Architecture of a polymorphic ASIC for interoperability across multi-mode H.264 decoders

Run-time interoperability between different applications based on H.264/AVC is an emerging need in networked infotainment, where media delivery must match the desired resolution and quality of the end terminals. In this paper, we describe the architecture and design of a polymorphic ASIC to support this. The H.264 decoding flow is partitioned into modules, such that the polymorphic ASIC meets the design goals of low-power, low-area, high flexibility, high throughput and fast interoperability between different profiles and levels of H.264. We demonstrate the idea with a multi-mode decoder that can decode baseline, main and high profile H.264 streams and can interoperate at run.time across these profiles. The decoder is capable of processing frame sizes of up to 1024 times 768 at 30 fps. The design synthesized with UMC 0.13 mum technology, occupies 250 k gates and runs at 100 MHz.

Assessment of the residual fatigue strength in RC beams

In conventional analysis and design procedures of reinforced concrete structures, the ability of concrete to resist tension is neglected. Under cyclic loading, the tension-softening behavior of concrete influences its residual strength and subsequent crack propagation. The stability and the residual strength of a cracked reinforced concrete member under fatigue loading, depends on a number of factors such as, reinforcement ratio, specimen size, grade of concrete, and the fracture properties, and also on the tension-softening behavior of concrete. In the present work, a method is proposed to assess the residual strength of a reinforced concrete member subjected to cyclic loading. The crack extension resistance based approach is used for determining the condition for unstable crack propagation. Three different idealization of tension softening models are considered to study the effect of post-peak response of concrete. The effect of reinforcement is modeled as a closing force counteracting the effect of crack opening produced by the external moment. The effect of reinforcement percentage and specimen size on the failure of reinforced beams is studied. Finally, the residual strength of the beams are computed by including the softening behavior of concrete.

The InstaBooth: Making common ground for media architectural design

Media architecture has emerged from and relies upon a range of different disciplinary traditions and areas of expertise. As this field develops, it is timely to reflect upon the ways in which designers of different disciplinary stripes can be brought together to collaborate in a design process. What are the means by which design teams can establish a ‘common ground’ where design work can take place while recognizing the diversity of ways of working those different disciplines bring to the process? A co-design approach has been the fundamental backbone of the InstaBooth project, which has brought together a multidisciplinary design team of academics and practitioners. The intention of this project has been to explore the combination of digital and physical interactions within a small media architecture installation to intervene with urban environments and public places for the purposes of community engagement. It is by exploring the design process of the InstaBooth project that we highlight the value of multi-disciplinary collaborations, the lessons that can be learned, and the struggles and hurdles along the way. This paper highlights the iterative process of design, the materials and physical prototypes that were employed to ultimately create a working version of the InstaBooth, a media architecture that evolves as users push its boundaries and take ownership of the installation. The concept of the InstaBooth continues to develop not only as more data are collected on its mechanics and potentials through observations, interviews and workshops, but also as more and more users engage with the installation in their individual ways.

Inspiration sources for Australian fast fashion design: Tapping into consumer desire

Purpose The research purpose was to identify both the inspiration sources used by fast fashion designers and ways the designers sort information from the sources during the product development process. Design/methodology/approach This is a qualitative study, drawing on semi-structured interviews conducted with the members of the in-house design teams of three Australian fast fashion companies. Findings Australian fast fashion designers rely on a combination of trend data, sales data, product analysis and travel for design development ideas. The designers then use the consensus and embodiment methods to interpret and synthesise information from those inspiration sources. Research limitations/implications The empirical data used in the analysis were limited by interviewing fashion designers within only three Australian companies. Originality/value This research augments knowledge of fast fashion product development, in particular designers’ methods and approaches to product design within a volatile and competitive market.

