Heterogeneous reconfigurable system for adaptive particle filters in real-time applications

This paper presents a heterogeneous reconfigurable system for real-time applications applying particle filters. The system consists of an FPGA and a multi-threaded CPU. We propose a method to adapt the number of particles dynamically and utilise the run-time reconfigurability of the FPGA for reduced power and energy consumption. An application is developed which involves simultaneous mobile robot localisation and people tracking. It shows that the proposed adaptive particle filter can reduce up to 99% of computation time. Using run-time reconfiguration, we achieve 34% reduction in idle power and save 26-34% of system energy. Our proposed system is up to 7.39 times faster and 3.65 times more energy efficient than the Intel Xeon X5650 CPU with 12 threads, and 1.3 times faster and 2.13 times more energy efficient than an NVIDIA Tesla C2070 GPU. © 2013 Springer-Verlag.

Multi-wafer 3C-SiC heteroepitaxial growth on Si(100) substrates

Epitaxial growth of semiconductor films in multiple-wafer mode is under vigorous development in order to improve yield output to meet the industry increasing demands. Here we report on results of the heteroepitaxial growth of multi-wafer 3C-SiC films on Si(100) substrates by employing a home-made horizontal hot wall low pressure chemical vapour deposition (HWLPCVD) system which was designed to be have a high-throughput, multi-wafer (3x2-inch) capacity. 3C-SiC film properties of the intra-wafer and the wafer-to-wafer including crystalline morphologies, structures and electronics are characterized systematically. The undoped and the moderate NH3 doped n-type 3C-SiC films with specular surface are grown in the HWLPCVD, thereafter uniformities of intra-wafer thickness and sheet resistance of the 3C-SiC films are obtained to be 6%similar to 7% and 6.7%similar to 8%, respectively, and within a run, the deviations of wafer-to-wafer thickness and sheet resistance are less than 1% and 0.8%, respectively.

