Stored Values Research Articles

Novel Low-Power and Highly Reliable Radiation Hardened Memory Cell for 65 nm CMOS Technology

In this paper, a novel low-power and highly reliable radiation hardened memory cell (RHM-12T) using 12 transistors is proposed to provide enough immunity against single event upset in TSMC 65 nm CMOS technology. The obtained results show that the proposed cell can not only tolerate upset at its any sensitive node regardless of upset polarity and strength, but also recover from multiple-node upset induced by charge sharing on the fixed nodes independent of the stored value. Moreover, the proposed cell has comparable or lower overheads in terms of static power, area and access time compared with previous radiation hardened memory cells.

Flow direction algorithms in a Hierarchical Hexagonal Surface Model

Motivated by the need for hydrologically adaptive representations of urban environments for hydrological modelling, this paper proposes a Hexagonal Hierarchical Surface Model (HHSM) and an equivalent Rectangular Hierarchical Surface Model (RHSM). The HSMs are point-based Level of Detail (LoD) models that store values in array trees. Both HSMs use an intrinsically hierarchical indexing system across both the tree and array components of the data structure, which facilitates neighbourhood operations, adaptive surfaces and multi-level analysis. An investigation of variable resolution flow direction arrays using a mathematically defined cone surface shows that at the highest levels of detail, rotation between LoDs in the HHSM causes significant loss of accuracy if flow directions are restricted to the directions of a cell's neighbours. There is no such effect in the RHSM. These findings suggest unrestricted flow direction algorithms such as D∞ are required for adaptive hexagonal flow direction arrays.

Location analysis of retail stores in Changchun, China: A street centrality perspective

This paper examines the location pattern of various retail stores in Changchun, China. The centrographic method, the nearest neighbor index and the proximity to CBD are used to provide some baseline analyses of their spatial distributions. Major findings are derived from the street centrality indices measured in terms of a node’s closeness, betweenness and straightness on the road network. The kernel density estimation (KDE) converts both store locations and centrality values at nodes to one unit (raster pixel) for correlation analysis. Results indicate that street centrality captures location advantage in a city and plays a crucial role in shaping the intraurban variation of commercial land use intensity. Specifically, specialty stores value various centralities most, followed by department stores, supermarkets, consumer product stores, furniture stores, and construction material stores. Among the stores with correlation coefficients above 0.5, specialty stores favor closeness most, department stores and supermarkets prefer betweenness, and consumer product stores value straightness most.

Neighbor-cell assisted error correction for MLC NAND flash memories

Continued scaling of NAND flash memory to smaller process technology nodes decreases its reliability, necessitating more sophisticated mechanisms to correctly read stored data values. To distinguish between different potential stored values, conventional techniques to read data from flash memory employ a single set of reference voltage values, which are determined based on the overall threshold voltage distribution of flash cells. Unfortunately, the phenomenon of program interference, in which a cell's threshold voltage unintentionally changes when a neighboring cell is programmed, makes this conventional approach increasingly inaccurate in determining the values of cells. This paper makes the new empirical observation that identifying the value stored in the immediate-neighbor cell makes it easier to determine the data value stored in the cell that is being read. We provide a detailed statistical and experimental characterization of threshold voltage distribution of flash memory cells conditional upon the immediate-neighbor cell values, and show that such conditional distributions can be used to determine a set of read reference voltages that lead to error rates much lower than when a single set of reference voltage values based on the overall distribution are used. Based on our analyses, we propose a new method for correcting errors in a flash memory page, neighbor-cell assisted correction (NAC). The key idea is to re-read a flash memory page that fails error correction codes (ECC) with the set of read reference voltage values corresponding to the conditional threshold voltage distribution assuming a neighbor cell value and use the re-read values to correct the cells that have neighbors with that value. Our simulations show that NAC effectively improves flash memory lifetime by 33% while having no (at nominal lifetime) or very modest (less than 5% at extended lifetime) performance overhead.

THE OPTIMAL INFLATION TARGET IN AN ECONOMY WITH LIMITED ENFORCEMENT

We formulate a central bank's problem of selecting an optimal long-run inflation rate as the choice of a distorting tax by a planner who wishes to maximize discounted stationary utility for a heterogeneous population of infinitely lived households in an economy with constant aggregate income and public information. Households are segmented into agents who store value in currency alone and agents who have access to both currency and loans. We show that the optimum inflation rate is positive, because inflation reduces the value of the outside option for credit agents and raises their debt limits.

