Reduction In Path Length Research Articles

Modernization of facility layout design in earthenware craft industry with green productivity approach

Entering the Industrial Revolution 4.0 as of now there are still many earthenware craft industries that are traditional, both in terms of equipment and materials, procedures for making, and layout of facilities. Layout facility is one of many factors to determining factors of level of productivity workers. If arranged more modern, then the work operation becomes more effective and efficient so that the productivity of the industry will increase. The purpose of this research is redesign the layout of the earthenware craft industry facilities which are modern and having good work environment, improve the work quality of the workers, and increase the profitability of the earthenware craft industry itself. The stage of this research starts from determining the alternative layout of the best facilities, analyzing the layout of the facility using the 5S Method, and analyzing the productivity of the facility layout with the concept of Green Productivity. The results achieved from this research are the best facility layout found in alternative 1, where percentage reduction in path length reached 40% of initial layout. 5S analysis results have a positive impact for time of production process earthenware by reduction in processing time is 42,75% and the electricity savings reduce electricity costs 55,02%. Rate of productivity in this earthenware craft industry has increased by 2.31%.

Efficient Path Planning for a Mobile Sink to Reliably Gather Data from Sensors with Diverse Sensing Rates and Limited Buffers

Wireless sensor networks are vulnerable to energy holes, where sensors close to a static sink are fast drained of their energy. Using a mobile sink (MS) can conquer this predicament and extend sensor lifetime. How to schedule a traveling path for the MS to efficiently gather data from sensors is critical in performance. Some studies select a subset of sensors as rendezvous points (RPs). Non-RP sensors send data to the nearest RPs and the MS visits RPs to retrieve data. However, these studies assume that sensors produce data with the same speed and have no limitation on buffer size. When the two assumptions are invalid, they may encounter serious packet loss due to buffer overflow at RPs. In the paper, we show that the path planning problem is NP-complete and propose an efficient path planning for reliable data gathering (EARTH) algorithm by relaxing these impractical assumptions. It forms a spanning tree to connect all sensors and then selects each RP based on hop count and distance in the tree and the amount of forwarding data from other sensors. An enhanced EARTH (eEARTH) algorithm is also developed to further reduce path length. Both EARTH and eEARTH incur less computational overhead and can flexibly recompute new paths when sensors change sensing rates. Simulation results verify that they can find short traveling paths for the MS to collect sensing data without packet loss, as compared with existing methods.

Sexually Dimorphic Effects of Dietary Vitamin D3 Supplementation on Cognition and the Gut Microbiome in Aging Rats (P14-006-19)

ObjectivesIncreasing evidence suggests that vitamin D plays a role in maintaining cognitive function and that vitamin D deficiency may accelerate age-related cognitive decline. Here, we determined if a long-term enhanced vitamin D (VitD3, cholecalciferol) diet, higher than the standard dietary level, maintains or improves cognitive function in aging male and female rats. We also examined if the high VitD3 diet affected the gut microbiome. MethodsBeginning at 12 months of age 20 male and 20 female F344 rats were fed an AIN-93 diet containing either standard (1000 IU/kg diet) or higher (10,000 IU/kg) VitD3 for 6 months. The Morris water maze (MWM) was then used to assess learning and memory. Following the MWM, the gut microbiome from undigested chyme collected from the intestinal cecum was identified and taxonomically classified by Argonne National Laboratory using 16S rRNA sequences. ZRT Laboratory determined 25-(OH)VitD3 levels from cardiac blood. A two-way ANOVA and Tukey post-hoc was used to test for statistical significance. ResultsAfter 3 days of training the probe test on day 4 indicated that the higher VitD3 diet significantly reduced path length and latency (P = 0.01) to the digital platform in females but not males. On day 5 platform location was changed and animals received one day of reversal training. On day 8, three days after reversal training, the reversal probe indicated that higher dietary VitD3 improved performance in males but not females by significantly reducing path length and latency to the digital platform (P < 0.05). Analyses of the cecal microbiome content indicated that for numerous bacteria sex specific differences were present. Further, the Shannon Diversity Index of the gut microbiome indicated a significant treatment effect of higher dietary VitD3 in females (P = 0.01). The higher VitD3 diet significantly elevated 25-(OH)VitD3 blood levels. ConclusionsThese results indicate that a high VitD3 diet may preserve cognitive acuity during aging. Further, VitD3 may have sexually dimorphic effects on memory formation. The present results replicate our previous study that a high VitD3 diet preserves cognition in aging male rats (Latimer et al. 2014). The microbiome showed sexually dimorphic differences and the high VitD3 diet appeared to affect the microbiome in females more than males. The significance of this is not clear. Funding SourcesNIA, NIDDK.

