bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Comparison of the Epilepsy Surgery Programs in Cartagena, Colombia, and Zürich, Switzerland
Authors: Tureczek Isabell E. , Fandiño‐Franky Jaime , Wieser Heinz‐Gregor
Published: August 2005

Summary: The organization, financing, productivity, quality of work, and cost‐effectiveness of the Epilepsy Center in Cartagena, Colombia, were studied and compared with the epilepsy surgery program at the University Hospital Zürich, Switzerland. During a 2‐month visit, one of the authors (I.T.) evaluated the center in Cartagena as a welfare institution and evaluated its epilepsy surgery program. The postoperative results of the Cartagena program were compared with those reported at the Second International Palm Desert Conference 1992, which revealed a similar rate of postoperative seizure control in temporal lobe epilepsy, slightly inferior results with hemispherectomy, and slightly better results with anterior callosotomy. A comparison between the two epilepsy centers showed that pre‐and postoperative antiepileptic drug treatment is more restricted in Colombia because of high costs. Although important diagnostic tools such as electroencephalography, seizure monitoring, neuropsychology, computed tomography, and magnetic resonance imaging are available in both centers, the Zürich program also has access to positron emission tomography, single photon emission computed tomography, magnetic resonance spectroscopy, and intracarotid and selective amobarbital tests. The postoperative seizure outcome is similar in surgical temporal lobe epilepsy patients (temporal lobectomy series, Cartagena; selective amygdalohippocampectomy series, Zürich). The comparison of direct costs of epilepsy surgery in Cartagena and Zürich showed that for the average patient undergoing epilepsy surgery in Cartagena, the cost is 5·5% of that in Zürich. This study presents evidence that epilepsy surgery is an inexpensive and efficient treatment option for epilepsy patients in developing countries. Epilepsy surgery in developing countries may even be considered at an early stage in patients who cannot afford the costs of lifetime medical treatment but can afford the one‐time cost of a surgical treatment.
Predictive Clinical Factors for the Differential Diagnosis of Childhood Extratemporal Seizures
Authors: Fogarasi András , Tuxhorn Ingrid , Hegyi Márta , Janszky József
Published: August 2005

Summary:  Purpose: To describe predictive clinical factors for the differentiation between childhood frontal lobe epilepsy (FLE) and posterior cortex epilepsy (PCE).

Methods: Two independent, blinded investigators analyzed 177 seizures from 35 children (aged 11 months to 12 years) with extratemporal epilepsy selected by postoperative seizure‐free outcome. Semiologic seizure components and different periictal signs were observed. Age at onset, auras, seizure frequency, and nocturnal dominance, as well as surgical and histopathologic data, were collected from medical charts.

Results: Twenty patients had FLE, and 15 had PCE. Patients from both groups had daily seizures without significant differences in frequency but with higher nocturnal dominance in children with FLE (p < 0.05). Visual aura, nystagmus, and versive seizure were observed exclusively in the PCE group, whereas somatosensory aura and hypermotor seizures appeared only in FLE. Tonic seizures were significantly more frequent in FLE (p < 0.01), whereas the presence of clonic seizure (FLE; p = 0.07) and postictal nose‐wiping (PCE; p = 0.05) showed only a trend to localize the seizure‐onset zone. Myoclonic seizures, epileptic spasms, psychomotor seizures, atonic seizures, oral and manual automatisms, as well as vocalization and eye deviation appeared in both groups without significant differences in their frequency.

