A survey on resource allocation in high performance distributed computing systems

An efficient resource allocation is a fundamental requirement in high performance computing (HPC) systems. Many projects are dedicated to large-scale distributed computing systems that have designed and developed resource allocation mechanisms with a variety of architectures and services. In our study, through analysis, a comprehensive survey for describing resource allocation in various HPCs is reported. The aim of the work is to aggregate under a joint framework, the existing solutions for HPC to provide a thorough analysis and characteristics of the resource management and allocation strategies. Resource allocation mechanisms and strategies play a vital role towards the performance improvement of all the HPCs classifications. Therefore, a comprehensive discussion of widely used resource allocation strategies deployed in HPC environment is required, which is one of the motivations of this survey. Moreover, we have classified the HPC systems into three broad categories, namely: (a) cluster, (b) grid, and (c) cloud systems and define the characteristics of each class by extracting sets of common attributes. All of the aforementioned systems are cataloged into pure software and hybrid/hardware solutions. The system classification is used to identify approaches followed by the implementation of existing resource allocation strategies that are widely presented in the literature.     

Palyno-anatomical characters and their systematic significance in the family Apiaceae from Chitral,eastern Hindu Kush,Pakistan

The present study was performed to provide a detailed explanation of leaf epidermal anatomy and pollen micromorphological features of selected species of family Apiaceae from Chitral, eastern Hindu Kush region as the basis of forthcoming studies. In the present article pollen morphology of eight species and foliar epidermal of seven species of family Apiaceae have been examined through microscopic techniques. In results two types of pollen prolate (five species) and perprolate (three species) with three colpi have been recorded. The exine ornamentation was found to be regulate, striate, and cerebroid. Largest pollen was found in Heracleum leucocarpum with the polar diameter of 43.25 μm and equatorial diameter of 21.6 μm. Smallest pollen was observed in Elaeosticta chitralica with the polar diameter of 18.4 μm. The P/E ratio varied from 1.59 to 2.16. Regarding to foliar epidermal anatomy, three types of epidermal cells including rectangular, irregular, and polygonal with variation in anticlinal wall pattern were determined. In the selected species three kinds of stomata comprising anisocytic, anomocytic, and paracytic type were reported in the current research. The size of epidermal cells ranged from 106 × 42.50 μm in Bupleurum falcatum subsp. cernuum and 77.25 × 26.35 μm in Prangos pabularia in adaxial surface. Largest stomatal complex was found in Prangos pabularia both in adaxial 33.55 × 20.05 μm and abaxial 50.25 × 39.40 μm. All the observed quantitative and qualitative features of the species were proved to be useful in the delimitation of species at generic and species level.     

On the sampling of three-dimensional polycrystalline microstructures for distribution determination

How to sample three-dimensional microstructure and effectively reduce experimental error is a challenging problem. Taking seven single-phase polycrystalline structures generated by 400×400×400 Potts Monte Carlo simulation as the study object, effects of sampling strategy on the determination of various characteristic parameters of the grain size distribution and grain topology distribution are studied. The mean voxel value (or volume) of individual grains in the three-dimensional simulated microstructure varies from 4.56×10(4) to 1.0×10(3) , and the number of grains contained in the structure varies from 63 901 to 1403. The results show that, a minimum of 200 sampled grains can ensure the relative error to be less than 5% for determination of the mean grain volume, the mean grain face number and the coefficient of variance of the distribution of grain size and the grain face number. Whereas for the coefficient of the skewness and the kurtosis of grain size distribution or grain face number distribution, a minimum of 800 sampled grains are required for the same error level. However, if some exceptional big grains appear, e.g. a grain larger than with eight multiples of mean grain volume and/or three multiples of mean grain face number, abnormal values of the two parameters would be resulted, even the number of examined grains is over 1000.     

Versatile gas/particle ion chromatograph

A new, compact gas/particle ion chromatograph has been developed for measuring ionic constituents in PM2.5 (particulate matter of aerodynamic diameter < or = 2.5 microm) and water-soluble ionogenic gases. The instrument has separate sampling channels for gases and particles. In one, a membrane denuder collects soluble gases for preconcentration and analysis. In the other, a cyclone removes larger particles, a membrane denuder removes soluble gases, and a continuously wetted hydrophilic filter collects particles. A single, multiport, syringe pump handles liquid transport, and one conductivity detector measures anions and ammonium for both channels. Electrodialytically generated gradient hydroxide eluent permits 20 min chromatographic runs. Gas/particle samples are each collected for 40 min, butthe sampling intervals are staggered by 20 min. Liquid samples from the gas denuder and particle collector are aspirated and preconcentrated on sequential cation and anion concentrators and transferred respectively to an ammonia transfer device and an anion separation column. The flow configuration results in an ammonium peak before anion peaks in the chromatogram. The system measures ammonia, organic acids (such as acetic, formic, and oxalic acids), HCl, HONO, SO2, HNO3, and the corresponding ions in the aerosol phase. Low ng/m3 to sub-ng/m3 limits of detection (LODs) are attained for most common gases and particulate constituents, the LODs for gaseous SO2 to NH3 range, for example, from sub parts per trillion by volume (sub-pptv) to approximately 5 pptv.     

