Scalability of Optical Interconnects Based on Microring Resonators

This letter investigates the use of optical microring resonators as switching elements (SEs) in large optical interconnection fabrics. We introduce a simple physical-layer model to assess scalability in crossbar- and Benes-based architectures.We also propose a new dilated SE that improves scalability to build fabrics of several terabits per second of aggregate capacit

Monitoring Progressive Multiple Sclerosis with Novel Imaging Techniques.

Imaging markers for monitoring disease progression in progressive multiple sclerosis (PMS) are scarce, thereby limiting the possibility to monitor disease evolution and to test effective treatments in clinical trials. Advanced imaging techniques that have the advantage of metrics with increased sensitivity to short-term tissue changes and increased specificity to the structural abnormalities characteristic of PMS have recently been applied in clinical trials of PMS. In this review, we (1) provide an overview of the pathological features of PMS, (2) summarize the findings of research and clinical trials conducted in PMS which have applied conventional and advanced magnetic resonance imaging techniques and (3) discuss recent advancements and future perspectives in monitoring PMS with imaging techniques

Monitoring Progressive Multiple Sclerosis with Novel Imaging Techniques

Imaging markers for monitoring disease progression in progressive multiple sclerosis (PMS) are scarce, thereby limiting the possibility to monitor disease evolution and to test effective treatments in clinical trials. Advanced imaging techniques that have the advantage of metrics with increased sensitivity to short-term tissue changes and increased specificity to the structural abnormalities characteristic of PMS have recently been applied in clinical trials of PMS. In this review, we (1) provide an overview of the pathological features of PMS, (2) summarize the findings of research and clinical trials conducted in PMS which have applied conventional and advanced magnetic resonance imaging techniques and (3) discuss recent advancements and future perspectives in monitoring PMS with imaging techniques

A Formula of the Electron Cloud Linear Map Coefficient in a Strong Dipole

Electron cloud effects have recognized as as one of the most serious bottleneck for reaching design performances in presently running and proposed future storage rings. The analysis of these effects is usually performed with very time consuming simulation codes. An alternative analytic approach, based on a cubic map model for the bunch-to-bunch evolution of the electron cloud density, could be useful to determine regions in parameters space compatible with safe machine operations. In this communication we derive a simple approximate formula relating the linear coefficient in the electron cloud density map to the parameters relevant for the electron cloud evolution with particular reference to the LHC dipoles.Comment: 3 pages, 5 figures. Proceeding of IPAC 201

Evaluation of the additional shear demand due to frame-infill interaction: a new capacity model

During earthquakes, masonry infills exert a significant stiffening and strengthening action which can be favourable or adverse to face the earthquake-induced demand. Infills transfer the force increment to the RC frame members as an additional shear force. Because of this, local shear failures at the end of the columns, or at the end of the beam-column joints can occur. This is particularly true in the case of non-seismically conforming frame structures, as also shown by post-earthquake damage revealed by recent and past earthquakes. Assessment of this additional shear demand is not possible using the common equivalent strut model for the infills. On the other hand, 2D inelastic models are not computationally effective to be used for seismic analysis of large and complex buildings. Because of this, the actual shear demand on columns is underestimated in most cases. In order to maintain the simplicity of the equivalent strut approach without losing the information about the actual shear force on the columns, the current paper provides a detailed study about the infill-frame shear transfer mechanism. Refined 2D inelastic models of real experimental tests on infilled frames have been realized in OpenSees with the aid of the STKO pre and post processor platform. Shear demand on the columns is extracted as on output of the simulations and compared to the axial force resulting from the same simulations made with the equivalent strut models. An analytical relationship allowing estimate the additional shear demand as a function of the current axial force on the equivalent struts and the geometrical and mechanical properties of the infilled frames is finally proposed. The formula can be easily used to perform shear safety checks of columns adjacent to the infills in seismic analyses

Regularization of first order computational homogenization for multiscale analysis of masonry structures

The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00466-015-1230-6 This paper investigates the possibility of using classical first order computational homogenization together with a simple regularization procedure based on the fracture energy of the micro-scale-constituents. A generalized geometrical characteristic length takes into account the size of the macro-scale element as well as the size of the RVE (and its constituents). The proposed regularization ensures objectivity of the dissipated energy at the macro-scale, with respect to the size of the FE in both scales and with respect to the size of the RVE. The proposed method is first validated against benchmark examples, and finally applied to the numerical simulation of experimental tests on in-plane loaded shear walls made of periodic masonry

Boosting the Performance of PC-based Software Routers with FPGA-enhanced Network Interface Cards

The research community is devoting increasing attention to software routers based on off-the-shelf hardware and open-source operating systems running on the personalcomputer (PC) architecture. Today's high-end PCs are equipped with peripheral component interconnect (PCI) shared buses enabling them to easily fit into the multi-gigabit-per-second routing segment, for a price much lower than that of commercial routers. However, commercially-available PC network interface cards (NICs) lack programmability, and require not only packets to cross the PCI bus twice, but also to be processed in software by the operating system, strongly reducing the achievable forwarding rate. It is therefore interesting to explore the performance of customizable NICs based on field-programmable gate array (FPGA) logic devices we developed and assess how well they can overcome the limitations of today's commercially-available NIC

Multiscale computational first order homogenization of thick shells for the analysis of out-of-plane loaded masonry walls

This work presents a multiscale method based on computational homogenization for the analysis of general heterogeneous thick shell structures, with special focus on periodic brick-masonry walls. The proposed method is designed for the analysis of shells whose micro-structure is heterogeneous in the in-plane directions, but initially homogeneous in the shell-thickness direction, a structural topology that can be found in single-leaf brick masonry walls. Under this assumption, this work proposes an efficient homogenization scheme where both the macro-scale and the micro-scale are described by the same shell theory. The proposed method is then applied to the analysis of out-of-plane loaded brick-masonry walls, and compared to experimental and micro-modeling results