Conclusions: Characteristic features described in adults' extratemporal epilepsies were frequently missing during childhood seizures, especially in infants and preschool children. Ictal features help only a little in differentiating childhood FLE from PCE. Nocturnal appearance and the type of aura have high localizing value; therefore an accurate history taking is still an essential element of pediatric presurgical evaluation.
Field Implementation of RBI for Jacket Structures
Authors: Faber Michael Havbro , Sørensen John D. , Tychsen Jesper , Straub Daniel
Published: August 2005

After a brief outline of the simplified and generic approach to reliability- and risk-based inspection planning, focus is set on a recent application of the methodology for the planning of in-service NDT inspections of fixed offshore steel jacket structures in the Danish part of the North Sea. The study includes a sensitivity analysis performed for the identification of relevant generic parameters such as the bending to membrane stress ratio, the design fatigue life, and the material thickness. Based on the results of the sensitivity analysis, a significant number of inspection plans were computed for fixed generic parameters (predefined generic plans) and a database named iPlan was developed from which inspection plans may be obtained by interpolation between the predefined generic plans. The iPlan database facilitates the straightforward production of large numbers of inspection plans for structural details subject to fatigue deterioration, as illustrated by an example in the paper.
Nonlinear Roll Damping of Ship Motions in Waves
Authors: Wu Xiaorong , Tao Longbin , Li Yuanlin
Published: August 2005

Nonlinear roll damping has a profound influence on ship motions and stability in ocean waves. In this study, an experimental investigation is conducted on the nonlinear roll damping of a ship in regular and irregular waves. The random decrement method, previously used in linear roll damping prediction, is extended to nonlinear roll damping estimation in the data process. The accuracy of the nonlinear roll damping obtained by using the random decrement method is found to be dependent on the values of the threshold and segment number.
Magnetic metal etching with organic based plasmas. I. CO∕H2 plasmas
Authors: Orland A. S. , Blumenthal R.
Published: August 2005

The chemical processes within high-density CO∕H2 plasmas are examined using supersonic pulse, plasma sampling mass spectrometry. The principle chemistry observed is consistent with a Fischer–Tropsch process and results in the formation of primarily formic acid and a C2O2Hx species tentatively identified as ethenediol. The high-density plasmas used are shown to etch nickel.
Lateral tunneling injection and peripheral dynamic charging in nanometer-scale Schottky gates on AlGaN/GaN hetrosturucture transistors
Authors: Kotani Junji , Kasai Seiya , Hashizume Tamotsu , Hasegawa Hideki
Published: August 2005

The gate leakage and gate control characteristics of AlGaN/GaN heterostructure field effect transistors (HFETs) were systematically investigated in an attempt to clarify possible effects of surface states. The experiments were compared to rigorous computer simulations. We observed large amounts of leakage currents in the Schottky diodes fabricated on the AlGaN epitaxial layers. By the calculation based on a thin surface barrier model in which the effects of surface defect donor were taken into account, this large leakage was well explained by enhancement of tunneling transport processes due to the barrier thinning associated with ionization of surface-defect donor. On the other hand, the analysis on the current-voltage characteristics for the nanometer-scale Schottky contacts on AlGaN/GaN HFETs, indicated additional lateral leakage components. The comparison of the gate control characteristics between experiment and calculation clearly showed that the effective lateral expansion of gate length significantly impeded the gm enhancement by the reduction of geometrical gate length. This can be explained by the lateral electron tunneling process at the AlGaN surface stimulated by the pronounced gate leakage currents. Due to frequent tunneling transfer at the gate periphery, surface state occupancy near the gate becomes governed by the metal Fermi level, causing the dynamic surface state charging effects. This resulted in effective widening of the gate length, leading to degradation of gate control performance in AlGaN/GaN HFETs.
Gray-scale photolithography using maskless exposure system
Authors: Totsu Kentaro , Esashi Masayoshi
Published: August 2005

