A Distributed Routing Method for Dynamic Multicasting

Single point, sender based control does not scale well for multicast delivery. For applications, such as group video or teleconferencing a low total cost multicast tree is required. In this article we present a destination driven algorithm to minimize the total tree cost of multicast tree in a dynamic situation for the whole session duration. In this heuristic approach we considered the staying duration of participants are available at the time of joining. The performance of our algorithm is analyzed through extensive simulation and evaluated against several other existing dynamic multicast routing and also against one well known near optimum heuristic algorithm used for solving Steiner tree problem. We have further tested our algorithm using erroneous information given by the joining participants. Simulation results show that its performance does not degrade that much even when the range of error is considerably high, which proves the robustness of our algorithm.     

DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF STATE OBSERVERS IN REACTIVE DISTILLATION

This study demonstrates that state observers can be developed and applied to infer the composition profiles of reactive distillation columns from noise-contaminated temperature measurements. The design and implementation of a Kalman filter (KF) and a Luenberger observer (LO) are carried out, and their performances are quantitatively assessed. The reliability, accuracy, and robustness of the two designs method are examined and compared quantitatively. The design and implementation of a Luenberger observer are simpler and easier to carry out than those of a Kalman filter. On the other hand, a Kalman filter is found to be more robust to a noisy measurements, erroneous initial estimates, and model uncertainties. A Luenberger observer could be used for composition estimation of reactive distillation when an ideal model of the system can reasonably approximate the real system; otherwise, a Kalman filter is recommended to be applied in more practical situations.     

Luminescence from praseodymium doped AlN thin films deposited by RF magnetron sputtering and the effect of material structure and thermal annealing on the luminescence

Thin films of Praseodymium doped AlN are deposited on silicon (111) substrates at 77 K and 950 K by rf magnetron sputtering method. About 500–1000 nm thick films are grown at 100–200 watts RF power and 5–8 mTorr nitrogen, using a metal target of Al with Pr. X-rays diffraction results show that films deposited at 77 K are amorphous and those deposited at 950 K are crystalline. Cathodoluminescence studies are performed at room temperature and luminescence peaks are observed in a wide range from ultraviolet to infrared region. The most intense peak is obtained in green at 526 nm from amorphous films as a result from ³P₁→³H₅ transition. In crystalline films the intense peak was obtain in red at 648 nm as a result from ³P₀→³F₂ transition. Films are thermally activated at 1300 K for half an hour in a nitrogen atmosphere. Thermal activation enhances the intensity of luminescence. Two peaks at 488 nm and 505 nm merged after thermal activation, giving rise to a single peak at 495 nm.     

Inhibitory activity of ginger rhizome on airway and uterine smooth muscle preparations

In this study, we describe the tracheal-relaxant and tocolytic activities of the methanol (ME) and aqueous (AQ) crude extracts of ginger (rhizome of Zingiber officinale) in an attempt to rationalize its traditional use in disorders of airways and uterine hyperactivity. Both of the ginger extracts dose-dependently relaxed K⁺ (80 mM) and carbachol (CCh, 1 μM)-induced contractions with more potency against K⁺, similar to that elicited by verapamil, a Ca²⁺ channel blocker. In isolated uterine preparations, the extracts suppressed the K⁺-induced contractions with respective EC₅₀ values of 0.03 mg/ml (0.02–0.05, 95% CI) and 0.05 mg/ml (0.04–0.06). Activity-directed fractionation of AQ yielded an organic and an aqueous fraction with the activities concentrated in the former. Both the crude extracts were found safe in mice up to the oral dose of 5 g/kg when tested for acute toxicity for 24 h. The study shows that ginger possesses tracheal and uterine smooth muscle relaxant activity, possibility mediated via Ca²⁺ channel blockade, justifying its use in disorders such as asthma, cough as well as in dysmenorrhoea and uterine and menstrual spasms and congestion.     

Chemical composition and nutritional quality of tehineh (sesame butter)

The chemical composition and nutritional quality of tehineh, a paste of dehulled roasted sesame seeds, from Saudi Arabia and other countries, were studied. Results showed 24.7% protein, 58.9% fat, 2.3% fiber, 3.0% ash and <1.0% moisture. The tehineh contained relatively high amounts (mg/100 g) of P (692), Mg (362), Fe (7.19), Cu (1.96), Mn (1.46) and Zn (7.82) and low amounts of Ca (61) and Se (0.05). Gas-liquid chromatography (GLC) analysis of the oil revealed percentages of 42.4 for oleic, 39.7 for linoleic, 9.8 for palmitic and 6.4 for stearic acid. Lysine was the only limiting amino acid with a chemical score of 64, while the sulphur-containing amino acids (methionine + cystine) and tryptophan were present in amounts exceeding the requirement of the FAO/WHO (1973) reference protein. The in vitro protein digestibility (IVPD) value of 83.3% and the calculated protein efficiency ratio (C-PER), 2.14, were slightly higher than those of sesame seeds and both values were lower than the IVPD and C-PER of 90.0% and 2.50, respectively, for ANRC casein.     

