Interconnect architectures for dynamically partially reconfigurable systems

Dynamically partially reconfigurable FPGAs (Field-Programmable Gate Arrays) allow hardware modules to be placed and removed at runtime while other parts of the system keep working. With their potential benefits, they have been the topic of a great deal of research over the last decade. To exploit the partial reconfiguration capability of FPGAs, there is a need for efficient, dynamically adaptive communication infrastructure that automatically adapts as modules are added to and removed from the system. Many bus and network-on-chip (NoC) architectures have been proposed to exploit this capability on FPGA technology. However, few realizations have been reported in the public literature to demonstrate or compare their performance in real world applications. While partial reconfiguration can offer many benefits, it is still rarely exploited in practical applications. Few full realizations of partially reconfigurable systems in current FPGA technologies have been published. More application experiments are required to understand the benefits and limitations of implementing partially reconfigurable systems and to guide their further development. The motivation of this thesis is to fill this research gap by providing empirical evidence of the cost and benefits of different interconnect architectures. The results will provide a baseline for future research and will be directly useful for circuit designers who must make a well-reasoned choice between the alternatives. This thesis contains the results of experiments to compare different NoC and bus interconnect architectures for FPGA-based designs in general and dynamically partially reconfigurable systems. These two interconnect schemes are implemented and evaluated in terms of performance, area and power consumption using FFT (Fast Fourier Transform) andANN(Artificial Neural Network) systems as benchmarks. Conclusions drawn from these results include recommendations concerning the interconnect approach for different kinds of applications. It is found that a NoC provides much better performance than a single channel bus and similar performance to a multi-channel bus in both parallel and parallel-pipelined FFT systems. This suggests that a NoC is a better choice for systems with multiple simultaneous communications like the FFT. Bus-based interconnect achieves better performance and consume less area and power than NoCbased scheme for the fully-connected feed-forward NN system. This suggests buses are a better choice for systems that do not require many simultaneous communications or systems with broadcast communications like a fully-connected feed-forward NN. Results from the experiments with dynamic partial reconfiguration demonstrate that buses have the advantages of better resource utilization and smaller reconfiguration time and memory than NoCs. However, NoCs are more flexible and expansible. They have the advantage of placing almost all of the communication infrastructure in the dynamic reconfiguration region. This means that different applications running on the FPGA can use different interconnection strategies without the overhead of fixed bus resources in the static region. Another objective of the research is to examine the partial reconfiguration process and reconfiguration overhead with current FPGA technologies. Partial reconfiguration allows users to efficiently change the number of running PEs to choose an optimal powerperformance operating point at the minimum cost of reconfiguration. However, this brings drawbacks including resource utilization inefficiency, power consumption overhead and decrease in system operating frequency. The experimental results report a 50% of resource utilization inefficiency with a power consumption overhead of less than 5% and a decrease in frequency of up to 32% compared to a static implementation. The results also show that most of the drawbacks of partial reconfiguration implementation come from the restrictions and limitations of partial reconfiguration design flow. If these limitations can be addressed, partial reconfiguration should still be considered with its potential benefits.Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Adelaide, School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, 201

Knowledge of Aging and Attitudes Toward Older Adults of Nurses Working at a General Hospital in Vietnam