Morpho-anatomical characterization of some members of euglenophycota (algae) of north-east Punjab,Pakistan based on light microscopy (LM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM)

The study was carried out in four districts, that is, Gujranwala, Gujarat, Narowal and Sialkot of Punjab, Pakistan. The sampling was carried out randomly in different seasons from the water bodies especially from wastewater. Twenty-one species belonging to Euglenophycota were identified using light microscopy and scanning electron microscopy from which 04 species belong to genus Phacus, 02 species belonging to Trachelomonas and Euglena based on light microscopy. It was observed that Euglena was the most diverse genus and it is supposed to be the indicator species of the polluted water. It was observed that E. oblonga was found in maximum pH range, that is, 7.0–11.0. Similarly, E. brevicaudatus was found in maximum EC, that is, 169 ± 1.5 ms/cm these outcomes indicated that for internal examination along with LM, SEM was necessary for correct identification of algal sample up to specie level.     

Mesh stiffness analysis of beveloid gears for the rotating vector transmission

Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology - This paper investigates the meshing stiffness of beveloid gears in the beveloid rotate vector (BRV) transmission. It is a new kind of transmission...     

Race Classification Using Deep Learning

Race classification is a long-standing challenge in the field of face image analysis. The investigation of salient facial features is an important task to avoid processing all face parts. Face segmentation strongly benefits several face analysis tasks, including ethnicity and race classification. We propose a race-classification algorithm using a prior face segmentation framework. A deep convolutional neural network (DCNN) was used to construct a face segmentation model. For training the DCNN, we label face images according to seven different classes, that is, nose, skin, hair, eyes, brows, back, and mouth. The DCNN model developed in the first phase was used to create segmentation results. The probabilistic classification method is used, and probability maps (PMs) are created for each semantic class. We investigated five salient facial features from among seven that help in race classification. Features are extracted from the PMs of five classes, and a new model is trained based on the DCNN. We assessed the performance of the proposed race classification method on four standard face datasets, reporting superior results compared with previous studies.     

Vacuum-processed polyethylene as a dielectric for low operating voltage organic field effect transistors

We report on the fabrication and performance of vacuum-processed organic field effect transistors utilizing evaporated low-density polyethylene (LD-PE) as a dielectric layer. With C₆₀ as the organic semiconductor, we demonstrate low operating voltage transistors with field effect mobilities in excess of 4 cm²/Vs. Devices with pentacene showed a mobility of 0.16 cm²/Vs. Devices using tyrian Purple as semiconductor show low-voltage ambipolar operation with equal electron and hole mobilities of ～0.3 cm²/Vs. These devices demonstrate low hysteresis and operational stability over at least several months. Grazing-angle infrared spectroscopy of evaporated thin films shows that the structure of the polyethylene is similar to solution-cast films. We report also on the morphological and dielectric properties of these films. Our experiments demonstrate that polyethylene is a stable dielectric supporting both hole and electron channels.     

Road Oriented Traffic Information System for Vehicular Ad hoc Networks

Over the last few years, vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs) have gained popularity for their interesting applications. To make efficient routing decisions, VANET routing protocols require road traffic density information for which they use density estimation schemes. This paper presents a distributed mechanism for road vehicular density estimation that considers multiple road factors, such as road length and junctions. Extensive simulations are carried out to analyze the effectiveness of the proposed technique. Simulation results suggested that, the proposed technique is more accurate compared to the existing technique. Moreover, it facilitate VANET routing protocols to increase packet delivery ratio and reduce end-to-end delay.     

Study on the preparation and properties of novel block copolymeric materials based on structurally modified organometallic as well as organic polyamides and polydimethylsiloxane

Some novel ferrocene‐containing polyamide‐based block copolymer materials with telechelic polydimethylsiloxane oligomer and their organic analogues were prepared by solution‐phase polycondensation of ferrocene‐based organometallic and terephthaloyl‐ as well as isophthaloyl‐based organic acyl chlorides with a series of semi‐aromatic diamines having ether linkages together with variable aliphatic character. The corresponding polyamides of the synthesized materials, without polydimethylsiloxane segment, were also prepared for comparison of physicochemical properties. None of the synthesized organometallic and organic block copolymers along with their respective polyamides melted below 300 °C and their structural features were confirmed by their physical properties and spectroscopic studies. The weight‐average molecular weights and molecular parameters of all these materials were determined by the static laser light scattering technique. The materials were soluble in sulfuric acid and partially soluble in common organic solvents, and yet became readily soluble upon N‐trifluoroacetylation. The synthesized materials were further characterized by their water absorption characteristics, X‐ray diffraction studies and surface morphology (SEM and AFM) and thermal (DSC and TG) analyses, and their structure–property relationships were elucidated from these studies. The energies of pyrolysis for these materials were calculated by the Horowitz and Metzger method. © 2012 Society of Chemical Industry