白腐菌选择性降解木质素的研究

对15株白腐真菌进行了以玉米秸秆为基质的初步筛选，从中获得一株选择性系数较高的菌株Y10，并对其降解玉米秸秆的情况进行了研究。结果表明，在30天的培养过程中菌株Y10对玉米秸秆降解的选择性系数都大于1，第15天选择性系数最高为3.88。对未经降解和降解过的玉米秸秆分别作了紫外光谱和红外光谱分析，结果表明，经该菌降解后玉米秸秆的化学成分发生了很大变化，且木质素的降解程度要大于纤维素的降解程度。对菌株Y10进行了ITS-5.8S rDNA序列鉴定，初步判定其为Cerrena sp.。 为了考查不同的外源添加物对菌株Y10降解玉米秸秆的影响，在以玉米秸秆为基质的固态发酵培养基中分别添加了7种金属离子、8种碳源、6种氮源。结果显示，这7种金属离子均能促进木质素的降解，并且一定浓度的某些离子明显抑制纤维素的降解；其中添加0.036%的MnSO4·H2O和0.36%的MgSO4·7H2O对纤维素降解的抑制作用比较强，降解率分别为0.96%和1.31%，木质素的选择性系数分别达到了34.40和20.17。8种碳源中除麦芽糖外都能促进木质素的降解，除微晶纤维素外都明显促进纤维素的降解。6种氮源中酒石酸铵、硫酸铵、草酸铵和氯化铵的添加都会使该菌生长变慢，而且氮源浓度越高菌丝生长越慢。外加碳源和金属离子对半纤维素降解和选择性系数的影响不大。 同时对菌株Y10在液态培养下产木质素降解酶的条件和培养基做了优化。结果表明，在初始产酶培养基中，菌株Y10的漆酶酶活在第10d达到最高，锰过氧化物酶酶活在第11d达到最高，基本上检测不到木质素过氧化物酶。菌株Y10产漆酶的最适温度为32℃，最适PH为6.0；产锰过氧化物酶的最适温度为32℃，最适PH为6.5。菌株Y10产漆酶的最佳碳源为甘露糖，最佳氮源为酒石酸铵，最适诱导剂VA浓度为3 mmol/L，最适表面活性剂TW-80浓度为1%。 利用响应面法对其产漆酶的培养基进行优化，优化后的培养基配方为葡萄糖10.00 g/L，酒石酸铵0.50 g/L，大量元素296.50 ml/L，微量元素100.00 ml/L，NTA 1.40 g/L，VA 5.00 mmol/L，吐温-80加入量为0.10%。进行了菌株Y10产漆酶的验证实验，实测酶活为5282.56 U/L，与预测酶活5162.73 U/L接近。在优化后培养基中，菌株Y10在第14 d达到生长的最高峰，第20 d时，漆酶酶活最高，为11325.00 U/L；第16 d时，锰过氧化物酶酶活最高，为30.77 U/L。 对菌株Y10的漆酶酶学性质做了初步的研究，结果显示，酶反应的最适温度为40℃-65℃，最适PH为3.0。在40℃，PH=3.0时，漆酶催化ABTS反应的米氏方程为 。 Fifteen white-rot fungi based on corn stalk were screened. One white-rot fungus Y10 with high selectivity value was obtained. The degradation of corn stalk was initially studied. The results indicated that the selectivity value was above 1 during the 30 day-cultivation and the highest was 3.88 after 15 days. The composition of untreated and treated stalk was analyzed through ultraviolet spectroscopy and infrared spectroscopy. It was found that the composition of treated stalk was greatly altered and the degree of the degradation of lignin is greater than the cellulose. Y10 was identified as Cerrena sp. by ITS -5.8S rDNA sequence analysis. The influence of metal ions, carbon sources and nitrogen sources on corn stalk degradation by white-rot fungus was studied. While all seven metal ions could promote lignin degradation, the cellulose degradation was best inhibited at certain ion concentrations. Notably, when 0.036% MnSO4·H2O and 0.36% MgSO4·7H2O were added into the medium, the cellulose degradation was restrained to the extents that the coefficients of lignin selectivity rose to 34.40 and 20.17 respectively. It was also found that all carbon sources except maltose can promote lignin degradation. The addition of carbon sources other than microcrystalline cellulose significantly promoted cellulose degradation. The addition of the nitrogen sources, ammonium tartrate, ammonium sulfate, oxalate, ammonium chloride, resulted in remarkable inhibition to mycelium growth; the larger the concentrations of nitrogen sources are, the slower the mycelium grew. The addition of carbon sources and metal ions had less impact on the degradation of hemicellulose and selectivity value. Meanwhile, we optimized the conditions and culture medium of the lignin-degrading enzyme production of strain Y10. The results showed that in the initial culture medium, the Lac activity was highest at the 10th day, the MnP activity was highest at the 11th day and the LiP could not be detected. The optimum condition of Lac was at temperature 32 and PH =6.0 and the optimum condition of MnP was at temperature 32 and PH =6.5. The optimum carbon source for Lac was seminose, the optimum nitrogen source was ammonium tartrate, the optimum content of VA was 3 mmol/L, the optimum content of TW-80 was 1%. PB and RSM were used to optimize the culture medium of laccase by white-rot fungus Y10. The optimum culture medium was consist of glucose 10.00 g/L, ammonium tartrate 0.50 g/L, macro elements 296.50 ml/L, trace elements 100.00 ml/L, NTA 1.40 g/L, VA 5.00 mmol/L, TW-80 0.10%. Under the optimal conditions, the activity of laccase was 5282.56 U/L and the experimental value agreed with the predicted value 5162.73 U/L. The biomass was highest at the 14th day, the Lac activity was highest at the 20th day, the MnP activity was highest at the 16th day. The results of the studies on the characteristics of Lac showed that the optimum temperature for Lac activity is 40℃-65℃ ; the optimum PH for Lac activity is 3.0 and under 40℃，PH=3.0, the Michaelis-menten equation of Lac catalized ABTS oxidation was .

