Parallel machine architecture and compiler design facilities

The objective is to provide an integrated simulation environment for studying and evaluating various issues in designing parallel systems, including machine architectures, parallelizing compiler techniques, and parallel algorithms. The status of Delta project (which objective is to provide a facility to allow rapid prototyping of parallelized compilers that can target toward different machine architectures) is summarized. Included are the surveys of the program manipulation tools developed, the environmental software supporting Delta, and the compiler research projects in which Delta has played a role

Course profiling system

Course Profiling System (CPS) is a document management system for self-evaluation of first degree programmes at Private Higher Education Institutions (PHEIs). The framework provides systematic compliancy-checking of curriculum design with the Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA)Minimal Standards; and a more holistic view of the programme and its constituent courses.The novelty is the system’s design that reduces efforts and errors inherent in manual process.Apart of serving as a repository and retrieval of course profiles, CPS is also a platform for managing and monitoring the quality of PHEI’s programme for application and upkeep of MQA accreditation or renewa

How Confident are we With Polarisation Based Diagnostics for Transformer Condition Assessment?

Preventative diagnosis of transformers has become an important issue in recent times in order to improve the reliability of electric power systems. A number of diagnostic techniques such as Return Voltage (RV), Polarization/Depolarisation Current (PDC) and Dielectric Dissipation Factor (tan .) measurements at low frequency are currently available for practicing engineers. This paper outlines the summary of these techniques and a case study with all these measurements. Then the difficulties with the interpretation techniques are highlighted along with the recommendation of an expert system previously developed by the first author of this paper

Experience With Dielectric Response Measurements On Oil-Paper Insulated Cables

Deterioration of the underground power cables insulation has been established to be caused by electrical, thermal and environmental stresses. With the degradation of dielectric strength of the insulation, the underground cables will not be able to function optimally or as planned. As a supplement to the existing dissipation factor and other conventional cable diagnostic measurements, the Decay Voltage (DV) and the Return Voltage (RV) measurement technologies are currently being proposed for nondestructive diagnosis of cable insulation. The main purpose of this paper is to present results from laboratory measurements of DV, RV and Polarisation and Depolarisation Current (PDC) on a number of samples of oil-impregnated paper insulated cables. Comparison of these results has also been made with the conventional dissipation factor measurement data for the same cables

Pathways from physical frailty to activity limitation in older people: identifying moderators and mediators in the English longitudinal study of ageing

Physical frailty increases the risk of future activity limitation, which in turn, compromises independent living of older people and limits their healthspan. Thus, we seek to identify moderators and mediators of the effect of physical frailty on activity limitation change in older people, including gender- and age-specific effects. In a longitudinal study using data from waves 2, 4, and 6 of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, unique physical frailty factor scores of 4,638 respondents aged 65 to 89 years are obtained from confirmatory factor analysis of physical frailty, which is specified by three indicators, namely slowness, weakness, and exhaustion. Using a series of autoregressive cross-lagged models, we estimate the effect of physical frailty factor score on activity limitation change, including its moderation by social conditions, and indirect effects through physical and psychological conditions. We find that the effect of physical frailty on activity limitation change is significantly stronger with older age, while it has significant indirect effects through low physical activity, depressive symptoms, and cognitive impairment. In turn, indirect effects of physical frailty through low physical activity and cognitive impairment are stronger with older age. Sensitivity analyses suggest that these effects vary in their robustness to unmeasured confounding. We conclude that low physical activity, depressive symptoms, and cognitive impairment are potentially modifiable mediators on pathways from physical frailty to activity limitation in older people, including those who are very old. This evidence offers support for population-level interventions that target these conditions, to mitigate the effect of physical frailty on activity limitation, and thereby enhance healthspan

Method of Obtaining High Resolution Intrinsic Wire Boom Damping Parameters for Multi-Body Dynamics Simulations

The goal of NASA's Magnetospheric MultiScale (MMS) mission is to understand magnetic reconnection with sensor measurements from four spinning satellites flown in a tight tetrahedron formation. Four of the six electric field sensors on each satellite are located at the end of 60- meter wire booms to increase measurement sensitivity in the spin plane and to minimize motion coupling from perturbations on the main body. A propulsion burn however, might induce boom oscillations that could impact science measurements if oscillations do not damp to values on the order of 0.1 degree in a timely fashion. Large damping time constants could also adversely affect flight dynamics and attitude control performance. In this paper, we will discuss the implementation of a high resolution method for calculating the boom's intrinsic damping, which was used in multi-body dynamics simulations. In summary, experimental data was obtained with a scaled-down boom, which was suspended as a pendulum in vacuum. Optical techniques were designed to accurately measure the natural decay of angular position and subsequently, data processing algorithms resulted in excellent spatial and temporal resolutions. This method was repeated in a parametric study for various lengths, root tensions and vacuum levels. For all data sets, regression models for damping were applied, including: nonlinear viscous, frequency-independent hysteretic, coulomb and some combination of them. Our data analysis and dynamics models have shown that the intrinsic damping for the baseline boom is insufficient, thereby forcing project management to explore mitigation strategies

Are L-myc genotypes prognostic markers in non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) in our Chinese patients?

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Detailed Mapping of the Local Ir⁴⁺ Dimers through the Metal-Insulator Transitions of CuIr₂S₄ Thiospinel by X-ray Atomic Pair Distribution Function Measurements

The evolution of the short-range structural signature of the Ir 4+ dimer state in CuIr2S4 thiospinel has been studied across the metal-insulator phase transitions as the metallic state is induced by temperature, Cr doping, and x-ray fluence. An atomic pair distribution function (PDF) approach reveals that there are no local dimers that survive into the metallic phase when this is invoked by temperature and doping. The PDF shows Ir4+ dimers when they exist, regardless of whether or not they are long-range ordered. At 100 K, exposure to a 98 keV x-ray beam melts the long-range dimer order within a few seconds, though the local dimers remain intact. This shows that the metallic state accessed on warming and doping is qualitatively different from the state obtained under x-ray irradiation

Electron dynamics in topological insulator based semiconductor-metal interfaces (topological p-n interface based on Bi2Se3 class)

Single-Dirac-cone topological insulators (TI) are the first experimentally discovered class of three dimensional topologically ordered electronic systems, and feature robust, massless spin-helical conducting surface states that appear at any interface between a topological insulator and normal matter that lacks the topological insulator ordering. This topologically defined surface environment has been theoretically identified as a promising platform for observing a wide range of new physical phenomena, and possesses ideal properties for advanced electronics such as spin-polarized conductivity and suppressed scattering. A key missing step in enabling these applications is to understand how topologically ordered electrons respond to the interfaces and surface structures that constitute a device. Here we explore this question by using the surface deposition of cathode (Cu/In/Fe) and anode materials (NO$_2$) and control of bulk doping in Bi$_2$Se$_3$ from P-type to N-type charge transport regimes to generate a range of topological insulator interface scenarios that are fundamental to device development. The interplay of conventional semiconductor junction physics and three dimensional topological electronic order is observed to generate novel junction behaviors that go beyond the doped-insulator paradigm of conventional semiconductor devices and greatly alter the known spin-orbit interface phenomenon of Rashba splitting. Our measurements for the first time reveal new classes of diode-like configurations that can create a gap in the interface electron density near a topological Dirac point and systematically modify the topological surface state Dirac velocity, allowing far reaching control of spin-textured helical Dirac electrons inside the interface and creating advantages for TI superconductors as a Majorana fermion platform over spin-orbit semiconductors.Comment: 14 pages, 4 Figure