Three-dimensional (3D) photoresist patterns of which shape is precisely controlled are fabricated using a gray-scale photolithography. We utilize a maskless exposure system to achieve the precise gray-scale photolithography at low cost. Multilayered exposure patterns digitally generated by the maskless exposure system are superposed on a photoresist-coated substrate layer by layer. Changing the exposure patterns and the exposure parameters such as the exposure time and the scanning speed of the stage of each exposure make the precise control of the profile of UV dose possible. The exposure process does not require any hard masks such as expensive gray-scaled hard masks; therefore, a fabrication of variable 3D patterns at low cost can be achieved, which is an advantage for developing microelectromechanical systems devices. A spherical and an aspherical microlens and its arrayed patterns of 100μm in diameter and 6μm in height are fabricated by a superposition of sixteen-layered exposure patterns. The profile of the fabricated microlens pattern deviates from that of the designed microlens pattern by less than 0.2μm.
Kinetic lattice Monte Carlo simulations of germanium epitaxial growth on the silicon (100) surface incorporating Si–Ge exchange
Authors: Akis R. , Ferry D. K.
Published: August 2005

We present kinetic lattice Monte Carlo simulations of Ge deposition onto the Si (100) surface. In addition to the anisotropy brought on by surface reconstruction, we take into account the effects of the exchange of Ge with Si atoms in the substrate and how this affects the interface between the materials. For this, we consider two possible mechanisms: (1) a dimer exchange mechanism whereby Ge–Ge dimers on the surface become intermixed with substrate Si atoms, and (2), in the case of more than one monolayer of coverage, the exchange of Ge atoms below the surface to relieve misfit strain. The former mechanism results in only a small percentage of Si atoms being elevated to the first adsorbed monolayer, which settle at random locations on the surface. Beyond one monolayer, the latter mechanism strongly dominates what occurs and the reconstruction leads to some segregation of the Si and Ge atoms below the surface.
Role of thin InP cap layer and anion exchange reaction on structural and optical properties of InAs quantum dots on InP (001)
Authors: Sakuma Y. , Takeguchi M. , Takemoto K. , Hirose S. , Usuki T. , Yokoyama N.
Published: August 2005

Structural and optical properties of InAs quantum dots (QDs) or InP (001) substrates were studied during low-pressure metalorganic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD), using photoluminescence (PL) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). To clarify how the properties of QDs can be controlled through surface reactions, two kinds of source gas supply sequence were compared. With a double-capping procedure, PL changed into a series of multiple peaks arising from different integer numbers of InAs monolayers. PL studies revealed that the spectra of double-capped samples are not affected by a long phosphine (PH3) exposure during growth interruption, indicating reactions relevant to arsenic (As)/phosphorus (P) exchange at the QD surface is self-limited. TEM observations clarified that the shape of double-capped QDs dramatically changes into a thin plate-shape with flat upper and lower interfaces while the density of QDs remains unchanged. In contrast, under the normal capping procedure, the structural and optical properties on QDs are sensitive to the duration of PH3 before InP capping. Results suggest that As/P exchange is not self-limiting, leading to decreased QD density and enlarged QD diameters. We discuss the role the thin InP initial cap layer plays in the anion exchange reaction during the double-capping procedure and the technical importance of controlling the emission wavelength of QDs.
Atomic diffusion and band lineups at In0.53Ga0.47As-on-InP heterointerfaces
Authors: Smith P. E. , Goss S. H. , Gao M. , Hudait M. K. , Lin Y. , Ringel S. A. , Brillson L. J.
Published: August 2005

We have used secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS), cathodoluminescence spectroscopy (CLS), and an analysis of secondary electron thresholds (SETs) to determine how extended anion soaks during molecular beam epitaxial (MBE) growth transitions affect band lineups at the lattice-matched In0.53Ga0.47As-on-InP interface. Growth transitions consisting of 20–150 As soaks result in SIMS-measured interfacial broadening of up to 8 nm. By monitoring SETs across an in situ cleaved InP∕In0.53Ga0.47As∕InP double heterostructures, we measure a type I conduction-band offset of 190±30meV at an abrupt InGaAs-on-InP interface. For diffused structures exposed to long As soak times, we observe an effective decrease of ΔEc by up to 210±40meV. The changes in InGaAs and InP CL intensities are consistent with both the SET-measured decrease in conduction-band offset and an increase in nonradiative recombination at the diffused InGaAs-on-InP interface.
Using Ni masks in inductively coupled plasma etching of high density hole patterns in GaN
Authors: Hsu David S. Y. , Kim Chul Soo , Eddy Charles R. , Holm Ronald T. , Henry Richard L. , Casey J. A. , Shamamian V. A. , Rosenberg A.
Published: August 2005