Adding value to rare tissue samples donated to biobanks: characterisation of breast tissue and primary cell cultures obtained from a female-to-male transgender patient

Biobanks provide a window of opportunity to store and add value to material from rare cases allowing their future use in biomedical research. One such example is the opportunityto obtain good quality tissue from patients undergoing gender re-assignment. Following patient agreement to donate tissue samples to our biobank we catalogued the histological appearance, defined the expression of the hormone receptors ERα, PR, AR and the proliferation marker Ki67, and generated and characterised primary cell cultures in a female to male (FTM) transgender patient referred to our unit for surgery. Immunohistochemistry was performed for ERα, PR and AR and the proliferation marker Ki67. Hormone receptor expression was confined to epithelial cells lining the breast ducts. Ki67 immunoreactivity was sparse indicating little proliferation of luminal epithelium, consistent with normal mammary gland. Cultures of epithelial cells and fibroblasts were derived from surplus tissue. The latter lacked expression of epithelial markers and hormone receptors but exhibited expression of vimentin. Culture of the former on Matrigel saw an outgrowth of more rounded "epithelial-like" cells. Immunofluoresence characterisation showed a mixed phenotype with expression of vimentin and both myoepithelial and luminal epithelial markers. Sporadic weak ERα expression and moderate PR expression was seen. In summary, as well as routinely collecting tissue and blood samples, we have characterised and stored tissue and cells from a FTM transgender patient, adding value to this resource which,available from the Breast Cancer Campaign Tissue Bank for those interested in further studying the biology of FTM transgender tissue.

Custom integrated circuit design for ultrasonic therapeutic CMUT array

This paper presents the design of a highly flexible and programmable transmit beam-former ASIC using a high voltage (HV) 0.35 μm CMOS technology to be flip-chip bonded to a 4 × 4 CMUT array for ultrasound therapeutic applications. However, proposed IC can be used as a transmitter circuitry in color Doppler 3D imaging applications. In our proposed chip, each CMUT element is provided by an 8-bit shift register, an 8-bit comparator, a one-shot circuit with adjustable pulse width, a programmable pulse train generator and a HV pulser circuit. The interface electronics can generate two types of outputs with programmable focusing delays to 16 ultrasound transducer elements in different modes: The first mode is for generating single pulses in which the one-shot circuits adjust the width of the pulses from a few nanoseconds to 650 ns with enough resolution for different operating frequencies of ultrasound transducer. The second one has been considered for generating controllable pulse trains with output frequencies in the range of 1---10 MHz. At final stage the amplitudes of single pulses or pulse trains are increased up to 45 V using HV pulsers. Using an external control system like FPGA, the pulser circuit fires correspondent CMUT element when its stored shift register value is identical with the value of global counter.

Can carbon-trading schemes help to protect China's most diverse forest ecosystems? A case study from Xishuangbanna, Yunnan

Xishuangbanna has been largely transformed from biodiverse natural forests and mixed-use farms into monoculture rubber plantations in just twenty years. This conversion has expanded into forests previously protected by the community and onto marginal sites at high-elevation. Market-based ecosystem payments, especially carbon financing, are potential tools to prevent further forest loss in China. Here, we compare rubber net present value (NPV), carbon sequestration, and seed-plant species diversity for Xishuangbanna given three land-use scenarios: Business-As-Usual (BAU), Economic Oriented Scenario (EOS) and Conservation Oriented Scenario (COS) using a previously published spatial map of rubber profitability. The EOS achieved the greatest rubber profit but caused substantial reductions in natural forest area, biodiversity and carbon stocks. The EOS also requires substantial immigration of workers into a remote and ecologically important region with little social infrastructure for basic security, food security, health-care and education, causing frequently ignored costs. As expected, the COS will maintain the highest levels of natural forest area, sequester 57% more carbon, and 71% more biodiversity than EOS. Given the conservation value of the carbon stores and rich biodiversity residing in Xishuangbanna's natural forests, reducing rubber NPV only marginally would probably cost less than attempting to recover these resources. We recommend that rubber plantations be limited to established, productive lowland areas whilst protecting intact high-elevation forest and reforesting low-productivity plantations. These actions will enhance carbon sequestration and biodiversity conservation. Management policies focused solely on profits, like the EOS scenario, will fail to sustain the entire range of natural resources and ecosystem services. The prices in the carbon market would have to be considerably larger than they are currently to compete with the profitability of rubber.

