A systematic analysis of equivalence in multistage networks

Many approaches to switching in optoelectronic and optical networks decompose the switching function across multiple stages or hops. This paper addresses the problem of determining whether two multistage or multihop networks are functionally equivalent. Various ad-hoc methods have been used in the past to establish such equivalences. A systematic method for determining equivalence is presented based on properties of the link permutations used to interconnect stages of the network. This method is useful in laying out multistage networks, in determining optimal channel assignments for multihop networks, and in establishing the routing required in such networks. A purely graphical variant of the method, requiring no mathematics or calculations, is also described

Solving the measurement problem: de Broglie-Bohm loses out to Everett

The quantum theory of de Broglie and Bohm solves the measurement problem, but the hypothetical corpuscles play no role in the argument. The solution finds a more natural home in the Everett interpretation.Comment: 20 pages; submitted to special issue of Foundations of Physics, in honour of James T. Cushin

Robust H-infinity sliding mode control for nonlinear stochastic systems with multiple data packet losses

This is the post-print version of this Article. The official published version can be accessed from the link below - Copyright @ 2012 John Wiley & SonsIn this paper, an ∞ sliding mode control (SMC) problem is studied for a class of discrete-time nonlinear stochastic systems with multiple data packet losses. The phenomenon of data packet losses, which is assumed to occur in a random way, is taken into consideration in the process of data transmission through both the state-feedback loop and the measurement output. The probability for the data packet loss for each individual state variable is governed by a corresponding individual random variable satisfying a certain probabilistic distribution over the interval [0 1]. The discrete-time system considered is also subject to norm-bounded parameter uncertainties and external nonlinear disturbances, which enter the system state equation in both matched and unmatched ways. A novel stochastic discrete-time switching function is proposed to facilitate the sliding mode controller design. Sufficient conditions are derived by means of the linear matrix inequality (LMI) approach. It is shown that the system dynamics in the specified sliding surface is exponentially stable in the mean square with a prescribed ∞ noise attenuation level if an LMI with an equality constraint is feasible. A discrete-time SMC controller is designed capable of guaranteeing the discrete-time sliding mode reaching condition of the specified sliding surface with probability 1. Finally, a simulation example is given to show the effectiveness of the proposed method.This work was supported in part by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) of the U.K. under Grant GR/S27658/01, the Royal Society of the U.K., the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant 61028008 and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation of German

Inter-organizational fault management: Functional and organizational core aspects of management architectures

Outsourcing -- successful, and sometimes painful -- has become one of the hottest topics in IT service management discussions over the past decade. IT services are outsourced to external service provider in order to reduce the effort required for and overhead of delivering these services within the own organization. More recently also IT services providers themselves started to either outsource service parts or to deliver those services in a non-hierarchical cooperation with other providers. Splitting a service into several service parts is a non-trivial task as they have to be implemented, operated, and maintained by different providers. One key aspect of such inter-organizational cooperation is fault management, because it is crucial to locate and solve problems, which reduce the quality of service, quickly and reliably. In this article we present the results of a thorough use case based requirements analysis for an architecture for inter-organizational fault management (ioFMA). Furthermore, a concept of the organizational respective functional model of the ioFMA is given.Comment: International Journal of Computer Networks & Communications (IJCNC