High density patterns of holes in metalorganic chemical vapor deposition grown GaN films on sapphire have been fabricated by inductively coupled plasma etching using a nickel mask. Pattern transfer from the e-beam lithographically patterned resist to the nickel etch mask was accomplished by ion beam milling. A Cl2–BCl3 inductively coupled plasma was used to anisotropically etch patterns of 200–250-nm-diam holes with 300nm center-to-center spacing through the entire thickness of a 265-nm- and a 300-nm-thick GaN film. This work demonstrates a pattern transfer technique to Ni by ion beam milling and Ni as a durable etch mask under a chlorine environment for high density patterning of GaN films.
Selective wet etching of InGaAs∕InGaAsP in HCl∕HF∕CrO3 solution: Application to vertical taper structures in integrated optoelectronic devices
Authors: Huang Hui , Wang Xingyan , Ren Xiaomin , Wang Qi , Huang Yongqing
Published: August 2005

The etching characteristics of In0.53Ga0.47As and In0.72Ga0.28As0.6P0.4, which are lattice matched to the InP substrate, in HCl∕HF∕CrO3 solution were studied by using the dynamic etch mask technique. For the solution with HCl∕HF∕CrO3 volume ratio of x: 0.5: 1, the etching selectivity decreases from 42.4 to 1.5 for In0.53Ga0.47As∕In0.72Ga0.28As0.6P0.4 with HCl∕CrO3 volume ratio x increasing from 0 to 1.0. The selective etching was experimentally applied to the fabrication of vertical taper structures with angles ranging from 1.35° to 33.7° on the In0.72Ga0.28As0.6P0.4 epitaxial layer, and surface roughness of the etched taper was <1.6nm. The etching behavior can be explained in a combined electroless and chemical etching mechanism.
Structural and electrical investigation of high temperature annealed As-implanted Si crystals
Authors: Bocchi C. , Felisari L. , Catellani A. , Cicero G. , Germini F. , Gombia E. , Mosca R. , Nasi L. , Mukhamedzhanov E. Kh. , Chuev M. A. , Privitera V. , Camalleri M. , Calì D.
Published: August 2005

Si wafers implanted at 80keV with different As doses, and next annealed at different temperatures for different times, were studied by means of x-ray triple crystal diffraction, x-ray standing wave, transmission electron microscopy, spreading resistance profile, and electrochemical C-V profiling methods. The implantation processes produced heavily damaged subsurface regions hundreds of nanometers deep. By fitting both the x-ray diffraction curves and the x-ray standing wave photoelectron emission profiles, it was possible to determine the most appropriate strain and atomic static displacement behavior versus depth within the disturbed region of the crystal. The results obtained by x-ray diffraction measurements were confirmed by transmission electron microscopy investigations. Therefore, making use of different structural and electrical characterization techniques it was possible to find: (i) the depth of amorphization of the implanted regions, (ii) the appearance of extended defects (dislocation loops band) during the restoration of the lattice by the annealing processes and the dependence of their size and density on the implant dose and the annealing time and temperature, (iii) the dopant profiles versus depth as a function of the implant dose and the annealing parameters, (iv) the effect on the total strain of the doping induced variation of the conduction band minima. The experimental evidence of a screen electronic effect on the As+–Si distance in the restored crystal lattice was confirmed by ab initio calculations.
Scanning tunneling microscopy single atom/molecule manipulation and its application to nanoscience and technology
Authors: Hla Saw-Wai
Published: August 2005