改进叠前深度偏移的计算效率＆叠前高分辨率成像

An high-resolution prestack imaging technique of seismic data is developed in this thesis. By using this technique, the reflected coefficients of sheet sands can be gained in order to understand and identify thin oil reservoirs. One-way wave equation based migration methods can more accurately model seismic wave propagation effect such as multi-arrivals and obtain almost correct reflected energy in the presence of complex inhomogeneous media, and therefore, achieve more superiorities in imaging complex structure. So it is a good choice to apply the proposed high-resolution imaging to the presatck depth migration gathers. But one of the main shorting of one-way wave equation based migration methods is the low computational efficiency, thus the improvement on computational efficiency is first carried out. The method to improve the computational efficiency of prestack depth migration is first presented in this thesis, that is frequency-dependent varying-step depth exploration scheme plus a table-driven, one-point wavefield interpolation technology for wave equation based migration methods; The frequency-dependent varying-step depth exploration scheme reduces the computational cost of wavefield depth extrapolation, and the a table-driven, one-point wavefield interpolation technology reconstructs the extrapolated wavefield with an equal, desired vertical step with high computational efficiency. The proposed varying-step depth extrapolation plus one-point interpolation scheme results in 2/3 reduction in computational cost when compared to the equal-step depth extrapolation of wavefield, but gives the almost same imaging. The frequency-dependent varying-step depth exploration scheme is presented in theory by using the optimum split-step Fourier. But the proposed scheme can also be used by other wave equation based migration methods of the frequency domain. The proposed method is demonstrated by using impulse response, 2-D Marmousi dataset, 3-D salt dataset and the 3-D field dataset. A method of high-resolution prestack imaging is presented in the 2nd part of this thesis. The seismic interference method to solve the relative reflected coefficients is presented. The high-resolution imaging is obtained by introducing a sparseness- constrained least-square inversion into the reflected coefficient imaging. Gaussian regularization is first imposed and a smoothed solution is obtained by solving equation derived from the least-square inversion. Then the Cauchy regularization is introducing to the least-square inversion , the sparse solution of relative reflected coefficients can be obtained, that is high-resolution solution. The proposed scheme can be used together with other prestack imaging if the higher resolution is needed in a target zone. The seismic interference method in theory and the solution to sparseness-constrained least-square inversion are presented. The proposed method is demonstrated by synthetic examples and filed data.

岩体力学参数及稳定性能量判据研究

There are two major problems that have been concerned all the times, which are the mechanics characters of joint rock mass and the criterion for stability of engineering rock. Aim at the two problems, several works were conducted as follow: (1) Firstly, the mechanics characters of rock mass was studied by means of the Distinct Element Code. Subsequently, it was studied that the sensibility of joint surface roughness, strength of joint wall, joint stiffness ( i.e. tangential and normal stiffness) on the rock mass strength. (2) Based on the experimental rock mass classification methods of RMR and GSI, the program of “Parameters Calculation of the Rock Mass ” was developed. It has realized the rapid choice of rock mass parameters. (3) The concept of Representive Element Volume was induced based on the study of dimensional effect of rock mass. The Representive Element Volume of the horizontal and vertical pillar (ab. Two Pillars ) in the 2nd zone of Jinchuan mine were gained by the Geology Statistic Method and the Distinct Element Code. And then, the strength and deformatiom parameters of rock mass of the Two Pillars were obtained through numerical experiment. (4) From the confining depressure after thriaxial compression test of rock sample, it was concluded that the failure of rock is caused mainly by the lateral deformation and energy release happened during the confining depressure processure. The criterion of plastic energy catastrophe of rock engineering failure was proposed and validated. Subsquently, the stability of the horizontal pillar and Qianjiangping landslide in Three Gorges was judged by means of above-mentioned method. (5) Based on the fact there is a phenomenon of increasing energy concentration while the rock mass was compressed, rock information entropy (i.e. energy distribution entropy) was proposed. And it was revealed that there was change of energy distribution entropy while the rock mass was compressed to failure.

Duszpasterstwo księży diecezjalnych oraz kapelanów wojskowych w latach 1919-1939 na terenie Okręgu Korpusu nr VII

Wydział Historyczny

Extending snBench to Provide Concurrency Support in the Sensorium Execution Environment (SXE)

The SNBENCH is a general-purpose programming environment and run-time system targeted towards a variety of Sensor applications such as environmental sensing, location sensing, video sensing, etc. In its current structure, the run-time engine of the SNBENCH namely, the Sensorium Execution Environment (SXE) processes the entities of execution in a single thread of operation. In order to effectively support applications that are time-sensitive and need priority, it is imperative to process the tasks discretely so that specific policies can be applied at a much granular level. The goal of this project was to modify the SXE to enable efficient use of system resources by way of multi-tasking the individual components. Additionally, the transformed SXE offers the ability to classify and employ different schemes of processing to the individual tasks.

Interactions spatiales et auto-organisation des végétations semi-arides

Les recherches récapitulées dans cette thèse de doctorat ont porté sur les causes de l’organisation spatiale des végétations périodiques. Ces structures paysagères aux motifs réguliers, tachetés, tigrés ou labyrinthiques, d’échelle décamétrique à hectométrique, couvrant des étendues considérables sur au moins trois continents, constituent un cas d’école dans l’étude des processus endogènes présidant à l’hétérogénéité du couvert végétal. Ces structures prennent place sur un substrat homogène, mis à part la rétroaction du couvert lui-même, et sont marquées par des écotones abrupts et la persistance d’une proportion considérable de sol nu. Plusieurs modèles ont mis en avant l’existence possible d’un phénomène d’auto-organisation du couvert, qui verrait une structure d’ensemble émerger des interactions locales entre individus. Ces modèles se basent sur le jeu simultané de la consommation de la ressource (compétition) et de l’amélioration de l’un ou l’autre des éléments du bilan de la même ressource par le couvert (facilitation). La condition à l’existence d’une structure d’ensemble spatialement périodique et stable réside dans une différence entre la portée de la compétition (plus grande) et celle de la facilitation. L’apparition de ces structures est modulée par le taux de croissance biologique, qui est le reflet des contraintes extérieures telles que l’aridité, le pâturage ou la coupe de bois. Le modus operandi des interactions spatiales supposées entre individus reste largement à préciser.

Nos recherches ont été menées au sud-ouest de la République du Niger, à l’intérieur et dans les environs du parc Régional du W. Trois axes ont été explorés :(i) Une étude de la dépendance spatiale entre la structure de la végétation (biovolumes cartographiés) et les paramètres du milieu abiotique (relief, sol), sur base d’analyses spectrales et cross-spectrales par transformée de Fourier (1D et 2D). (ii) Une étude diachronique (1956, 1975 et 1996) à large échelle (3000 km²) de l’influence de l’aridité et des pressions d’origine anthropique sur l’auto-organisation des végétations périodiques, basée sur la caractérisation de la structure spatiale des paysages sur photos aériennes via la transformée de Fourier en 2D. (iii) Trois études portant sur les interactions spatiales entre individus :En premier lieu, via l’excavation des systèmes racinaires (air pulsé) ;Ensuite, par un suivi spatio-temporel du bilan hydrique du sol (blocs de gypse) ;Enfin, via le marquage de la ressource par du deutérium.

Nous avons ainsi pu établir que les végétations périodiques constituent bien un mode d’auto-organisation pouvant survenir sur substrat homogène et modulé par les contraintes climatiques et anthropiques. Un ajustement rapide entre l’organisation des végétations périodiques et le climat a pu être montrée en zone protégée. La superficie et l’organisation des végétations périodiques y ont tour à tour progressé et régressé en fonction d’épisodes secs ou humides. Par contre, en dehors de l’aire protégée, la possibilité d’une restauration du couvert semble fortement liée au taux d’exploitation des ressources végétales. Ces résultats ont d’importantes implications quant à la compréhension des interactions entre climat et écosystèmes et à l’évaluation de leurs capacités de charge. La caractérisation de la structure spatiale des végétations arides, notamment par la transformée de Fourier d’images HR, devrait être généralisée comme outil de monitoring de l’état de ces écosystèmes. Nos études portant sur les modes d’interactions spatiales ont permis de confirmer l’existence d’une facilitation à courte portée du couvert végétal sur la ressource. Cependant, cette facilitation ne semble pas s’exercer sur le terme du bilan hydrique traditionnellement avancé, à savoir l’infiltration, mais plutôt sur le taux d’évaporation (deux fois moindre à l’ombre des canopées). Ce mécanisme exclut l’existence de transferts diffusifs souterrains entre sols nu et fourrés. Des transferts inverses semblent d’ailleurs montrés par le marquage isotopique. L’étude du bilan hydrique et la cartographie du micro-relief, ainsi que la profondeur fortement réduite de la zone d’exploitation racinaire, jettent de sérieux doutes quant au rôle communément admis des transferts d’eau par ruissellement/diffusion de surface en tant que processus clé dans la compétition à distance entre les plantes. L’alternative réside dans l’existence d’une compétition racinaire de portée supérieure aux canopées. Cette hypothèse trouve une confirmation tant par les rhizosphères excavées, superficielles et étendues, que dans le marquage isotopique, montrant des contaminations d’arbustes situés à plus de 15 m de la zone d’apport. De même, l’étude du bilan hydrique met en évidence les influences simultanées et contradictoires (facilitation/compétition) des ligneux sur l’évapotranspiration.