Vendors' perspectives of coordination in the information technology offshore outsourcing industry : An exploratory study from the Philippines

This study investigates how offshore information technology (IT) service providers (vendors) coordinate work with their clients (employers) in order to succeed in the global IT offshore outsourcing industry. We reviewed literature on coordination studies, interviewed offshore service providers in the Philippines, and used thematic analysis to analyse coordination practices from the point of view of these individual vendors in a newly industrialized country. We used Olson and Olson's framework on 'collaboration at a distance' as a lens to structure the results. The study provides an understanding of vendors' individual attitudes towards the coordination of distributed work and draws attention to how differences in power affect the work situation of vendors, and by implication all stakeholders. We offer this insight as a way to enhance existing CSCW frameworks, by imbuing them with the perspective of non-equal relationships. The study found that vendors were generally able to produce outputs that satisfy their clients, however these results were only achieved because individuals were willing to take risks and make sacrifices in their personal lives. The relationship was further characterised by a complex interplay between the client's control of the overall work arrangements and the vendors' ability to establish a level of autonomy in their work practices and their flexible use of coordination tools.

Vector Evaluated Particle Swarm Optimization (VEPSO) of Supersonic Ejector for Hydrogen Fuel Cells

Fuel cells are emerging as alternate green power producers for both large power production and for use in automobiles. Hydrogen is seen as the best option as a fuel; however, hydrogen fuel cells require recirculation of unspent hydrogen. A supersonic ejector is an apt device for recirculation in the operating regimes of a hydrogen fuel cell. Optimal ejectors have to be designed to achieve best performances. The use of the vector evaluated particle swarm optimization technique to optimize supersonic ejectors with a focus on its application for hydrogen recirculation in fuel cells is presented here. Two parameters, compression ratio and efficiency, have been identified as the objective functions to be optimized. Their relation to operating and design parameters of ejector is obtained by control volume based analysis using a constant area mixing approximation. The independent parameters considered are the area ratio and the exit Mach number of the nozzle. The optimization is carried out at a particularentrainment ratio and results in a set of nondominated solutions, the Pareto front. A set of such curves can be used for choosing the optimal design parameters of the ejector.

Selection of intrusion detection system threshold bounds for effective sensor fusion

The motivation behind the fusion of Intrusion Detection Systems was the realization that with the increasing traffic and increasing complexity of attacks, none of the present day stand-alone Intrusion Detection Systems can meet the high demand for a very high detection rate and an extremely low false positive rate. Multi-sensor fusion can be used to meet these requirements by a refinement of the combined response of different Intrusion Detection Systems. In this paper, we show the design technique of sensor fusion to best utilize the useful response from multiple sensors by an appropriate adjustment of the fusion threshold. The threshold is generally chosen according to the past experiences or by an expert system. In this paper, we show that the choice of the threshold bounds according to the Chebyshev inequality principle performs better. This approach also helps to solve the problem of scalability and has the advantage of failsafe capability. This paper theoretically models the fusion of Intrusion Detection Systems for the purpose of proving the improvement in performance, supplemented with the empirical evaluation. The combination of complementary sensors is shown to detect more attacks than the individual components. Since the individual sensors chosen detect sufficiently different attacks, their result can be merged for improved performance. The combination is done in different ways like (i) taking all the alarms from each system and avoiding duplications, (ii) taking alarms from each system by fixing threshold bounds, and (iii) rule-based fusion with a priori knowledge of the individual sensor performance. A number of evaluation metrics are used, and the results indicate that there is an overall enhancement in the performance of the combined detector using sensor fusion incorporating the threshold bounds and significantly better performance using simple rule-based fusion.

Social Responsibility in Developing New Biotechnology : Interpretations of Responsibility in the Governance of Finnish Biotechnology

