Unicast-based multicast communication in wormhole-routed networks

Multicast communication, in which the same message is delivered from a source node to an arbitrary number of destination nodes, is being increasingly demanded in parallel computing. System supported multicast services can potentially offer improved performance, increased functionality, and simplified programming, and may in turn be used to support various higher-level operations for data movement and global process control. This paper presents efficient algorithms to implement multicast communication in wormhole-routed direct networks, in the absence of hardware multicast support, by exploiting the properties of the switching technology. Minimum-time multicast algorithms are presented for n-dimensional meshes and hypercubes that use deterministic, dimension-ordered routing of unicast messages. Both algorithms can deliver a multicast message to m-1 destinations in [log ₂ m] message passing steps, while avoiding contention among the constituent unicast messages. Performance results of implementations on a 64-node nCUBE-2 hypercube and a 168-node Symult 2010 2-D mesh are given     

Human erythrocytes bearing electroinserted CD4 neutralize infection in vitro by primary isolates of human immunodeficiency virus type 1

Human erythrocytes bearing electroinserted full-length CD4 (RBC-CD4) can bind and fuse with a laboratory strain of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) or with T cells infected by HIV-1. Here we show that RBC-CD4 neutralize primary HIV-1 strains in an assay of cocultivation of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from HIV-1-infected persons with uninfected PBMC. RBC-CD4 inhibited viral p24 core antigen accumulation in these cocultures up to 10,000-fold compared with RBC alone. Viral p24 accumulation was inhibited equally well when measured in culture supernatants or in call extracts. The inhibition was dose-dependent and long-lived. Two types of recombinant CD4 tested in parallel were largely ineffective. The neutralization of primary HIV-1 by RBC-CD4 in vitro was demonstrated in PBMC cultures from 21 of a total of 23 patients tested at two independent sites. RBC-CD4 may offer a route to blocking HIV-1 infection in vivo.     

Debugging mixed‐environment programs with Blink

Programmers build large‐scale systems with multiple languages to leverage legacy code and languages best suited to their problems. For instance, the same program may use Java for ease of programming and C to interface with the operating system. These programs pose significant debugging challenges, because programmers need to understand and control code across languages, which often execute in different environments. Unfortunately, traditional multilingual debuggers require a single execution environment. This paper presents a novel composition approach to building portable mixed‐environment debuggers, in which an intermediate agent interposes on language transitions, controlling and reusing single‐environment debuggers. We implement debugger composition in Blink, a debugger for Java, C, and the Jeannie programming language. We show that Blink is (i) simple: it requires modest amounts of new code; (ii) portable: it supports multiple Java virtual machines, C compilers, operating systems, and component debuggers; and (iii) powerful: composition eases debugging, while supporting new mixed‐language expression evaluation and Java native interface bug diagnostics. To demonstrate the generality of interposition, we build prototypes and demonstrate debugger language transitions with C for five of six other languages (Caml, Common Lisp, C#, Perl 5, Python, and Ruby) without modifications to their debuggers. Using real‐world case studies, we show that diagnosing language interface errors require prior single‐environment debuggers to restart execution multiple times, whereas Blink directly diagnoses them with one execution. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Transparent autonomization in CORBA

Increasingly, software systems are constructed by integrating and composing multiple existing applications. The resulting complexity increases the need for self-management of the system. However, adding autonomic behavior to composite systems is difficult, especially when the constituent components are heterogeneous and they were not originally designed to support such interactions. Moreover, entangling the code for self-management with the code for the business logic of the original applications may actually increase the complexity of the systems, counter to the desired goal. In this paper, we address autonomization of composite systems that use CORBA, one of the first widely used middleware platforms introduced more than 17 years ago that is still commonly used in numerous systems. We propose a model, called Adaptive CORBA Template (ACT), that enables autonomic behavior to be added to CORBA applications automatically and transparently, that is, without requiring any modifications to the code implementing the business logic of the original applications. To do so, ACT uses “generic” interceptors, which are added to CORBA applications at startup time and enable autonomic behavior to be introduced later at runtime. We have developed ACT/J, a prototype of ACT in Java. We describe a case study in which ACT/J is used to introduce three types of autonomic behavior (self-healing, self-optimization, and self-configuration) to a distributed surveillance application.     

