Yield-driven power-delay-optimal CMOS full-adder design complying with automotive product specifications of PVT variations and NBTI degradations

We present the detailed results of the application of mathematical optimization algorithms to transistor sizing in a full-adder cell design, to obtain the maximum expected fabrication yield. The approach takes into account all the fabrication process parameter variations specified in an industrial PDK, in addition to operating condition range and NBTI aging. The final design solutions present transistor sizing, which depart from intuitive transistor sizing criteria and show dramatic yield improvements, which have been verified by Monte Carlo SPICE analysis

Detection of Electromagnetic Inclusions using Topological Sensitivity

In this article a topological sensitivity framework for far field detection of a diametrically small electromagnetic inclusion is established. The cases of single and multiple measurements of the electric far field scattering amplitude at a fixed frequency are taken into account. The performance of the algorithm is analyzed theoretically in terms of its resolution and sensitivity for locating an inclusion. The stability of the framework with respect to measurement and medium noises is discussed. Moreover, the quantitative results for signal-to-noise ratio are presented. A few numerical results are presented to illustrate the detection capabilities of the proposed framework with single and multiple measurements.Comment: 31 pages, 5 figure

NEGOTIATING MANICHEAN ALLEGORY IN MORRISON’S PARADISE

The colonialist mind is full of binary thinking. Their literature is abounding in nothing other than racial thinking in their deep structure. There are varieties of binary thinking that set a single outlook towards the colonial power: an ideology of self and other. The following descriptive study is a kind of confirmation of this ideology. Abdullah JanMuhammad has discussed in detail the colonialist literature and the impact of European values on indigenous mind through the pieces of literature. He asserts that the colonialist literature depicts a stereotypical mindset of colonizers towards colonized, which is a product of social and cultural difference. Toni Morrison being a spokesperson of different racial issue is portraying the same stereotypical attitude on moral and intellectual grounds. She is making her novel Paradise, a device to articulate that there is no phase in-between their self and the colonized’s other and there cannot be any reconciliation and settlement between the colonizer and the colonized

NEGOTIATING MANICHEAN ALLEGORY IN MORRISON’S PARADISE

The colonialist mind is full of binary thinking. Their literature is abounding in nothing other than racial thinking in their deep structure. There are varieties of binary thinking that set a single outlook towards the colonial power: an ideology of self and other. The following descriptive study is a kind of confirmation of this ideology. Abdullah JanMuhammad has discussed in detail the colonialist literature and the impact of European values on indigenous mind through the pieces of literature. He asserts that the colonialist literature depicts a stereotypical mindset of colonizers towards colonized, which is a product of social and cultural difference. Toni Morrison being a spokesperson of different racial issue is portraying the same stereotypical attitude on moral and intellectual grounds. She is making her novel Paradise, a device to articulate that there is no phase in-between their self and the colonized’s other and there cannot be any reconciliation and settlement between the colonizer and the colonized

The Impact of Foreign Direct Investment on Employment Opportunities: Panel Data Analysis (Empirical Evidence from Pakistan, India and China).

Over the past two decades, the continent of Asia received a large amount of FDI from developed regions. Additionally, in the Asia, India and China received a major chunk of foreign direct investment and FDI flows to Pakistan also increased significantly. Many studies show that the inflow of FDI plays a significant role in generating employment in host countries. The objective of this study is to undertake an empirical study on creation of employment opportunities by FDI during 1985-2008 in the Asian region. In this regard, we have taken the sample of three countries i.e. Pakistan, India and China from the same region. The Im-Pesaran-Shin (IPS) test of unit root is applied to find out the order of integration. The long run relationship is investigated through the Pedroni (1999) test of panel cointegration. At last, the Seemingly Unrelated Regression (SUR) method is used for estimation of the impact of FDI inflows on employment levels in three countries. Implications for FDI policy are spelt out in the light of these empirical results. JEL classification: F23, E24, C23 Keywords: FDI, Employment, Panel Dat

Qualitative Data Augmentation for Performance Prediction in VLSI circuits

Various studies have shown the advantages of using Machine Learning (ML) techniques for analog and digital IC design automation and optimization. Data scarcity is still an issue for electronic designs, while training highly accurate ML models. This work proposes generating and evaluating artificial data using generative adversarial networks (GANs) for circuit data to aid and improve the accuracy of ML models trained with a small training data set. The training data is obtained by various simulations in the Cadence Virtuoso, HSPICE, and Microcap design environment with TSMC 180nm and 22nm CMOS technology nodes. The artificial data is generated and tested for an appropriate set of analog and digital circuits. The experimental results show that the proposed artificial data generation significantly improves ML models and reduces the percentage error by more than 50\% of the original percentage error, which were previously trained with insufficient data. Furthermore, this research aims to contribute to the extensive application of AI/ML in the field of VLSI design and technology by relieving the training data availability-related challenges.Comment: 14 pages, 13 figure