Anaphylaxis in Association with Heparin-Induced Thrombocytopenia

Heparin is almost universally used as an anticoagulant during hemodialysis. Rare but serious side effects of heparin therapy include heparin‐induced thrombocytopenia (HIT) and anaphylaxis, and these may lead to significant mortality and morbidity if left unrecognized. We are reporting a patient who developed HIT followed by an anaphylactoid reaction. This 8‐year‐old girl with Joubert's syndrome developed end‐stage renal disease secondary to nephronophthisis. She had a Permacath double‐lumen hemodialysis catheter placed in the right internal jugular vein and was started on hemodialysis using an Asahi B10 65 Dialyzer on 1/28/03. The platelet count at that time was 246 × 10³/mL. Beef lung heparin was used for anticoagulation. She was admitted for living related donor renal transplant on 2/10/03 but was found to be thrombocytopenic with a platelet count of 49 × 10³/mL. The transplant was postponed, a sepsis work‐up was performed, and she was started on antibiotics pending culture results. Hemodialysis was continued with heparin anticoagulation, and despite an improvement in the platelet count she had an acute anaphylactoid reaction 2 days later. The reaction occurred 20 min after starting her hemodialysis treatment and presented as acute onset of bronchospasm, agitation, and chest discomfort. She improved with nebulized albuterol and subcutaneous epinephrine. A review of her records revealed that she had received 6 hemodialysis treatments. The platelet count on 2/3/03, after 3 hemodialysis treatments, had been 242 × 10³/mL and on 2/8/03 after 5 treatments the platelet count was 72 × 10³/mL. HIT with anaphylaxis was suspected. Heparin was discontinued and the platelet count had returned to normal within 2 days. The diagnosis was confirmed by a positive heparin‐associated antibody test. While HIT is recognized as a complication in 1–5% of patients treated with heparin and has been well described in the literature, we could only find 2 reported cases of heparin‐induced anaphylaxis and in both cases there was accompanying thrombocytopenia. This patient further illustrates a possible linkage between these two phenomena. HIT is an important cause of thrombocytopenia in a patient on hemodialysis and continued exposure to heparin may induce anaphylaxis.     

Using Automated Negotiation for Grid Services

The popularity of grid services has widened their application to numerous domains and increased the utilization of computational resources. In order to create more incentives for the resources owners to lease their resources and prevent users from wasting the resources, the introduction of a market-oriented grid is inevitable. However, the issues for the negotiation between service provider and consumer over the supply and demand of resources can be complex, with highly interdependent issues. In this research, a simulated automated negotiation mechanism including a co-evolutionary mechanism and a modified game theory approach is proposed, to assist them in reaching an agreement over the conflicting issues. In the proposed architecture, the co-evolution process is able to reduce the multiple dimensional search space into a two-dimension search space and identify the appropriate negotiation strategies for the negotiating agents to form a payoff matrix which can be used for the game theory related stage of their interaction. The multiple stage negotiation process is introduced to improve the negotiation result. In this paper, an application which requires a large amount of computational resources to process the data generated from mobile devises is used to demonstrate that the proposed system is able to resolve the conflicts and obtain a valid solution.     

Harmonic and intermodulation performance in an R-LED series network

Analytical expressions are obtained for predicting the harmonic and intermodulation performance of R-LED series networks. These expressions are in terms of the ordinary Bessel functions with arguments depenedent on the modulation index.     

Temporal and Spatial Assessment of Supply and Demand of the Water-yield Ecosystem Service for Water Scarcity Management in Arid to Semi-arid Ecosystems

Water scarcity is one of the problems affecting people’s livelihoods in arid and semi-arid areas, requiring a sustainable balance between water demands and water resources. This study was carried out to assess temporal and spatial distribution of water supply and demand in order to help managers to overcome water scarcity in Jiroft basin, southeastern Iran. Spatial supply and demand of water were mapped and standardized rainfall index (SPI) was used to assess drought for a 20 years period (1994–2014). Supply and demand of water were matched in 23% of the basin area, mostly concentrated in the cold zones. Water supply was reduced up to 80% during dry years, declining water supply-demand matching to 5% of the basin area. Shrub-grass rangelands and deciduous woodlands were the most valuable land covers for conservation with $ 1,100 and $ 936 per hectare water prices respectively. Water value dropped more than 72% in mismanaged ecosystems (p?<?0.01). Our finding showed that water supply-demand ratio can be used as a proxy of ecosystem health and water-yield, which can provide a good information for water resources managers to reduce the threats of water scarcity in arid and semi-arid regions.

     

The Bivariate Transmuted Family of Distributions: Theory and Applications

The bivariate distributions are useful in simultaneous modeling of two random variables. These distributions provide a way to model models. The bivariate families of distributions are not much widely explored and in this article a new family of bivariate distributions is proposed. The new family will extend the univariate transmuted family of distributions and will be helpful in modeling complex joint phenomenon. Statistical properties of the new family of distributions are explored which include marginal and conditional distributions, conditional moments, product and ratio moments, bivariate reliability and bivariate hazard rate functions. The maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) for parameters of the family is also carried out. The proposed bivariate family of distributions is studied for the Weibull baseline distributions giving rise to bivariate transmuted Weibull (BTW) distribution. The new bivariate transmuted Weibull distribution is explored in detail. Statistical properties of the new BTW distribution are studied which include the marginal and conditional distributions, product, ratio and conditional momenst. The hazard rate function of the BTW distribution is obtained. Parameter estimation of the BTW distribution is also done. Finally, real data application of the BTW distribution is given. It is observed that the proposed BTW distribution is a suitable fit for the data used.