Energy-Efficient Considerations on a Variable-Bitrate PCI-Express Device

Dynamic power management has been adopted in many systems to reduce the power/energy consumption by changing the system state dynamically. This paper explores energy efficiency for systems equipped with PCI-Express devices, which are designed for low power consumption and high performance, compared to corresponding PCI devices. We propose dynamic power management mechanism and a management policy for energy-efficient considerations. A case study for a variable-bit-rate local-area-network device under the PCI-Express specification is exploited to provide supports for dynamic packet transmission. Simulation results show that the proposed mechanism and policy would reduce the system energy consumption substantiall

Evaluating the Operational Efficiency of Life Insurance Companies in Taiwan– An Application of the Dynamic Network SBM Model

Using a Dynamic Network Slack-based Measurement model (Tone & Tsutsui, 2014), this study evaluated the operational efficiency of life insurance firms in Taiwan from 2006 to 2013. In contrast to previous research, we incorporated assets and liabilities management into the model and compared them against optimal efficiency values in order to determine whether firms are earning maximizing profit while ensuring long-term solvency. The life insurance industry in Taiwan has matured. We found that market competitiveness depends on firms size and business model. Financial holdings companies and large corporations are performing strongly, while small local firms and foreign-owned firms scored poorly in technical efficiency. Economies of scale contribute to the business performance of life insurance firms. Life insurance companies that had merged with or been acquired by financial holdings firms showed notable improvement in efficiency. However, change in term efficiency is a warning signal in long-term business performance of life insurance firms. Lastly, most companies achieved optimal carry-over efficiency, indicating that they place considerable emphasis on managing assets and liabilities in order to ensure future solvency

Image and video compression/decompression based on human visual perception system and transform coding

The quantity of information has been growing exponentially, and the form and mix of information have been shifting into the image and video areas. However, neither the storage media nor the available bandwidth can accommodated the vastly expanding requirements for image information. A vital, enabling technology here is compression/decompression. Our compression work is based on a combination of feature-based algorithms inspired by the human visual- perception system (HVS), and some transform-based algorithms (such as our enhanced discrete cosine transform, wavelet transforms), vector quantization and neural networks. All our work was done on desktop workstations using the C++ programming language and commercially available software. During FY 1996, we explored and implemented an enhanced feature-based algorithms, vector quantization, and neural- network-based compression technologies. For example, we improved the feature compression for our feature-based algorithms by a factor of two to ten, a substantial improvement. We also found some promising results when using neural networks and applying them to some video sequences. In addition, we also investigated objective measures to characterize compression results, because traditional means such as the peak signal- to-noise ratio (PSNR) are not adequate to fully characterize the results, since such measures do not take into account the details of human visual perception. We have successfully used our one- year LDRD funding as seed money to explore new research ideas and concepts, the results of this work have led us to obtain external funding from the dud. At this point, we are seeking matching funds from DOE to match the dud funding so that we can bring such technologies into fruition. 9 figs., 2 tabs

Absorption Cross Sections of NH_3, NH_2D, NHD_2, and ND_3 in the Spectral Range 140-220 nm and Implications for Planetary Isotopic Fractionation

Cross sections for photoabsorption of NH_3, NH_2D, NHD_2, and ND_3 in the spectral region 140-220 nm were determined at ~298 K using synchrotron radiation. Absorption spectra of NH_2D and NHD_2 were deduced from spectra of mixtures of NH_3 and ND_3, of which the equilibrium concentrations for all four isotopologues obey statistical distributions. Cross sections of NH_2D, NHD_2, and ND_3 are new. Oscillator strengths, an integration of absorption cross sections over the spectral lines, for both A ← X and B ← X systems of NH_3 agree satisfactorily with previous reports; values for NH_2D, NHD_2, and ND_3 agree with quantum chemical predictions. The photolysis of NH_3 provides a major source of reactive hydrogen in the lower stratosphere and upper troposphere of giant planets such as Jupiter. Incorporating the measured photoabsorption cross sections of NH_3 and NH_2D into the Caltech/JPL photochemical diffusive model for the atmosphere of Jupiter, we find that the photolysis efficiency of NH_2D is lower than that of NH_3 by as much as 30%. The D/H ratio in NH_2D/NH_3 for tracing the microphysics in the troposphere of Jupiter is also discussed