Parallel Conversion Research Articles

Privacy: Essentially Contested, a Family Resemblance Concept, or a Family of Conceptions?

The status of the concept of privacy is disputed. In this paper I consider arguments by Daniel Solove, that privacy is a family resemblance concept (in the sense of Wittgenstein, and by Deirdre Mulligan et al that it is an essentially contested concept (in the sense of Gallie). I argue that, although there are good reasons for taking it as a family resemblance concept, that this only explains agreement, not disagreement. Hence the theory will not serve Solove's purposes, and is rather consistent with agreement. Similar considerations suggest that privacy is not a normative concept, and hence that it is cannot be essentially contested. I argue instead that there are multiple conceptions of privacy, and furthermore disagreement about privacy are explained by the existence of parallel conversations about privacy that take place at 7 levels.

Determination of directionality of nonequibiaxial residual stress by nanoindentation testing using a modified Berkovich indenter

Abstract

Research on Video Remote Transmission Technology Based on FPGA

In order to solve the problem of remote transmission technology of high speed digital video in the application process, this paper takes FPGA technology as the core, uses the optical fiber communication, Camera link interface technology, and high-speed serial parallel conversion and so on to provide a technical proposal of a high-speed digital video remote transmission. First of all, this paper overall designs the remote transmission technology of digital video, and then designs its hardware circuit and system control logic, focuses on the specific design of digital video acquisition, high-speed data caching and decoding, data sending and receiving and analog camera data. Finally, the debugging and testing of the experimental transmission technology of the remote digital video are carried out, mainly for the single board debugging, analog transmission experiment, and video transmission experiment, in which the debugging results show that the FPGA minimum system meets the requirements. Transmitting and receiving communication circuit and serial communication circuit of Camera link are correct; high-speed serial parallel conversion chip and SFP peripheral circuit are stable and reliable; simulation experiments show that in the process of image transmission, the pixel clock, line effective, field effective; and the sequence of image data is controlled reasonably, which can well achieve image transmission. The video transmission experiment results show that the transmission technology designed can achieve the remote transmission of digital video.

Blogs as interwoven polylogues

AbstractThis paper looks at blogs as dialogic action games characterized by specific communicative purposes and corresponding language use, as described in the MGM. The assumption is that web-mediated communication is particularly apt to developing simultaneous conversations within and without the scientific community. Using a small-scale study of blog threads originated by well-known economists who write for the academia as well as for the media, I look at how they establish dialogicity and intertextuality in the post and at how they developinterwoven polyloguesin comments, thus engaging participants in parallel conversations, some of which are more clearly oriented to sharing views, while others aim at knowledge dissemination and others still at knowledge construction proper.

Efficiency of the sulfate pathway in comparison to the Δ4- and Δ5-pathway of steroidogenesis in the porcine testis

Sulfonated steroids are increasingly recognized as a circulating reservoir of precursors for the local production of active steroids in certain target tissues. As an alternative to sulfonation of unconjugated steroids by cytosolic sulfotransferases, their direct formation from sulfonated precursors has been described. However, productivity and physiological relevance of this sulfate pathway of steroidogenesis are still widely unclear. Applying the porcine testis as a model, conversion of pregnenolone sulfate (P5S, sulfate pathway) by CYP17A1 was assessed in comparison to the parallel conversions of pregnenolone (P5, Δ5-pathway) and progesterone (P4, Δ4-pathway). To characterize conversions in the virtual absence of competing enzyme activities, in a first series of experiments porcine recombinant CYP17A1 was incubated with the respective substrate in the presence of bovine recombinant cytochrome P450 oxidoreductase (CPR) and cytochrome b5 (b5). Moreover, porcine testicular microsomal fractions were used as a source of homologous CYP17A1, CPR and b5. Invariably 17α-hydroxylation of P5S was, if at all, only minimal and no formation of dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate from P5S was detectable. Consistent with earlier studies porcine CYP17A1 efficiently metabolized P4 and P5 in both assay systems. Metabolism of P4 and P5 by testicular microsomal protein varied substantially between the five animals tested. In conclusion, a physiologically relevant sulfate pathway for the production of C19-steroids from P5S via CYP17A1 is very unlikely in the porcine testis.

