Two Fundamental Concepts in Skeletal Parallel Programming

We define the concepts of nesting mode and interaction mode as they arise in the description of skeletal parallel programming systems. We sugegs

Large System Analysis of Game-Theoretic Power Control in UWB Wireless Networks with Rake Receivers

This paper studies the performance of partial-Rake (PRake) receivers in impulse-radio ultrawideband wireless networks when an energy-efficient power control scheme is adopted. Due to the large bandwidth of the system, the multipath channel is assumed to be frequency-selective. By using noncooperative game-theoretic models and large system analysis, explicit expressions are derived in terms of network parameters to measure the effects of self- and multiple-access interference at a receiving access point. Performance of the PRake is compared in terms of achieved utilities and loss to that of the all-Rake receiver.Comment: To appear in the Proceedings of the 8th IEEE International Workshop on Signal Processing Advances in Wireless Communications (SPAWC), Helsinki, Finland, June 17-20, 200

Energy-Efficient Power Control in Impulse Radio UWB Wireless Networks

In this paper, a game-theoretic model for studying power control for wireless data networks in frequency-selective multipath environments is analyzed. The uplink of an impulse-radio ultrawideband system is considered. The effects of self-interference and multiple-access interference on the performance of generic Rake receivers are investigated for synchronous systems. Focusing on energy efficiency, a noncooperative game is proposed in which users in the network are allowed to choose their transmit powers to maximize their own utilities, and the Nash equilibrium for the proposed game is derived. It is shown that, due to the frequency selective multipath, the noncooperative solution is achieved at different signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratios, depending on the channel realization and the type of Rake receiver employed. A large-system analysis is performed to derive explicit expressions for the achieved utilities. The Pareto-optimal (cooperative) solution is also discussed and compared with the noncooperative approach.Comment: Submitted to the IEEE Journal on Selected Topics in Signal Processing - Special issue on Performance Limits of Ultra-Wideband System

Electron beam transfer line design for plasma driven Free Electron Lasers

Plasma driven particle accelerators represent the future of compact accelerating machines and Free Electron Lasers are going to benefit from these new technologies. One of the main issue of this new approach to FEL machines is the design of the transfer line needed to match of the electron-beam with the magnetic undulators. Despite the reduction of the chromaticity of plasma beams is one of the main goals, the target of this line is to be effective even in cases of beams with a considerable value of chromaticity. The method here explained is based on the code GIOTTO [1] that works using a homemade genetic algorithm and that is capable of finding optimal matching line layouts directly using a full 3D tracking code.Comment: 9 Pages, 4 Figures. A related poster was presented at EAAC 201

Flood risk assessment at municipal level in the Tillabéri region, Niger

The Tillabéri region (population 2.7 million, 97,250 km2) is the hinterland of the Niger’s capital city and the second most susceptible region to flooding of the country, with 416 settlements hit from 2008 to 2013. This chapter aims to present the potential benefits of flood risk assessment at municipal scale: a tool that can help local authorities in disaster risk reduction. Risk (R) is considered here a function of Hazard (H), Exposure (E) and Damages (D) according the equation R = H * E * D. Risk is measured using six indicators. The probability in each year to have e rain causing settlement flooding is measured for each municipality using daily rainfall from meteorological stations (1981-2010) and three-hourly Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) datasets by NOAA (1998-2011). Settlements flooded (E), people affected, homes destroyed, fields flooded and livestock killed (D) are sourced from Niger’s early warning system and disaster prevention unit (EWS DP), all errors corrected and units of measurement standardised. From the results, it emerged that 765 settlements have been flooded between 1998 and 2013. Contrary to what one might expect, the floods caused by the swelling of the River Niger hit few settlements. Most of the areas susceptible to flooding are located in the vast Bosso and Maouri dallols, two fossil rivers that run from Mali towards Niger for over 300 km. The right-bank tributaries of the Niger and along the minor hydrographic network are the next most affected areas. 95 settlements were hit more than once and 19 flooded in two or more consecutive years. Seven municipalities out of 41 are at very high or high risk of being flooded. These are crossed by the River Niger or by its main tributaries on the right bank, by the Ouallam intermittent creek or the Bosso dallol. Seven municipalities show damage in three areas (people, dwellings, fields)