ACOR: Adaptive congestion-oblivious routing in dragonfly networks

Low-diameter network topologies require non-minimal routing to avoid network congestion, such as Valiant routing. This increases base latency but avoids congestion issues. Optimized restricted variants focus on reducing path length. However, these optimizations only reduce paths for local traffic, where source and destination of each packet belong to the same partition of the network. This paper introduces ACOR: Adaptive Congestion-Oblivious Routing. ACOR leverages the restricted and recomputation mechanisms to reduce path length for local and global traffic, and extends it when the network conditions are adverse. ACOR relies on a sequence of misrouting policies ordered by path length. A hysteresis mechanism improves performance and avoids variability in the results. The ACOR mechanism can be combined with other non-minimal routing mechanism such as Piggyback. Results show that ACOR improves base latency in all cases, up to 28% standalone and up to 25.5% when combined with Piggyback, while requiring a simple implementation.

An Advanced Algorithm for Higher Network Navigation in Social Internet of Things Using Small-World Networks

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a recent evolutionary technology that has been the primary focus of researchers for the last two decades. In the IoT, an enormous number of objects are connected together using diverse communications protocols. As a result of this massive object connectivity, a search for the exact service from an object is difficult, and hence the issue of scalability arises. In order to resolve this issue, the idea of integrating the social networking concept into the IoT, generally referred as the Social Internet of Things (SIoT) was introduced. The SIoT is gaining popularity and attracting the attention of the research community due to its flexible and spacious nature. In the SIoT, objects have the ability to find a desired service in a distributed manner by using their neighbors. Although the SIoT technique has been proven to be efficient, heterogeneous devices are growing so exponentially that problems can exist in the search for the right object or service from a huge number of devices. In order to better analyze the performance of services in an SIoT domain, there is a need to impose a certain set of rules on these objects. Our novel contribution in this study is to address the link selection problem in the SIoT by proposing an algorithm that follows the key properties of navigability in small-world networks, such as clustering coefficients, path lengths, and giant components. Our algorithm empowers object navigability in the SIoT by restricting the number of connections for objects, eliminating old links or having fewer connections. We performed an extensive series of experiments by using real network data sets from social networking sites like Brightkite and Facebook. The expected results demonstrate that our algorithm is efficient, especially in terms of reducing path length and increasing the average clustering coefficient. Finally, it reflects overall results in terms of achieving easier network navigation. Our algorithm can easily be applied to a single node or even an entire network.

A Type of Energy-Balanced Tree Based Data Collection Strategy for Sensor Network With Mobile Sink

In order to improve the sensing efficiency of the sensor network, a type of energy-balanced tree-based data collection strategy with mobile Sink (ETDC) is proposed. Based on the minimum cost data gathering tree, several sub-trees with similar scales and small differences in energy consumption are built for data gathering. Moreover, the roots of these sub-trees are regarded as the traversal points, and the moving trajectory of Sink is obtained with the help of these points. In addition, to further reduce energy consumption on communication and the end-to-end delay, roles of some traversal nodes and relay nodes are exchanged. The experimental results show that, compared with the typical mobile Sink based data collection methods such as VGDD and VGDR, ETDC performs well in reducing path length, enhancing the success rate of data transmission, and prolonging the network lifetime.

Alterations in basal ganglia-cerebello-thalamo-cortical connectivity and whole brain functional network topology in Tourette's syndrome.