The influence of subliminal crosstalk in dementia narratives.

Ethnographic audio-visual research data recorded in a busy dementia care environment were initially considered to be ‘contaminated’ by unwanted background noise. This included a variety of elements: ambient sound, mechanical noise, non-narrative vocalisation and narrative fragments from parallel conversation. Using the methodological lens of conversation analysis, we present an exploration of the striking temporal and sequential resonances between the narrative of one man with dementia and a group of care staff holding a separate conversation some distance away. We suggest that in this and similar settings, where random and intrusive background sounds and conversation form a ubiquitous backdrop, the presence of such ‘noise’ can have a detectable influence on the content and direction of situated narratives. We argue that rather than attempting to filter out these apparently intrusive sounds from micro-interactional data, interference elements can usefully be incorporated into the analysis of interactions.

The architecture of a fault-tolerant modular neurocomputer based on modular number projections

This paper suggests a rather efficient architecture for an error correction unit of a residue number system (RNS) that is based on a redundant RNS (RRNS) and applied in parallel data processing structures owing to its capability to improve information stability in calculations. However, the high efficiency of error correction is still not achieved due to the need in the expensive and complex operators that require substantial computational resources and considerable execution time. The suggested error correction method employs the Chinese remainder theorem (CRT) and artificial neural networks (ANN) that appreciably simplify the process of error detection, localization and correction. The key components of the error correction procedure are optimized using (a) the mixed radix conversion (MRC), i.e., the parallel conversion of the numbers from an RNS into the mixed radix number system (MRNS), and (b) the adaptation of neural networks to different sets of RNS moduli (bases) and also to the modular arithmetic during the computation of modular number projections and the restoration of the correct residue on a faulty module. Therefore, the expensive topological structures of neural networks are replaced with the reconfiguration using the weight coefficients switching. In comparison with the existing CRT-based method of projection calculation, the suggested method yields a 20%–30% reduction in power consumption, yet requiring by 10%–20% less FPGA resources for implementation.

Distributed In-Memory Computing on Binary RRAM Crossbar

The recently emerging resistive random-access memory (RRAM) can provide nonvolatile memory storage but also intrinsic computing for matrix-vector multiplication, which is ideal for the low-power and high-throughput data analytics accelerator performed in memory. However, the existing RRAM crossbar--based computing is mainly assumed as a multilevel analog computing, whose result is sensitive to process nonuniformity as well as additional overhead from AD-conversion and I/O. In this article, we explore the matrix-vector multiplication accelerator on a binary RRAM crossbar with adaptive 1-bit-comparator--based parallel conversion. Moreover, a distributed in-memory computing architecture is also developed with the according control protocol. Both memory array and logic accelerator are implemented on the binary RRAM crossbar, where the logic-memory pair can be distributed with the control bus protocol. Experimental results have shown that compared to the analog RRAM crossbar, the proposed binary RRAM crossbar can achieve significant area savings with better calculation accuracy. Moreover, significant speedup can be achieved for matrix-vector multiplication in neural network--based machine learning such that the overall training and testing time can be both reduced. In addition, large energy savings can be also achieved when compared to the traditional CMOS-based out-of-memory computing architecture.