Effect of religious context on the content of visual hallucinations in individuals high in religiosity

This study investigated the interaction between the current environment and personality factors associated with religiosity in determining the content of false perceptions (used as a model for hallucinations). A primed word-detection task was used to investigate the effect of a ‘religious’ context on false perceptions in individuals scoring highly on religiosity. After a subliminal prime, participants viewed letter strings, and stated any words that they saw. The prime and the actual words could have a religious connotation or not. Participants measuring high on religiosity were more likely to report false perceptions of a religious type than participants low on religiosity. It is suggested that context affects the content of false perceptions through the activation of stored beliefs and values, which vary between individuals, offering a mechanism for the effect of context on idiosyncratic content of hallucinations in schizophrenia. The effect of context and individual differences on false-perception content in the current study provides possibilities for future work regarding the underlying nature of hallucinations and their treatment.

Una aproximación a Big Data

Big Data puede ser considerada como una tendencia en el avance de la tecnología que ha abierto la puerta a un nuevo enfoque para la comprensión y la toma de decisiones, que se utiliza para describir las enormes cantidades de datos (estructurados, no estructurados y semi- estructurados) que sería demasiado largo y costoso para cargar una base de datos relacional para su análisis. Así, el concepto de Big Data se aplica a toda la información que no puede ser procesada o analizada utilizando herramientas o procesos tradicionales. En términos generales, Big Data y los procesos que dicha técnica representa tiene un amplio espectro de aplicaciones potenciales. El mayor desafío para la inversión en Big Datas se produce con relación a los proyectos vinculados a la toma de decisiones sobre una gran cantidad de datos en la toma de decisiones, definición de estrategias y la obtención de mejores experiencias sobre los actos de consumo de las personas. El desafío de Big Data consiste en capturar, almacenar, buscar, compartir y agregar valor a los datos poco utilizados o inaccesibles hasta la fecha. No es relevante el volumen de datos o su naturaleza. Lo que importa es su valor potencial, que sólo las nuevas tecnologías especializadas en Big Data pueden explotar. En última instancia, el objetivo de esta tecnología es aportar y descubrir un conocimiento oculto a partir de grandes volúmenes de datos.Overall Big Data can be seen as a trend in the advancement of technology has opened the door to a new approach to understanding and decision making, which is used to describe huge amounts of data (structured, unstructured and semi-structured) it would take too long and would be costly to load a relational database for analysis. So that, the concept of Big Data applies to all information that can»t be processed or analyzed using traditional tools or processes. Broadly, Big Data has a broad spectrum of potential applications. The biggest challenge for investment in Big Data is provided with adequate and trained to execute these projects and make a large amount of data into decisions, strategies and best consumer experiences people. The Challenge of Big Data is to capture, store, search, share, and add value to underutilized or inaccessible data to date and one of the interesting aspects of Big Data is that businesses and this kind of data stored on a key that is not yet been given the appropriate interpretation. No data volume or nature that matters, but their potential value, which only art technologies of Big Data may explode. Ultimately, the aim with this technology is to discover hidden knowledge from large volumes of data.

How do SMEs bond to their retailers through value creation?

Given that low-cost imports have reached a global scale, domestic retailers tend increasingly to favor imported goods at the cost of local suppliers. Because this may seriously hurt the competitive position of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), this study seeks to find out how SMEs can create customer value to their retailers and differentiate themselves as competitive suppliers. The results indicate that store sales people make clear differences even between their existing suppliers. The value-creation activities and behaviors, which help store sales people to keep their promises and enhance their personal sales prospects, turn out to be the most differentiating factor in relation to nearest competitors. As to any supplier-specific customer satisfaction, customer relationship factors seem to explain the biggest differences between suppliers. Customer loyalty in turn implies a shift towards product/delivery/price factors, indicating that in the long run the perceived value of store sales people is subject to suppliers’ product strategy and price competitiveness.

