Efficient Mitigation of Data and Control Flow Errors in Microprocessors

The use of microprocessor-based systems is gaining importance in application domains where safety is a must. For this reason, there is a growing concern about the mitigation of SEU and SET effects. This paper presents a new hybrid technique aimed to protect both the data and the control-flow of embedded applications running on microprocessors. On one hand, the approach is based on software redundancy techniques for correcting errors produced in the data. On the other hand, control-flow errors can be detected by reusing the on-chip debug interface, existing in most modern microprocessors. Experimental results show an important increase in the system reliability even superior to two orders of magnitude, in terms of mitigation of both SEUs and SETs. Furthermore, the overheads incurred by our technique can be perfectly assumable in low-cost systems.

Modelling and control of refrigeration systems: an account of a pedagogic experiment in a post-secondary technical course

Comunicação apresentada no CYTEF 2016/VIII Congresso Ibérico | VI Congresso Ibero-Americano de Ciências e Técnicas do Frio, 3-6 maio 2016, Coimbra, Portugal

Proceedings of the State and interstate water pollution control administrators in joint meeting with the Conference of State Sanitary Engineers; a summary.

Mode of access: Internet.

...Annual report of block signals, automatic train control, and the use of train orders.

The 1st-3d are pub. also, without illus. or appendixes, in the 22d-24th annual reports of the Interstate Commerce Commission.

Algae in water supplies; an illustrated manual on the identification, significance, and control of algae in water supplies.

Mode of access: Internet.

Public works authorizations, 1968: rivers and harbors, flood control, and multiple-purpose projects : hearings, Ninetieth Congress, second session.

Considers (90) S. 537, (90) S. 1144, , (90) S. 1215, (90) S. 1529, (90) S. 1549, (90) S. 1622 , (90) S. 1812, (90) S. 2024, (90) S. 2059, (90) S. 2169. (90) S. 2236,(90) S. 2611.

The relationship of adult attachment to emotion, catastrophizing, control, threshold and tolerance, in experimentally-induced pain

Although insecure attachment has been associated with a range of variables linked with problematic adjustment to chronic pain, the causal direction of these relationships remains unclear. Adult attachment style is, theoretically, developmentally antecedent to cognitions, emotions and behaviours (and might therefore be expected to contribute to maladjustment). It can also be argued, however, that the experience of chronic pain increases attachment insecurity. This project examined this issue by determining associations between adult attachment characteristics, collected prior to an acute (coldpressor) pain experience, and a range of emotional, cognitive, pain tolerance, intensity and threshold variables collected during and after the coldpressor task. A convenience sample of 58 participants with no history of chronic pain was recruited. Results demonstrated that attachment anxiety was associated with lower pain thresholds; more stress, depression, and catastrophizing; diminished perceptions of control over pain; and diminished ability to decrease pain. Conversely, secure attachment was linked with lower levels of depression and catastrophizing, and more control over pain. Of particular interest were findings that attachment style moderated the effects of pain intensity on the tendency to catastrophize, such that insecurely attached individuals were more likely to catastrophize when reporting high pain intensity. This is the first study to link attachment with perceptions of pain in a pain-free sample. These findings cast anxious attachment as a vulnerability factor for chronic pain following acute episodes of pain, while secure attachment may provide more resilience. (c) 2006 International Association for the Study of Pain. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Optimal control and operation of drum granulation processes

Process optimisation and optimal control of batch and continuous drum granulation processes are studied in this paper. The main focus of the current research has been: (i) construction of optimisation and control relevant, population balance models through the incorporation of moisture content, drum rotation rate and bed depth into the coalescence kernels; (ii) investigation of optimal operational conditions using constrained optimisation techniques; (iii) development of optimal control algorithms based on discretized population balance equations; and (iv) comprehensive simulation studies on optimal control of both batch and continuous granulation processes. The objective of steady state optimisation is to minimise the recycle rate with minimum cost for continuous processes. It has been identified that the drum rotation-rate, bed depth (material charge), and moisture content of solids are practical decision (design) parameters for system optimisation. The objective for the optimal control of batch granulation processes is to maximize the mass of product-sized particles with minimum time and binder consumption. The objective for the optimal control of the continuous process is to drive the process from one steady state to another in a minimum time with minimum binder consumption, which is also known as the state-driving problem. It has been known for some time that the binder spray-rate is the most effective control (manipulative) variable. Although other possible manipulative variables, such as feed flow-rate and additional powder flow-rate have been investigated in the complete research project, only the single input problem with the binder spray rate as the manipulative variable is addressed in the paper to demonstrate the methodology. It can be shown from simulation results that the proposed models are suitable for control and optimisation studies, and the optimisation algorithms connected with either steady state or dynamic models are successful for the determination of optimal operational conditions and dynamic trajectories with good convergence properties. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

'Looking good, feeling better': Consumption, Control and the Aesthetics of Exclusivity in the Service Encounter

The majority of ‘service’ literature has focused on the production side of service work (i.e. employees and management), while treating the role of the customer and/or consumer as secondary (Korczynski and Ott, 2004). Those authors who have addressed the role consumption plays in shaping and maintaining individuals' self- identity have tended to overemphasize the dominance of consumer culture in shaping ‘our consciousness’ (Ritzer, 1999), with little in the way of empirical evidence to support these assertions. This paper develops the conceptualization of service work and consumer culture literature, by placing more emphasis on the customer in the service encounter. Using an ethnographic study of a ‘high class’ department store, this paper addresses employee and customer identity and the nature of managerial, employee and customer control within this ‘exclusive’ context. Of particular interest is how employees and customer’s ‘embody’ this control. Using Bourdieu’s (1986) conception of class and habitus, the concept of exclusivity goes beyond the management /service worker dyad by providing a means of investigating identity control by the organization over both customers and service workers. However, an organization’s exclusivity is not a closed normative pursuit of control, and shows this enterprise is part of a contested terrain, while revealing the ambiguity and ‘openness’ of control practices and pursuits. In order to uphold the ideal of exclusivity, management, service workers and customers must all engage in a precarious quest for establishing and maintaining a sense of control and/or identity. This paper demonstrates the continuing contradiction between bureaucratic practices of control and consumer culture, and highlights the need for research that investigates the context -dependent nature of control in service-related and consumer studies.