Tourette Syndrome (TS) is a neuropsychiatric disorder characterized by the presence of motor and vocal tics. Major pathophysiological theories posit a dysfunction of the cortico-striato-thalamo-cortical circuits as being a representative hallmark of the disease. Recent evidence suggests a more widespread dysfunction of brain networks in TS including the cerebellum and going even beyond classic motor pathways.In order to characterize brain network dysfunction in TS, in this study we investigated functional and effective-like connectivity as well as topological changes of basal ganglia-thalamo-cortical and cortico-cerebellar brain networks. We collected resting-state fMRI data from 28 TS patients (age: 32 ± 11 years) and 28 age-matched, healthy controls (age: 31 ± 9 years). Region of interest based (ROI-ROI) bivariate correlation and ROI-ROI bivariate regression were employed as measures of functional and effective-like connectivity, respectively. Graph theoretical measures of centrality (degree, cost, betweenness centrality), functional segregation (clustering coefficient, local efficiency) and functional integration (average path length, global efficiency) were used to assess topological brain network changes.In this study, TS patients exhibited increased basal ganglia-cortical and thalamo-cortical connectivity, reduced cortico-cerebellar connectivity, and an increase in parallel communication through the basal ganglia, thalamus and cerebellum (increased global efficiency). Additionally, we observed a reduction in serial information transfer (reduction in average path length) within the default mode and the salience network.In summary, our findings show that TS is characterized by increased connectivity and functional integration of multiple basal ganglia-thalamo-cortical circuits, suggesting a predominance of excitatory neurotransmission and a lack of brain maturation. Moreover, topological changes of cortico-cerebellar and brain networks involved in interoception may be underestimated neural correlates of tics and the crucial premonitory urge feeling.

Treatment Resort Extended with Modern Feedback Exercises Using Virtual Reality to Improve Postural Control in Patients Aged 65+ with an Increased Risk of Falls. Preliminary Study

Introduction: The aim of the study was to learn the influence of treatment resort extended with modern exercises with feedback using virtual reality for postural control and reducing the risk of falls in people aged 65+. Material and Methods: Seventy four people (46 women, 28 men; aged 65-84) participated for three weeks in spa therapy, which was extended with physical exercises using feedback based on virtual reality to improve postural control and reduce the risk of falls. Postural control tests, “get up and go” test (TUG) and test standing up from the chair for 30 seconds were performed to assess the progress of the therapy. Results: After treatment in the Romberg trial performed on the stabilometric platform with open and closed eyes, a statistically significant improvement in most parameters indicating improved postural control was noted, including reduction of path length and surface area of center of foot pressure (COP), reduction of the length and speed of bowel movements COP in the frontal and sagittal planes. A statistically significant reduction in the time of the TUG test and increase the number of repetitions of standing up from the chair in 30 seconds were also noted. Statistical significance was assumed at the level of p≤0.05. Conclusions: Treatment resort enriched with exercises using virtual reality and feedback contributes to improving postural control and reducing the risk of falls in people aged 65+. The results of the study should be confirmed in high-quality therapeutic experiments, including control groups.

Confinement of mesopores within ZSM-5 and functionalization with Ni NPs for deep desulfurization

Adsorptive desulfurization of transportation fuels can be affected by high diffusion limitations in porous sorbents due to the existence of larger kinetic dimensions of sulfur compounds and aromatics. In this contribution, we explored that metal based hierarchically ZSM-5-based micro-/mesostructures (MMZ) can overcome such scarcities without compromising the desulfurization activity. The mesopores of MMZ reduces path length for diffusion to the zeolite internal sites, and the metals (here, Ni) not only establish strong interactions but also enhances the adsorption configurations. The MMZ was synthesized by subjecting commercial H form ZSM-5 (SiO2/Al2O3 = 28) via sequential dissolution-self-assembly and doped with Ni via ultrasound-assisted impregnation. The samples were characterized by N2 sorption, NH3-TPD, XRD, H2-TPR TEM, SEM, FT-IR, elemental distribution mapping, and XPS techniques. The results revealed that high surface area up to 831 m2.g−1 and well-ordered mesostructures obtained when ZSM-5 was subjected to dissolution in 1.0 mol.L−1 NaOH solution and re-assembly of Al- or Si-containing species using cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) as a template. The sulfur adsorption capacity was improved from 4.8 to 14.1 mg/g after Ni species and up to 10 wt% are highly dispersed over MMZ. The adsorption capacities of samples decrease in the following order 10Ni/MMZ > 5Ni/MMZ > 15Ni/MMZ > MMZ > 10Ni/ZSM-5 and the increased performance may be ascribed to increased surface acidity, well distributed Ni NPs and texture of MMZ. The isotherm data of thiophene adsorption were fitted well by Langmuir isotherm while kinetic study described that the adsorption data followed pseudo-second order model.