디지털 운행기록장치의 운행기록 데이터 디지털 인증 시스템

본 논문에서는 디지털 운행기록장치로부터 수집된 운행기록 데이터에 대한 효율적인 디지털 인증이 가능한 시스템을 제안하였다. 국내의 경우 수집된 운행기록 데이터가 위변조 되지 않은 신뢰성 있는 정보인지를 판단할 수 있는 방안이 마련되어 있지 않다. 제안하는 방법은 전자서명을 이용하여 전송된 운행기록 데이터가 위변조 되지 않았음을 증명할 수 있다. 디지털 인증을 위한 서명 값 생성은 운행기록 데이터의 해시 값을 구하여 전자서명 생성키로 생성한다. 그리고 데이터 위변조에 대한 확인은 전자서명 값으로부터 전자서명 검증키를 사용하여 해시 값을 구하여 보관된 해시 값과 일치 여부 확인을 통해 이루어진다. 제안하는 방법은 시스템 구현 및 실험을 통하여 운행기록 데이터에 대한 신뢰성을 보장함을 확인하였다. In this paper, we proposed an efficient digital authentication service system for the vehicle data collected from digital tachograph. In domestic, There is no method available to verify that information has not been forged and reliable information for collected vehicle data. The proposed method in this paper can prove transmitted vehicle data that have not been forged using the signature value. The signature value of digital authentication is produced with the digital signature generation key after obtaining the hash value of vehicle data. It is achieved through checking the stored hash value and the hash value match that is obtained with the digital signature verification key from the digital signature value. We confirmed the proposed system can ensure reliability of vehicle data through the system implementation and experiment.

Factors influencing consumer behaviour towards store brands: evidence from the French market

PurposeThis paper aims to investigate how consumer and image factors as well as store familiarity influence store brand (SB) purchase behaviour. SBs are now widely offered by European mass retailers. However, consumer behaviour toward SBs is not yet clearly understood in all European markets.Design/methodology/approachThe authors analysed data collected from 266 respondents and used structural equation modelling to test the main hypotheses. They then carried out ANOVA and MANOVA analyses to test the effect of store familiarity on SB purchase behaviour.FindingsResults indicate that store image perceptions, SB price‐image, value consciousness, and SB attitude have significant and positive influence on SB purchase behaviour. Store familiarity positively influences SB choice, but not SB purchase intention. None of the socio‐demographic variables (age, gender, household income, and family size) included as control variables have an effect on SB choice.Research limitations/implicationsThe study is limited because it did not account for the effect of product categories on SB purchase behaviour. Consequently, results cannot be determined for different product categories. It would also be appropriate to measure SB choice in a more concrete way, such as using scanner data.Practical implicationsFindings highlight the importance of value consciousness, store image perceptions, and SB price‐image on SB purchase behaviour. They also show greater popularity of SB products among consumers, including those with high household income.Originality/valueThere is increased value to retailers in studying how consumer and image factors jointly influence SB purchase behaviour, whilst also accounting for store familiarity instead of brand familiarity.

Retail brand equity: a model based on its dimensions and effects

Brand equity has been recognized as a key variable in both the academic and professional literature. This article aims to deepen the nature of the retailer equity construct and identify the variables that contribute to its formation, proposing an integrative model based on their dimensions and effects. From an empirical perspective, a survey is carried out with 300 consumers in three retailer categories, in order to analyze the relationships of the model. Due to the formative nature of two of the constructs, the analysis is developed through the partial least squares technique. From the analysis of the results, the importance of store image, perceived store value, and store awareness are seen as retailer equity dimensions. Additionally, this study confirms the relationship between retailer equity and the satisfaction–loyalty chain of effects.

Investigation of Approaching Ocean Flow and its Interaction with Land Internal Boundary Layer

The Alcântara Launch Center is located near the Brazilian Northeastern coastline downwind of a cliff 40 m high. Furthermore, the flow transition from open ocean past by the coastline generated an internal boundary layer (IBL) due to the roughness step change. The flow is mainly driven by the Trades, although the interaction with land-sea circulation may not be negligible. These features modify the ocean wind ocean profile as measured over land at the coastal site. We present here an ongoing research aiming to characterize the wind profile, which would serve as input flow profile in wind tunnel experiments and for gas dispersion studies. We analyzed the data of wind speed and direction collected between 1995 and 1999 by six aerovanes mounted in a 70-m height tower located about 200 m downwind the cliff. To study the diurnal and annual patterns of the wind profile the stored mean values of 10 min were monthly and hourly averaged. A simple estimate of the IBL height by assuming a dependence on the upwind distance of the shore as suggested in the literature were carried out. IBL height ranges from 30 to 40 m at tower location and being higher between 10 and 15 Local Time (LT). The wind profile power-law shows an alpha exponent greater (up to 0.35) than those encountered in the literature (about 0.10–0.11) for open ocean wind profile. The step change in the surface roughness cannot alone explain such a change in the alpha exponent. Other causes such as temperature step change and the cliff elevation certainly play a role to be still addressed.

