Basic principles of design and functioning of multifunctional laser diagnostic system for non-invasive medical spectrophotometry

The devising of a general engineering theory of multifunctional diagnostic systems for non-invasive medical spectrophotometry is an important and promising direction of modern biomedical engineering. We aim in this study to formalize in scientific engineering terms objectives for multifunctional laser non-invasive diagnostic system (MLNDS). The structure-functional model as well as a task-function of generalized MLNDS was formulated and developed. The key role of the system software for MLNDS general architecture at steps of ideological-technical designing has been proved. The basic principles of block-modules composition of MLNDS hardware are suggested as well. © 2011 Copyright Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE).

Span design for reduced noise and nonlinear impairments in a dispersion-managed Raman amplified system

We study a periodic Raman amplified dispersion-managed system with backward-pumping configuration, considering noise and nonlinear impairments. A general optimization method based on nonlinearity management is applied in order to find the configuration that maximizes the system performance. The system is later tested using a full numerical implementation of the nonlinear Schrödinger equation and shown to effectively deliver its longest propagation distance in the same optimal region.

Design of multilevel amplitude regenerative system

We propose a scheme for multilevel (nine or more) amplitude regeneration based on a nonlinear optical loop mirror (NOLM) and demonstrate through numerical modeling its efficiency and cascadability on circular 16-, 64-, and 256- symbol constellations. We show that the amplitude noise is efficiently suppressed. The design is flexible and enables variation of the number of levels and their positioning. The scheme is compatible with phase regenerators. Also, compared to the traditional single-NOLM configuration scheme, new features, such as reduced and sign-varied power-dependent phase shift, are available. The model is simple to implement, as it requires only two couplers in addition to the traditional NOLM, and offers a vast range of optimization parameters. © 2014 Optical Society of America.

Impact of design of sharp non-uniform fibre Bragg gratings on system performance

The impact of design of sharp non-uniform fiber Bragg gratings on system performance was presented. The evolution of the Q-value of the worst channel against the propagation distance was shown. The results suggested that to apply approximated flat-dispersion gratings as inline filters in a periodic system, some post-compensation was included to account for the extra dispersion introduced by the gratings.

Information-Analytical System for Design of New Inorganic Compounds

The principles of design of information-analytical system (IAS) intended for design of new inorganic compounds are considered. IAS includes the integrated system of databases on properties of inorganic substances and materials, the system of the programs of pattern recognition, the knowledge base and managing program. IAS allows a prediction of inorganic compounds not yet synthesized and estimation of their some properties.

The design and validation of an optical coherence tomography-based classification system for focal vitreomacular traction

PurposeTo develop and validate a classification system for focal vitreomacular traction (VMT) with and without macular hole based on spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT), intended to aid in decision-making and prognostication.MethodsA panel of retinal specialists convened to develop this system. A literature review followed by discussion on a wide range of cases formed the basis for the proposed classification. Key features on OCT were identified and analysed for their utility in clinical practice. A final classification was devised based on two sequential, independent validation exercises to improve interobserver variability.ResultsThis classification tool pertains to idiopathic focal VMT assessed by a horizontal line scan using SD-OCT. The system uses width (W), interface features (I), foveal shape (S), retinal pigment epithelial changes (P), elevation of vitreous attachment (E), and inner and outer retinal changes (R) to give the acronym WISPERR. Each category is scored hierarchically. Results from the second independent validation exercise indicated a high level of agreement between graders: intraclass correlation ranged from 0.84 to 0.99 for continuous variables and Fleiss' kappa values ranged from 0.76 to 0.95 for categorical variables.ConclusionsWe present an OCT-based classification system for focal VMT that allows anatomical detail to be scrutinised and scored qualitatively and quantitatively using a simple, pragmatic algorithm, which may be of value in clinical practice as well as in future research studies.

ASIC microcontroller design of a radiation monitoring system using VHDL modeling and FPGA implementation

Three new technologies have been brought together to develop a miniaturized radiation monitoring system. The research involved (1) Investigation a new HgI$\sb2$ detector. (2) VHDL modeling. (3) FPGA implementation. (4) In-circuit Verification. The packages used included an EG&G's crystal(HgI$\sb2$) manufactured at zero gravity, the Viewlogic's VHDL and Synthesis, Xilinx's technology library, its FPGA implementation tool, and a high density device (XC4003A). The results show: (1) Reduced cycle-time between Design and Hardware implementation; (2) Unlimited Re-design and implementation using the static RAM technology; (3) Customer based design, verification, and system construction; (4) Well suited for intelligent systems. These advantages excelled conventional chip design technologies and methods in easiness, short cycle time, and price in medium sized VLSI applications. It is also expected that the density of these devices will improve radically in the near future. ^

