Providing Bi-Directional, Analog, and Differential Signal Transmission Capability to an Electronic Prototyping Platform

RÉSUMÉ Les réseaux d’interconnexions programmables (FPIN) se retrouvent largement utilisés dans plusieurs structures bien connues telles que les FPGA, les plateformes de prototypages ainsi que dans plusieurs architectures de réseaux intégrés. Le but de la présente thèse est d’améliorer la structure actuelle des FPIN ainsi que les plateformes de prototypages se basant sur cette technologie afin d’y intégrer d’autres fonctionnalités telles que des interfaces pour les signaux bidirectionnels de type drain-ouvert, les signaux analogiques ou bien les signaux différentiels. Cette thèse présente trois différents circuits qui ont été implémentés dans cette optique. Les interconnexions de ces trois circuits peuvent être reconfigurées pour supporter une interface de type bidirectionnelle drain-ouvert, de type analogique ou différentielle, le tout au travers un réseau d’interconnexions configurable numérique unidirectionnel, ou FPIN. Le besoin d’une telle interface fut tout d’abord envisagé dans le contexte du WaferBoard, qui consiste en une plateforme reconfigurable de prototypage pour les systèmes électroniques. Le cœur de ce WaferBoard consiste en un circuit intégré à l’échelle d’une tranche entière de silicium, qui est constitué d’une matrice bidimensionnelle de cellules. Une large partie de la surface disponible s’en retrouve déjà utilisée par des plots configurables (CIO), l’aiguillage des multiplexeurs du FPIN, des registres dédiés à la chaine JTAG et d’autres circuiteries de contrôle. De ce fait, il en devient primordial que les interfaces bidirectionnelle drain-ouvert, analogique et différentielle soit les plus compactes possibles. Puisque ces circuits d’interfaces seront dédiés pour une plateforme utilisant une tranche de silicium (wafer-scale), l’architecture de ces derniers doit être robuste en regard des variations de procédé, de la température ainsi que de l’alimentation. La première contribution de cette thèse est l’élaboration et la conception d’une interface de type drain-ouvert ainsi que de son support d’interconnexion bidirectionnel utilisant un réseau numérique unidirectionnel à signalisation asymétrique (à l’opposé de la signalisation différentielle) FPIN. L’interface proposée peut interconnecter plusieurs nœuds d’un FPIN. À l’aide de cette interface, le réseau d’interconnexions peut imiter le comportement et le fonctionnement d’un bus de type drain-ouvert (ou collecteur-ouvert) (tel qu’utilisé par le protocole I2C). De ce fait, plusieurs plots de type drain-ouvert provenant d’une multitude de circuits-intégrés (ICs) différents peuvent y être connectés au travers le FPIN à l’aide de l’interface proposée.----------ABSTRACT Field programmable interconnection networks (FPINs) are ubiquitously found embedded in field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), in prototyping platforms, and in many Network-on-Chip architectures. The aim of this research was to augment the application domains of current FPIN-based prototyping and emulation platforms by supporting open-drain bi-directional signals, analog signals or differential signals. Three interface circuits have been elaborated and developed to that end in this thesis. These three interface circuits can support reconfigurable routing of open-drain bi-directional, analog and differential signals through an uni-directional digital FPIN. The need for such interface circuits were originally conceived in the context of the WaferBoard, a system prototyping platform. The core of the WaferBoard is a wafer-scale IC that is composed of a two dimensional array of unit cells. Available area was already over-utilized by the configurable I/O (CIO) buffers, crossbar multiplexers of the FPIN, registers of the JTAG chain, and other control circuits. Thus, the interface circuits for open-drain bi-directional, analog and differential signaling had to be made very compact. As the implementation of these interface circuits target “wafer-scale” integration, these interface circuits had to be very robust to parametric variations (process, temperature, power supply). The first contribution of this thesis is the elaboration and development of an open-drain interface circuit and a corresponding interconnect topology to support bi-directional communication through the uni-directional digital FPIN of prototyping platforms. The proposed interface can interconnect multiple nodes in a FPIN. With that interface, the interconnection network imitates the behavior of open-drain (or open-collector) buses (e.g., those following the I2C protocol). Thus, multiple open-drain I/Os from external integrated circuits (ICs) can be connected together through the FPIN by the proposed interface circuit. The interface that has been fabricated in a 0.13 µm CMOS technology takes 65 µm × 22 µm per pin. Test results show that several instances of this interface can be interconnected through the proposed interconnect topology

A Read-Decoupled Gated-Ground SRAM Architecture for Low-Power Embedded Memories

In order to meet the incessantly growing demand of performance, the amount of embedded or on-chip memory in microprocessors and systems-on-chip (SOC) is increasing. As much as 70% of the chip area is now dedicated to the embedded memory, which is primarily realized by the static random access memory (SRAM). Because of the large size of the SRAM, its yield and leakage power consumption dominate the overall yield and leakage power consumption of the chip. However, as the CMOS technology continues to scale in the sub-65 nanometer regime to reduce the transistor cost and the dynamic power, it poses a number of challenges on the SRAM design. In this thesis, we address these challenges and propose cell-level and architecture level solutions to increase the yield and reduce the leakage power consumption of the SRAM in nanoscale CMOS technologies. The conventional six transistor (6T) SRAM cell inherently suffers from a trade-off between the read stability and write-ability because of using the same bit line pair for both the read and write operations. An optimum design at a given process and voltage condition is a key to ensuring the yield and reliability of the SRAM. However, with technology scaling, process-induced variations in the transistor dimensions and electrical parameters coupled with variation in the operating conditions make it difficult to achieve a reasonably high yield. In this work, a gated SRAM architecture based on a seven transistor (7T) SRAM bit-cell is proposed to address these concerns. The proposed cell decouples the read bit line from the write bit lines. As a result, the storage node is not affected by any read induced noise during the read operation. Consequently, the proposed cell shows higher data stability and yield under varying process, voltage, and temperature (PVT) conditions. A single-ended sense amplifier is also presented to read from the proposed 7T cell while a unique write mechanism is used to reduce the write power to less than half of the write power of the conventional 6T cell. The proposed cell consumes similar silicon area and leakage power as the 6T cell when laid out and simulated using a commercial 65-nm CMOS technology. However, as much as 77% reduction in leakage power can be achieved by coupling the 7T cell with the column virtual grounding (CVG) technique, where a non-zero voltage is applied to the source terminals of driver NMOS transistors in the cell. The CVG technique also enables implementing multiple words per row, which is a key requirement for memories to avoid multiple-bit data upset in the event of radiation induced single event upset or soft error. In addition, the proposed cell inherently has a 30% larger soft error critical charge, making its soft error rate (SER) less than the half of that of the 6T cell

Adherence of surgeons to the World Health Organization recommendations of hand scrubbing in a tertiary care hospital in Peshawar

Background: In an effort to combat the global rise of wound infection, the World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended hand scrubbing guidelines for surgeons. Our study aimed to determine the adherence of surgeons in Peshawar to these recommendations.Methods: The method and duration of scrubbing for the first surgical procedure of the day was anonymously observed for 182 surgical consultants and residents in the operating theatre of Khyber Teaching Hospital Peshawar from July to August 2019 followed by a questionnaire which assessed the knowledge of the participants regarding scrubbing protocols. Data was analysed using SPSS 23. Students t test was used and p>0.05 was taken as statistically significant.Results: Out of 182 participants, 41 (22.5%) were consultants and 141 (77.5%) were residents. A total of 3 (1.6%) participants were observed to strictly adhere to the WHO standards of scrubbing. Average time taken by each surgeon was 0.95±0.6 seconds. Students t-test showed no significant difference between the mean time of consultants and residents (p>0.05). The results of the questionnaire revealed that 90.7% of the staff was aware of the WHO recommendations of scrubbing and 82.6% had noticed relevant display charts in the OT. Majority of participants (69.8%) reported that patient load and limited time were the main cause of lack of compliance.Conclusions: A serious lack of compliance to protocol was noted in the operating theatre of Khyber Teaching hospital. There is a dire need to improve scrubbing practices.

Phloroglucinol in Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Objective: To determine the efficacy and tolerability of phloroglucinol, an antispasmodic agent in the treatment of Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). Methods: It was an open label (quasi interventional) study. One hundred patients coming to the gastroenterology clinics of Aga Khan University Hospital with IBS as defined by the Rome II criteria were enrolled between February 2004 and September 2004 to participate in the trial and were treated as outpatients. Phloroglucinol (Himont) 50mg orally three times daily was given for two months. Symptoms were assessed before and during treatment using a questionnaire. Results: One hundred patients were enrolled in the study. Of them 61% (61/100) were males and 39% (39/100) were females. Their mean age was 41±14 years. Sixty-eight patients completed the study and 28 dropped out. On Phloroglucinol treatment there was an overall statistically significant improvement in abdominal pain (p\u3c0.001), frequency of stools per day (p\u3c0.001), urgency (p\u3c0.001), passage of mucus per rectum (p\u3c0.001),sense of incomplete defecation (p=0.001) and bloating (p=0.001). However, no response was seen in the feature of straining in both genders (p=0.676). The difference in response to treatment according to gender separately showed statistically significant improvement in the sense of incomplete defecation in females alone(p=0.003). Conclusion: Phloroglucinol in a dose of 50mg three times daily is effective and well tolerated by the IBS patients. It relieves most of the symptoms of IBS (JPMA 56:5;2006

Description of two new species of Plectinae (Nematoda: Araeolaimida) from India

Two new plectid species from India are described and illustrated. Plectus glandulatus sp. n. has 917-1307 µm long body. strongly annulated cuticle; conspicuously large hypodcrmal glands: ovoid amphidial apertures; offset lip region; separate, globular, lips; thickly cuticularised. arcuate, cheilostomal walls: basal bulb with four to five paired denticulate ridges: a pair of pseudocoelomoeytes located posterior to the cardia and tail with a subtenninal spur and three pairs of caudal setae. Chiloplectus indicus sp. n. has 695-1041 pm long body: thick, transversely annulated, cuticle: three lateral incisures: markedly offset, narrow, lip region: lips with conical apices anil slightly raised papillae: inner margin of lips forming well cuticularised oral framework; prorhabdion as long as wide and comprising 20% of the stoma length; basal bulb with six pairs of denticulate ridges; paired pseudocoelomoeytes located posterior to the cardia. genital tract weakly developed and tail with one median spur and two pairs of caudal setae

Assessment and feedback for large classes in transnational engineering education: student–staff partnership-based innovative approach

Assessment and feedback (A&F) are two major components of any educational program and must be properly in place to ensure student learning and quality of experience. However, these important components come under severe challenges of meeting student expectations in the large class size context. When the program delivery relates to a transnational educational (TNE) scenario, the additional constraints on staff–student physical interaction, regional time differences and cultural background gaps introduce additional challenges: Conducting proper assessments and provide timely and constructive feedback to the students. In this paper, the authors propose a novel assessment and feedback framework which exploits having a large student number as a positive factor by introducing staff–student partnership to implement efficient assessment and feedback strategies. Authors propose to use students for peer-review, assessment design, evaluation rubric design and tutorial-based feedback. The students also take part in preparing feedback clusters based on which the instructor provides pseudo-personalised video feedback. Through feedback clusters, authors introduce the trade-off between individual feedback and generic feedback. The results of the study are particularly promising in terms of student satisfaction and learning enhancement

Open Access Religious Journals- An Analytical Study of the DOAJ

The main purpose of the paper is to study the publishing trends of the open access religious journals available in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ). The data were collected online from the Directory of Open Access Journals and quantitative method was applied for data analysis. The data were collected in December 2017 and later presented in tabular forms to reveal the findings. The findings show that 119 religious journals are registered in the DOAJ, published from the 27 countries by 114 publishing agencies in 14 languages. The maximum number of journals (21, 17.65%) is published from Indonesia in the English language (79, 66.39%) during the 2nd decade (2010-2017) of the 21st century

Prevalence of dry eye and tear film changes in diabetic population: experience at our tertiary care centre

Background: Abnormalities in tear secretion, alteration of epithelial barrier and autonomic neuropathy lead to tear film and ocular surface changes in diabetes, thus causing dry eye. Aim was the evaluation of tear film and ocular surface of diabetic patients and to assess the prevalence of dry eye in diabetic patients presenting to our department. Methods: It was prospective, observational study. Visual acuity was tested for all the patients and slit lamp evaluation was done followed by staining methods to evaluate dry eye. The parameters included ocular symptoms, Schirmer test, tear meniscus height, tear film breakup time, corneal staining with fluorescein, conjunctival staining, presence of strands/filaments and presence of diabetic retinopathy. Results: A total of 200 diabetic patients were assessed. Forty percent had the duration of diabetes mellitus ranging between 6-10 years. Majority of patients were having grittiness (54%). Around 32% of the study participants are having dry eye. On Schirmer test majority (43%) were having 6-10 mm. 69% of the study participants were having more than 1 mm of tear meniscus height. Majority (69%) of the study participants had more than 10 sec tear film breakup time. 18% of the study participants were having positive conjunctival staining and 18% of the study participants were having positive corneal staining. 13% of the study participants are having filaments/strands. Conclusions: The incidence of dry eye was seen to increase with increasing duration of diabetes and increasing age. Careful elicitation of history followed by proper evaluation to diagnose dry eye is emphasized

Open Access Religious Journals- An Analytical Study of the DOAJ

The main purpose of the paper is to study the publishing trends of the open access religious journals available in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ). The data were collected online from the Directory of Open Access Journals and quantitative method was applied for data analysis. The data were collected in December 2017 and later presented in tabular forms to reveal the findings. The findings show that 119 religious journals are registered in the DOAJ, published from the 27 countries by 114 publishing agencies in 14 languages. The maximum number of journals (21, 17.65%) is published from Indonesia in the English language (79, 66.39%) during the 2nd decade (2010-2017) of the 21st century