Background: Population aging in countries around the world, including in Vietnam, is happening at a rapid pace. The proportion of older adults is increasing along with the increasing demand for health care for older adults. The need for nursing staff with knowledge about aging and the right attitude toward older adults is necessary in preparing to meet the needs of society today and in the future. Purpose: This study aimed to explore the level of knowledge and attitudes toward older adults of nurses working at a general hospital at the provincial level in Quang Tri province, Vietnam as well as to identify the differences in knowledge of aging and attitudes toward older adults by general characteristics of surveyed nurses. Methods: This study used a cross-sectional study investigating the knowledge of aging and the attitudes towards older adults of 240 nurses (219 female, 21 male nurses) using an online self-administered questionnaire that included the Kogan’s Attitudes Toward Old People Scale (KAOP) and Palmore’s Facts of Aging Quiz (FAQ). Older adults were defined as those aged 60 years and above for this study. Results: All of the nurses (100%) had an average level of knowledge of aging (FAQ score from 18 to 35) and the majority of nurses (225, 93.8 %) had neutral attitudes (KAOP score from 102 to 136), 13 (5.4%) of nurses had positive attitudes (KAOP score from 137 to 204) and 2 (18.8%) had negative attitudes towards older adults (KAOP score from 34 to 101). 52% respondent had right perception of frailty which was found statistically significant with respondents’ FAQ scores (p< .05) and negative attitudes toward older adults (KAOP-) (p< .05). Total KAOP scores were not significantly different regardless of age, gender, living with older adults, working departments, attending a geriatric course, attending in seminars on geriatrics. There was significant positive relationship between knowledge of aging and attitudes toward older adults. Conclusions: Majority of nurses in Quang Tri General Hospital have an average level of knowledge of aging and a neutral attitude towards the older adults. It indicates that there is a need for improvement in knowledge of aging as well as attitudes towards older adults. Continuing training programs as well as profession development courses for nurses in geriatric care therefore should be designed and developed to raise better knowledge of aging and more positive attitudes toward older adults among nurses for providing better quality of older adult care.open석

EFFECT OF ANION GROUPS ON CORROSION INHIBITION BEHAVIOURS OF VIETNAM ORANGE PEEL ESSENTIAL OIL FOR MILD STEEL IN THE ACIDIC MEDIA

This paper deals with the effect of anion groups (SO42- and Cl-) on inhibition behaviours of Vietnam orange peel essential oil (OPE) for corrosion process of mild steel in acidic media. The electrochemical techniques (potentiodynamic, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS)), weight loss and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analyses are used in this study. The results show that anion groups do not affect the inhibition mechanism of OPE. The OPE ­behaves as mixed inhibitor for mild steel corrosion in both 1N HCl and H2SO4 acid. The inhibition efficiency of OPE in 1N HCl is greater than that in 1N H2SO4 which implies that the adsorption of the inhibitor is influenced by the nature of anions in acidic solutions. Moreover, the OPE inhibits both general and pitting corrosion for mild steel in the acidic media.

Applying resource dependence theory and network theory to analysis of relationship quality between logistics users and providers

This study adopts Resource Dependence Theory (RDT) and Network Theory (NT) to explore and measure the factors affecting the relationship quality (RQ) between logistics providers and logistics users in addition to considering the impact of RQ on firm performance. By using the survey data collected from 259 respondents who involved in logistics activities in Ho Chi Minh City from October to December 2015. Testing the conceptual model by Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), we find that the partner’s importance and network partner knowledge are positively associated with RQ. From the research findings, some recommendations are accordingly proposed

JAPANESE COINS AND BANKNOTES RECOGNITION FOR VISUALLY IMPAIRED PEOPLE

Recent deep learning techniques are successfully integrated into devices to assist visually impaired people in their daily lives, particularly detecting coins/banknotes. Previous works have focused on well captured devices and examined high-quality images. In this work, we design a framework to recognize Japanese Coin/Banknote (JCB) for low-quality images under various criteria. Discriminate features usually disappear in low-quality images. Consequently, using the depth image in addition to RGB image in processing can be enhanced the accuracy of our system. In this work, we first leverage depth information by using a Monocular Depth Prediction network. Additionally, a pre-trained Deep Convolutional Neural Network process RGB and Depth images, respectively. At last, we combine two networks by an ensemble method to produce more accurate detections. By processing depth images in addition to RGB images, the detection results are thus accurate. As a result, our work achieves 74.1% mean Average Precision (mAP)