Study of RPC gas mixtures for the ARGO-YBJ experiment

The ARGO-YBJ experiment consists of a RPC carpet to be operated at the Yangbajing laboratory (Tibet, P.R. China), 4300 m a.s.l., and devoted to the detection of showers initiated by photon primaries in the energy range 100 GeV - 20 TeV. The measurement technique, namely the timing on the shower front with a few tens of particles, requires RPC operation with 1 ns time resolution, low strip multiplicity, high efficiency and low single counting rate. We have tested RPCs with many gas mixtures, at sea level, in order to optimize these parameters. The results of this study are reported.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures. To be published in Nucl. Instr. Meth. A, talk given at the "5th International Workshop on RPCs and Related Detectors", Bari (Italy) 199

Three New Species Of Bertolonia (melastomataceae) From Espirito Santo, Brazil

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)We describe and illustrate three new species of Bertolonia, all endemic to the state of Espirito Santo, Brazil. Bertolonia duasbocaensis and B. macrocalyx occur close to each other, in the municipalities of Cariacica and Viana. Bertolonia ruschiana has a wider distribution, occurring in the municipalities of Santa Leopoldina, Santa Maria de Jetiba and Santa Teresa. The first two species are classified as critically endangered (CR), and the latter as endangered (EN). We also present an identification key for the species of Bertolonia that occur in Espirito Santo.4CAPESCNPq "Produtividade em Pesquisa" [310717/2015-9, 306852/2013-6]Fundacao O Boticario de Protecao a Natureza [200720074]National Science Foundation [DEB-818399, DEB-1343612]Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq

Two Fatal Intoxications Due to Tramadol Alone: Autopsy Case Reports and Review of the Literature

Since tramadol was marketed, it has been widely prescribed as a pain killer because of its relatively safe profile among opioids. Nevertheless, intoxication can occur: overdose can lead to fatal outcomes mostly in association with other drugs, via the potential interaction with serotonergic antidepressant medications, as well as the potential for increased central nervous system (CNS) depression. Fatal outcomes only attributable to tramadol are a rare entity. In this case report, 2 fatal cases are described due to tramadol stand-alone intoxication with peculiar characteristics. In case 1, gas chromatography - mass spectrometry analysis detected tramadol in all specimens (32 \u3bcg/mL in the heart blood, 23.9 \u3bcg/mL in the femoral blood, 3.3 \u3bcg/mL in the bile, and 1.4 \u3bcg/mL in the urine). No other CNS depressants were detected by toxicological analysis. In case 2, gas chromatography - mass spectrometry analysis detected tramadol in all specimens (7.5 \u3bcg/mL in the heart blood, 5.8 \u3bcg/mL in the femoral blood, and 18 \u3bcg/mL in the urine). No other CNS depressants were detected by toxicological analysis. Review of the literature was performed to clarify the actual knowledge on this topic

BigraphER: rewriting and analysis engine for bigraphs

BigraphER is a suite of open-source tools providing an effi- cient implementation of rewriting, simulation, and visualisation for bigraphs, a universal formalism for modelling interacting systems that evolve in time and space and first introduced by Milner. BigraphER consists of an OCaml library that provides programming interfaces for the manipulation of bigraphs, their constituents and reaction rules, and a command-line tool capable of simulating Bigraphical Reactive Systems (BRSs) and computing their transition systems. Other features are native support for both bigraphs and bigraphs with sharing, stochastic reaction rules, rule priorities, instantiation maps, parameterised controls, predicate checking, graphical output and integration with the probabilistic model checker PRISM