Steady nanofluid flow with variable fluid possessions over a linearly extending surface: A Lie group exploration

The temperament of stream characteristic, heat and mass transfer of MHD forced convective flow over a linearly expanding porous medium has been scrutinized in the progress exploration. The germane possessions of the liquid like viscosity along with thermal conductivity are believed to be variable in nature, directly influenced by the temperature of flow. As soon as gaining the system of leading equations of the stream, Lie symmetric group transformations have been employed to come across the fitting parallel conversions to alter the central PDEs into a suit of ODEs. The renovated system of ODE with appropriate boundary conditions is numerically solved with the assistance of illustrative software MAPLE 17. The consequences of the relevant factors of the system have been exemplified through charts and graphs. An analogous qualified survey has been prepared among present inquiry and subsisting reads and achieved an admirable accord between them. The variable viscosity parameter has more significant effect on nanofluid velocity than regular fluid and temporal profile as well as nanoparticle concentration is also influenced with variable viscosity.

Implementation of a postoperative handoff protocol

Background: Standardised handoff protocols have become necessary patient safety tools in the perioperative venue. In this study, the authors took a validated standardised perioperative handoff protocol and implemented it into their institution to improve the perioperative handoff communications from the cardiac operating theatres to the ICU.Methods: This was a prospective, unblinded cross-sectional study. During a 6-week pre-intervention phase, 30 perioperative handoffs were observed and data were collected. Then a new structured hand-off protocol was implemented for one month, which focused on training all participating healthcare providers. This was followed by a post-intervention audit consisting of 30 operating room theatre-to-ICU handoffs using the same methodology as the pre-intervention period.Results: Overall attendance significantly increased from 20% to 86.7%. The percentage of parallel conversations decreased from 100% pre-intervention to 60% post-intervention (p < 0.0001). The mean number of i...

Selective Conversion of Lignin-Derivable 4-Alkylguaiacols to 4-Alkylcyclohexanols over Noble and Non-Noble-Metal Catalysts

Recent lignin-first catalytic lignocellulosic biorefineries produce large quantities of two potential platform chemicals, 4-n-propylguaiacol (PG) and 4-n-propylsyringol. Because conversion into 4-n-propylcyclohexanol (PCol), a precursor for novel polymer building blocks, presents a promising valorization route, reductive demethoxylation of PG was examined here in the liquid-phase over three commercial hydrogenation catalysts, viz. 5 wt % Ru/C, 5 wt % Pd/C and 65 wt % Ni/SiO2–Al2O3, at elevated temperatures ranging from 200 to 300 °C under hydrogen atmosphere. Kinetic profiles suggest two parallel conversion pathways: Pathway I involves PG hydrogenation to 4-n-propyl-2-methoxycyclohexanol (PMCol), followed by its demethoxylation to PCol, whereas Pathway II constitutes PG hydrodemethoxylation to 4-n-propylphenol (PPh), followed by its hydrogenation into PCol. The slowest step in the catalytic formation of PCol is the reductive methoxy removal from PMCol. Moreover, under the applied reaction conditions, PCol...

CMOS Rad-Hard Front-End Electronics for Precise Sensors Measurements

This paper reports a single-chip solution for the implementation of radiation-tolerant CMOS front-end electronics (FEE) for applications requiring the acquisition of base-band sensor signals. The FEE has been designed in a $0.35~\mu \text {m}$ CMOS process, and implements a set of parallel conversion channels with high levels of configurability to adapt the resolution, conversion rate, as well as the dynamic input range for the required application. Each conversion channel has been designed with a fully-differential implementation of a configurable-gain instrumentation amplifier, followed by an also configurable dual-slope ADC (DS ADC) up to 16 bits. The ASIC also incorporates precise thermal monitoring, sensor conditioning and error detection functionalities to ensure proper operation in extreme environments. Experimental results confirm that the proposed topologies, in conjunction with the applied radiation-hardening techniques, are reliable enough to be used without loss in the performance in environments with an extended temperature range (between −25 and 125 °C) and a total dose beyond 300 krad.

