EASEA: specification and execution of evolutionary algorithms on GPGPU

EASEA is a framework designed to help non-expert programmers to optimize their problems by evolutionary computation. It allows to generate code targeted for standard CPU architectures, GPGPU-equipped machines as well as distributed memory clusters. In this paper, EASEA is presented by its underlying algorithms and by some example problems. Achievable speedups are also shown onto different NVIDIA GPGPUs cards for different optimization algorithm families.     

Alopecia, chronic candidodis, mental retardation and repeated ketoacidosic comas curable by biotin administration: multiple carboxylases deficiency (author's transl)

Multiple carboxylases deficiency, a recently identified metabolic disease in infants, can be cured by the administration of biotine, a cofactor of the carboxylases: pyruvate, propionyl coenzyme A (CoA), methylcrotonyl CoA, and acetyl CoA. The disorder presents as alopecia, associated with chronic candidosis, psychomotor retardation, and frequent episodes of ketoacidosis coma which responded to biotine treatment. Biological signs, related to the deficiency of the individual enzymes, are observed as hyperlactacidemia, propionic aciduria, and methylcrotonylglycinuria. The metabolic basis of this vitamin-dependent size is still obscure, but the research stimulated by this new disease should clarify the still poorly understood physiological role of this vitamin in humans.     

Oxide reliability below 3 nm for advanced CMOS: Issues, characterization, and solutions

This tutorial is devoted to oxide reliability below 3 nm in advanced CMOS devices. Indeed, with device dimension downscaling, the oxide thickness reduction below 6 nm has led to important changes in degradation mechanisms and failure modes and this trend has been enhanced below 3 nm. The topics addressed will cover basic aspects, from ITRS predictions to a clear definition of various oxide breakdown events and failure modes and will detail the changes linked to thickness reduction below 3 nm, essentially due to the increasing importance of direct tunneling current through the oxide. Experimental aspects will be highlighted and the statistical treatment using Weibull statistics will be detailed. On the basis of well established experimental points, we will review models for temperature, oxide thickness and voltage dependence of time to breakdown, and will point out the influence of some process factors. In conclusion, we will give some elements concerning the usability of devices and circuits after breakdown.     

Preparation of new proton exchange membranes using sulfonated poly(ether sulfone) modified by octylamine (SPESOS)

Sulfonated poly(arylene ether sulfone) (SPES) has received considerable attention in membrane preparation for proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC). But such membranes are brittle and difficult to handle in operation. We investigated new membranes using SPES grafted with various degrees of octylamine. Five new materials made from sulfonated polyethersulfone sulfonamide (SPESOS) were synthetized with different grades of grafting. They were made from SPES, with initially an ionic exchange capacity (IEC) of 2.4 meq g⁻¹ (1.3 H⁺ per monomer unit). Pristine SPES with that IEC is water swelling and becomes soluble at 80 °C, its proton conductivity is in the range of 0.1 S cm⁻¹ at room temperature in aqueous H₂SO₄ 1 M, similar to that of Nafion^®. After grafting with various amounts of octylamine, the material is water insoluble; membranes are less brittle and show sufficient ionic conductivity. Proton transport numbers were measured close to 1.     

A comprehensive study of stress induced leakage current using a floating gate structure for direct applications in EEPROM memories

The aim of this study is to obtain from experimental data a reliable approach for predicting the impact of temperature on data retention in EEPROM memories. Using a floating gate dedicated structure, we present stress induced leakage current results and characterization in terms of AC generation, annealing kinetics and temperature activation in 6.8 nm SiO₂ tunneling oxide used in standard EEPROM products. We propose a simple way to deal with these three aspects in order to describe SILC evolution during retention phases corresponding to an oxide floating gate potential lower than 2 V.     

A new method to quantify retention-failed cells of an EEPROM CAST

The cell array stress test (CAST) is a very simple tool to study one of the main issues of Non Volatile Memory reliability: data retention. However, it is not possible to easily quantify and localise the retention-failed cells of a CAST. Thus, a new experimental technique to localize and to quantify retention-failed EEPROM cells into a CAST is presented in this paper. This new technique is based on light emission microscopy; the aim is to observe light emission coming from cells and to localize their position with accuracy on CAST area. It is a visual and non destructive method which validity has been shown on cycled cells after a retention test.     

Distributed algorithms for computing shortest pairs of disjointpaths

Distributed algorithms for finding two disjoint paths of minimum total length from each node to a destination are presented. The algorithms have both node-disjoint and link-disjoint versions and provide each node with information sufficient to forward data on the disjoint paths. It is shown that this problem can be reduced to the problem of finding a minimal shortest path from each node to the destination in a modified network, and a distributed algorithm on the original network that simulates a shortest-paths algorithm running on the modified network is presented. The algorithm has a smaller space complexity than any previous distributed algorithm for the same problem, and a method for forwarding packets is presented that does not require any additional space complexity. A synchronous implementation of the algorithm is also presented and studied     

Safety assessment of dairy microorganisms: the Leuconostoc genus

Although Leuconostoc genus is "generally recognized as safe" (GRAS), a few clinically human infections cases by this microorganism have been reported in the literature, leading to their classification as opportunistic pathogens. However, these reported cases concern only severe immunodepressed patients, and none direct relations have yet been proven between Leuconostoc isolation and human diseases. Moreover, no cases of infections have been directly linked to the consumption of fermented food. Considering the long history of use of Leuconostoc in dairy industry, and their poor incidence in human infections cases, this bacterial genus may be reasonably considered as " safe " for its use in fermented dairy products.     

A robust watermarking approach for security issue of binary documents using fully convolutional networks

International Journal on Document Analysis and Recognition (IJDAR) - Motivated by increasing possibility of the tampering of genuine documents during a transmission over digital channels, we focus...