Single atom/molecule manipulation with a scanning-tunneling-microscope (STM) tip is an innovative experimental technique of nanoscience. Using a STM tip as an engineering or analytical tool, artificial atomic-scale structures can be fabricated, novel quantum phenomena can be probed, and properties of single atoms and molecules can be studied at an atomic level. The STM manipulations can be performed by precisely controlling tip–sample interactions, by using tunneling electrons, or electric field between the tip and sample. In this article, various STM manipulation techniques and some of their applications are described, and the impact of this research area on nanoscience and technology is discussed.
The complexity of nurses’ attitudes toward euthanasia: a review of the literature
Authors: Berghs M , Dierckx de Casterlé B , Gastmans C
Published: August 2005

In this literature review, a picture is given of the complexity of nursing attitudes toward euthanasia. The myriad of data found in empirical literature is mostly framed within a polarised debate and inconclusive about the complex reality behind attitudes toward euthanasia. Yet, a further examination of the content as well as the context of attitudes is more revealing. The arguments for euthanasia have to do with quality of life and respect for autonomy. Arguments against euthanasia have to do with non-maleficence, sanctity of life, and the notion of the slippery slope. When the context of attitudes is examined a number of positive correlates for euthanasia such as age, nursing specialty, and religion appear. In a further analysis of nurses’ comments on euthanasia, it is revealed that part of the complexity of nursing attitudes toward euthanasia arises because of the needs of nurses at the levels of clinical practice, communication, emotions, decision making, and ethics.
Is the body a republic?
Authors: Giordano Simona
Published: August 2005

The ethics of post-mortem organ retention and use is widely debated in bioethics and law. However, the fundamental ethical issues have often been inadequately treated. According to one argument, dead bodies are no longer “persons”. Given the great benefits dead bodies offer to human kind, they should be automatically treated as public property: when the person dies, the body becomes a public thing (ares publica, a republic). This paper articulates the ethical issues involved in organ and tissue retention and use, both in the case in which the deceased’s wishes are known and in the case in which the wishes are not known. It contends that a dead body is not a republic. The state should maximise availability of organs and tissues by inviting or requiring citizens to make an informed and responsible choice on the matter.
IEEE Communications magazine: entertainment everywhere
Authors: Roccetti Marco
Published: August 2005

FEATURE TOPIC: ENTERTAINMENT EVERYWHERE: System and Networking
Issues in Emerging Network-Centric Entertainment Systems

BACKGROUND:

The experience of bringing the Internet into our lives deeply is
now shared by millions of people. Take the USA, for example. It is
reported that more than a fifth of American households has a
high-speed, always-on, Internet access, and an increasing number of
them is exploiting wireless technologies to distribute the
broadband connection throughout the rooms of their homes. With such
a high-speed, always-on, connection a drastic revolution is coming
in the way people watch movies and news, listen to music, and play
games. This change has been driven fundamentally by two dominant
factors: First, the technological advances of computer-based
digital multimedia technology (high quality video and sound) have
provided consumers with good motivations to upgrade their home
entertainment systems (e.g., from mechanical VHS tape drives to
digital DVD). Second, (wireless) networking technologies have
enabled the possibility to shift what they first consumed on their
desktop PC in the office to their digital TV equipment in the
living room, as well as to the front pockets in their jackets. All
these mean that in an entertainment-equipped house we might easily
find a broadband entertainment center built on the top of a Cat-6
Ethernet cable infrastructure or on a Wi-Fi network. Such an
entertainment platform might be comprised, for example, of a
connection from the computer to the digital stereo or the TV
devices, as well as of an interconnected PlayStation2 or XBox
governed by programmable TiVo equipment for online play. In
essence, what is really new, nowadays, is that we know what
tomorrow's entertainment technology will bring to us: a "magic box"
where every game ever thought, every movie ever made, every song
ever sung, plus news, sport events and shows, will be available for
instant enjoyment with just one click on a button. While interest
for conducting research in this area was moderate for a long time,
recently, instead, great opportunities have arisen in academia, as
well as in industry, for developing researches in the field of
computer-based entertainment systems, especially focused on the
provision of networking and system support to entertainment.
Obviously, all these exciting technological advances have raised a
number of interesting research questions: How can the Internet
native language (i.e. the TCP/IP protocol) take over this complex
scenario for scaling the delivery of entertainment contents to very
large numbers of users? How can digital entertainment be delivered
efficiently to small devices such as PDAs and cell phones? How can
new system development styles, like the peer-to-peer style for
example, have influence on the architecture of computer-based
entertainment systems? How can the employed protocol be integrated
to optimize the distribution of entertainment contents?
Interviews with Richard Edlund
Authors: Edlund Richard
Published: August 2005

