Energy-efficient wireless communication

In this chapter we present an energy-efficient highly adaptive network interface architecture and a novel data link layer protocol for wireless networks that provides Quality of Service (QoS) support for diverse traffic types. Due to the dynamic nature of wireless networks, adaptations in bandwidth scheduling and error control are necessary to achieve energy efficiency and an acceptable quality of service. In our approach we apply adaptability through all layers of the protocol stack, and provide feedback to the applications. In this way the applications can adapt the data streams, and the network protocols can adapt the communication parameters

The Design of a System Architecture for Mobile Multimedia Computers

This chapter discusses the system architecture of a portable computer, called Mobile Digital Companion, which provides support for handling multimedia applications energy efficiently. Because battery life is limited and battery weight is an important factor for the size and the weight of the Mobile Digital Companion, energy management plays a crucial role in the architecture. As the Companion must remain usable in a variety of environments, it has to be flexible and adaptable to various operating conditions. The Mobile Digital Companion has an unconventional architecture that saves energy by using system decomposition at different levels of the architecture and exploits locality of reference with dedicated, optimised modules. The approach is based on dedicated functionality and the extensive use of energy reduction techniques at all levels of system design. The system has an architecture with a general-purpose processor accompanied by a set of heterogeneous autonomous programmable modules, each providing an energy efficient implementation of dedicated tasks. A reconfigurable internal communication network switch exploits locality of reference and eliminates wasteful data copies

The Octopus switch

This chapter1 discusses the interconnection architecture of the Mobile Digital Companion. The approach to build a low-power handheld multimedia computer presented here is to have autonomous, reconfigurable modules such as network, video and audio devices, interconnected by a switch rather than by a bus, and to offload as much as work as possible from the CPU to programmable modules placed in the data streams. Thus, communication between components is not broadcast over a bus but delivered exactly where it is needed, work is carried out where the data passes through, bypassing the memory. The amount of buffering is minimised, and if it is required at all, it is placed right on the data path, where it is needed. A reconfigurable internal communication network switch called Octopus exploits locality of reference and eliminates wasteful data copies. The switch is implemented as a simplified ATM switch and provides Quality of Service guarantees and enough bandwidth for multimedia applications. We have built a testbed of the architecture, of which we will present performance and energy consumption characteristics

Triangle-free induced subgraphs of the unitary polarity graph

Let $\perp$ be a unitary polarity of a finite projective plane $\pi$ of order $q^2$. The unitary polarity graph is the graph with vertex set the points of $\pi$ where two vertices $x$ and $y$ are adjacent if $x \in y^\perp$. We show that a triangle-free induced subgraph of the unitary polarity graph of an arbitrary projective plane has at most $(q^4+q)/2$ vertices. When $\pi$ is the Desarguesian projective plane $\mathrm{PG}(2,q^2)$ and $q$ is even, we show that the upper bound is asymptotically sharp, by providing an example on $q^4/2$ vertices. Finally, the case when $\pi$ is the Figueroa plane is discussed.Comment: 20 pages, accepted to the European Journal of Combinatoric

Characteristics of the pulsating jet flow through a dynamic glottal model with a lens-like constriction

A computational study of the pulsating jet in a squared channel with a dynamic glottal-shaped constriction is presented. It follows the model experiments of Triep and Brücker (J Acoust Soc Am 127(2):1537–1547, 2010) with the cam-driven model that replicates the dynamic glottal motion in the process of human phonation. The boundary conditions are mapped from the model experiment onto the computational model and the three dimensional time resolved velocity and pressure fields are numerically calculated. This study aims to provide more details of flow separation and pressure distribution in the glottal gap and in the supraglottal flow field. Within the glottal gap a ‘vena contracta’ effect is generated in the mid-sagittal plane. The flow separation in the mid-coronal plane is therefore delayed to larger diffuser angles which leads to an ‘axis-switching’ effect from mid-sagittal to mid-coronal plane. The location of flow separation in mid-sagittal cross section moves up- and downwards along the vocal folds surface in streamwise direction. The generated jet shear layer forms a chain of coherent vortex structures within each glottal cycle. These vortices cause characteristic velocity and pressure fluctuations in the supraglottal region, that are in the range of 10–30 times of the fundamental frequency

