A global wire planning scheme for Network-on-Chip.

As technology scales down, the interconnect for on-chip global communication becomes the delay bottleneck. In order to provide well-controlled global wire delay and efficient global communication, a packet switched Network-on-Chip (NoC) architecture was proposed by different authors. In this paper, the NoC system parameters constrained by the interconnections are studied. Predictions on scaled system parameters such as clock frequency, resource size, global communication bandwidth and inter-resource delay are made for future technologies. Based on these parameters, a global wire planning scheme is proposed

Offloading SLAM for Indoor Mobile Robots with Edge, Fog, Cloud Computing

Indoor mobile robots are widely used in industrial environments such as large logistic warehouses. They are often in charge of collecting or sorting products. For such robots, computation-intensive operations account for a significant per- centage of the total energy consumption and consequently affect battery life. Besides, in order to keep both the power con- sumption and hardware complexity low, simple micro-controllers or single-board computers are used as onboard local control units. This limits the computational capabilities of robots and consequently their performance. Offloading heavy computation to Cloud servers has been a widely used approach to solve this problem for cases where large amounts of sensor data such as real-time video feeds need to be analyzed. More recently, Fog and Edge computing are being leveraged for offloading tasks such as image processing and complex navigation algorithms involving non-linear mathematical operations. In this paper, we present a system architecture for offloading computationally expensive localization and mapping tasks to smart Edge gateways which use Fog services. We show how Edge computing brings computational capabilities of the Cloud to the robot environment without compromising operational reliability due to connection issues. Furthermore, we analyze the power consumption of a prototype robot vehicle in different modes and show how battery life can be significantly improved by moving the processing of data to the Edge layer

Offloading SLAM for Indoor Mobile Robots with Edge-Fog-Cloud Computing

Indoor mobile robots are widely used in industrial environments such as large logistic warehouses. They are often in charge of collecting or sorting products. For such robots, computation-intensive operations account for a significant per- centage of the total energy consumption and consequently affect battery life. Besides, in order to keep both the power con- sumption and hardware complexity low, simple micro-controllers or single-board computers are used as onboard local control units. This limits the computational capabilities of robots and consequently their performance. Offloading heavy computation to Cloud servers has been a widely used approach to solve this problem for cases where large amounts of sensor data such as real-time video feeds need to be analyzed. More recently, Fog and Edge computing are being leveraged for offloading tasks such as image processing and complex navigation algorithms involving non-linear mathematical operations. In this paper, we present a system architecture for offloading computationally expensive localization and mapping tasks to smart Edge gateways which use Fog services. We show how Edge computing brings computational capabilities of the Cloud to the robot environment without compromising operational reliability due to connection issues. Furthermore, we analyze the power consumption of a prototype robot vehicle in different modes and show how battery life can be significantly improved by moving the processing of data to the Edge layer

Kiimansynkronointiohjelmat naudalla : GnRH:n ajoitus prostaglandiini-injektioon nähden ja lyhyiden kiimakiertojen esiintyminen

Tiinehtymättömyys aiheuttaa suuria taloudellisia tappioita lypsykarjataloudessa. Karjakoon kasvaessa kiimantarkkailuongelmat lisääntyvät. Siksi kiimantarkkailun tarpeettomaksi tekeville kiimansynkronointiohjelmille on kysyntää. Niiden tarkoituksena on saada ovulaatio ajoitetuksi siten, että eläin voidaan siementää ilman kiimantarkkailua. Ensimmäinen edellytys kiimansynkronoinnille on keltarauhasen tuhoaminen. Tähän tarkoitukseen tehokkain tunnettu lääkeaine on prostaglandiini F2α (PGF2α). 1970-luvulta alkaen sen käyttöä on tutkittu runsaasti. Toimivimpia PGF2α:aa hyödyntäviä menetelmiä on antaa kaksi injektiota 11 - 14 vuorokauden välein, jolloin käytännössä lähes kaikki eläimet synkronoituvat. PGF2α ei kuitenkaan vaikuta follikkelidynamiikkaan, ja jotta ovulaatiohetki saataisiin ajoitettua riittävän tehokkaasti siemennystä ajatellen, on otettu ohjelmiin yhdistetty GnRH-injektiot. Synkronointiohjelmien lopulla annetaan usein GnRH-injektio, joka saa dominoivan follikkelin ovuloitumaan kohtuullisen tarkasti, jolloin voidaan siementää ajoitetusti kelvollisin tuloksin. Käytännössä näistä menetelmistä on hyötyä sellaisissa karjoissa, joissa kiimantarkkailu on hyvin tehotonta tai esimerkiksi alkionsiirtojen yhteydessä. PGF2α:n ja GnRH:n voisi antaa teoriassa myös yhtäaikaisesti, jolloin käsittelykertoja tulisi vähemmän, mutta on havaittu, että väliajan lyhentäminen lisää hedelmättömien lyhyiden kiimakiertojen esiintymistä. Tutkimuksessamme annoimme 21 hieholle munasarjatutkimusten jälkeen PGF2α-injektion, jonka jälkeen munasarjoja seurattiin ultraäänitutkimuksin päivittäin ovulaatioon saakka. Tämän jälkeen eläimet jaettiin arpomalla kahteen käsittelyryhmään, jonka perusteella ne saivat seitsemän vuorokauden kuluttua ovulaatiosta toisen PGF2α:n sekä GnRH:n joko yhtä aikaa toisen PGF2α:n kanssa tai vuorokauden kuluttua siitä. Eläinten munasarjoja tutkittiin ultraäänitutkimuksin GnRH:lla indusoidun ovulaation jälkeiseen ovulaatioon saakka ja plasman progesteronipitoisuuksia seurattiin päivittäisillä häntäsuonesta otetuilla verinäytteillä. Tutkimus toistettiin vähintään yhden manipuloimattoman kiimakierron jälkeen siten, että kukin hieho osallistui kertaalleen kumpaankin ryhmään. Kaksi tapausta poistettiin tulosten tarkastelusta epätäydellisen luteolyysin vuoksi. Lisäksi 12 tapausta jouduttiin hylkäämään sen vuoksi, ettei ovulaatio tapahtunut 48 tunnin sisällä GnRH-injektion jälkeen. Kymmenen näistä tapauksista kuului ryhmään, jossa GnRH oli annettu yhtä aikaa PGF2α:n kanssa. Havaittiin, että PGF2α:n ja GnRH:n välisen ajan lyhentäminen 24 tunnista 0 tuntiin lisää merkitsevästi lyhyiden kiimakiertojen osuutta (47 vs. 100 %). Hiehojen plasman progesteronipitoisuuksia seuraamalla havaitsimme, että sekä lyhytsyklisten että normaalisyklisten eläinten keskimääräiset progesteronipitoisuudet olivat samankaltaiset ensimmäisten viiden vuorokauden ajan, jonka jälkeen lyhytsyklisten eläinten pitoisuudet alkoivat laskea normaalisyklisten hiehojen pitoisuuksien jatkaessa nousuaan. Sekä 24 että 0 tunnin välit ovat kiimansynkronoinnissa käytännössä kannattamattomia, sillä molemmat aiheuttivat tässä tutkimuksessa runsaasti lyhyitä syklejä

Activity of perch, Perca fluviatilis L. in relation to water temperature [Translation from: Kalamies 1973(6) 4.]

Catchability and activity of Perca fluviatilis in relation to temperature is examined. The number of fish caught and water temperature during the 3 summer months was used the assess the numbers of hours of activity of perch. Parallel to the research on activity, large-scale marking was carried out to establish the periods of growth during the year

Development of a photosynthesis model with an emphasis on ecological applications

A physiologically based steady-state model of whole leaf photosynthesis (WHOLEPHOT) is used to describe net photosynthesis daily time courses in Prunus armeniaca . Net photosynthesis rates are calculated in response to incident light intensity, leaf temperature, air carbon dioxide concentration, and leaf diffusion resistance measured at five minute intervals. The steady-state calculations closely approximate the observed net photosynthesis rates for a broad range of weather conditions and leaf stomatal behavior.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/47730/1/442_2004_Article_BF00346453.pd

Early non-invasive cardiac output monitoring in hemodynamically unstable intensive care patients: A multi-center randomized controlled trial

Introduction Acute hemodynamic instability increases morbidity and mortality. We investigated whether early non-invasive cardiac output monitoring enhances hemodynamic stabilization and improves outcome. Methods A multicenter, randomized controlled trial was conducted in three European university hospital intensive care units in 2006 and 2007. A total of 388 hemodynamically unstable patients identified during their first six hours in the intensive care unit (ICU) were randomized to receive either non-invasive cardiac output monitoring for 24 hrs (minimally invasive cardiac output/MICO group; n = 201) or usual care (control group; n = 187). The main outcome measure was the proportion of patients achieving hemodynamic stability within six hours of starting the study. Results The number of hemodynamic instability criteria at baseline (MICO group mean 2.0 (SD 1.0), control group 1.8 (1.0); P = .06) and severity of illness (SAPS II score; MICO group 48 (18), control group 48 (15); P = .86)) were similar. At 6 hrs, 45 patients (22%) in the MICO group and 52 patients (28%) in the control group were hemodynamically stable (mean difference 5%; 95% confidence interval of the difference -3 to 14%; P = .24). Hemodynamic support with fluids and vasoactive drugs, and pulmonary artery catheter use (MICO group: 19%, control group: 26%; P = .11) were similar in the two groups. The median length of ICU stay was 2.0 (interquartile range 1.2 to 4.6) days in the MICO group and 2.5 (1.1 to 5.0) days in the control group (P = .38). The hospital mortality was 26% in the MICO group and 21% in the control group (P = .34). Conclusions Minimally-invasive cardiac output monitoring added to usual care does not facilitate early hemodynamic stabilization in the ICU, nor does it alter the hemodynamic support or outcome. Our results emphasize the need to evaluate technologies used to measure stroke volume and cardiac output--especially their impact on the process of care--before any large-scale outcome studies are attempted