An efficient partitioning algorithm for distributed virtualenvironment systems

Distributed virtual environment (DVE) systems model and simulate the activities of thousands of entities interacting in a virtual world over a wide area network. Possible applications for DVE systems are multiplayer video games, military and industrial trainings, and collaborative engineering. In general, a DVE system is composed of many servers and each server is responsible to manage multiple clients who want to participate in the virtual world. Each server receives updates from different clients (such as the current position and orientation of each client) and then delivers this information to other clients in the virtual world. The server also needs to perform other tasks, such as object collision detection and synchronization control. A large scale DVE system needs to support many clients and this imposes a heavy requirement on networking resources and computational resources. Therefore, how to meet the growing requirement of bandwidth and computational resources is one of the major challenges in designing a scalable and cost-effective DVE system. In this paper, we propose an efficient partitioning algorithm that addresses the scalability issue of designing a large scale DVE system. The main idea is to dynamically divide the virtual world into different partitions and then efficiently assign these partitions to different servers. This way, each server will process approximately the same amount of workload. Another objective of the partitioning algorithm is to reduce the server-to-server communication overhead. The theoretical foundation of our dynamic partitioning algorithm is based on the linear optimization principle. We also illustrate how one can parallelize the proposed partitioning algorithm so that it can efficiently partition a very large scale DVE system. Lastly, experiments are carried out to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed partitioning algorithm under various settings of the virtual world     

High-gain W band pseudomorphic InGaAs power HEMTs

The authors have fabricated 0.1-μm T-gate pseudomorphic (PM) InGaAs power high-electron-mobility transistors (HEMTs) with record power and gain performance at 94 GHz. Devices with 40-μm gate peripheries achieved 10.6-mW output power with 7.3-dB gain and 14.3% power-added efficiency (PAE). Devices with 160-μm gate peripheries achieved 62.7-mW output power with 4.0-dB gain and 13.2% PAE. The authors believe the superior performance of these devices is due to the combination of a short 0.1-μm T-gate, high-quality material, optimized device profile, and the reduction in source inductance due to source vias     

Untersuchungen über das Strangpressen kubisch-flächenzentrierter Metalle

Investigation of the extrudability of face-centered cubic metals Part I represents investigations of the behaviour of the interface during the extrusion of lead and lead alloys. The alloying tendency (welding) and the coefficient of friction μ do not show any relationship to the power requirements during the process of extrusion. Due to the high pressure inside the extrusion presses an interfacial movement (friction) can take place only if the coefficient of friction is in the range of μ ≦ 0,001. By knowing the normal pressure and the shear strength of the material the coefficient of friction for slip-stick conditions can be determined from a chart. The dynamic friction is presented as the shearing off of the interfacial contact points and the stationary friction as the creep of these contact points. Attempts to calculate the power requirements of industrial presses on the basis of the shear strength of the material and shear area were successful.     

A study of tensile properties of ferritic compacted graphite cast irons at intermediate temperatures

Results of an investigation of the influence of carbon and silicon content on tensile properties of ferritic compacted graphite cast irons from room temperature to 500° C are presented. The tensile flow stress plateau of ferritic compacted graphite cast irons occurs owing to dynamic strain ageing from 200 to 400° C with various carbon and silicon contents. Because the ferritic compacted graphite cast irons have irregularly shaped graphite particles, their fracture mechanism is attributed to a mixed fracture mode. With increasing silicon content, the fracture mechanism changes from dimple pattern to transgranular cleavage at room temperature. However, when the test temperature is above the raised transition temperature the specimens fail in ductile manner.     

