inherently present in the cable components also contribute significantly. Temperature cycling increases the bow tie trees by an order of magnitude, while morphology of insulation influences the level of water tree degradation. The water tree population and their lengths were subjected to Weibull and log-normal models of statistical distributions and the data were found to fit better on the log-normal model. For a better statistical inference, a computer based Monte Carlo simulation was devised and used to precisely discriminate the two models. Simulation results further confirm that both types of water trees fit better on the log-normal model. The most likely mechanism for water tree degradation is fatigue based and hence mechanistic by nature.     

Joint physical and link layer error control analysis for nanonetworks in the Terahertz band

Nanonetworks consist of nano-sized communicating devices which are able to perform simple tasks at the nanoscale. The limited capabilities of individual nanomachines and the Terahertz (THz) band channel behavior lead to error-prone wireless links. In this paper, a cross-layer analysis of error-control strategies for nanonetworks in the THz band is presented. A mathematical framework is developed and used to analyze the tradeoffs between Bit Error Rate, Packet Error Rate, energy consumption and latency, for five different error-control strategies, namely, Automatic Repeat reQuest (ARQ), Forward Error Correction (FEC), two types of Error Prevention Codes (EPC) and a hybrid EPC. The cross-layer effects between the physical and the link layers as well as the impact of the nanomachine capabilities in both layers are taken into account. At the physical layer, nanomachines are considered to communicate by following a time-spread on-off keying modulation based on the transmission of femtosecond-long pulses. At the link layer, nanomachines are considered to access the channel in an uncoordinated fashion, by leveraging the possibility to interleave pulse-based transmissions from different nodes. Throughout the analysis, accurate path loss, noise and multi-user interference models, validated by means of electromagnetic simulation, are utilized. In addition, the energy consumption and latency introduced by a hardware implementation of each error control technique, as well as, the additional constraints imposed by the use of energy-harvesting mechanisms to power the nanomachines, are taken into account. The results show that, despite their simplicity, EPCs outperform traditional ARQ and FEC schemes, in terms of error correcting capabilities, which results in further energy savings and reduced latency.     

Service delivery through mobile-government (mGov): Driving factors and cultural impacts

The mobile-Government (mGov) service system is conducted through an open network, and it is virtual. This service mode and pattern change inevitably necessitates a behavioral change in citizen attitudes and intentions. Nevertheless, this new pattern of service delivery through mGov has hardly been systematically investigated by any researchers. The objective of this current research is twofold. First, we attempt to reveal the sources of beliefs for developing intention toward the mGov (ITM) system. Then, as the second objective, we investigate cultural influence as the reason for a difference in consumer attitudes and intentions toward mGov. In this regard, the empirical study was conducted in Bangladesh and the USA, which have potential differences in the cultural traits listed by Hofstede. From our statistical analysis, we have identified the sources of beliefs for both Bangladeshi and USA consumers. We observed clear differences in sources of beliefs and their influence on attitudes leading to intention, which demonstrates support for our second objective which was designed to verify the cultural impacts on belief-attitude relations. We understand that these different sources of beliefs influence cognitive, affective, and connative attitudes toward mGov in different ways.     

VO2 nanostructures based chemiresistors for low power energy consumption hydrogen sensing

Mott-type VO₂ oxide nanobelts are demonstrated to be effective hydrogen gas sensors at room temperature. These nanobelts, synthesized by hydrothermal process and exhibiting the VO₂ (A) crystallographic phase, display room temperature H₂ sensitivity as low as 0.17 ppm. The nanobelts (ultralong belt-like) nanostructures could be an ideal system for fully understanding dimensionally confined transport phenomena in functional oxides and for building functional devices based on individual nanobelts.     

圣摩尼卡海岸酒店

"这里是我们生活和工作的地方,我们希望与我们的客人分享这里的一切,告诉他们是什么令圣莫尼卡成为一个奇妙的旅行胜地。"首席执行官SteveFarzam这样说,"我们相信,海岸酒店的先进经验和环保设施将创造出与众不同的新体验。"     

Assessment of diverse image encryption mechanisms under prevalent invasion

Multimedia Tools and Applications - Image encryption mechanisms provide confidentiality and concealment of information (image) in transmission over the alleyway, susceptible to prevalent invasions....