LBMBS： A Load-Balanced Moveable Bubble Scheme for Tori Interconnection Networks

Moveable bubble flow control is an efficient technique to avoid deadlock for torus networks. However, it does not take into consideration the load balance feature. Therefore, this leads to inefficient resources utilization. Moreover, packets may be discarded due to the congestion of a network area. On the other hand, there are other algorithms that consider load balancing such as rHALB （r hop adaptive load-balanced）routing technique. Nonetheless, rHALB detects deadlock using the timeout threshold. This concept of deadlock detection may give incorrect responses in case the traffic is high. Therefore, packets are dropped although there is no deadlock. At the end, this affects the whole performance of the network. This paper proposes a new routing algorithm for tori interconnection networks, namely, the LBMBS （load-balanced moveable bubble scheme）. LBMBS integrates both concepts of moveable bubble and rHALB in order to provide at the end a load-balanced efficient deadlock-free algorithm. The protocol details are given and compared against other routing algorithms in the literature.     

Index-Based Cache Coherence Protocol

A multiprocessor envirorLment may encounter many problems such as deadlock, load balancing and cache coherence. However, the latter is considered the most dangerous if not properly designed, the system works naturally but generates inaccurate results. This occurs if obsolete versions of a memory block are used. Users may not be aware of the presence of such problem. Two main approaches are known to maintain data consistency： namely, snoopy and directory-based protocols. Each approach has its advantages and limitations. This paper proposes a new technique that considers both previously mentioned approaches. The network architecture is slightly updated by adding an index table to each processor. The proposed protocol is expected to reduce the access time, decrease the number of accesses to main memory, maintain data consistency, and assure the usage of the most recent value of a shared variable.     

Standards and their influence on MAC bridges

The influence that consensus standards have had on the development of media access control (MAC) bridges is examined. The intent is to give an intuitive feel for the standards process and its effect on bridges without detailing the specific groups and processes associated with the standards organizations. It is shown that standards developed under the consensus procedure must follow a certain pattern     

Ex-vivo cellular MRI with b-SSFP: quantitative benefits of 3 T over 1.5 T

INTRODUCTION: The use of MRI with iron-based magnetic nanoparticles for imaging cells is a rapidly growing field of research. We have recently reported that single iron-labeled cells could be detected, as signal voids, in vivo in mouse brains using a balanced steady-state free precession imaging sequence (b-SSFP) and a customized microimaging system at 1.5 T. METHODS: In the current study we assess the benefits, and challenges, of using a higher magnetic field strength for imaging iron-labeled cells with b-SSFP, using ex vivo mouse brain specimens imaged with near identical systems at 1.5 and 3.0 T. RESULTS: The substantial banding artifact that appears in 3 T b-SSFP images was readily minimized with RF phase cycling, allowing for banding-free b-SSFP images to be compared between the two field strengths. This study revealed that with an optimal 3 T b-SSFP imaging protocol, more than twice as many signal voids were detected as with 1.5 T. CONCLUSION: There are several factors that contributed to this important result. First, a greater-than-linear SNR gain was achieved in mouse brain images at 3 T. Second, a reduction in the bandwidth, and the associated increase in repetition time and SNR, produced a dramatic increase in the contrast generated by iron-labeled cells.     

Construction of mesoporous CuMn2O4/g-C3N4 heterojunctions as effective photocatalysts for reduction and removal of mercury ions

Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics - In this work, CuMn2O4/g-C3N4 photocatalysts with variations of CuMn2O4 NPs percentages (0.5–2%) have been performed as effective...     

Clouds and “throat hit”: Effects of liquid composition on nicotine emissions and physical characteristics of electronic cigarette aerosols

Electronic cigarettes (ECIGs) heat and vaporize a liquid mixture to produce an inhalable aerosol that can deliver nicotine to the user. The liquid mixture is typically composed of propylene glycol (PG) and vegetable glycerin (VG), in which are dissolved trace quantities of flavorants and, usually, nicotine. Due to their different chemical and thermodynamic properties, the proportions of PG and VG in the liquid solution may affect nicotine delivery and user sensory experience. In social media and popular culture, greater PG fraction is associated with greater “throat-hit,” a sensation that has been attributed in cigarette smokers to increased presence of vapor-phase nicotine. VG, on the other hand, is associated with thicker and larger exhaled “clouds.” In this study, we aim to investigate how PG/VG ratio influences variables that relate to nicotine delivery and plume visibility. Aerosols from varying PG/VG liquids were generated using a digitally controlled vaping instrument and a commercially available ECIG, and analyzed for nicotine content by GC-MS. Particle mass and number distribution were determined using a six-stage cascade impactor and a fast particle spectrometer (TSI EEPS), with tightly controlled dilution and sampling biases. A Mie theory model was used to compute the aerosol scattering coefficients in the visible spectrum. Decreasing the PG/VG ratio resulted in a decrease in total particulate matter (TPM) and nicotine yield (R² > 0.9, p < .0001). Measured particle count median diameter ranged between 44 and 97nm, and was significantly smaller for PG liquids. Although the particle mass concentration was lower, aerosols produced using liquids that contained VG had an order of magnitude greater light scattering coefficients. These findings indicate that PG/VG ratio is a strong determinant of both nicotine delivery and user sensory experience.

Copyright © 2017 American Association for Aerosol Research     

Bio-Cyber Interface Parameter Estimation with Neural Network for the Internet of Bio-Nano Things

Wireless Personal Communications - Recently, there is growing interest in the Internet of Bio-Nano Things (IoBNT) based on biological communication with the advent of communication engineering and...     

A Fast Parallel Frequency-Domain Watermarking Algorithm

The aim of this research is to develop a faster watermarking algorithm based on the frequency domain. A sequential algorithm is picked, implemented, and parallelism is exploited in order to achieve a shorter execution time. Both DWT （discrete wavelet transform） and DCT （discrete cosine transform） are applied. Frequency domain watermarking techniques are known to be more robust. In addition, the algorithm falls under the bling category which implies a higher degree of security. A quad-core Intel Core TM i7-3630QM processor is used. The CPU （central processing unit） is 2.4 GHz and 6 GB RAM. MATLAB R2012a is used under Microsoft Windows 7 operating system. Two main lines of experiments are conducted; namely, the association of hosts to watermarks and the measurement of program speedup. Speedup is measured for both embedding and extraction operations on both dual-core and quad-core. Results reveal a gained speedup that reaches more than 200% as compared to the sequential algorithm.