Adaptable parallel strategy to extract polygons from massive classified images on multi‐core clusters

SummaryIt is always computing intensive and time consuming to extract polygons from massive classified images. Although parallel computing can improve the efficiency of geographical data processing, the performance of the conversion suffers from the trade‐off between data decomposition and result stitching. In this paper, we present an adaptable parallel strategy that accelerates the conversion process on a multi‐core cluster. The strategy improves the method of data decomposition and optimizes task scheduling. In our strategy, an adaptable decomposition method is used to partition raster data according to the data complexity of the raster dataset and computing capability of the computing nodes. Moreover, the hierarchical task scheduling optimizes task allocation and load balance among computing nodes for the procedure of parallel conversion and stitching. We implemented parallel algorithms based on a boundary linking algorithm using the adaptable parallel strategy and compared the performance with the performances of conventional parallel strategies. The results show that the processing time of experimental raster data was reduced from 1362.36 to 165.78 s and that a desirable speedup with the maximal value of 8.23 was achieved. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley &amp; Sons, Ltd.

A New Cascaded Switched-Capacitor Multilevel Inverter Based on Improved Series–Parallel Conversion With Less Number of Components

The aim of this paper is to present a new structure for switched-capacitor multilevel inverters (SCMLIs) which can generate a great number of voltage levels with optimum number of components for both symmetric and asymmetric values of dc-voltage sources. The proposed topology consists of a new switched-capacitor dc/dc converter (SCC) that has boost ability and can charge capacitors as self-balancing by using the proposed binary asymmetrical algorithm and series–parallel conversion of power supply. The proposed SCC unit is used in new configuration as a submultilevel inverter (SMLI) and then, these proposed SMLIs are cascaded together and create a new cascaded multilevel inverter (MLI) topology that is able to increase the number of output voltage levels remarkably without using any full H-bridge cell and also can pass the reverse current for inductive loads. In this case, two half-bridge modules besides two additional switches are employed in each of SMLI units instead of using a full H-bridge cell that contribute to reduce the number of involved components in the current path, value of blocked voltage, the variety of isolated dc-voltage sources, and as a result, the overall cost by less number of switches in comparison with other presented topologies. The validity of the proposed SCMLI has been carried out by several simulation and experimental results.

Notes on Red76's Occupy Yr. Home

'Place setting: notes on Red76's Occupy Yr. Home' is a collaborative piece of writing between Heath Schultz and Sam Gould, primary organiser of the artist group Red76. The piece doubles as a critical review of the Red76 project 'Occupy Yr. Home' – a facilitated conversation in a participant's home around the themes of occupation and the domestic sphere. The text explores problems that plague much participatory art and social practice. Unique to this piece of writing is a parallel conversation (played out in the footnotes) in which Sam responds to Heath's review, offering anecdotes, clarifications, and thoughts. The dialogue within the footnotes suggests divergent viewpoints from the 'authoritative text'. In this way, the experimental form of the piece struggles with the important question of how different experiences of the same event can texture and complicate discourses around participatory art.

Experimental research on intermittent heat pump drying with constant and time-variant intermittency ratio

ABSTRACTThe aim of this article was to estimate the effectiveness of intermittent drying with constant and time-variant intermittency ratio, compared with continuous drying. Intermittent drying was accomplished by periodically changing the heat input and air velocity. To achieve accurate control of drying temperature, a new parallel conversion controller was used. Based on the well-controlled heat pump drying system, the drying kinetics of green soybean were analyzed using seven intermittent drying profiles. The increase of intermittency ratio caused decrease of effective drying time and increase of specific moisture extraction rate (SMER). SMERs of intermittent drying were 1.21–4.94 and 0.93–5.40 times more than the continuous drying for different initial moisture content (23 and 28%), respectively. Changes of drying rate (DR) and SMER became relatively moderate when intermittent drying with time-variant intermittency ratio was used. A comprehensive evaluation parameter, based on DR and SMER, was proposed and calculated. Experimental results indicated that intermittent drying (α = 5/6) and intermittency drying with time-variant ratio gave the best two comprehensive performances.

