Building and Using System, Algorithmic, and Architectural Power and Energy Models in the FPGA Design-Flow

FPGA circuits offer great advantages compared to ASIC or programmable processors. They are often used in complement of such circuits in complex systems. To reduce the time-to-market, the designer needs help for exploring the design space while implementing applications on FPGA. In this paper, we present a complete methodology to perform highlevel estimation and optimization of the power and energy consumptions of applications to be implemented on FPGA circuits. We show how to build and use the necessary power models, at the system level, algorithmic level and architectural level. The development of several power models is presented for different applications, circuits, and at different levels in the design flow. The precision of our models was evaluated in comparison to physical power consumption measurements. Our approach proves relatively accurate for the average error is between 4% and 20% depending on the considered abstration level. We finaly show how to use our methodology to the design space exploration of a FFT application

Oral flora of stray dogs and cats in Algeria: Pasteurella and other zoonotic bacteria

Background and Aim: Knowledge of potentially pathogenic bacteria presents in the oral cavity of dogs and cats may be helpful in determining appropriate treatment for infected bite wounds. About 120.000 people are exposed to dog and cat bites every year in Algeria, but little is known about the dog and cat oral flora causing bite wound complications. The purpose of this study was to identify potential zoonotic bacteria from oral cavity of dogs and cats and to determine their susceptibility to antibiotics to contribute to the treatment of bite wound infection. Materials and Methods: Oral swabs from 100 stray dogs and 100 stray cats were collected and cultured in several media: Chocolate agar, MacConkey agar, and Mannitol Salt Agar. Bacterial isolates were identified using several commercial kits of the analytical profile index and tested for antibiotic susceptibility by disk diffusion method. Results: Overall, 185/200 (92.5%) dogs and cats carried zoonotic bacteria in their mouths, of which 55.13% (102/185) had at least two bacterial pathogens. 374 pathogenic strains belonging to 15 genera were isolated: Eleven were Gram-negative (Proteus, Pasteurella, Escherichia, Moraxella, Klebsiella, Acinetobacter, Enterobacter, Pseudomonas, Aeromonas, and Neisseria Haemophilus) and four were Gram-positive (Staphylococcus, Streptococcus, and Corynebacterium, Bacillus). Fifty-one strains of Pasteurella were isolated from 44 carriers of Pasteurella (21 Pasteurella multocida, 21 Pasteurella pneumotropica, and 9 Pasteurella spp.). Pasteurella strains were tested for antibiotic resistance. Resistance to at least one drug was observed in 8 (15.68%) of Pasteurella isolates and two strains (3.92%) were found to be multidrug-resistant (to two or more drugs). Erythromycin, penicillin, and ampicillin were the antimicrobials to which the isolates showed greater resistance (7.84%, 5.88%, and 3.92%, respectively). Conclusion: To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first in Algeria to detect potential human pathogenic bacteria in the oral cavity of dogs and cats. It reveals that these animals have multiple zoonotic bacteria in their mouths including Pasteurella species, which may be multidrug-resistant

Power/Energy Estimation in SoCs by Multi-Level Parametric Modeling

Power consumption is nowadays a critical design constraint for circuits and systems. To guide efficiently early choices in the design flow, high-level estimations must be available. In order to address the different abstraction levels and the various targets, a global methodology is proposed here to elaborate suitable models. These models are obtained through the Functional Level Power Analysis, first developed for processors and then extended to memory and FPGA. This paper is a synthesis of various works, conducted through several collaborations; some resulting models are given to illustrate the parametric approach at the system, algorithmic and architectural levels for either hardware or software component. From these models, optimizations can be deducted from the sensitivity metric and finally an estimation approach for System-On-Chip is described

Pre-emptive treatment of Hepatitis B infection by lamivudine in two tunisian renal transplant recipients

Infection with hepatitis B virus has a major implication for transplant recipients due to the risk of reactivation under immunosuppression, progression to chronic liver disease, development of liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. We report two cases of renal transplantation patients who were hepatitis B surface antigen positive before transplantation and were treated by Lamivudine

Variceal Band Ligation in the Prevention of Variceal Bleeding: A Multicenter Trial

Background/Aim: Variceal bleeding is a life-threatening complication of portal hypertension with a high probability of recurrence. Treatment to prevent first bleeding or rebleeding is mandatory. The study has been aimed at investigating the effectiveness of endoscopic band ligation in preventing upper gastrointestinal bleeding in patients with portal hypertension and to establish the clinical outcome of patients. Patients and Methods: We analyzed in a multicenter trial, the efficacy and side effects of endoscopic band ligation for the primary and secondary prophylaxis of esophageal variceal bleeding. We assigned 603 patients with portal hypertension who were hospitalized to receive treatment with endoscopic ligation. Sessions of ligation were repeated every two to three weeks until the varices were eradicated. The primary end point was recurrent bleeding. Results: The median follow-up period was 32 months. A total of 126 patients had recurrent bleeding. All episodes were related to portal hypertension and 79 to recurrent variceal bleeding. There were major complications in 51 patients (30 had bleeding esophageal ulcers). Seventy-eight patients died, 26 deaths were related to variceal bleeding and 1 to bleeding esophageal ulcers. Conclusions: A great improvement in the prevention of variceal bleeding has emerged over the last years. However, further therapeutic options that combine higher efficacy, better tolerance and fewer side effects are needed