A Location Dependent Key Management Method for WSN With Reduced Path Length And Considering Cell Head

A Location Dependent Key Management Method for WSN With Reduced Path Length And Considering Cell Head

Spatial analysis of bus transport networks using network theory

In this paper, we analyze the bus transport network (BTN) structure considering the spatial embedding of the network for three cities, namely, Hong Kong (HK), London (LD), and Bengaluru (BL). We propose a novel approach called supernode graph structuring for modeling the bus transport network. A static demand estimation procedure is proposed to assign the node weights by considering the points of interests (POIs) and the population distribution in the city over various localized zones. In addition, the end-to-end delay is proposed as a parameter to measure the topological efficiency of the bus networks instead of the shortest distance measure used in previous works. With the aid of supernode graph representation, important network parameters are analyzed for the directed, weighted and geo-referenced bus transport networks. It is observed that the supernode concept has significant advantage in analyzing the inherent topological behavior. For instance, the scale-free and small-world behavior becomes evident with supernode representation as compared to conventional or regular graph representation for the Hong Kong network. Significant improvement in clustering, reduction in path length, and increase in centrality values are observed in all the three networks with supernode representation. The correlation between topologically central nodes and the geographically central nodes reveals the interesting fact that the proposed static demand estimation method for assigning node weights aids in better identifying the geographically significant nodes in the network. The impact of these geographically significant nodes on the local traffic behavior is demonstrated by simulation using the SUMO (Simulation of Urban Mobility) tool which is also supported by real-world empirical data, and our results indicate that the traffic speed around a particular bus stop can reach a jammed state from a free flow state due to the presence of these geographically important nodes. A comparison of the simulation and the empirical data provides useful information on how bus operators can better plan their routes and deploy stops considering the geographically significant nodes.

Distributed inference-based multi-robot exploration

This work proposes a technique for distributed multi-robot exploration that leverages novel methods of map inference. The inference technique uses observed map structure to infer unobserved map features. The team then coordinates to explore both the inferred and observed portions of the map. Individual robots select exploration poses by accounting for expected information gain and travel costs. Disputes are settled using local auctions of expected travel costs. The benefits of inference-informed exploration are demonstrated in both simulated explorations and hardware trials. The proposed technique is compared against frontier and information-based exploration approaches with varying numbers of agents and communication strengths. Map inference is evaluated using publicly available sensor datasets. The proposed inference technique improves the correctly estimated subset of the environment by an average of 34.47% (maximum 108.28%) with a mean accuracy of 95.1%. This leads to a 13.15% reduction in the cumulative exploration path length in the trials conducted.

Production layout improvement by using line balancing and Systematic Layout Planning (SLP) at PT. XYZ

PT. XYZ is a wood processing company which produce semi-finished wood with production system is make to order. In the production process, it can be seen that the production line is not balanced. The imbalance of the production line is caused by the difference in cycle time between work stations. In addition, there are other issues, namely the existence of material flow pattern is irregular so it resulted in the backtracking and displacement distance away. This study aimed to obtain the allocation of work elements to specific work stations and propose an improvement of the production layout based on the result of improvements in the line balancing. The method used in the balancing is Ranked Positional Weight (RPW) or also known as Helgeson Birnie method. While the methods used in the improvement of the layout is the method of Systematic Layout Planning (SLP). By using Ranked Positional Weight (RPW) obtained increase in line efficiency becomes 84,86% and decreased balance delay becomes 15,14%. Repairing the layout using the method of Systematic Layout Planning (SLP) also give good results with a reduction in path length becomes 133,82 meters from 213,09 meters previously or a decrease of 37.2%.

