PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT OF SCHEDULERS IN OPTICAL INTERCONNECTION NETWORKS

With ever-increasing demand for high-performance computing systems, interconnection networks, serving as the communication links in multicore architectures have become a key element for guaranteeing the system performance. Compared with bandwidth-limited power hungry electrical interconnection networks, optical integrated interconnection networks also referred to as networks-on-chip (ONoC) architectures are emerging as a promising alternative to enable future computing performance. In ONoC architectures, scheduling algorithms are necessary for avoiding packet collisions while achieving high throughput, low latency, and good fairness. Scheduling algorithms exist for non-blocking electrical NoC. These algorithms can be applied to ONoC, while accounting for additional constraints arising from optical component limitations. In this thesis various scheduling algorithms are simulated, With the objective of comparing their latency and throughput using C + + programming language for ONoC with bus and ring topologies. An optimal scheduler based on two-step scheduling (TSS) technique is proposed. The optimal TSS models the scheduling problem in two steps for ONoC. The first step is the matching step which is done by representing each node pair as input bipartite graph then matching takes place between the input and output ports. The second step performs the wavelength assignment between each paired node while avoiding collisions and also with the consideration of wavelength continuity. The two-step approach with the iSLIP and MWM algorithms are considered. The proposed optimal TSS is simulated and its performances are evaluated. The optimal scheduler with maximum weighted matching (MWM) scheduling policy achieves better results in comparison to iSLIP scheduling policy based on queue length under any packet arrival process. The optimal MWM scheduling policy achieved better performance for both bus and ring topologies. The main result is that unidirectional ring topology outperforms the bus topology for any number of wavelengths less or equal to the number of ONoC port, even if the average path length is longer. The reason is that in the bus topology half of the wavelengths are allocated in each direction, fixing the maximum number of packets in each direction using two transceivers per node can compensate this issue, reaching to better performance than the ring

Academic Library Management Issues and Practices

This book is partially based on the contents of the course on Academic Library Management which I have been teaching at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. The contents are designed to be used in connection with additional readings to be selected from the extensive lists of references at the end of each chapter as well as from other databases available to students in university and public libraries and library systems. Examples of best practices found in some academic libraries are mentioned in order to blend theory with practice.https://dc.uwm.edu/sois_facbooks/1000/thumbnail.jp

Profiles of Academic Libraries

Collectively, the profiles included in this book are designed to give a bird‘s eye view of the various aspects of academic librarianship, not only in the United States, but in other countries as well, such as Egypt, Jordan, South Africa, and Saudi Arabia. These profiles enable the reader to compare the various aspects of academic librarianship on a national as well as international level. These comparisons may also lead to identifying best practices used by college and university libraries in such areas as management, marketing, information fluency and the like. Reading the chapters, the reader can draw examples of best practices in academic library management.https://dc.uwm.edu/sois_facbooks/1001/thumbnail.jp

Determinants of Technical Efficiency of Rose Cut-Flower Industries in Oromia Region, Ethiopia

The objective of this study is to measure and identify input use efficiency level of 28  rose cut flower industries in three districts of Oromia Regional state (Ethiopia) using a two stage approach. . In the first stage, a non-parametric (DEA) method was used to determine the relative technical, scale and overall technical efficiencies. In the second stage, a Tobit model was used to identify sources of efficiency differentials among industries. The results obtained indicated that the mean technical, scale and overall technical efficiency indices were estimated to be 92%, %61 and 58%, respectively for the cut flower industries. This Implies, major source of overall technical inefficiencies was scale of operation rather than pure technical inefficiency. Besides, the estimated measures of technical efficiency were positively related with Farming experience, formal schooling years of manager’s and negatively related with age of farms. No conclusive result was obtained for the relation between size and efficiency. Key words: Technical Efficiency, Scale Efficiency, DEA, Tobit, Rose cut flowers, farming experience, Oromia, Ethiopia

Assessing Customer Service in Airports – Models from the UAE

Customer service at airports has become a key priority for airport operators given the high degree of competitions. This paper uses an airport customer service model to analyze three examples from the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Passenger interviews, statistical information, customer feedback and other forms of information have been utilized to learn more about the customer view on the quality of service offered at these three airports. Detailed qualitative analysis of these case studies has highlighted some key issues in the area of customer service and identifies some opportunities for improvement

Mechanistic Approach for Reducing the Thickness of Asphalt Layer Incorporating Steel Slag Aggregate