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This PhD thesis gathers results of a research dealing with the causes of the spatial organisation of periodic vegetations. These landscape structures, featuring regular spotted, labyrinthine or banded patterns of decametric to hectometric scale, and extending over considerable areas on at least three continents, constitute a perfect study case to approach endogenous processes leading to vegetation heterogeneities. These patterns occur over homogeneous substratum, except for vegetation’s own feedbacks, and are marked by sharp ecotones and the persistence of a considerable amount of bare soil. A number of models suggested a possible case of self-organized patterning, in which the general structure would emerge from local interactions between individuals. Those models rest on the interplay of competitive and facilitative effects, relating to soil water consumption and to soil water budget enhancement by vegetation. A general necessary condition for pattern formation to occur is that negative interactions (competition) have a larger range than positive interactions (facilitation). Moreover, all models agree with the idea that patterning occurs when vegetation growth decreases, for instance as a result of reduced water availability, domestic grazing or wood cutting, therefore viewing patterns as a self-organised response to environmental constraints. However the modus operandi of the spatial interactions between individual plants remains largely to be specified.

We carried out a field research in South-West Niger, within and around the W Regional Park. Three research lines were explored: (i) The study of the spatial dependency between the vegetation pattern (mapped biovolumes) and the factors of the abiotic environment (soil, relief), on the basis of spectral and cross-spectral analyses with Fourier transform (1D and 2D). (ii) A broad scale diachronic study (1956, 1975, 1996) of the influence of aridity and human induced pressures on the vegetation self-patterning, based on the characterisation of patterns on high resolution remote sensing data via 2D Fourier transform. (iii) Three different approaches of the spatial interactions between individuals: via root systems excavation with pulsed air; via the monitoring in space and time of the soil water budget (gypsum blocks method); and via water resource labelling with deuterated water.

We could establish that periodic vegetations are indeed the result of a self-organisation process, occurring in homogeneous substratum conditions and modulated by climate and human constraints. A rapid adjustment between vegetation patterning and climate could be observed in protected zones. The area and patterning of the periodic vegetations successively progressed and regressed, following drier or wetter climate conditions. On the other hand, outside protected areas, the restoration ability of vegetation appeared to depend on the degree of vegetation resource exploitation. These results have important implications regarding the study of vegetation-climate interactions and the evaluation of ecosystems’ carrying capacities. Spatial pattern characterisation in arid vegetations using Fourier transform of HR remote sensing data should be generalised for the monitoring of those ecosystems. Our studies dealing with spatial interaction mechanisms confirmed the existence of a short range facilitation of the cover on water resource. However, this facilitation does not seem to act through the commonly accepted infiltration component, but rather on the evaporative rate (twice less within thickets). This mechanism excludes underground diffusive transfers between bare ground and vegetation. Inverse transfers were even shown by deuterium labelling. Water budget study and micro-elevation mapping, along with consistent soil shallowness, together cast serious doubts on the traditional mechanism of run-off/diffusion of surface water as a key process of the long range competition between plants. An alternative explanation lies in long range root competition. This hypothesis find support as well in the excavated root systems, shallow and wide, as in isotopic labelling, showing contaminations of shrubs located up to 15 m of the irrigated area. Water budget study also evidenced simultaneous contradictory effects (facilitation/competition) of shrubs on evapotranspiration.