Nonlinear dynamics and chaos simulation system analysis for improved design

Small errors proved catastrophic. Our purpose to remark that a very small cause which escapes our notice determined a considerable effect that we cannot fail to see, and then we say that the effect is due to chance. Small differences in the initial conditions produce very great ones in the final phenomena. A small error in the former will produce an enormous error in the latter. When dealing with any kind of electrical device specification, it is important to note that there exists a pair of test conditions that define a test: the forcing function and the limit. Forcing functions define the external operating constraints placed upon the device tested. The actual test defines how well the device responds to these constraints. Forcing inputs to threshold for example, represents the most difficult testing because this put those inputs as close as possible to the actual switching critical points and guarantees that the device will meet the Input-Output specifications. ^ Prediction becomes impossible by classical analytical analysis bounded by Newton and Euclides. We have found that non linear dynamics characteristics is the natural state of being in all circuits and devices. Opportunities exist for effective error detection in a nonlinear dynamics and chaos environment. ^ Nowadays there are a set of linear limits established around every aspect of a digital or analog circuits out of which devices are consider bad after failing the test. Deterministic chaos circuit is a fact not a possibility as it has been revived by our Ph.D. research. In practice for linear standard informational methodologies, this chaotic data product is usually undesirable and we are educated to be interested in obtaining a more regular stream of output data. ^ This Ph.D. research explored the possibilities of taking the foundation of a very well known simulation and modeling methodology, introducing nonlinear dynamics and chaos precepts, to produce a new error detector instrument able to put together streams of data scattered in space and time. Therefore, mastering deterministic chaos and changing the bad reputation of chaotic data as a potential risk for practical system status determination. ^

The impact of information technology on organizations: A study of enterprise resource planning system influences on job design and organizational culture

The primary purpose of this research is to study the linkage between perceived job design characteristics and information system environment characteristics before and after the replacement of a legacy information system with a new type of information system (referred to as an Enterprise Resource Planning or ERP system). A public state University implementing an academic version of an ERP system was selected for the study. Three survey instruments were used to examine the perception of the information system, the job characteristics, and the organizational culture before and after the system implementation. The research participants included two large departments resulting in a sample of 130 workers. Research questions were analyzed using multivariate procedures including factor analysis, path analysis, step-wise regression, and matched pair analysis. ^ Results indicated that the ERP system has introduced new elements into the working environment that has changed the perception of how the job design characteristics and organization culture dimensions are viewed by the workers. The understanding of how the perceived system characteristics align with an individual's perceived job design characteristics is supported by each of the system characteristics significantly correlated in the proposed direction. The stronger support of this relationship becomes visible in the causal flow of the effects seen in the path diagram and in the step-wise regression. The perceived job design characteristics aligning with dimensions of organizational culture are not as strong as the literature suggests. Although there are significant correlations between the job and culture variables, only one relationship can be seen in the causal flow. ^ This research has demonstrated that system characteristics of ERP do contribute to the perception of change in an organization and do support organizational culture behaviors and job characteristics. ^

GENIAL Design: A System for Improving Guest Satisfaction with Hospitality Design

Over the past decades, hospitality design has lost sight of its basic goals of providing the guest with safe, pleasant, convenient accommodations and providing the owner with a facility which can be operated efficiently and profitably over the life of the structure. The author offers the acronym GE- NIAL, Guest, Environment, Needs, Interiors, Accessibility, and Long-term, as a means of keeping owners, developers, managers, and designers aware of the desired goals of the facility throughout its design and development. The author believes that the use of this acronym will promulgate de- signs more attuned to guest and owner/operator needs, resulting in in- creased guest satisfaction and increased profitability.

System-on-a-Chip (SoC) based hardware acceleration in Register Transfer Level (RTL) design

Today, modern System-on-a-Chip (SoC) systems have grown rapidly due to the increased processing power, while maintaining the size of the hardware circuit. The number of transistors on a chip continues to increase, but current SoC designs may not be able to exploit the potential performance, especially with energy consumption and chip area becoming two major concerns. Traditional SoC designs usually separate software and hardware. Thus, the process of improving the system performance is a complicated task for both software and hardware designers. The aim of this research is to develop hardware acceleration workflow for software applications. Thus, system performance can be improved with constraints of energy consumption and on-chip resource costs. The characteristics of software applications can be identified by using profiling tools. Hardware acceleration can have significant performance improvement for highly mathematical calculations or repeated functions. The performance of SoC systems can then be improved, if the hardware acceleration method is used to accelerate the element that incurs performance overheads. The concepts mentioned in this study can be easily applied to a variety of sophisticated software applications. The contributions of SoC-based hardware acceleration in the hardware-software co-design platform include the following: (1) Software profiling methods are applied to H.264 Coder-Decoder (CODEC) core. The hotspot function of aimed application is identified by using critical attributes such as cycles per loop, loop rounds, etc. (2) Hardware acceleration method based on Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) is used to resolve system bottlenecks and improve system performance. The identified hotspot function is then converted to a hardware accelerator and mapped onto the hardware platform. Two types of hardware acceleration methods – central bus design and co-processor design, are implemented for comparison in the proposed architecture. (3) System specifications, such as performance, energy consumption, and resource costs, are measured and analyzed. The trade-off of these three factors is compared and balanced. Different hardware accelerators are implemented and evaluated based on system requirements. 4) The system verification platform is designed based on Integrated Circuit (IC) workflow. Hardware optimization techniques are used for higher performance and less resource costs. Experimental results show that the proposed hardware acceleration workflow for software applications is an efficient technique. The system can reach 2.8X performance improvements and save 31.84% energy consumption by applying the Bus-IP design. The Co-processor design can have 7.9X performance and save 75.85% energy consumption.