This study aimed to evaluate the possibility of reducing the thickness of asphalt layer as a novel solution for the high density of asphalt layer incorporated with steel slag aggregate, which increase the cost of transportation. Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design (MEPDG) approach was employed to evaluate the benefits of introducing polyvinyl alcohol fiber in terms of reducing the thickness of asphalt layer as well as the extension service life of asphalt layer. On the other hand, the correlation between creep strain slope (CSS) and secant creep stiffness modulus (SCSM) were assessed to provide a better evaluation and understanding concerning of the outputs of the dynamic creep test. The findings of this study showed that introducing polyvinyl alcohol fiber into the mixtures at the optimum content (0.5 kg/ton) have reduced the thickness of asphalt layer by approximately 10%. Additionally, polyvinyl alcohol fiber has increased the performance of the asphalt mixtures concerning of resilient modulus and dynamic creep. Furthermore, the correlation between CSS and SCSM was strong, which indicates that evaluation of permanent deformation using CSS and SCSM parameters provides better actual assessment than accumulation strain

Mechanistic Approach for Reducing the Thickness of Asphalt Layer Incorporating Steel Slag Aggregate

This study aimed to evaluate the possibility of reducing the thickness of asphalt layer as a novel solution for the high density of asphalt layer incorporated with steel slag aggregate, which increase the cost of transportation. Mechanistic-Empirical Pavement Design (MEPDG) approach was employed to evaluate the benefits of introducing polyvinyl alcohol fiber in terms of reducing the thickness of asphalt layer as well as the extension service life of asphalt layer. On the other hand, the correlation between creep strain slope (CSS) and secant creep stiffness modulus (SCSM) were assessed to provide a better evaluation and understanding concerning of the outputs of the dynamic creep test. The findings of this study showed that introducing polyvinyl alcohol fiber into the mixtures at the optimum content (0.5 kg/ton) have reduced the thickness of asphalt layer by approximately 10%. Additionally, polyvinyl alcohol fiber has increased the performance of the asphalt mixtures concerning of resilient modulus and dynamic creep. Furthermore, the correlation between CSS and SCSM was strong, which indicates that evaluation of permanent deformation using CSS and SCSM parameters provides better actual assessment than accumulation strain

Customer Service in Aviation Industry – An Exploratory Analysis of UAE Airports

Customer satisfaction is given top priority by all service-oriented industries. The civil aviation industry is no exception. The highly competitive global aviation arena causes various airlines to vie for the top position with lot of importance being given to the customer service. The aim of this study is to analyze the methods and tools used by the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE’s) federal government and the various local governments in the country to improve the customer satisfaction with regard to the aviation industry in the country. This paper develops a framework to assess customer service in the aviation sector in the UAE and uses the framework to analyze and compare the three main airports in the UAE based on the feedback of passengers. This study used a multi-pronged approach to collect data. In all, 78 travelers were chosen at random and they were administered a structured and a semi-structured questionnaire. Responses to the former were used to perform Chi-square test and establish the differences between the three airports; the latter were used to gain deeper insight and gauge a more in-depth opinion of the respondents. Through the analysis of the data, this study was able to learn more about the public view with regard to the innovations and ideas implemented by the government of the UAE. A new customer service model has been developed to compare the three airports in UAE and gain more insights into opportunities for improvement

Digitized Engineering Notebook

Digitizing engineering notebooks, articles, assignments, multimedia things, event calendar and uploading downloading files from online web portal will certainly help engineering students in their studies. Here in this abstract we are proposing a system where students can share their notebooks on online web portal and others can read it and download it in a PDF format. This system will surly help and make updated all the students about college activities, studies and other activities. Proposed system will implement in Microsoft .Net Framework, C#.Net, ASP.Net and required an IIS web server to run it on live server. Developing this system require an IDE i.e. Visual Studio and backed database MS SQL to keep records of notebooks, data and assignments etc. There will be another super user which will manage student’s record and manage and restrict them to access the system. He can manage projects, assignments and assign to students

Using ensemble decision tree model to predict student dropout in computing science

Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) professionals play a key role in the development of an economy. STEM workers are critical thinkers as they contribute immensely by driving innovations. There is a high demand for professionals in the STEM fields but there is also a shortage of human resource in these areas. One way to reduce this problem is by identifying students who are at-risk of dropping out and then intervening with focused strategies that will ensure that these students remain in same the programme till graduation. Therefore, this research aims to use a data mining classification technique to identify students who are at-risk of dropping out from their Computing Science (CS) degree programmes. The Random Forest (RF) decision tree algorithm is used to learn patterns from historical data about first-year undergraduate CS students who are enrolled in a tertiary institute in the South Pacific. A number of factors are used which comprise of students demographic information, previous education background, financial information as well as data about students' academic interaction. Feature selection is performed to determine which factors have greater influence in students' decision in dropping out. Cross-validation techniques are used to ensure that the models are not over-fitted. Two models were built using a 5fold and 10-fold cross-validation and the results were compared using several measures of model performance. The results show that the factors corresponding to students' academic performance in a first-year programming course had the greatest impact student attrition in CS