Compact dual-frequency PIFA designs using LC resonators

We report our investigation into single-feed dual-frequency planar inverted F antenna (PIFA) designs which make use of LC resonators (or “RF traps”). We introduce three basic methods for incorporating the LC resonator into the PIFA, including a variant of the meandering PIFA. Experimental results are provided and these show that dual-frequency operation at 900 (cellular systems) and 1800 MHz (personal communication systems) can be achieved for all three designs     

Refined Stick Model for Dynamic Analysis of Skew Highway Bridges

Stick models are widely employed in the dynamic analysis of bridges when only approximate results are desired or when detailed models are difficult or time-consuming to construct. Although the use of stick models for regular bridges has been validated by various researchers, the application of such models to skew highway bridges continues to present challenges. The conventional single-beam stick model used to represent the bridge deck often fails to capture certain predominant vibration modes that are important in obtaining the true dynamic response of the bridge. In this paper, a refined stick model is proposed for the preliminary dynamic analysis of skew bridges. The model utilizes a dual-beam stick representation of the bridge deck. The validity of the model is established by comparing results obtained from the proposed model with numerical solutions obtained for skew plates and a skew bridge. It is shown that this dual-beam stick model is superior to the conventional single-beam model in estimating the natural vibration frequencies and in predicting the predominant vibration modes of the bridge. Because of its simplicity and relative accuracy, this model is recommended for the preliminary dynamic analysis of skew highway bridges.     

Notes on interval estimation of risk difference in stratified noncompliance randomized trials: A Monte Carlo evaluation

When comparing an experimental treatment with a standard treatment in a randomized clinical trial (RCT), we often use the risk difference (RD) to measure the efficacy of an experimental treatment. In this paper, we have developed four asymptotic interval estimators for the RD in a stratified RCT with noncompliance. These include an asymptotic interval estimator based on the weighted-least-squares (WLS) estimator of the RD, an asymptotic interval estimator using tanh⁻¹(x) transformation with the WLS optimal weight, an asymptotic interval estimator derived from Fieller’s Theorem, and an asymptotic interval estimator using a randomization-based approach. Based on Monte Carlo simulations, we have compared these four asymptotic interval estimators with the asymptotic interval estimator recently proposed elsewhere. We have found that when the probability of compliance is high, the interval estimator using a randomization-based approach is probably more accurate than the others, especially when the stratum size is not large. When the probability of compliance is moderate, the interval estimator using tanh⁻¹(x) transformation is likely to be the best among all interval estimators considered here. We note that the interval estimator proposed elsewhere can be of use when the underlying RD is small, but lose accuracy when the RD is large. We also note that when the number of patients per assigned treatment is large, the four asymptotic interval estimators developed here are essentially equivalent; they are all appropriate for use. Finally, to illustrate the use of these interval estimators, we consider the data taken from a large field trial studying the effect of a multifactor intervention program on reducing the mortality of coronary heart disease in middle-aged men.     

On Joint Symbol and Frame Synchronization for Direct-Detection Optical Communication Systems

An approximate maximum-likelihood rule (ML) is derived for joint symbol and frame synchronization with pulse-position modulation, Simulation results show that this approximate rule performs virtually as well as the optimum ML rule over a wide range of practical signal-to-noise ratios. Yet it is substantially simpler to implement.     

CdS量子点/CdTe纳米棒光电极制备及其光电性能研究

本文利用化学沉积法和射频溅射法成功实现了CdS量子点/CdTe纳米棒复合光电极的制备。通过X射线粉末衍射(XRD)、扫描电镜(SEM)、紫外-可见吸收光谱(UV-vis)和电化学工作站分别对获得的光电极进行了结构、形貌和光电性能的表征;结果表明,所获得的光电极由CdS量子点和CdTe一维纳米棒组成,其中CdTe纳米棒沿着(111)择优方向定向生长。在不同CdS量子点厚度的光电极的电化学表征结果中,我们发现了由CdS的压电效应引起的新颖的热释电现象,并在25 cycle CdS QDs的光电极测试中获得了最好的结果,开路电压为0.49 V,短路电流为71.09 μA,其I-t曲线的开光比为6。我们在研究过程中还发现了热释电引起的电流反向现象,这一特性对于未来提高光电器件的性能具有重要的意义。