The role of the trade union in social dialogue in Vietnamese enterprises

Businesses in Vietnam are witnessing a structural shift from being state-owned to equalized, private or foreign-invested ones, so the labour relationships are also changing. Consequently, increasingly popular labour disputes are negatively influencing the society and the economy, threatening business stability of enterprises, while social dialogues in the workplace are quite new. Therefore, this thesis studies the role of the trade union in social dialogues and maps the status of social dialogue in Vietnamese enterprises. This study applies qualitative methods. The primary data were collected through interviews (n=21) and a survey (n=850). The secondary data consists of documents and statistics made available by the central actors in Vietnam such as Vietnam General Confederation of Labour (VGCL), Ministry of Labour-Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA). Findings of the research reassure the important role of social dialogue for Vietnam’s industrialization and integration into the international business world. Moreover, findings of the research indicate that arising issues and disputes in labour relations could be better tackled by social dialogue. The results highlight the central role of trade union in overcoming the weaknesses of social dialogues at the workplace. The research contributes to practice of social dialogue in Vietnamese enterprises and suggests solutions to enhance dialogues by clarifying the role of trade unions in workplace in order to develop harmonious, stable and progressive labor relations in Vietnam

APPLICATION OF PRE-OZONATION FOR REMOVAL OF DISINFECTION BY- PRODUCTS PRE-CURSOR FROM SAIGON RIVER WATER

This study aimed to apply pre-ozonation for removal of disinfection by-products precursors to reduce the formation of trihalomethanes (THMs) in Saigon river water. The pre-ozonation process was conducted in a lab-scale ozone contactor. The raw water sample was collected from Saigon River at the Hoa Phu pump station in Cu Chi District, Ho Chi Minh City. The suitable condition for pre-ozonation was found. At ozone dose of 1.5 mgO3/mgDOC, pH of 8.5, and contact time of 15 minutes, the removal efficiency of turbidity, color, iron, manganese, dissolved organic carbon (DOC), trihalomethanes formation potential (THMFP) were 36 %, 25 %, 56 %, 81 %, 35 %, and 46 %, respectively. These results indicated that the pre-ozonation could reduce DOC concentration and thus resulted in significant mitigation of THMs formation. In comparison with pre-chlorination, THMFP of raw water pretreated by pre-ozonation was lower. Moreover, this study showed that the pre-ozonation was more effective than pre-chlorination in terms of turbidity, color, manganese, and DOC removals

Updated molecular phylogenetic data for Opisthorchis spp. (Trematoda: Opisthorchioidea) from ducks in Vietnam

Background: An opisthorchiid liver fluke was recently reported from ducks (Anas platyrhynchos) in Binh Dinh Province of Central Vietnam, and referred to as "Opisthorchis viverrini-like". This species uses common cyprinoid fishes as second intermediate hosts as does Opisthorchis viverrini, with which it is sympatric in this province. In this study, we refer to the liver fluke from ducks as "Opisthorchis sp. BD2013", and provide new sequence data from the mitochondrial (mt) genome and the nuclear ribosomal transcription unit. A phylogenetic analysis was conducted to clarify the basal taxonomic position of this species from ducks within the genus Opisthorchis (Digenea: Opisthorchiidae). Methods: Adults and eggs of liver flukes were collected from ducks, metacercariae from fishes (Puntius brevis, Rasbora aurotaenia, Esomus metallicus) and cercariae from snails (Bithynia funiculata) in different localities in Binh Dinh Province. From four developmental life stage samples (adults, eggs, metacercariae and cercariae), the complete cytochrome b (cob), nicotinamide dehydrogenase subunit 1 (nad1) and cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (cox1) genes, and near-complete 18S and partial 28S ribosomal DNA (rDNA) sequences were obtained by PCR-coupled sequencing. The alignments of nucleotide sequences of concatenated cob + nad1 + cox1, and of concatenated 18S + 28S were separately subjected to phylogenetic analyses. Homologous sequences from other trematode species were included in each alignment. Results: Phylogenetic trees were inferred from concatenated (cob + nad1 + cox1) nucleotide sequences and combined 18S + 28S nucleotide sequences of five Opisthorchis sp. BD2013 samples and additional reference taxa. Both trees demonstrated the anticipated clustering of taxa within the superfamily Opisthorchioidea, the paraphyly of the genus Opisthorchis and the sister-species relationship of Opisthorchis sp. BD2013 with O. viverrini. Conclusions: While it is likely that Opisthorchis sp. BD2013 is distinct from O. viverrini, it is clearly a sister taxon of O. viverrini within the limited number of Opisthorchis species for which appropriate sequence data are available. The new sequences provided here will assist the diagnosis and the taxonomic clarification of the opisthorchiid species