The object of the dissertation is to analyse the concept of social responsibility in relation to research and development of new biotechnology. This is done by examining the relevant actors – researchers, administrators, decision-makers, experts, industry, and the public – involved in the Finnish governance of biotechnology through their roles and responsibilities. Existing practises of responsibility in biotechnology governance, as well as the discourses of responsibility – the actors’ conceptions of their own and others responsibilities – are analysed. Three types of responsibility that the actors have assumed are formulated, and the implications of these conceptions to the governance of new biotechnology are analysed. From these different types of responsibility adopted and used by the actors, theoretical models called responsibility chains are constructed. The notion of responsibility is under-theorised in sociology and this research is an attempt to create a mid-range theory of responsibility in the context of biotechnology governance. The research aims to increase understanding of the governance system from a holistic viewpoint by contributing to academic debates on science and technology policy, public understanding of science, commercialisation of research, and corporate social responsibility. With a thorough analysis of the concept of responsibility that is derived from empirical data, the research brings new perspectives into these debates by challenging many normative ideas embedded in discourses. For example, multiple roles of the public are analysed to highlight the problems of consumerism and citizen participation in practise, as well as in relation to different policy strategies. The research examines also the contradictory responsibilities faced by biotechnology researchers, who balance between academic autonomy, commercialisation of research, and reflecting social consequences of their work. Industries responsibilities are also examined from the viewpoint of biotechnology. The research methodology addresses the contradictions between empirical findings, theories of biotechnology governance, and policies in a novel way, as the study concentrates on several actors and investigates both the discourses and the practises of the actors. Thus, the qualitative method of analysis is a combination of discourse and content analysis. The empirical material is comprised of 29 personal interviews as well as documents by Finnish and multinational organizations on biotechnology governance.

Analysis of shore line protection works in tsunami hit areas of east coast of India

Evaluation and design of shore protection works in the case of tsunamis assumes considerable importance in view of the impact it had in the recent tsunami of 26th December 2004 in India and other countries in Asia. The fact that there are no proper guidelines have made in the matters worse and resulted in the magnitude of damage that occurred. Survey of the damages indicated that the scour as a result of high velocities is one of the prime reasons for damages in the case of simple structures. It is revealed that sea walls in some cases have been helpful to minimize the damages. The objective of this paper is to suggest that design of shore line protection systems using expected wave heights that get generated and use of flexible systems such as geocells is likely to give a better protection. The protection systems can be designed to withstand the wave forces that corresponding to different probabilities of incidence. A design approach of geocells protection system is suggested and illustrated with reference to the data of wave heights in the east coast of India.

The sources of moral motivation : studies on empathy, guilt, shame and values

The goals of this study were to analyze the forms of emotional tendencies that are likely to motivate moral behaviors, and to find correlates for these tendencies. In study 1, students narratives of their own guilt or shame experiences were analyzed. The results showed that pure shame was more likely to motivate avoidance than reparation, whereas guilt and combination of guilt and shame were likely to motivate reparation. However, all types of emotion could lead to chronic rumination if the person was not clearly responsible for the situation. In study 2, the relations of empathy with two measures of guilt were examined in a sample of 13- to 16-year-olds (N=113). Empathy was measured using Davis s IRI and guilt by Tangney s TOSCA and Hoffman s semi-projective story completion method that includes two different scenarios, guilt over cheating and guilt over inaction. Empathy correlated more strongly with both measures of guilt than the two measures correlated with each other. Hoffman s guilt over inaction was more strongly associated with empathy measures in girls than in boys, whereas for guilt over cheating the pattern was the opposite. Girls and boys who describe themselves as empathetic may emphasize different aspect of morality and feel guilty in different contexts. In study 3, cultural and gender differences in guilt and shame (TOSCA) and value priorities (the Schwartz Value Survey) were studied in samples of Finnish (N=156) and Peruvian (N=159) adolescents. Gender differences were found to be larger and more stereotypical among the Finns than among the Peruvians. Finnish girls were more prone to guilt and shame than boys were, whereas among the Peruvians there was no gender difference in guilt, and boys were more shame-prone than girls. The results support the view that psychological gender differences are largest individualistic societies. In study 4, the relations of value priorities to guilt, shame and empathy were examined in two samples, one of 15 19-year-old high school students (N = 207), and the other of military conscripts (N = 503). Guilt was, in both samples, positively related to valuing universalism, benevolence, tradition, and conformity, and negatively related to valuing power, hedonism, stimulation, and self-direction. The results for empathy were similar, but the relation to the openness conservation value dimension was weaker. Shame and personal distress were weakly related to values. In sum, shame without guilt and the TOSCA shame scale are tendencies that are unlikely to motivate moral behavior in Finnish cultural context. Guilt is likely to be connected to positive social behaviors, but excessive guilt can cause psychological problems. Moral emotional tendencies are related to culture, cultural conceptions of gender and to individual value priorities.

Construing and Defining the Out of Control : Addiction in the Media 1968-2008.

The four scientific articles comprising this doctoral dissertation offer new information on the presentation and construction of addiction in the mass media during the period 1968 - 2008. Diachronic surveys as well as quantitative and qualitative content analyses were undertaken to discern trends during the period in question and to investigate underlying conceptions of the problems in contemporary media presentations. The research material for the first three articles consists of a sample of 200 texts from Finland s biggest daily newspaper, Helsingin Sanomat, from the period 1968 - 2006. The fourth study examines English-language tabloid material published on the Internet in 2005 - 2008. A number of principal trends are identified. In addition to a significant increase in addiction reporting over time, the study shows that an internalisation of addiction problems took place in the media presentations under study. The phenomenon is portrayed and tackled from within the problems themselves, often from the viewpoint of the individuals concerned. The tone becomes more personal, and technical and detailed accounts are more and more frequent. Secondly, the concept of addiction is broadened. This can be dated to the 1990s. The concept undergoes a conventionalisation: it is used more frequently in a manner that is not thought to require explanation. The word riippuvuus (the closest equivalent to addiction in Finnish) was adopted more commonly in the reporting at the same time, in the 1990s. Thirdly, the results highlight individual self-governance as a superordinate principle in contemporary descriptions of addiction. If the principal demarcation in earlier texts was between us and them , it is now focused primarily on the individual s competence and ability to govern the self, to restrain and master one's behaviour. Finally, in the fourth study investigating textual constructions of female celebrities (Amy Winehouse, Britney Spears and Kate Moss) in Internet tabloids, various relations and functions of addiction problems, intoxication, body and gender were observed to function as cultural symbols. Addiction becomes a sign, or a style, that represents different significations in relation to the main characters in the tabloid stories. Tabloids, as a genre, play an important role by introducing other images of the problems than those featured in mainstream media. The study is positioned within the framework of modernity theory and its views on the need for self-reflexivity and biographies as tools for the creation and definition of the self. Traditional institutions such as the church, occupation, family etc. no longer play an important role in self-definition. This circumstance creates a need for a culture conveying stories of success and failure in relation to which the individual can position their own behaviour and life content. I propose that addiction , as a theme in media reporting, resolves the conflict that emanates from the ambivalence between the accessibility and the individualisation of consumer society, on the one hand, and the problematic behavioural patterns (addictions) that they may induce, on the other.

On the Problem of Participation in Strategy: A Critical Discursive Perspective

We still know little of why strategy processes often involve participation problems. In this paper, we argue that this crucial issue is linked to fundamental assumptions about the nature of strategy work. Hence, we need to examine how strategy processes are typically made sense of and what roles are assigned to specific organizational members. For this purpose, we adopt a critical discursive perspective that allows us to discover how specific conceptions of strategy work are reproduced and legitimized in organizational strategizing. Our empirical analysis is based on an extensive research project on strategy work in 12 organizations. As a result of our analysis, we identify three central discourses that seem to be systematically associated with nonparticipatory approaches to strategy work: “mystification,” “disciplining,” and “technologization.” However, we also distinguish three strategy discourses that promote participation: “self-actualization,” “dialogization,” and “concretization.” Our analysis shows that strategy as practice involves alternative and even competing discourses that have fundamentally different kinds of implications for participation in strategy work. We argue from a critical perspective that it is important to be aware of the inherent problems associated with dominant discourses as well as to actively advance the use of alternative ones.

A simple low-cost electrical switching analyzer for I-V characterization of switching samples and devices

The phenomena of nonlinear I-V behavior and electrical switching find extensive applications in power control, information storage, oscillators, etc. The study of I-V characteristics and switching parameters is necessary for the proper application of switching materials and devices. In the present work, a simple low-cost electrical switching analyzer has been developed for the measurement of the electrical characteristics of switching materials and devices. The system developed consists of a microcontroller-based excitation source and a high-speed data acquisition system. The design details of the excitation source, its interface with the high-speed data acquisition system and personal computer, and the details of the application software developed for automated measurements are described. Typical I-V characteristics and switching curves obtained with the system developed are also presented to illustrate the capability of the instrument developed.

The Politics and Policies of Reproductive Agency

This study examines the politics and policies of reproductive agency through a redescription of three Finnish policy documents dealing with the declining birth rate: the Government report on the future 'Finland for people of all ages' (2004), Business and Policy Forum EVA report 'Condemned to Diminish?' (Tuomitut vähenemään?) (2003), and the Family Federation's 'Population Policy Program' (2004). The redescription is done with the help of the notion of reproductive agency, which draws on Drucilla Cornell's concepts of the imaginary domain and bodily integrity. The imaginary domain is the moral and psychic space people need in order to form their personality, which is created in constant identificatory processes. The aim of the processes is imaginary coherence. As the personality is embodied, forming one s imaginary coherence always includes attempts for bodily integrity, also entailing attempts to arrive at an understanding of one's procreative capacities. Besides Cornell, I draw on Judith Butler's thinking and comprehend gender performatively as doing, and in relation to that agency as part of the performative process of one's personality. Reproductive agency is understood in this study as the possibilities to live differently the hegemonic forms of procreative life. I deal with three redescriptive themes: the family, economics and gender. The family is a central element in that it is considered the main location of reproduction. With regard to reproductive agency, the documents include problematic conceptions of the family. It is defined as a heterosexual, monogamous, conjugal relationship, which affects reproductive agency in that these notions do not allow for different modes of family life. The second prominent aspect, economics, features on two levels: the macroeconomic level of GDP, employment and competitiveness, and the level of family policies and concern about family finances. Macroeconomic-level argumentation is problematic in the context of reproductive agency because it implies that procreation is a duty of citizens, and thus has effects on values attached to reproductive potential. On the other hand, family policies may advance reproductive agency in supporting families financially. However, such policies also define how the family is understood, thereby affecting reproductive agency. The third theme, gender, intersects with many issues in the policy documents. All three texts consider the roles of men and women differently: women are primarily responsible for the family, and both men's and women's reproductive agency is affected in that the roles in the procreative process are predefined. EVA and the Family Federation see women as the main target of population policies, and consider it legitimate to try to change women s reproductive decisions. Implicit in the notion of reproductive agency is the idea that it should be possible to overcome and live differently the sex difference, but the three documents do not open up opportunities for that. The notion of reproductive agency makes it also possible to question the legitimacy of population policies in general and offers new perspectives on the vocabularies used in the three policy texts, providing insights into the values and logics that support the concepts.

On the Discursive Construction of Corruption: A Critical Analysis of Media Texts

While extant studies have greatly advanced our understanding of corruption, we still know little of the processes through which specific practices or events come to be labeled as corruption. In a time when public attention devoted to corruption and other forms of corporate misbehavior has exploded, this thesis raises – and seeks to answer – crucial questions related to how the phenomenon is socially and discursively constructed. What kinds of struggles are manifested in public disputes about corruption? How do constructions of corruption relate with broader conceptions of (il)legitimacy in and around organizations? What are the discursive dynamics involved in the emergence and evolution of corruption scandals? The thesis consists of four essays that each employ different research designs and tackle these questions in slightly different theoretical and methodological ways. The empirical focus is on the media coverage of a number of significant and widely discussed scandals in Norway in the period 2003-2008. By illuminating crucial processes through which conceptions of corruption were constructed, reproduced, and transformed in these scandals, the thesis seeks to paint a more nuanced picture of corruption than what is currently offered in the literature. In particular, the thesis challenges traditional conceptions of corruption as a dysfunctional feature of organizations in and of itself by emphasizing the ambiguous, temporal, context-specific, and at times even contradictory features of corruption in public discussions.