Payment Systems, Consumer Tragedy, and Ineffective Remedies

Payment methods like the Starbucks Rewards Card, while imitating liquidity, are challenged by confidence-detracting barriers of too little consumer knowledge and a lack of appropriate remedies. Starbucks operates as a non-banking firm performing an essential banking function – the storage of money for consumers to later use. Consumers are rarely well informed of the nature of this transaction and the relief that may be available when contracting for a future sale. Recent congressional action (CAFA) limiting class action lawsuits to Federal Court significantly limits traditional consumer relief while the bankruptcy code provides little relief should the merchant find itself insolvent. All the while, consumers continue to entrust more than $1 billion each year for merchants to hold with no guarantee that the credits will be honored, few enforcement mechanisms to force merchants to do so, and little relief if the company files bankruptcy. Using the metaphor of consumption gentrification, this Article re-conceptualizes the stored value cards problem as a confluence between fair dealing and risk allocation. In doing so, the Article suggests several avenues of relief, but proposes comprehensive reform that incorporates commercial policy, regulatory oversight, and social consumer awareness.

Jobcast ^|^mdash; Parallel and distributed processing framework Data processing on a cloud style KVS database

In this paper, we propose a new architecture for parallel and distributed processing framework, gJobcasth, which enables data processing on a cloud style KVS database. Nowadays, lots of KVS (as known as Key Value Store) systems exist which achieve high scalability for data spaces among a huge number of computers. Some of KVS implementations use gconsistent hashh algorithm to identify the backend data node to store a pair of key and value. Jobcast also uses consistent hash algorithm for a distribution strategy and has a capability to store key and value pairs into huge number of computers as a KVS system. Furthermore, Jobcast also distributes gjobsh into data nodes for parallel and distributed processing. In this paper, we introduce a basic architecture of Jobcast and evaluate a data processing performance for a typical example.

The Loyalty Determinant Attributes of Store Brands in Food and Grocery in Indian Retailing-An Empirical Study in Twin Cities of Hyderabad

This paper which is an exploratory study, focuses on the important factors responsible for enhancing the customer perceptions about store brands in food and grocery sector in the twin cities of Hyderabad, India. The customer perceptions associated with store brand quality, value and retailer’s response towards customers feelings would boost the regular purchase attitude of the well satisfied consumers. Understanding the customers and evaluating the customers’ impressions about the store and the store brands is a continuous process which in turn produce fruitful results to the retailers. This paper identifies the critical dimensions of store brand purchase intention in food &grocery in Indian retailing context.

An optimized link state routing protocol based on a cross layer design for wireless mesh network

Analysis of routing in Mesh Network reveals that Proactive routes are fast but suffers vulnerability of route failure under high mobility. Reactive routes on the other hand add extra overhead in the network for obtaining a route before every communication session. As Link state routing provides a Network Map at each node, It is well suited for a mesh network. However due to uncertain demand in the mesh network, link states needs frequent updation and refreshing. A refreshing phase halts current session thus adding latency to the session. In order to avoid this pitfall we propose a unique Cross layer Based Link State Routing for Mesh network. Nodes keep monitoring the link quality as an when a packet is received in a link. Signal to Noise Ratio and Received power is measured at the MAC layer. Any change in the stored value raises an event which is read directly by the network layer. Once Network layer gets the notification, it automatically updates the route table entry with new metric values. Thus there is no specific refresh phase and nodes automatically update the links and route cache. Once a node realizes that the link quality with its next hop has degraded and a better one is available, it opts a handover of the connection called vertical handover. Thus proposed system provides seamless connectivity under varying load and mobility.

A Digital Pathway to Financial Inclusion

Payments are the connective tissue of an economic system. They enable people to buy goods, purchase water and electricity, and send money to friends, family, and business partners. They enable governments to collect taxes and disburse social payments. And they enable suppliers to collect payments from buyers. When these transactions are costly and inconvenient, economic activity is impeded. Wealthy households live their financial lives embedded in a digital financial system which “greases the wheels” of their economic activity by making it cheap and easy for them send and receive payments. Their money sits in a virtual account as ones and zeroes on a server where it can be transferred with the click of a button. In contrast, 2.5 billion people – most of them poor – are cut off from that system. They store and transfer value through physical assets, such as cash, jewelry, or livestock. We describe how the cash-digital divide creates stark inequities in the financial lives of poor households. We depict what digital financial inclusion would look like and present a growing body of evidence which suggests that connecting poor people to an integrated digital financial system will generate sizable welfare benefits. We argue that countries will not bridge the cash-digital divide in one giant leap. Instead, they will likely pass through four stages of market development along the pathway to an inclusive digital economy. The commercial assets required to navigate this pathway vary across the four stages. Financial regulations and business models must therefore be calibrated to harness those assets at each stage.