Fluorescein Transport Assay to Assess Bulk Flow of Molecules Through the Hypocotyl in Arabidopsis thaliana.

The bulk transport of molecules through plant tissues underpins growth and development. The stem acts as a conduit between the upper and low domains of the plant, facilitating transport of solutes and water from the roots to the shoot system, and sugar plus other elaborated metabolites towards the non-photosynthetic organs. In order to perform this function efficiently, the stem needs to be optimized for transport. This is achieved through the formation of vasculature that connects the whole plant but also through connectivity signatures that reduce path length distributions outside the vascular system. This protocol was devised to characterize how cell connectivity affects the bulk flow of molecules traversing the stem. This is achieved by exposing young seedlings to fluorescein, for which no specific transporter is assumed to be present in A. thaliana, and assessing the relative concentration of this fluorescent compound in individual cells of the embryonic stem (hypocotyl) using confocal microscopy and quantitative 3D image analysis after a given exposure time.

Node localization over small world WSNs using constrained average path length reduction

Small world characteristics have been observed and studied in social networks in the context of information dissemination in important applications like disease spread among communities. However, the significance of small world characteristics in wireless sensor network (WSN) applications has hitherto not been investigated. This work investigates the significance of introducing small world characteristics in a conventional WSN for improving the node localization accuracy. In this context, a novel constrained iterative average path length reduction algorithm is proposed to introduce small world characteristics into a conventional WSN. This method utilizes a novel frequency selective approach for the introduction of small world phenomena. The frequency selective approach utilizes two frequency bands for link addition and pruning to create an optimized small world WSN. Subsequently, a constrained least squares node localization method over the small world WSN is developed using both model-based and model-free signal propagation approaches. The proposed constrained iterative average path length reduction method provides reduced average path length and a high average clustering coefficient when compared to conventional WSN. Constrained least squares node localization over the small world WSN yields improved localization performance when compared to node localization over conventional WSN. Performance analysis in terms of localization error, power consumption, bandwidth and anchors required for node localization is also discussed. Cramer-Rao lower bound analysis for node location parameters is also used to provide insights into the error bounds obtained using the proposed method. The experimental results obtained are motivating enough for the introduction of small world phenomena in conventional WSN for applications like node localization and related applications.

Decreased functional connectivity in schizophrenia: The relationship between social functioning, social cognition and graph theoretical network measures

Schizophrenia is a complex disorder in which abnormalities in brain connectivity and social functioning play a central role. The aim of this study is to explore small-world network properties, and understand their relationship with social functioning and social cognition in the context of schizophrenia, by testing functional connectivity differences in network properties and its relation to clinical behavioral measures. Resting-state fMRI time series data were acquired from 23 patients diagnosed with schizophrenia and 23 healthy volunteers. The results revealed that patients with schizophrenia show significantly decreased connectivity between a range of brain regions, particularly involving connections among the right orbitofrontal cortex, bilateral putamen and left amygdala. Furthermore, topological properties of functional brain networks in patients with schizophrenia were characterized by reduced path length compared to healthy controls; however, no significant difference was found for clustering coefficient, local efficiency or global efficiency. Additionally, we found that nodal efficiency of the amygdala and the putamen were significantly correlated with the independence-performance subscale of social functioning scale (SFC), and Reading the Mind in the Eyes test; however, the correlations do not survive correction for multiple comparison. The current results help to clarify the relationship between social functioning deficits and topological brain measures in schizophrenia.

Topological analysis of multicellular complexity in the plant hypocotyl.

Multicellularity arose as a result of adaptive advantages conferred to complex cellular assemblies. The arrangement of cells within organs endows higher-order functionality through a structure-function relationship, though the organizational properties of these multicellular configurations remain poorly understood. We investigated the topological properties of complex organ architecture by digitally capturing global cellular interactions in the plant embryonic stem (hypocotyl), and analyzing these using quantitative network analysis. This revealed the presence of coherent conduits of reduced path length across epidermal atrichoblast cell files. The preferential movement of small molecules along this cell type was demonstrated using fluorescence transport assays. Both robustness and plasticity in this higher order property of atrichoblast patterning was observed across diverse genetic backgrounds, and the analysis of genetic patterning mutants identified the contribution of gene activity towards their construction. This topological analysis of multicellular structural organization reveals higher order functions for patterning and principles of complex organ construction.