Implementation and efficiency analysis of parallel computation using OpenACC: a case study using flow field simulations

ABSTRACTThe Open Accelerator (OpenACC) application programming interface is a relatively new parallel computing standard. In this paper, particle-based flow field simulations are examined as a case study of OpenACC parallel computation. The parallel conversion process of the OpenACC standard is explained, and further, the performance of the flow field parallel model is analysed using different directive configurations and grid schemes. With careful implementation and optimisation of the data transportation in the parallel algorithm, a speedup factor of 18.26× is possible. In contrast, a speedup factor of just 11.77× was achieved with the conventional Open Multi-Processing (OpenMP) parallel mode on a 20-kernel computer. These results demonstrate that optimised feature settings greatly influence the degree of speedup, and models involving larger numbers of calculations exhibit greater efficiency and higher speedup factors. In addition, the OpenACC parallel mode is found to have good portability, making it easy to implement parallel computation from the original serial model.

Modeling and experimental verification for non-equibiaxial residual stress evaluated by Knoop indentations

Surface residual stress is usually characterized by two parameters; (1) magnitude and (2) direction of two principal residual stresses. We propose a novel way to evaluate these parameters by instrumented indentation testing (IIT) using a Knoop indenter, which has two-fold symmetry. Non-equibiaxial surface stress causes a shift from residual stress in the force-indentation depth curve of IIT that depends on the Knoop indentation in-plane angle between residual stress and long diagonal of Knoop indenter. We develop a theoretical model to evaluate surface residual stress using only experimental parameters obtained by four Knoop IITs at 45° rotated angles, by introducing mathematical definition of conversion factor, a, which ratio of normal and parallel conversion factors was known as constants (~0.34) on previous studies. We verify this model by Knoop IITs on four metallic cruciform samples in which the surface residual stress is controlled by bending. Experimental results of principal stress and direction show good agreements with applied stress and directions.

Technology for Innovation in Radiation Oncology

Radiation therapy is an effective, personalized cancer treatment that has benefited from technological advances associated with the growing ability to identify and target tumors with accuracy and precision. Given that these advances have played a central role in the success of radiation therapy as a major component of comprehensive cancer care, the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO), the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM), and the National Cancer Institute (NCI) sponsored a workshop entitled "Technology for Innovation in Radiation Oncology," which took place at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland, on June 13 and 14, 2013. The purpose of this workshop was to discuss emerging technology for the field and to recognize areas for greater research investment. Expert clinicians and scientists discussed innovative technology in radiation oncology, in particular as to how these technologies are being developed and translated to clinical practice in the face of current and future challenges and opportunities. Technologies encompassed topics in functional imaging, treatment devices, nanotechnology, and information technology. The technical, quality, and safety performance of these technologies were also considered. A major theme of the workshop was the growing importance of innovation in the domain of process automation and oncology informatics. The technologically advanced nature of radiation therapy treatments predisposes radiation oncology research teams to take on informatics research initiatives. In addition, the discussion on technology development was balanced with a parallel conversation regarding the need for evidence of efficacy and effectiveness. The linkage between the need for evidence and the efforts in informatics research was clearly identified as synergistic.

Cold Days in the cold war on the Hungarian–Serbian border

Tibor Cseres's 1960 novel Cold Days (‘Hideg Napok’. Budapest: Corvina, 2013), and its 1966 film adaptation directed by András Kovács, are two fictionalised treatments of an act of mass violence during the Second World War, that give us a rare glimpse of the political and ethnic fault lines that were covered over during the cold war between Hungarians, Jews and Serbs. This reading of both texts, their reception, and their afterlives in the post-socialist period, focuses on the trope of ‘recognition’, which functions within the texts as the fabric of loose ties that binds a community together, but is also vital to its destruction. On the meta-textual level, it corresponds to the waves of acknowledgement, denial and polarisation that haunt acts of interethnic violence, and the centrality of artistic expressions like Cold Days in navigating these waters. Lastly, parallel conversations in Holocaust Studies, Lukács’ aesthetics of film and recent public debates throughout the region give us a new context to understand these texts in film history and public memory.