Managing and Improving Upon Bandwidth Challenges in Computer Network

Managing the bandwidth of a computer network is always faced with great challenges. This research was necessitated by the urgent need to manage the University network currently experiencing congestion in both the local LA� and on the internet backhaul with a view to improving network performance and reduce the huge recurrent on the WA� link. However, there exists various ways that have been deployed towards solving these problems. In this paper we examined existing bandwidth management, effect of limited bandwidth on the network performance and profound solutions of techniques that enhanced or improved the bandwidth efficiency. Also, included in this research work are the studies of the effect of limited bandwidth on work load, type of protocol used and the effect of network congestion on the quality of service of a Wide Area �etwork (WA�). By comparison, from the modeling of the effect of work load and limited bandwidth on the throughput of a wide area network based on experimental simulation and real time simulation scenarios, some observations were made and recommendation of solutions were given from the analyzed results

Controlling Link Congestion on Complex Network

We studied the impact of bandwidth utilization factor on converged network of Zain Contact Centre which is a complex network environment in Nigeria. Some congestion control techniques were reviewed. Experiments were carried out on the real network, a legacy network and an integrated converged network considering the same number of users. The corresponding packets were compared. As a result, higher throughput and minimal packet loss were achieved at lower bandwidth utilization and better than what was obtained at higher utilization using the same parameters

Development of food photographs for use with children aged 18 months to 16 years:comparison against weighed food diaries – The Young Person’s Food Atlas (UK)

Traditional dietary assessment methods, used in the UK, such as weighed food diaries impose a large participant burden, often resulting in difficulty recruiting representative samples and underreporting of energy intakes. One approach to reducing the burden placed on the participant is to use portion size assessment tools to obtain an estimate of the amount of food consumed, removing the need to weigh all foods. An age range specific food atlas was developed for use in assessing children’s dietary intakes. The foods selected and portion sizes depicted were derived from intakes recorded during the UK National Diet and Nutrition Surveys of children aged 1.5 to 16 years. Estimates of food portion sizes using the food atlas were compared against 4-day weighed intakes along with in-school / nursery observations, by the research team. Interviews were conducted with parents the day after completion of the diary, and for children aged 4 to 16 years, also with the child. Mean estimates of portion size consumed were within 7% of the weight of food recorded in the weighed food diary. The limits of agreement were wide indicating high variability of estimates at the individual level but the precision increased with increasing age. For children 11 years and over, agreement with weighed food diaries, was as good as that of their parents in terms of total weight of food consumed and of intake of energy and key nutrients. The age appropriate food photographs offer an alternative to weighed intakes for dietary assessment with children

Na(v )1.8-null mice show stimulus-dependent deficits in spinal neuronal activity

BACKGROUND: The voltage gated sodium channel Na(v )1.8 has a highly restricted expression pattern to predominantly nociceptive peripheral sensory neurones. Behaviourally Na(v )1.8-null mice show an increased acute pain threshold to noxious mechanical pressure and also deficits in inflammatory and visceral, but not neuropathic pain. Here we have made in vivo electrophysiology recordings of dorsal horn neurones in intact anaesthetised Na(v )1.8-null mice, in response to a wide range of stimuli to further the understanding of the functional roles of Na(v )1.8 in pain transmission from the periphery to the spinal cord. RESULTS: Na(v )1.8-null mice showed marked deficits in the coding by dorsal horn neurones to mechanical, but not thermal, -evoked responses over the non-noxious and noxious range compared to littermate controls. Additionally, responses evoked to other stimulus modalities were also significantly reduced in Na(v )1.8-null mice where the reduction observed to pinch > brush. The occurrence of ongoing spontaneous neuronal activity was significantly less in mice lacking Na(v )1.8 compared to control. No difference was observed between groups in the evoked activity to electrical activity of the peripheral receptive field. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates that deletion of the sodium channel Na(v )1.8 results in stimulus-dependent deficits in the dorsal horn neuronal coding to mechanical, but not thermal stimuli applied to the neuronal peripheral receptive field. This implies that Na(v )1.8 is either responsible for, or associated with proteins involved in mechanosensation