Development and validation of new FTIR method for quantitative analysis of gliclazide in bulk and pharmaceutical dosage forms

A Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrophotometric method was developed for quantitiative analysis of gliclazide in pharmaceutical formulations. The method involves extraction of gliclazide from tablets with chloroform by sonication and the direct measurement of the absorbance in liquid phase using a reduced path length cell. In general the IR spectrum was measured in transmission mode, for quantitation of gliclazide the spectra were measured in absorbance mode. The infrared spectrum of gliclazide shows peaks at 1650 cm -1 , 3400cm -1 , 3000 cm -1 corresponding to the carbonyl group, N-H group, and C-H group respectively. Among which N-H group showed intense, clear peak which is selected for quantitative estimation of gliclazide. The method was validated as per ICH guidelines. The results obtained were compared statistically with the existing HPLC method by t-test which indicated there is no significant difference between the methods at the probability value 0.05. The results demonstrated that the proposed method is accurate, precise while being simple and rapid tool for the determination of gliclazide in bulk and tablet dosage forms.

PTNet: An efficient and green data center network

In recent years, data centers have witnessed an exponential growth for hosting hundreds of thousands of servers as well as to accommodating a very large demand for resources. To fulfill the required level of demand, some approaches tackled network aspects so to host a huge number of servers while others focused on delivering rapid services to the clients by minimizing the path length between any two servers. In general, network devices are often designed to achieve 1:1 oversubscription. Alternatively, in a realistic data center environment, the average utilization of a network could vary between 5% and 25%, and thus the energy consumed by idle devices is wasted. This paper proposes a new parameterizable data center topology, called PTNet. PTNet offers a gradual scalability that interconnects small to large networks covering different ranges of sizes. This new interconnection network provides also a small path length between any two servers even in large sized data centers. PTNet does not only reduce path length and latency, it also uses a power-aware routing algorithm which saves up to 40% of energy with an acceptable computation time. In comparison to existing solutions (e.g. Flatnet, BCube, DCell and Fat-tree), PTNet shows substantial improvements in terms of capacity, robustness, cost-effectiveness and power efficiency: this improvement reaches up to 50% in some cases.

VP146 A Comparative Assessment Of 3D/2D Laparoscopic Display Systems

INTRODUCTION:The purpose of the study was to gather evidence on safety and overall effectiveness of performing laparoscopic surgery by using 3D versus 2D display systems in a variety of pediatric surgical procedures in order to efficiently support the final investment decision on the video system to be acquired.METHODS:A new methodology, that is, Decision-oriented HTA (DoHTA) (1) was applied to assess the technology on clinical, technical, organizational, economic, social, ethical and safety domains. A decision-tree covering all the relevant assessment aspects of 3D systems has been derived and weighted following the Analytic Hierarchy Process. Afterwards, another pairwise comparison list was set up to compare both alternative technologies with respect to every lowest indicator.RESULTS:DoHTA results of the 3D system has mainly forecast its impact on clinical efficacy and productivity within the specific context of use. The 3D system is particularly suitable in reducing the mean error rate, thanks to the stereoscopic depth cues which are lost in 2D vision (2,3) From the technical perspective, the analyses have indicated the reduction in median instrument path length, an enhancement of median motion smoothness, and the decrease in grasper frequency with the 3D display. However, the comparative cost analysis has pointed out that the 3D procedure cost was higher that its comparator.CONCLUSIONS:The assessment of the 3D visual system seems to reasonably satisfy the criteria of feasibility, clinical effectiveness and safety. However, the adoption of the 3D display system in surgical practice could involve increased hospital costs, mainly because of the initial cost of the technology. Indeed, based on the appreciation of the results of DoHTA, especially taking into account the positive technical and clinical features, we conclude that the 3D system may be a good alternative to the 2D system.