Policy-based techniques for self-managing parallel applications

This paper presents an empirical investigation of policy-based self-management techniques for parallel applications executing in loosely-coupled environments. The dynamic and heterogeneous nature of these environments is discussed and the special considerations for parallel applications are identified. An adaptive strategy for the run-time deployment of tasks of parallel applications is presented. The strategy is based on embedding numerous policies which are informed by contextual and environmental inputs. The policies govern various aspects of behaviour, enhancing flexibility so that the goals of efficiency and performance are achieved despite high levels of environmental variability. A prototype self-managing parallel application is used as a vehicle to explore the feasibility and benefits of the strategy. In particular, several aspects of stability are investigated. The implementation and behaviour of three policies are discussed and sample results examined.

A reconfigurable component model using reflection

Providing a method of transparent communication and interoperation between distributed software is a requirement for many organisations and several standard and non-standard infrastructures exist for this purpose. Component models do more than just provide a plumbing mechanism for distributed applications, they provide a more controlled interoperation between components. There are very few component models however that have support for advanced dynamic reconfigurability. This paper describes a component model which provides controlled and constrained transparent communication and inter-operation between components in the form of a hierarchical component model. At the same time, the model contains support for advanced run-time reconfigurability of components. The process and benefits of designing a system using the presented model are discussed. A way in which reflective techniques and component frameworks can work together to produce dynamic adaptable systems is explained.

Error sensitive historical GIS: Identifying areal interpolation errors in time series data

Historical GIS has the potential to re-invigorate our use of statistics from historical censuses and related sources. In particular, areal interpolation can be used to create long-run time-series of spatially detailed data that will enable us to enhance significantly our understanding of geographical change over periods of a century or more. The difficulty with areal interpolation, however, is that the data that it generates are estimates which will inevitably contain some error. This paper describes a technique that allows the automated identification of possible errors at the level of the individual data values.

Coordination, Efficiency and Two-Sided Cheap Talk

We consider the Battle of the Sexes game with incomplete information and allow two-sided cheap talk before the game is played. We characterise the set of fully revealing symmetric cheap talk equilibria. The best fully revealing symmetric cheap talk equilibrium, when exists, has a desirable characteristic. When the players' types are different, it fully coordinates on the ex-post efficient pure Nash equilibrium. We also analyse the mediated communication equilibria of the game. We find the range of the prior for which this desirable equilibrium exists under unmediated and mediated communication processes.

Anniversaries

The hundredth anniversary of the outbreak of the First World War is only the first of a large number of major European historical anniversaries that will occur in the coming four years. Other twentieth-century anniversaries include that of the Russian Revolution and the Easter Uprising; notable corollaries from earlier centuries include the Battle of Bannockburn, the Hanoverian succession, the Battle of Waterloo and, perhaps most significant of all, the five hundredth anniversary of the Lutheran Reformation. Rather than commission special issues or other features to tie in to individual anniversaries centred on or relevant to German history in a manner which repeats unthinkingly the conventions of scholarly and popular culture, the editors elected to reflect more fundamentally on what might be at stake in major anniversaries for professional scholars of history. In anticipation of the major wave of scholarly and popular publications, commemorative activities and memory conflicts that each of these will generate, and in order to reflect upon the dynamics of German history, memory and commemoration in a more overtly comparative context, the editors invited a number of scholars working on different national histories to reflect on the possibilities and potential pitfalls such anniversaries offer to historians who tie their work in to such moments. They are Jörg Arnold (Nottingham), Thomas A. Brady (Berkeley), Fearghal McGarry (Queen’s University, Belfast), Tim Grady (Chester) and Dan Healey (St Antony’s College, Oxford). The questions were posed by the editors.

SHEPARD: Scheduling on heterogeneous platforms using application resource demands

Heterogeneous computing technologies, such as multi-core CPUs, GPUs and FPGAs can provide significant performance improvements. However, developing applications for these technologies often results in coupling applications to specific devices, typically through the use of proprietary tools. This paper presents SHEPARD, a compile time and run-time framework that decouples application development from the target platform and enables run-time allocation of tasks to heterogeneous computing devices. Through the use of special annotated functions, called managed tasks, SHEPARD approximates a task's performance on available devices, and coupled with the approximation of current device demand, decides which device can satisfy the task with the lowest overall execution time. Experiments using a task parallel application, based on an in-memory database, demonstrate the opportunity for automatic run-time task allocation to achieve speed-up over a static allocation to a single specific device. © 2014 IEEE.