An Efficient Transport Protocol for delivery of Multimedia An Efficient Transport Protocol for delivery of Multimedia Content in Wireless Grids

A grid computing system is designed for solving complicated scientific and commercial problems effectively,whereas mobile computing is a traditional distributed system having computing capability with mobility and adopting wireless communications. Media and Entertainment fields can take advantage from both paradigms by applying its usage in gaming applications and multimedia data management. Multimedia data has to be stored and retrieved in an efficient and effective manner to put it in use. In this paper, we proposed an application layer protocol for delivery of multimedia data in wireless girds i.e. multimedia grid protocol (MMGP). To make streaming efficient a new video compression algorithm called dWave is designed and embedded in the proposed protocol. This protocol will provide faster, reliable access and render an imperceptible QoS in delivering multimedia in wireless grid environment and tackles the challenging issues such as i) intermittent connectivity, ii) device heterogeneity, iii) weak security and iv) device mobility.Comment: 20 pages, 15 figures, Peer Reviewed Journa

Simulating and Optimizing Storm Water Management Strategies in an Urban Watershed

Land development transforms the natural landscape and impacts in stream ecosystems and downstream communities as it alters the natural flow regime. An increase in impervious areas results in higher volumes of storm water runoff, reduced time to peak, and more frequent flooding. Best Management Practices (BMP) and Low Impact development (LID) are a few of the set of measures which are used to mitigate the impact of urbanization. Peak flow, runoff volume are few of the conventional metrics which are used to evaluate the impact and performance of these storm water management strategies on the watershed. BMP are majorly used to control the flood runoff but results in the release of large volumes of runoff even after the flood wave passed the reach and LIDs are used to replicate the natural flow regime by controlling the runoff at the source. Therefore need to incorporate a metric which includes the timing and area being inundated needs to be considered to study the impact of these strategies on the downstream. My proposed research will focus on simulating the Low Impact Development (LID) techniques like permeable pavements and rainwater harvesting on an urbanized watershed using a curve number approach to quantify the hydrologic performance of these strategies on the watershed. LID, BMPs, and combined strategies are introduced for retrofitting existing conditions and their hydrologic performance is accessed based on the peak flow and a new metric Hydrologic Footprint Residence. A simulation optimization framework would be developed which identifies cost effective LID options that maximize the reduction of peak flow from the existing condition design storms while meeting budget restrictions. Further LID and BMP placement is included in the optimization model to study the impact of the combined scenario on the storm water management plans and their performance based on different storms and corresponding budget. Therefore a tradeoff can be illustrated between the implementation cost and the hydrological impact on the watershed based on the storm water management approach of using only LID and combination of LID and BMP corresponding to varied spectrum of design storm events

An Investigation on the Variety of English Used by Students in the ESL Classroom

This study reports and discusses some of the common features evident in an English written composition of a group of Form Five students' from the districts of Kuala Pilah and Seremban in Negeri Sembilan. The results of the analysis suggest that the salient features identified in the written compositions are features of Malaysian English, which has been recognised as a new nonnative variety of English

Bio-Mimetic Design with 3D Printable Composites

Weight and stiffness are key factors in the advancement of materials and parts for use in numerous industries. Lightweight cellular structures are broadly utilized for this reason. However, these structures must satisfy several key constraints: they should be light yet structurally safe, sustainable in different loading conditions, resource efficient and easy to maintain. Bio-inspired materials/structures which results in desirable material features are a significant inspiration for engineered cellular structures. Cellular structures can be designed to have multifunctional properties along with lightweight characteristics. Currently, these structures with high strength to weight ratio are widely applied in many fields such as automotive, construction, and medical, among others. In this research, the design and prototyping of cellular structures for high strength to weight ratio and stiffness to weight ratio reinforced by discontinuous fibers was studied. A computer modeled Truncated Octahedron structure is presented. With help of finite element analysis (FEA), compression testing was simulated on the cellular structure to estimate stiffness. 3D printing technique was used for prototyping the design, and experimental tests were carried out for validating the design methodology and simulations

Efficient Hardware Architecture for Cyclostationary Detector

Cognitive radio is one of the modern techniques which is evolved for utilising the unused spread spectrum effectively in wireless communication. In cognitive radio system the foremost concept is sensing the holes (spaces) in the frequency spectrum allotted and it facilitates a way that how effectively and efficiently the bandwidth is used by finding the spectrum holes in a designated spectrum. There are various methods available for sensing the spectrum and one such a sensing method is cyclostationary detection. The method of cyclostationary feature mainly focuses on detecting whether the primary user is present or absent. The threshold of a signal is calculated by cyclic cross-periodogram matrix of the corresponding signal to determine the presence of signal or noise. The difficulty in evaluating the targeted threshold is evaded by training an artificial neural network by extracted cyclostationary feature vectors which are obtained by FFT accumulation method. This paper proposes a hardware architecture for cyclostationary detection

Brain development in fetal growth restriction: A volumetric approach using fetal MRI

Fetal growth restriction is the failure of a fetus to achieve its full growth potential, resulting in a neonate that is small for its gestational age. The aetiology of fetal growth restriction is varied and fetal growth restriction secondary to placental insufficiency is attributed to a failure of trophoblast invasion leading to under perfusion of the uteroplacental bed. In response to the adverse conditions in-utero, fetuses tend to compensate by increasing blood flow to the essential organs such as the brain, heart, and adrenals, at the expense of other organs (cerebral redistribution). As a consequence, growth tends to be asymmetric, with maintenance of the head growth velocity while the other growth parameters tail off; an effect which is also known as the ‘brain sparing effect’. Despite this apparent brain sparing effect, children who were growth restricted in utero are at increased risk of developmental delay and behavioural problems. 30 growth restricted and 48 normally grown fetuses were recruited into this study and were imaged using both conventional ultrasound with Doppler assessment, as well as fetal MRI with ssFSE sequences through the feto-placental unit and fetal brain. A dynamic approach was taken when imaging the fetal brain to compensate for the presence of fetal motion. MR imaging of the feto-placental unit detected significant differences in placental appearance, significantly smaller volumes of intra-abdominal and intra-thoracic organs, and significantly smaller regional brain growth among growth restricted fetuses. MR studies of the placenta in fetal growth restriction demonstrated a placental phenotype in growth restricted pregnancies that is characterised by smaller placental volumes, a significant increase in the placental volume affected by apparent pathology on MRI and a thickened, globular placenta. Although placental volume increased with gestation in both groups, the placental volume remained significantly smaller in the growth restricted fetuses (p = 0.003). There was also a significant correlation between the percentage of placental volume affected by abnormal heterogeneity and the severity of fetal growth restriction (r = 0.82, p < 0.001), and an increase in the maximal placental thickness to placental volume ratio above the 95th centile for gestational age was associated with fetal and early neonatal mortality (relative risk = 7, 95%CI = 2.96 – 16.55, p < 0.001) (figure 3.6) MR studies of fetal intra-thoracic and intra-abdominal volumes showed that although the volume of the intra-thoracic and intra-abdonimal organs (heart, lungs, thymus, liver and kidney) increased as gestation increased in both groups, the volumes of all three structures remained smaller in growth restricted fetuses (p < 0.01) (Figures 4.7 - 4.9) compared with normally grown fetuses. MR studies of the fetal brain demonstrated smaller intracranial volume, total brain volume and cerebellar volume in growth restricted fetuses. In addition, growth restricted fetuses with early onset fetal growth restriction demonstrated smaller vermis height and a corresponding increase in the tegmento-vermian angle. Growth restricted fetuses also demonstrated a disproportionate decrease in extra- and intra-cerebral fluid. This thesis showed evidence of changes in regional and global organ growth in growth restricted fetuses using high resolution fetal MRI. It is hoped that future imaging studies could offer useful insights into the origins and clinical significance of these findings and its consequences for later neurodevelopment