The design and implementation of a multimedia storage server tosupport video-on-demand applications

In this paper we present the design and implementation of a client/server based multimedia architecture for supporting video-on-demand applications. We describe in detail the software architecture of the implementation along with the adopted buffering mechanism. The proposed multithreaded architecture obtains, on one hand, a high degree of parallelism at the server side, allowing both the disk controller and the network card controller work in parallel. On the other hand; at the client side, it achieves the synchronized playback of the video stream at its precise rate, decoupling this process from the reception of data through the network. Additionally, we have derived, under an engineering perspective, some services that a real-time operating system should offer to satisfy the requirements found in video-on-demand applications.This research has been supported by the Regional Research Plan of the Autonomus Community of Madrid under an F.P.I. research grant.Publicad

Efficient memory management in VOD disk array servers usingPer-Storage-Device buffering

We present a buffering technique that reduces video-on-demand server memory requirements in more than one order of magnitude. This technique, Per-Storage-Device Buffering (PSDB), is based on the allocation of a fixed number of buffers per storage device, as opposed to existing solutions based on per-stream buffering allocation. The combination of this technique with disk array servers is studied in detail, as well as the influence of Variable Bit Streams. We also present an interleaved data placement strategy, Constant Time Length Declustering, that results in optimal performance in the service of VBR streams. PSDB is evaluated by extensive simulation of a disk array server model that incorporates a simulation based admission test.This research was supported in part by the National R&D Program of Spain, Project Number TIC97-0438.Publicad

Implementation of a Hardware/Software Platform for Real-Timedata-Intensive Applications in Hazardous Environments

Real-Time Technology and Applications Symposium. Brookline, MA, USA, 10-12 Oct. 1996In real-time data-intensive applications, the simultaneous achievement of the required performance and determinism is a difficult issue to address, mainly due to the time needed to perform I/O operations, which is more significant than the CPU processing time. Additional features need to be considered if these applications are intended to perform in hostile environments. In this paper, we address the implementation of a hardware/software platform designed to acquire, transfer, process and store massive amounts of information at sustained rates of several MBytes/sec, capable of supporting real-time applications with stringent throughput requirements under hazardous environmental conditions. A real-world system devoted to the inspection of nuclear power plants is presented as an illustrative examplePublicad

A comprehensive approach in performance evaluation for modernreal-time operating systems

In real-time computing the accurate characterization of the performance and determinism that a particular real-time operating system/hardware combination can provide for real-time applications is essential. This issue is not properly addressed by existing performance metrics mainly due to the lack of completeness and generalization. In this paper we present a set of comprehensive, easy-to-implement and useful metrics covering three basic real-time operating system features: response to external events, intertask synchronization and resource sharing, and intertask data transferring. The evaluation of real-time operating systems using a set of fine-grained metrics is fundamental to guarantee that we can reach the required determinism in real-world applications.Publicad

Efficient memory management in video on demand servers

In this article we present, analyse and evaluate a new memory management technique for video-on-demand servers. Our proposal, Memory Reservation Per Storage Device (MRPSD), relies on the allocation of a fixed, small number of memory buffers per storage device. Selecting adequate scheduling algorithms, information storage strategies and admission control mechanisms, we demonstrate that MRPSD is suited for the deterministic service of variable bit rate streams to intolerant clients. MRPSD allows large memory savings compared to traditional memory management techniques, based on the allocation of a certain amount of memory per client served, without a significant performance penaltyPublicad

