Scheduling and variable binding for improved testability in high level synthesis

In this paper, we present a scheduling and a variable binding technique for improved testability in high level synthesis. The scheduling technique called cost based scheduling system (CBSS), is time constrained which minimizes the number of resources (operations) and the number of registers based on a cost function. The CBSS improves the life time of primary input and primary output variables, reduces the life times of intermediate variables and hence improves the controllability and observability. The testability of the register transfer level (RTL) structure generated by this schedule is therefore improved. CBSS considers all the variables and operations jointly for scheduling. CBSS supports various scheduling modes such as multicycled and chained operations, and pipelining. The complexity of our scheduling algorithm is O(c·n²) where c is the number of control steps and n is the number of operations to be scheduled. To generate a highly testable RTL structure, the CBSS is followed by a variable binding technique to bind the variables into registers. An integer linear programming (ILP) approach is proposed with an objective function that minimizes the number of registers and a set of constraints that improves the testability of the RTL structure. Various case studies are presented and the results on different benchmark examples show the potential of our approach.     

Fluoride toxicity: a biochemical and scanning electron microscopic study of enamel surface of rabbit teeth

The present study has been carried out to investigate the effect of fluoride toxicity on the morphology as well as inorganic chemical constituents of rabbit teeth. Rabbits were administered sodium fluoride at a dose of 10 mg NaF/kg body weight every 24 h for 18 and 23 months. The incisor and molar teeth (whole tooth) were investigated for fluoride, calcium and phosphorus content in 18- and 23-month treated animals. The enamel surfaces of incisor teeth of 23-month treated animals were examined under scanning electron microscope. A significant increase in fluoride levels and significant decrease in calcium content was found following fluoride administration for 18 and 23 months as compared to control. Ca/P ratio was significantly increased only in 23-month treated animals. The scanning electron micrographs revealed hypoplastic, rough, uneven, pitted and cracked enamel surfaces covered with granular deposits as a result of excessive intake of fluoride. It can be concluded that long term fluoride administration leads to severe structural alterations on the enamel surface, possibly through defective mineralization.     

Novel cellulose derivatives. I. Liquid crystal phase formation in tri-O-α-naphthylmethyl cellulose solutions

Tri-O-α-naphthylmethyl cellulose was prepared by homogeneous phase reaction using SO₂–diethylamine (DEA)–dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) as the solvent system. Observations made by dynamic mechanical spectrometry and by cross-polarized optical microscopy revealed liquid crystalline behavior for the concentrated solutions of tri-O-α-naphthylmethyl cellulose in dimethylacetamide (DMAc). Experimental and calculated (predicted) critical volume fraction of the derivative, V^c_p, did not show agreement. It is determined that V^c_p is affected by bulky substituents on the cellulose backbone to some extent. © 1993 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Dependence of dc and ac conduction on the pre-sintering temperature in sol–gel derived Ba0.5Sr0.5TiO3 thin films

The effect of pre-sintering temperature on the activation energies of dc and ac conduction in sol–gel spin-coated Ba_0.5Sr_0.5TiO₃ (BST) thin films is reported in this paper. Layer by layer coating of BST sol on Pt/TiN/SiO₂/Si substrates was done with varying pre-sintering temperatures (drying temperature for individual layers). Dominant mechanism of dc conduction was identified as Schottky process whereas ac conduction was governed by trap controlled hopping process. The activation energy for dc conduction decreased from 0.45 to 0.38 eV with increase in the pre-sintering temperature from 400 to 600 °C; whereas, that for ac conduction increased from 0.17 to 0.21 eV. The results have been correlated with grain growth phenomena and reduction of oxygen vacancies in the films with increase in the pre-sintering temperature.     

e-Commerce and supply chains: Modelling of dynamics through fuzzy enhanced high level petri net

Although information plays a major role in effective functioning of supply chain networks (SCNs), studies that deal specifically with the dynamics of supply chains are few. This problem is relatively new since fast communications and the means to employ it for effective management of supply chains did not exist till recently. In order to provide a vehicle for dynamic modelling and analysis of supply chain operations in vague and uncertain environments, we propose a fuzzy enhanced high level petri net (FEHLPN) model. The proposed model captures the capability of petri nets for graphical and analytical representation of dynamic SCNs with the management of uncertain information provided by fuzzy logic. The dynamics associated with two production planning and control policies are modelled, viz. make-to-stock and assemble-to-order in vague and ambiguous situations in electronic commerce environment. A fuzzy set and fuzzy truth-values are attached to an uncertain fuzzy token to model imprecision and uncertainty. The proposed FEHLPN incorporates essential aspects of rule-based systems, such as conservation of facts, refraction, and closed-world assumption.     

Functional Femtoliter Droplets for Ultrafast Nanoextraction and Supersensitive Online Microanalysis

A universal femtoliter surface droplet‐based platform for direct quantification of trace of hydrophobic compounds in aqueous solutions is presented. Formation and functionalization of femtoliter droplets, concentrating the analyte in the solution, are integrated into a simple fluidic chamber, taking advantage of the long‐term stability, large surface‐to‐volume ratio, and tunable chemical composition of these droplets. In situ quantification of the extracted analytes is achieved by surface‐enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) spectroscopy by nanoparticles on the functionalized droplets. Optimized extraction efficiency and SERS enhancement by tuning droplet composition enable quantitative determination of hydrophobic model compounds of rhodamine 6G, methylene blue, and malachite green with the detection limit of 10^?9 to 10^?11 m and a large linear range of SERS signal from 10^?9 to 10^?6 m of the analytes. The approach addresses the current challenges of reproducibility and the lifetime of the substrate in SERS measurements. This novel surface droplet platform combines liquid–liquid extraction and highly sensitive and reproducible SERS detection, providing a promising technique in current chemical analysis related to environment monitoring, biomedical diagnosis, and national security monitoring.