Existence and stability of singular patterns in a Ginzburg–Landau equation coupled with a mean field

We study singular patterns in a particular system of parabolic partial differential equations which consist of a Ginzburg–Landau equation and a mean field equation. We prove the existence of the three simplest concentrated periodic stationary patterns (single spikes, double spikes, double transition layers) by composing them of more elementary patterns and solving the corresponding consistency conditions. In the case of spike patterns we prove stability for sufficiently large spatial periods by first showing that the eigenvalues do not tend to zero as the period goes to infinity and then passing in the limit to a nonlocal eigenvalue problem which can be studied explicitly. For the two other patterns we show instability by using the variational characterization of eigenvalues

Performance Evaluation of Dynamic Guard Channels Assignment with Queue and Prioritized Schemes

It has been said that dynamic guard channel (DGC) assignment scheme based on traffic intensities averages QoS and performs better than the prioritized guard channel assignment scheme with queue (QPGC) during traffic congestion. This work has extended the investigation to DGC with queue (QDGC) and carried out its comparison with other call traffic channel assignment schemes. Mathematical analysis of the models was done using Markov chain and simulation was carried out in MATLAB. When traffic arrival rates were symmetric, the QPGC had the lower call blocking probability than the QDGC but became the same when the system was congested. However, the performance of the two queuing schemes was the same when handover call traffic was more than new calls traffic

Tc-99m pyrophosphate imaging of poloxamer-treated electroporated skeletal muscle in an in vivo rat model

Objective: This study investigates whether 99mTc pyrophosphate (PYP) imaging provides a quantitative non-invasive assessment of the extent of electroporation injury, and of the effect of poloxamer in vivo on electroporated skeletal muscle. Methods: High-voltage electrical shock was used to produce electroporation injury in an anesthetized rat\u27s hind limb. In each experiment, the injured limb was treated intravenously by either poloxamer-188, dextran, or saline, and subsequently imaged with 99mTc PYP. The radiotracer\u27s temporal behavior among the experimental groups was compared using curve fitting of time-activity curves from the dynamic image data. Results: The washout kinetics of 99mTc PYP changed in proportion to the electric current magnitude that produced electroporation. Also, 99mTc PYP washout from electroporated muscle differed between poloxamer-188 treatment and saline treatment. Finally, 10-kDa dextran treatment of electroporated muscle altered 99mTc PYP washout less than poloxamer-188 treatment. Conclusions: Behavior of 99mTc PYP in electroporated muscle appears to be an indicator of the amount of electroporation injury. Compared to saline, intravenous polaxamer-188 treatment reduced the amount of 99mTc PYP uptake. Coupled to results showing poloxamer-188 seals ruptured cellular membranes, lessens the extent of electroporation injury and improves cell viability, 99mTc PYP imaging appears to be a useful in vivo monitoring tool for the extent of electroporation injury. © 2006 Elsevier Ltd and ISBI

The host galaxies of three radio-loud quasars: 3C 48, 3C 345, and B2 1425+267

Observations with the Wide-Field/Planetary Camera-2 of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) are presented for three radio-loud quasars: 3C 48 (z=0.367), B2 1425+267 (z=0.366), and 3C 345 (z=0.594). All three quasars have luminous (~4 L^*) galaxies as hosts, which are either elliptical (B2 1425+267 and 3C 345) or interacting (3C 48), and all hosts are 0.5 - 1.0 mag bluer in (V-I) than other galaxies with the same overall morphology at similar redshifts to the quasars. The host of 3C 48 has many H II regions and a very extended tidal tail. All nine of the radio-loud quasars studied here and in Bahcall et al. (1997) either have bright elliptical hosts or occur in interacting systems. There is a robust correlation between the radio emission of the quasar and the luminosity of host galaxy; the radio-loud quasars reside in galaxies that are on average about 1 mag brighter than hosts of the radio-quiet quasars.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ. 3 postscript and 3 jpeg figures. Original figures may be found in ftp://eku.sns.ias.edu/pub/sofia/RadioLoud