Design of a dynamic e-commerce system with engineering applications

The primary purpose of this thesis was to design and develop a prototype e-commerce system where dynamic parameters are included in the decision-making process and execution of an online transaction. The system developed and implemented takes into account previous usage history, priority and associated engineering capabilities. The system was developed using three-tiered client server architecture. The interface was the Internet browser. The middle tiered web server was implemented using Active Server Pages, which form a link between the client system and other servers. A relational database management system formed the data component of the three-tiered architecture. It includes a capability for data warehousing which extracts needed information from the stored data of the customers as well as their orders. The system organizes and analyzes the data that is generated during a transaction to formulate a client's behavior model during and after a transaction. This is used for making decisions like pricing, order rescheduling during a client's forthcoming transaction. The system helps among other things to bring about predictability to a transaction execution process, which could be highly desirable in the current competitive scenario.

Design and implementation of a web based shop floor control system to maintain schedule feasibility in a dynamic job shop environment

The effective control of production activities in dynamic job shop with predetermined resource allocation for all the jobs entering the system is a unique manufacturing environment, which exists in the manufacturing industry. In this thesis a framework for an Internet based real time shop floor control system for such a dynamic job shop environment is introduced. The system aims to maintain the schedule feasibility of all the jobs entering the manufacturing system under any circumstance. The system is capable of deciding how often the manufacturing activities should be monitored to check for control decisions that need to be taken on the shop floor. The system will provide the decision maker real time notification to enable him to generate feasible alternate solutions in case a disturbance occurs on the shop floor. The control system is also capable of providing the customer with real time access to the status of the jobs on the shop floor. The communication between the controller, the user and the customer is through web based user friendly GUI. The proposed control system architecture and the interface for the communication system have been designed, developed and implemented.

Design and Development of Geographical Information System (GIS) Map for Nuclear Waste Streams

A nuclear waste stream is the complete flow of waste material from origin to treatment facility to final disposal. The objective of this study was to design and develop a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) module using Google Application Programming Interface (API) for better visualization of nuclear waste streams that will identify and display various nuclear waste stream parameters. A proper display of parameters would enable managers at Department of Energy waste sites to visualize information for proper planning of waste transport. The study also developed an algorithm using quadratic Bézier curve to make the map more understandable and usable. Microsoft Visual Studio 2012 and Microsoft SQL Server 2012 were used for the implementation of the project. The study has shown that the combination of several technologies can successfully provide dynamic mapping functionality. Future work should explore various Google Maps API functionalities to further enhance the visualization of nuclear waste streams.

Design and implementation of a relative localization system for ground and aerial robotic teams

The main focus of this thesis is to address the relative localization problem of a heterogenous team which comprises of both ground and micro aerial vehicle robots. This team configuration allows to combine the advantages of increased accessibility and better perspective provided by aerial robots with the higher computational and sensory resources provided by the ground agents, to realize a cooperative multi robotic system suitable for hostile autonomous missions. However, in such a scenario, the strict constraints in flight time, sensor pay load, and computational capability of micro aerial vehicles limits the practical applicability of popular map-based localization schemes for GPS denied navigation. Therefore, the resource limited aerial platforms of this team demand simpler localization means for autonomous navigation. Relative localization is the process of estimating the formation of a robot team using the acquired inter-robot relative measurements. This allows the team members to know their relative formation even without a global localization reference, such as GPS or a map. Thus a typical robot team would benefit from a relative localization service since it would allow the team to implement formation control, collision avoidance, and supervisory control tasks, independent of a global localization service. More importantly, a heterogenous team such as ground robots and computationally constrained aerial vehicles would benefit from a relative localization service since it provides the crucial localization information required for autonomous operation of the weaker agents. This enables less capable robots to assume supportive roles and contribute to the more powerful robots executing the mission. Hence this study proposes a relative localization-based approach for ground and micro aerial vehicle cooperation, and develops inter-robot measurement, filtering, and distributed computing modules, necessary to realize the system. The research study results in three significant contributions. First, the work designs and validates a novel inter-robot relative measurement hardware solution which has accuracy, range, and scalability characteristics, necessary for relative localization. Second, the research work performs an analysis and design of a novel nonlinear filtering method, which allows the implementation of relative localization modules and attitude reference filters on low cost devices with optimal tuning parameters. Third, this work designs and validates a novel distributed relative localization approach, which harnesses the distributed computing capability of the team to minimize communication requirements, achieve consistent estimation, and enable efficient data correspondence within the network. The work validates the complete relative localization-based system through multiple indoor experiments and numerical simulations. The relative localization based navigation concept with its sensing, filtering, and distributed computing methods introduced in this thesis complements system limitations of a ground and micro aerial vehicle team, and also targets hostile environmental conditions. Thus the work constitutes an essential step towards realizing autonomous navigation of heterogenous teams in real world applications.