Simulations of extensional flow in microrheometric devices

We present a detailed numerical study of the flow of a Newtonian fluid through microrheometric devices featuring a sudden contraction–expansion. This flow configuration is typically used to generate extensional deformations and high strain rates. The excess pressure drop resulting from the converging and diverging flow is an important dynamic measure to quantify if the device is intended to be used as a microfluidic extensional rheometer. To explore this idea, we examine the effect of the contraction length, aspect ratio and Reynolds number on the flow kinematics and resulting pressure field. Analysis of the computed velocity and pressure fields show that, for typical experimental conditions used in microfluidic devices, the steady flow is highly three-dimensional with open spiraling vortical structures in the stagnant corner regions. The numerical simulations of the local kinematics and global pressure drop are in good agreement with experimental results. The device aspect ratio is shown to have a strong impact on the flow and consequently on the excess pressure drop, which is quantified in terms of the dimensionless Couette and Bagley correction factors. We suggest an approach for calculating the Bagley correction which may be especially appropriate for planar microchannels. Electronic supplementary material  The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

An analytical solution to the extended Navier–Stokes equations using the Lambert W function

Microchannel gas flows are of importance in a wide range of microelectro mechanical devices. In these flows, the mean free path of the gas can be comparable to the characteristic length of the microchannel, leading to strong diffusion‐enhanced transport of momentum. Numerical solutions to the extended Navier–Stokes equations (ENSE) have successfully modeled such microchannel flows. Analytical solutions to the ENSE for the pressure and velocity fields using the Lambert W function are derived. We find that diffusive contributions to the total transport are only dominant for low average pressures and low pressure drops across the microchannel. For large inlet pressures, we show that the expressions involving the Lambert W function predict steep gradients in the pressure and velocity localized near the channel exit. We extract a characteristic length for this boundary layer. Our analytical results are validated by numerical and experimental results available in the literature. © 2014 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 60: 1413–1423, 2014     

A hub-and-spoke model of care: providing specialty care in patients' own communities

The authors describe how they used lessons learned in increasing office efficiency to improve primary care providers' ability to arrange for many specialty consultations and care within a reasonable driving distance for patients.     

Self-administered intravenous infusion of hypertonic solutions and sodium appetite of sheep.

Studied the effects of self-administered iv infusion of hypertonic NaCl, mannitol, glucose, urea, or isotonic NaCl on Na appetite. 22 Merino-Cross sheep were trained to barpress to replace Na deficits of 300–500 mmol. During basal conditions, each delivery to a drinking cup was 15 ml of .6 M NaHCO? (9 mmol). In the experimental situation, an iv infusion was given automatically with each delivery to the drinking cup. Ingestion of NaHCO? solution was significantly reduced by all hypertonic solutions, the largest decrease being caused by hypertonic NaCl or mannitol. The decreased intake was observed within 10 (with infusion of hypertonic NaCl, mannitol, or glucose) or 20–40 (with urea infusion) minutes, irrespective of whether water was concurrently available to drink. At 20 min, plasma Na was increased by hypertonic NaCl, decreased by mannitol or glucose, and not changed by urea. CSF Na concentration was increased by all hypertonic solutions. In regard to the "turn-off" of Na appetite by systemic infusion, data are consistent with the theory of neural cells within the blood–brain barrier responsive to changes of Na concentration or osmolality in their environment. In contrast, water intake was stimulated by hypertonic NaCl or mannitol but not by urea or glucose. Results suggest that the sensors involved in thirst (e.g., osmoreceptors) are in an area of the brain lacking the blood–brain barrier. (24 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)