ENTREPRENEURIAL MARKETING, ENVIRONMENTAL UNCERTAINTY AND PERFORMANCE OF FAMILY FIRMS

Businesses in general and family SMEs in specific are vulnerable to environmental uncertainty in underdeveloped countries. Stiff competitions, technological bursts and market turbulence appears as a catastrophe and a major cause for short life of many family SMEs. A few family SMEs still exist and survive in all these uncertain conditions. Various reasons been discussed in previous literature and had proved the importance of entrepreneurial marketing as one of the major sources of high performances. The marketing strategies opted by family SMEs having dimension of entrepreneurship, are not only self-beneficial but also the cause of new market trends. The primary purpose of this study is to consider the effect of opportunity vigilance, consumer centric innovation, value creation and risk management termed as entrepreneurial marketing and used as a fundamental approach for family SMEs to survive and grab high performances even under uncertain conditions. Results show that entrepreneurial marketing in family SMEs is positively associated with high performances even under uncertain environments. Previously uncertain environments were considered as one of the major cause for entrepreneurial marketing that does not qualify in our case. Family SMEs use entrepreneurial marketing as their vital tool for competitive markets to perform high irrespective of environmental conditions i.e. either favorable or unfavorable.Â

Production and inventory control of a multi-item multi-stage manufacturing system : simulation modeling, capacitated shipment planning and Kanban design

Thesis (M. Eng.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 2009.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 101).The project work presented in this thesis has proposed solutions related to the control of production and work-in-process inventory in a multi-item multi-stage manufacturing system. A suitable base-stock inventory control policy is recommended to ensure that the desired service levels are maintained between production stages and for the final customers. Concept of coupling the production lines though coupling-stock under suitable assumptions is then introduced to reduce the stock levels at certain consecutive production stages. A framework for demand seasonality and characteristic analysis is also established to enable the inventory control policy to respond to seasonal variations. Monte Carlo simulation was performed on a model of chain of production stages controlled under base-stock policy for the verification of results and to study the effects of stock-outs on base-stock levels. The results of simulation study showed that overall system performance is satisfactory and desired service levels were achieved. Simulation work was also carried out to validate the line coupling concept and its performance under certain conditions. A novel Kanban based visual management system design, which is aligned with the requirements of inventory control policy, along with the material transfer batch sizes between production stages is proposed to facilitate the implementation of inventory control policy. Furthermore, capacitated shipment planning approach is proposed and implemented in form of a spreadsheet-based interface to aid planning personnel in shipment planning under the constraints provided by the inventory control policy.by Syed Zia Abbas Rizvi.M.Eng

Determinants of women’s empowerment in Pakistan: evidence from Demographic and Health Surveys, 2012–13 and 2017–18

Background: Women's empowerment has always remained a contested issue in the complex socio-demographic and cultural milieu of Pakistani society. Women are ranked lower than men on all vital human development indicators. Therefore, studying various determinants of women's empowerment is urgently needed in the Pakistani context. Methods: The study empirically operationalized the concept of women's empowerment and investigated its determinants through representative secondary data taken from the Pakistan Demographic and Health Surveys among women at reproductive age (15-49 years) in 2012-13 (n = 13,558) and 2017-18 (n = 15,068). The study used simple binary logistic and multivariable regression analyses. Results: The results of the binary logistic regression highlighted that almost all of the selected demographic, economic, social, and access to information variables were significantly associated with women's empowerment (p < 0.05) in both PDHS datasets. In the multivariable regression analysis, the adjusted odds ratios highlighted that reproductive-age women in higher age groups having children, with a higher level of education and wealth index, involved in skilled work, who were the head of household, and had access to information were reported to be more empowered. Results of the multivariable regression analysis conducted separately for two empowerment indicators (decision-making and ownership) corroborated the findings of the one indicator of women empowerment, except where ownership did not appear to be significantly associated with number of children and sex of household head in both data sets (2012-13 and 2017-18). Conclusions: A number of social, economic, demographic, familial, and information-exposure factors determine women's empowerment. The study proposes some evidence-based policy options to improve the status of women in Pakistan

Comparative study of peroxidase purification from apple and orange seeds

This paper reports the isolation and purification of peroxidase from low cost material; moreover, no significant work has been done on the isolation and purification of peroxidase from such cost effective sources (apple and orange seeds). Peroxidases had attracted considerable interest in recent years because of their activities towards a wide variety of chromogenic substances. Peroxidase activity in crude extract of apple and orange seeds was measured by recording a spectrophotometric value. Partial purification of crude enzyme extract was done by ammonium sulfate precipitation and ion exchange chromatography. It was observed that after partial purification, the enzyme activity was increased as compared to crude enzyme extract. Peroxidase from orange seed was purified up to 17.17 fold with specific activity of 10.17 U/mg and that from apple seed was 6.82 fold with specific activity of 7.53 U/mg after diethyl amino ethyl (DEAE) cellulose chromatography. It was shown that orange seed peroxidase had more activity than apple seed peroxidase in crude extract and each step of purification. Further purification was obtained through gel filtration chromatography by using sephadex-G-75 column. Peroxidase from orange and apple seeds got purified up to 30.64 and 8.34 fold with their specific activity of 18.16 and 9.20 U/mg, respectively. It is more evident that peroxidase is the most heat stable enzyme; therefore, it is concluded that it may be potentially useful for industrial purposes.Key words: Apple and orange seeds, extraction, peroxidase, purification