Global data and control in multicomputers: Operating system primitives and experimentation with a parallel branch-and-bound algorithm

The static distribution of work among tasks is not possible in many parallel applications. Therefore, it is essential to implement convenient and efficient abstractions for ‘work sharing’ on multicomputers. This paper compares the utility of two operating system facilities for the implementation of such ‘work sharing’: (1) a system for the migration of processes from heavily to less loaded processors and (2) a more general OS construct for the implementation of arbitrary distributed objects. Both were implemented as extensions to the Intel iPSC/1 operating system on a 32-node hypercube. Their experimental evaluation is based on a parallel implementation of a branch-and-bound algorithm. Two sets of results are attained. First, the necessity of the constructs for dynamic work sharing is demonstrated for applications with dynamic data domains, such as parallel branch-and-bound algorithms. This is followed by measurements that demonstrate the acceptable cost of process migration for a specific parallel branch-and-bound algorithm. These measurements are then compared with results attained with the construct for the implementation of distributed objects. Second, when using branch-and-bound to solve the Travelling Salesperson Problem (TSP), evaluation of the resulting parallel TSP program shows that some analytical and simulation results attained in past, published work may not hold.     

测量复合视频信号性能:差分增益与差分相位

首先简要介绍了复合NSTC/PAL视频,并阐述差分增益与差分相位的重要性,随后,重点讨论了如何理解规格表中的各种规格及各种重要的DG/DP测量方法。     

An automated fluorescent PCR method for detection of shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli in foods

An automated fluorescence-based PCR system (a model AG-9600 AmpliSensor analyzer) was investigated to determine whether it could detect Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC). The AmpliSensor PCR assay involves amplification-mediated disruption of a fluorogenic DNA signal duplex (AmpliSensor) that is homologous to conserved target sequences in a 323-bp amplified fragment of Shiga toxin genes stx1, stx2, and stxe. Using the Amplisensor assay, we detected 113 strains of STEC belonging to 50 different serotypes, while 18 strains of non-Shiga-toxin-producing E. coli and 68 strains of other bacteria were not detected. The detection limits of the assay were less than 1 to 5 CFU per PCR mixture when pure cultures of five reference strains were used and 3 CFU per 25 g of food when spiked ground beef samples that were preenriched overnight were used. The performance of the assay was also evaluated by using 53 naturally contaminated meat samples and 48 raw milk samples. Thirty-two STEC-positive samples that were confirmed to be positive by the culture assay were found to be positive when the AmpliSensor assay was used. Nine samples that were found to be positive when the PCR assay was used were culture negative. The system described here is an automated PCR-based system that can be used for detection of all serotypes of STEC in food or clinical samples.     

Cloning and heterologous expression of a beta-fructofuranosidase gene from Arthrobacter globiformis IFO 3062, and site-directed mutagenesis of the essential aspartic acid and glutamic acid of the active site

We have cloned the gene encoding a beta-fructofuranosidase from Arthrobacter globiformis IFO 3062, and subsequently, the gene was heterologously expressed in Escherichia coli. This beta-fructofuranosidase gene encodes a protein of 548 amino acid residues with a calculated molecular mass of 60,519 Da. We have examined the roles of three residues of A. globiformis IFO 3062 beta-fructofuranosidase by site-directed mutagenesis, and found that aspartic acid 130 and glutamic acid 392, which are two of the apparent catalytic residues, are essential for hydrolase activity. This study provides the first experimental evidence showing that these two amino acid residues of beta-fructofuranosidase play a critical role in hydrolyzing sucrose.     

The effects of zinc and copper salts on Cyprinus carpio and Ctenopharyngodon idellus

The effects of zinc and copper salts on the survival of the two species of freshwater fish, common carp, Cyprinus carpio, and grass carp, Ctenopharyngodon idellus, were investigated. It was discovered that the levels of tolerance to the concentration of the metals were species-specific. Cyprinus carpio was found to be more susceptible to copper, whereas Ctenopharyngodon idellus was more susceptible to zinc. In general, copper was more toxic than zinc, as revealed by the survival times. The body and the gills of dead fish seemed to be covered by a veil-like film which looked like coagulated mucus and which was formed by the heavy-metal ions reacting with some constituents of the mucus and which was formed by the heavy-metal ions reacting with some constituents of the mucus secreted by the gill. The histopathological assessment of the gill and liver of Cyprinus carpio was also carried out. Particles were observed around the gills of the dead fish treated with zinc and copper salts, although no other major changes were found in the gill. Several histopathological changes were observed in the livers, including the presence of particles. The symptoms of the liver suggested that the internal injury was also an important feature of the intoxicants.     

Low Complexity Rake Receivers in Ultra-Wideband Channels

One of the major issues for the design of ultra-wideband (UWB) receivers is the need to recover the signal energy dispersed over many multipath components, while keeping the receiver complexity low. To this aim we consider two schemes for reduced-complexity UWB Rake receivers, both of which combine a subset of the available resolved multipath components. The first method, called partial Rake (PRake), combines theirs/ arriving multipath components. The second is known as selective Rake (SRake) and combines the instantaneously strongest multipath components. We evaluate and compare the link performance of these Rake receivers in different UWB channels, whose models are based on extensive propagation measurements. We quantify the effect of the channel characteristics on the receiver performance, analyzing in particular the influence of small-scale fading statistics. We find that for dense channels the performance of the simpler PRake receiver is almost as good as that of the SRake receiver, even for a small number of fingers. In sparse channels, however, the SRake outperforms the PRake significantly. We also show that for a fixed transmitted energy there is an optimum transmission bandwidth     

Multipath Aided Rapid Acquisition: Optimal Search Strategies

In this paper, we propose a search technique that takes advantage of multipath, which has long been considered deleterious for efficient communication, to aid the sequence acquisition in dense multipath channels. We consider a class of serial-search strategies and use optimization and convexity theories to determine fundamental limits of achievable mean acquisition times (MATs). In particular, we derive closed-form expressions for both the minimum and maximum MATs and the conditions for achieving these limits. We prove that a fixed-step serial search, a form of nonconsecutive serial search, achieves a near-optimal MAT. We also prove that the conventional serial search, in which consecutive cells are tested serially, should be avoided as it results in the maximum MAT. Our results are valid for all signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) values, regardless of the specifics of the detection layer and the fading distributions     

Asymptotic Performance of a Censoring Sensor Network

We consider the problem of decentralized binary detection in a sensor network where the sensors have access to side information that affects the statistics of their measurements, or reflects the quality of the available channel to a fusion center. Sensors can decide whether or not to make a measurement and transmit a message to the fusion center ("censoring"), and also have a choice of the mapping from measurements to messages. We consider the case of a large number of sensors, and an asymptotic criterion involving error exponents. We study both a Neyman-Pearson and a , Bayesian formulation, characterize the optimal error exponent, and derive asymptotically optimal strategies for the case where sensor decisions are only allowed to depend on locally available information. Furthermore, we show that for the Neyman-Pearson case, global sharing of side information ("sensor cooperation") does not improve asymptotic performance, when the Type I error is constrained to be small.