Cálculo y Análisis del Efecto Ferranti en Transformadores

El objetivo principal de este trabajo es analizar el Efecto Ferranti y calcular su aparición variando las condiciones de carga y los parámetros de diseño del transformador. Para ello se desarrollará una interfaz gráfica de usuario en Matlab que permite introducir los parámetros de diseño del transformador y las condiciones de carga y, en base a dichos valores calcular el desfase a partir del cual se produce el Efecto Ferranti. El TFG se desarrolla en español.Lan honen helburu nagusia Ferranti Efektua aztertzea eta honen agerpena kalkulatzea da, karga egoera eta transformadorearen diseinu parametro desberdinen arabera. Horretarako Matlaben erabiltzaile interfaze grafiko bat garatuko da transformadorearen diseinu parametroak eta karga egoera sartzea ahalbideratzen duena, zeinetan balio hauen bidez Ferranti Efektua sorrarazten duen desfasea kalkulatuko den.The main goal of this project is to analyze the Ferranti Effect and calculate its appearance by varying the load conditions and the design parameters of the transformer. For this purpose, a graphical user interface will be developed in Matlab that allows to introduce the design parameters of the transformer and the load conditions and, based on these values, calculate the phase shift from which the Ferranti Effect is produced

Detailed evaluation of data analysis tools for subtyping of bacterial isolates based on whole genome sequencing : Neisseria meningitidis as a proof of concept

Whole genome sequencing is increasingly recognized as the most informative approach for characterization of bacterial isolates. Success of the routine use of this technology in public health laboratories depends on the availability of well-characterized and verified data analysis methods. However, multiple subtyping workflows are now often being used for a single organism, and differences between them are not always well described. Moreover, methodologies for comparison of subtyping workflows, and assessment of their performance are only beginning to emerge. Current work focuses on the detailed comparison of WGS-based subtyping workflows and evaluation of their suitability for the organism and the research context in question. We evaluated the performance of pipelines used for subtyping of Neisseria meningitidis, including the currently widely applied cgMLST approach and different SNP-based methods. In addition, the impact of the use of different tools for detection and filtering of recombinant regions and of different reference genomes were tested. Our benchmarking analysis included both assessment of technical performance of the pipelines and functional comparison of the generated genetic distance matrices and phylogenetic trees. It was carried out using replicate sequencing datasets of high- and low-coverage, consisting mainly of isolates belonging to the clonal complex 269. We demonstrated that cgMLST and some of the SNP-based subtyping workflows showed very good performance characteristics and highly similar genetic distance matrices and phylogenetic trees with isolates belonging to the same clonal complex. However, only two of the tested workflows demonstrated reproducible results for a group of more closely related isolates. Additionally, results of the SNP-based subtyping workflows were to some level dependent on the reference genome used. Interestingly, the use of recombination-filtering software generally reduced the similarity between the gene-by-gene and SNP-based methodologies for subtyping of N. meningitidis. Our study, where N. meningitidis was taken as an example, clearly highlights the need for more benchmarking comparative studies to eventually contribute to a justified use of a specific WGS data analysis workflow within an international public health laboratory context

Diversity of Listeria monocytogenes strains of clinical and food chain origins in Belgium between 1985 and 2014

Listeriosis is a rare but severe disease, mainly caused by Listeria monocytogenes. This study shows the results of the laboratory-based surveillance of Listeriosis in Belgium over the period 1985-2014. Besides the incidence and some demographic data we present also more detailed microbiological and molecular characteristics of human strains isolated since 2000. The strains from the latter period were compared to food and animal strains from the same period. Our study shows that different food matrices were commonly contaminated with L. monocytogenes presenting the same PFGE profile as in patient's isolates. Since 1985, we observed a significant decrease in incidence of the Materno-Neonatal cases (from 0.15 to 0.04 cases /100,000 inhabitants-year), which is probably to be attributed to active prevention campaigns targeting pregnant women. Despite the strengthening of different control measures by the food industry, the incidence of non-Materno-Neonatal listeriosis increased in Belgium (from 0.3 to 0.7 cases /100,000 inhabitants-year), probably due to the rise of highly susceptible patients in an aging population. This significant increase found in non-Materno-Neonatal cases (slope coefficient 7.42%/year, P< 0.0001) can be attributed to significant increase in incidence of isolates belonging to serovars 1/2a (n = 393, slope coefficient 6.62%/year, P< 0.0001). Although resistance to antimicrobials is rare among L. monocytogenes isolates, a trend to increasing MIC values is evident with chloramphenicol, amoxicillin, tetracycline and ciprofloxacin. We show that fluoroquinolone resistance is not linked to chromosomal mutations, but caused by a variety of efflux pumps. Our study also shows that huge majority of known underlying pathologies (426 out of 785 cases) were cancers (185/426, 43.1%) and haematological malignancies (75/185, 40.5%). Moreover the risk population is susceptible to low levels of contamination in food stressing the need of prevention campaigns specifically targeting these persons