La naturaleza artificial de Central Park

Central Park fue el primer gran parque público norteamericano, pionero en la adaptación de un modelo europeo según un lenguaje heredado del pintoresquismo y la jardinería inglesa, el resultado de una serie de transformaciones que intensificaban los efectos paisajistas: sobre la tierra había un paisaje diseñado y dibujado que copiaba a la naturaleza y bajo la tierra se disponía un eficiente sistema tecnológico. El parque reúne las cualidades de dos tipos de espacios libres en la ciudad: la imagen o recreación de la naturaleza en la ciudad y la potencialidad del lugar sin ocupar, un paradigma de la identificación entre espacio público y territorio, emblema de la identificación del uso social y democrático del tiempo libre. Este terreno, reservado en medio de un paisaje rural cuando la ciudad era una previsión abstracta dibujada en forma de retícula ortogonal y aquel lugar sólo un conjunto de ciénagas y rocas, fue transformado según el proyecto de dos precursores de la arquitectura del paisaje; hoy es un territorio sorprendente, sin ocupar, enfrentado a la compacta edificación que lo contiene, un paradigma de yuxtaposición de naturaleza y ciudad.Central Park was the first American public park, pioneer in the adaptation of an European model following the style of picturesque and English gardening, the result of a group of transformations that intensified the landscape effects: over the ground there was a designed and drawn territory copying the nature and below it an efficient technologic system. The park gathers the skills of two kinds of non-built sites in the city: the image or recreation of nature in the urban reality and the potentiality of a place without occupation, a paradigm of the identification of a social and democratic use of leisure time. This space reserved in the middle of a rural landscape when the city was just an abstract prevision grip-shaped and that place only an useless mixture of swamps and rocks, was transformed as in the project of two founders of landscape architecture; today has become a relevant territory free of construction towards the compact city where is contained, a unique example of juxtaposition of nature and city

Carlos Martí Arís: "Cabos sueltos"

Al viento de su mismo título, ondea este libro otoñal su carácter diverso y su direccionalidad múltiple: con la apariencia de una clásica recopilación de presentaciones, conferencias o artículos, alentados estos últimos años a propósito de causas ajenas y afinidades electivas, esta edición agavilla comentarios, prefacios y notas en páginas dispersas, del profesor Carlos Martí, y compone un orden silencioso, secreto autorretrato, velado tras la trama de una tupida cartografía de lazos suaves pero seguros

Minimizing buffer requirements in video-on-demand servers

23rd Euromicro Conference EUROMICRO 97: 'New Frontiers of Information Technology', Budapest, Hungary, 1-4 Sept 1997Memory management is a key issue when designing cost effective video on demand servers. State of the art techniques, like double buffering, allocate buffers in a per stream basis and require huge amounts of memory. We propose a buffering policy, namely Single Pair of Buffers, that dramatically reduces server memory requirements by reserving a pair of buffers per storage device. By considering in detail disk and network interaction, we have also identified the particular conditions under which this policy can be successfully applied to engineer video on demand servers. Reduction factors of two orders of magnitude compared to the double buffering approach can be obtained. Current disk and network parameters make this technique feasible.Publicad

Investigational Drugs for the Treatment of Postherpetic Neuralgia: Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials

The pharmacological treatment of postherpetic neuralgia (PHN) is unsatisfactory, and there is a clinical need for new approaches. Several drugs under advanced clinical development are addressed in this review. A systematic literature search was conducted in three electronic databases (Medline, Web of Science, Scopus) and in the ClinicalTrials.gov register from 1 January 2016 to 1 June 2023 to identify Phase II, III and IV clinical trials evaluating drugs for the treatment of PHN. A total of 18 clinical trials were selected evaluating 15 molecules with pharmacological actions on nine different molecular targets: Angiotensin Type 2 Receptor (AT2R) antagonism (olodanrigan), Voltage-Gated Calcium Channel (VGCC) 2 subunit inhibition (crisugabalin, mirogabalin and pregabalin), Voltage-Gated Sodium Channel (VGSC) blockade (funapide and lidocaine), Cyclooxygenase-1 (COX-1) inhibition (TRK-700), Adaptor-Associated Kinase 1 (AAK1) inhibition (LX9211), Lanthionine Synthetase C-Like Protein (LANCL) activation (LAT8881), N-Methyl-D-Aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonism (esketamine), mu opioid receptor agonism (tramadol, oxycodone and hydromorphone) and Nerve Growth Factor (NGF) inhibition (fulranumab). In brief, there are several drugs in advanced clinical development for treating PHN with some of them reporting promising results. AT2R antagonism, AAK1 inhibition, LANCL activation and NGF inhibition are considered first-in-class analgesics. Hopefully, these trials will result in a better clinical management of PHNTraining University Lecturers program (FPU21/02736) of the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO