Implementation of JPEG compression and motion estimation on FPGA hardware

A hardware implementation of JPEG allows for real-time compression in data intensivve applications, such as high speed scanning, medical imaging and satellite image transmission. Implementation options include dedicated DSP or media processors, FPGA boards, and ASICs. Factors that affect the choice of platform selection involve cost, speed, memory, size, power consumption, and case of reconfiguration. The proposed hardware solution is based on a Very high speed integrated circuit Hardware Description Language (VHDL) implememtation of the codec with prefered realization using an FPGA board due to speed, cost and flexibility factors; The VHDL language is commonly used to model hardware impletations from a top down perspective. The VHDL code may be simulated to correct mistakes and subsequently synthesized into hardware using a synthesis tool, such as the xilinx ise suite. The same VHDL code may be synthesized into a number of sifferent hardware architetcures based on constraints given. For example speed was the major constraint when synthesizing the pipeline of jpeg encoding and decoding, while chip area and power consumption were primary constraints when synthesizing the on-die memory because of large area. Thus, there is a trade off between area and speed in logic synthesis

Synthesis and characterization of bulk and thin film antimony-selenium phase change alloys

Phase change alloys have recently gained increasing attention due to their application in developing phase change random memory (PRAM) devices, as Flash memory based devices are rapidly approaching their technological limitations. The most dominant features of PRAM devices are its non-volatile nature, compatible with present day IC\u27s manufacturing process, high density, fast operation, low power consumption etc; Devices built on binary alloys such as Antimony - Selenium (SbSe) exhibit certain superior properties such as fast operation, reduced power consumption, economical etc. compared to that of ternary alloy (GST). In order to understand this behavior in detail, bulk SbxSe 100-x (40 ≤ x ≤ 70) alloys are synthesized and deposited as thin films on silicon (100) plane substrate. Series of experiments such as X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD), Energy dispersive X-ray diffraction (EDAX), Spectroscopic Ellipsometer, Hall test experiments are carried out to characterize both the bulk and thin films. EDAX experiments show the deviation between bulk and thin films compositions is less than 10%. Diffraction patterns of bulk exhibit orthorhombic structure, i.e., Sb2Se3 type where as thin films demonstrate amorphous behavior. Impact of annealing on thin films is studied by heating the films to 170°C under argon (Ar) ambience. Post annealing results of Sb40Se60 thin films show the crystal structure is orthorhombic and crystallization temperature (Tc) increases with increase in Sb content of the compound. Ellipsometry and Hall measurements of annealed films exhibit high refractive index (n), low extinction coefficient (k) and high carrier concentration with associated low carrier mobility. Further the conductivity of annealed Sb40Se60 thin films switches from p to n type

Runner Identity and Sponsorship: Evaluating the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon

The economic value of participation sport has been reported to eclipse spectator sport significantly. However, scholars have acknowledged the relative lack of research on this important segment of the sport market. The purpose of this study was to analyze the relationship between runner identity and race sponsor effectiveness. Surveys were sent to participants in the Las Vegas Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon. The survey was constructed to measure runner identity, and sponsor effectiveness as interpreted through rates of recognition, recall and purchase intention. Runners were divided into three groups based on their runner identity score. Of the predictive variables, only runner identity was a significant predictor of sponsor recognition and recall and one of two significant variables for purchase intention. The current study established runner identity as a unique construct and shows how runner identity is tied to measures that can be used by race organizers to attract or retain sponsors

Fault Slip and Exhumation History of the Willard Thrust Sheet, Sevier Fold‐Thrust Belt, Utah: Relations to Wedge Propagation, Hinterland Uplift, and Foreland Basin Sedimentation

Zircon (U‐Th)/He (ZHe) and zircon fission track thermochronometric data for 47 samples spanning the areally extensive Willard thrust sheet within the western part of the Sevier fold‐thrust belt record enhanced cooling and exhumation during major thrust slip spanning approximately 125–90 Ma. ZHe and zircon fission track age‐paleodepth patterns along structural transects and age‐distance relations along stratigraphic‐parallel traverses, combined with thermo‐kinematic modeling, constrain the fault slip history, with estimated slip rates of ~1 km/Myr from 125 to 105 Ma, increasing to ~3 km/Myr from 105 to 92 Ma, and then decreasing as major slip was transferred onto eastern thrusts. Exhumation was concentrated during motion up thrust ramps with estimated erosion rates of ~0.1 to 0.3 km/Myr. Local cooling ages of approximately 160–150 Ma may record a period of regional erosion, or alternatively an early phase of limited... (see full abstract in article)

The Persistent Southern Disadvantage in Us Early Life Mortality, 1965‒2014

Background: Recent studies of US adult mortality demonstrate a growing disadvantage among southern states. Few studies have examined long-term trends and geographic patterns in US early life (ages 1 to 24) mortality, ages at which key risk factors and causes of death are quite different than among adults. Objective: This article examines trends and variations in early life mortality rates across US states and census divisions. We assess whether those variations have changed over a 50-year time period and which causes of death contribute to contemporary geographic disparities. Methods: We calculate all-cause and cause-specific death rates using death certificate data from the Multiple Cause of Death files, combining public-use files from 1965‒2004 and restricted data with state geographic identifiers from 2005‒2014. State population (denominator) data come from US decennial censuses or intercensal estimates. Results: Results demonstrate a persistent mortality disadvantage for young people (ages 1 to 24) living in southern states over the last 50 years, particularly those located in the East South Central and West South Central divisions. Motor vehicle accidents and homicide by firearm account for most of the contemporary southern disadvantage in US early life mortality. Contribution: Our results illustrate that US children and youth living in the southern United States have long suffered from higher levels of mortality than children and youth living in other parts of the country. Our findings also suggest the contemporary southern disadvantage in US early life mortality could potentially be reduced with state-level policies designed to prevent deaths involving motor vehicles and firearms

A small step closer to the Holy Grail of DNA vaccines: undisputed clinical benefit in humans

A report of the DNA Vaccines 2008 meeting, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, 9-11 December 2008

Development of a safety analysis and an intersection infrastructure system

GIS and GPS technologies have found immense applications in the field of transportation engineering. Different features related to transportation safety are inventoried using these technologies. The databases so created serve as main source for safety analyses, decision making and reporting. Many different analyses tools are available to assist engineers, planners and policy makers in the process of improving transportation safety. GIS-based analyses tools provide tabular and graphic display, thereby expediting the analyses process and improving the spatial understanDing The advantages of such tools increase if they can be provided on the World Wide Web. One such software system that offers online analyses tool is the ArcIMS; This research is aimed at developing a GIS-based tool to inventory signalized intersection attributes. In addition, an internet based analyses system that utilizes the signalized intersection database and the crash database is developed. The tools provide number of choices to perform user-defined queries to generate specific results. The system is developed using Visual Basic .Net programming language. The applications developed here are demonstrated with the data available for the Las Vegas metropolitan area

Mapping Nevada\u27s Dental Workforce

Access to care is a concern at the forefront of public health. Due to socioeconomic and geopolitical pressures, the distribution of healthcare providers across a population often does not coincide with the demand for healthcare in a specific geographic area. Rural areas typically do not have enough providers and urban areas typically have too many. This stark reality underscores an inherent inefficiency in the allocation of healthcare resources and is a discrepancy that must be addressed by state-sponsored institutions and programs. From a public health perspective, the problem of insufficient or lack of access to care is the greater of the two problems. Rural residents that require care face additional challenges that the urban counterpart does not readily encounter. They include the sheer lack of qualified providers that can address their specific concerns, lack of interdisciplinary care that is required for more complex medical and dental conditions, and higher costs associated with receiving this care, which may come from high transportation costs, long waiting time and long commutes. These barriers place unneeded pressures on the care seeker and can ultimately lead to aggravation of the medical or dental condition itself and poorer patient outcomes. Geographic information system (GIS) mapping of the state’s general dentists and clinical specialists revealed an uneven per capita distribution of dental providers between the 17 counties in the state of Nevada as well as between the 55 zip codes of the Las Vegas Valley. The study found that 0.6% of Nevadan residents in the state lived beyond a 30-mile radius of a dental office and 1.7% of Nevada residents in the state lived beyond a 30-mile radius of a Medicaid-accepting dental office, with virtually all such residents living in a rural county. Moreover, the study found zip codes with a larger ratio of Medicaid-accepting dental offices in the Las Vegas Valley were associated with a greater percentage of children, minorities, and Hispanics in the population, as well as a lower median household income

Energetics of insect metamorphosis

During metamorphosis, Drosophila melanogaster pupae undergo a transformation which rearranges almost all larval tissues into an adult fly. During this time, it is surprising that pupae exhibit a U-shaped curve for metabolic rate, where metabolism decreases dramatically after pupariation and increases shortly before eclosion. Using temperature to offset the cost of development during metamorphosis, I demonstrate that the total energy cost for metamorphosis depends on temperature and associated differences in developmental time. Pupae tended to consume more triglycerides over the course of development at low and high temperatures. Changes in oxygen level did not affect the U-shaped curve of carbon dioxide production during metamorphosis. Also, pupae did not accumulate lactate under normoxic conditions, although they are capable of anaerobic metabolism. Thus, oxygen limitation is not the cause of the U-shaped metabolic pattern. I observed that citrate synthase activity changes in a similar U-shaped pattern as metabolic rate. This indicates that the U-shaped metabolic curve is the result of changes in metabolically active tissue during metamorphosis