Control-based channel governance and relative dependence

Control and governance theories recognize that exchange partners are subject to two general forms of control, the unilateral authority of one firm and bilateral expectations extending from their social bond. In this way, a supplier both exerts unilateral, authority-based controls and is subject to socially-based, bilateral controls as it attempts to manage its brand successfully through reseller channels. Such control is being challenged by suppliers’ growing relative dependence on increasingly dominant resellers in many industries. Yet the impact of supplier relative dependence on the efficacy of control-based governance in the supplier’s channel is not well understood. To address this gap, we specify and test a control model moderated by relative dependence involving the conceptualization and measurement of governance at the level of specific control processes: incenting, monitoring, and enforcing. Our empirical findings show relative dependence undercuts the effectiveness of certain unilateral and bilateral control processes while enhancing the effectiveness of others, largely supporting our dual suppositions that each control process operates through a specialized behavioral mechanism and that these underlying mechanisms are differentially impacted by relative dependence. We offer implications of these findings for managers and identify our contributions to channel theory and research.

When do firms conform? The effect of regulatory control processes on compliance and opportunism

The authors use social control theory to develop a conceptual model that addresses the effectiveness of regulatory agencies’ (e.g., Food and Drug Administration, Occupational Safety and Health Administration) field-level efforts to obtain conformance with product safety laws. Central to the model are the control processes agencies use when monitoring organizations and enforcing the safety rules. These approaches can be labeled formal control (e.g., rigid enforcement) and informal control (e.g., social instruction). The theoretical framework identifies an important antecedent of control and the relative effectiveness of control’s alternative forms in gaining compliance and reducing opportunism. Furthermore, the model predicts that the regulated firms’ level of agreement with the safety rules moderates the relationships between control and firm responses. A local health department’s administration of state food safety regulations provides the empirical context for testing the hypotheses. The results from a survey of 173 restaurants largely support the proposed model. The study findings inform a discussion of effective methods of administering product safety laws. The authors use social control theory to develop a conceptual model that addresses the effectiveness of regulatory agencies’ (e.g., Food and Drug Administration, Occupational Safety and Health Administration) field-level efforts to obtain conformance with product safety laws. Central to the model are the control processes agencies use when monitoring organizations and enforcing the safety rules. These approaches can be labeled formal control (e.g., rigid enforcement) and informal control (e.g., social instruction). The theoretical framework identifies an important antecedent of control and the relative effectiveness of control’s alternative forms in gaining compliance and reducing opportunism. Furthermore, the model predicts that the regulated firms’ level of agreement with the safety rules moderates the relationships between control and firm responses. A local health department’s administration of state food safety regulations provides the empirical context for testing the hypotheses. The results from a survey of 173 restaurants largely support the proposed model. The study findings inform a discussion of effective methods of administering product safety laws.

The levels of neopterin, biopterin and the neopterin/biopterin ratio in urine from control subjects and patients with Alzheimer’s disease and Down’s syndrome

The levels of neopterin, biopterin and the neopterin/biopterin ratio (N/B) were measured in urine samples taken from normal young and elderly control subjects, exceptionally healthy elderly control subjects classified according to the ‘Senieur’ protocol and patients with Down’s syndrome (DS) or Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The N/B ratio was approximately unity in control groups with the exception of the normal elderly controls. The levels of neopterin and biopterin declined with age in the exceptionally healthy ‘Senieur’ control group. The N/B ratio was elevated in young and old DS patients as a result of the significant increase in neopterin. Neopterin levels were significantly elevated in AD patients compared with the healthy elderly controls, but this did not result in a significant increase in the N/B ratio in these patients. The N/B ratio increased with age in AD patients as a result of a decline in biopterin. These results suggested that there is a cellular immune reponse in DS and AD patients which in DS, may precede the formation of beta-amyloid deposits in the brain. In addition, there may be a deficiency in tetrahydrobiopterin biosynthesis in AD which becomes more marked with age.

PCIM:a project control and inhibiting‐factors management model

In construction projects, the aim of project control is to ensure projects finish on time, within budget, and achieve other project objectives. During the last few decades, numerous project control methods have been developed and adopted by project managers in practice. However, many existing methods focus on describing what the processes and tasks of project control are; not on how these tasks should be conducted. There is also a potential gap between principles that underly these methods and project control practice. As a result, time and cost overruns are still common in construction projects, partly attributable to deficiencies of existing project control methods and difficulties in implementing them. This paper describes a new project cost and time control model, the project control and inhibiting factors management (PCIM) model, developed through a study involving extensive interaction with construction practitioners in the UK, which better reflects the real needs of project managers. A set of good practice checklist is also developed to facilitate implementation of the model. © 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers.