A Specific Network Link and Path Likelihood Prediction Tool

Communications have always been a crucial part of any military operation. As the pace of warfare and the technological complexity of weaponry have increased, so has the need for rapid information to assess battlefield conditions. Message passing across a network of communication nodes allowed commanders to communicate with their forces. It is clear that an accurate prediction of communication usage through a network will provide commanders with useful intelligence of friendly and unfriendly activities. Providing a specific network link and path likelihood prediction tool gives strategic military commanders additional intelligence information and enables them to manage their limited resources more efficiently. In this study, Dijkstra\u27s algorithm has been modified to allow the Queueing Network Analyzer\u27s (QNA) analysis output to act as a node\u27s goodness metric. QNA\u27s calculation of the expected Total Sojourn Time for the completion of queueing and service in a node provides accurate measurement of expected congestion. The modified Dijkstra\u27s algorithm in the Generalized Network Analyzer (GNA) is verified and empirically validated to properly deliver traffic. It appropriately generates the fastest traffic path from a start node to a destination node. This implementation includes notification if input parameters exceed the network\u27s processing capability. GNA\u27s Congestion Control displays notification and informs the user certain network input parameters must be lowered (PTR or BSTR) or where certain nodes must be improved to maintain node stability. With this unstable node identification, users can determine which node needs attention and improvements. Once this instability is removed, a good QoS is achieved and analysis proceeds

Lying Your Way to Better Traffic Engineering

To optimize the flow of traffic in IP networks, operators do traffic engineering (TE), i.e., tune routing-protocol parameters in response to traffic demands. TE in IP networks typically involves configuring static link weights and splitting traffic between the resulting shortest-paths via the Equal-Cost-MultiPath (ECMP) mechanism. Unfortunately, ECMP is a notoriously cumbersome and indirect means for optimizing traffic flow, often leading to poor network performance. Also, obtaining accurate knowledge of traffic demands as the input to TE is elusive, and traffic conditions can be highly variable, further complicating TE. We leverage recently proposed schemes for increasing ECMP's expressiveness via carefully disseminated bogus information ("lies") to design COYOTE, a readily deployable TE scheme for robust and efficient network utilization. COYOTE leverages new algorithmic ideas to configure (static) traffic splitting ratios that are optimized with respect to all (even adversarially chosen) traffic scenarios within the operator's "uncertainty bounds". Our experimental analyses show that COYOTE significantly outperforms today's prevalent TE schemes in a manner that is robust to traffic uncertainty and variation. We discuss experiments with a prototype implementation of COYOTE

Gallium(III)-Promoted Halocyclizations of 1,6-Diynes

Adrian Landreth was an REU student, summer 2014Cyclization of 1,6-diynes promoted by stoichiometric Ga(III) halides produces vinyl halides in good to excellent yields. Under acidic conditions, initially formed iodocyclization products undergo in situ Friedel-Crafts cyclizations, giving access to iodo-indenopyridines. The application of the vinyl halides in cross-coupling reactions has been explored, and mechanistic aspects of the cyclization are discussed.HIGMS CMLD Initiative (P50 GM067041) NSF REU - Adrian Landreth support (CHE 1156666) NSF - NMR purchase (CHE 0619339) NSF - HRMS purchase (CHE0443618

The supercuspidal representations of p-adic classical groups

Let G be a unitary, symplectic or special orthogonal group over a locally compact non-archimedean local field of odd residual characteristic. We construct many new supercuspidal representations of G, and Bushnell-Kutzko types for these representations. Moreover, we prove that every irreducible supercuspidal representation of G arises from our constructions.Comment: 55 pages -- minor changes from 1st version (mostly in sections 2.2, 4.2 and 6.2). To appear in Inventiones mathematicae, 2008 (DOI is not yet active as at 12 Nov 2007

Meta-Prediction for Collective Classification

When data instances are inter-related, as are nodes in a social network or hyperlink graph, algorithms for collective classification (CC) can significantly improve accuracy. Recently, an algorithm for CC named Cautious ICA (ICAC) was shown to improve accuracy compared to the popular ICA algorithm. ICAC improves performance by initially favoring its more confident predictions during collective inference. In this paper, we introduce ICAMC, a new algorithm that outperforms ICAC when the attributes that describe each node are not highly predictive. ICAMC learns a meta-classifier that identifies which node label predictions are most likely to be correct. We show that this approach significantly increases accuracy on a range of real and synthetic data sets. We also describe new features for the meta-classifier and demonstrate that a simple search can identify an effective feature set that increases accuracy

The Status and Determining Factors to Develop Students Self-Regulated Behavior in Learning among Fourth Generation Universities in Ethiopia

The main objective of the present study was to assess the status and determining factors to develop student self-regulated behavior in learning among fourth generation universities in Ethiopia. To achieve this objective, both quantitative and qualitative data were collected from primary and secondary source of data. The study employed random and purposive sampling techniques to select 270 instructors, 4 department heads and 6 well-experienced teachers. Data from the quantitative survey were analyzed using mean, standard deviation, t-test, analysis of variance and multiple regressions. Qualitative data was analyzed through thematic narration. The study found that the mean score of teacher’s practice of self-regulated behavior in learning was 2.72 and standard deviation 4.379. The independent samples t-test and One-way ANOVA indicated that, there was statistically significant mean difference in gender and educational statues of teachers’ in practice of self-regulated strategies. Women and teachers who had higher educational status performed better than other instructors. Multiple regression analysis indicated teachers’ negative attitude toward their profession and lack of commitment was significant factor for low development of self-regulated behavior in learning in fourth generation Universities in Ethiopia. However, pedagogical knowledge, teaching experience, age and educational was non- significant at P<0.05 level of significance

Digital assisted soft tissue sculpturing (DASS) technique for immediate loading pink free complete arch implant prosthesis

Purpose: To introduce a digitally assisted technique to achieve the ideal soft and bone tissue interface for anatomic-driven pink free implant supported fixed prosthesis, and prefabricate an interim prosthesis to be used the day of the surgery as a prosthetic scaffold to condition the healing Methods: The digital assisted soft tissue sculpturing (DASS) technique allows the previsualization of the ideal soft and bone tissue interface and fabricate a computer aided design computer aided manufacturing (CAD-CAM) anatomic-driven pink free complete arch interim prosthesis for the immediate loading. Bone and soft tissue interface as well as the interim prosthesis design are performed in a segmented multiple standard tessellation language (STL) file embedding the bone anatomy, the intraoral surface anatomy (dental and soft tissue), the digital wax-up and the implant positioning. The interim prosthesis is used as a prosthetic scaffold to guide the soft and bone tissue surgical sculpturing and regeneration.Conclusions: The DASS technique is a predictable integrated digital workflow that simplifies the achievement of a scalloped tissue interface for pink free fixed implant prosthesis, reestablishing the mucosal dimension required for the protection of underlying bone while maintaining tissue health. The surgical sculpturing and maturation of the soft and bone tissue is driven and enhanced by the xenogeneic collagen matrix grafting and prosthetic scaffold effect of the digitally prefabricated interim prosthesis delivered the day of the surgery

A moderate increase in dietary zinc reduces DNA strand breaks in leukocytes and alters plasma proteins without changing plasma zinc concentrations.

BackgroundFood fortification has been recommended to improve a population's micronutrient status. Biofortification techniques modestly elevate the zinc content of cereals, but few studies have reported a positive impact on functional indicators of zinc status.ObjectiveWe determined the impact of a modest increase in dietary zinc that was similar to that provided by biofortification programs on whole-body and cellular indicators of zinc status.DesignEighteen men participated in a 6-wk controlled consumption study of a low-zinc, rice-based diet. The diet contained 6 mg Zn/d for 2 wk and was followed by 10 mg Zn/d for 4 wk. To reduce zinc absorption, phytate was added to the diet during the initial period. Indicators of zinc homeostasis, including total absorbed zinc (TAZ), the exchangeable zinc pool (EZP), plasma and cellular zinc concentrations, zinc transporter gene expression, and other metabolic indicators (i.e., DNA damage, inflammation, and oxidative stress), were measured before and after each dietary-zinc period.ResultsTAZ increased with increased dietary zinc, but plasma zinc concentrations and EZP size were unchanged. Erythrocyte and leukocyte zinc concentrations and zinc transporter expressions were not altered. However, leukocyte DNA strand breaks decreased with increased dietary zinc, and the level of proteins involved in DNA repair and antioxidant and immune functions were restored after the dietary-zinc increase.ConclusionsA moderate 4-mg/d increase in dietary zinc, similar to that which would be expected from zinc-biofortified crops, improves zinc absorption but does not alter plasma zinc. The repair of DNA strand breaks improves, as do serum protein concentrations that are associated with the DNA repair process. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT02861352

Irreducible characters of GSp(4, q) and dimensions of spaces of fixed vectors

In this paper, we compute the conjugacy classes and the list of irreducible characters of GSp(4,q), where q is odd. We also determine precisely which irreducible characters are non-cuspidal and which are generic. These characters are then used to compute dimensions of certain subspaces of fixed vectors of smooth admissible non-supercuspidal representations of GSp(4,F), where F is a non-archimedean local field of characteristic zero with residue field of order q.Comment: 48 pages, 21 tables. Corrected an error in Table 16 for type V* representations (theta_11 and theta_12 were switched