Mr. Richard Edlund won four Academy Awards for Visual Effects in the first three "Star Wars" movies (1977, 1980, 1983) and "Raiders of the Lost Ark" (1981). He was a key member of Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) for George Lucas, a company that has become a Hollywood powerhouse of cutting-edge movie technology. In 1981, Mr. Edlund and ILM won two Scientific and Engineering Awards from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for the development of the Empire motion picture camera system and a beam-splitter optical composite motion picture printer. In 1983, he founded the Boss Film Corp. and went on to work on such major films as Ghost, Ghostbusters, Die Hard, 2010, Poltergeist, and Alien 3. His latest films include "The Stepford Wives" (2004) and "Angels in America" (2003 mini TV series). More information on his work can be found at http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0249430/
Heightened amusement park dark ride interactivity and creativity made possible with highly integrated technology
Authors: Dominey Ray , Simon Rick , Wong Doug
Published: August 2005

At Six Flags Belgium, a new interactive dark ride called Challenge of Tutankhamon takes visitors on a journey deep into a replica of an ancient pyramid where the tomb of the legendary pharaoh, King Tutankhamon, was hidden from the world for thousands of years. The riders' challenge is to enter the uncharted passageways of the tomb and find the treasure. The ancient god Seth -- Lord of Disorder and Chaos -- has vowed to protect the sanctity of the tomb, and has unleashed the mystical terrors of the curse. The visitors' journey involves an interactive mythological battle with 3,000 year-old gods and demons that still protect the tomb of the pharaoh. We believe that the realism, interactivity and unique, individual riders' experience of this ride, created by Sally Corporation, together with many other amusement park dark rides, has advanced substantially in the last five years. The new dark ride phenomenon is being created by highly innovative companies utilizing major developments in technology that have enabled the enhanced interactivity, sophistication, and overall experience of these rides. Where rides once provided limited interactivity and clumsy movements powered by multiple types of systems and truckloads of cables with questionable reliability, they now give visitors complex interactivity that is achieved with a highly integrated and reliable solid-state audio and control system. This new approach replaces the bundles of cables with simple serial cable runs. Because the controllers are 100% solid-state, they can be reprogrammed on a moment's notice.
Playing with sounds as playing video games
Authors: Desainte-Catherine Myriam , Kurtag Gyorgy , Marchand Sylvain , Semal Catherine , Hanna Pierre
Published: August 2005

In this article we propose a musical instrument that provides young children with a way to play in a virtual sound space by means of a joystick. We present the work of a multidiscipline team working on various aspects of this project. Sound models that are close to perception are used to define the sound spaces. Pedagogical experiments in public schools are done on the basis of cognitive pedagogy. Ethological and psychoacoustic experiments are carried out to improve the ergonomics of the instruments.
Java technologies for games
Authors: Twilleager Doug , Kesselman Jeff , Goldberg Athomas , Petersen Daniel , Soto Juan Carlos , Melissinos Chris
Published: August 2005

Network games are the fastest growing segment of the games market. The technologies required to build these massively networked games is evolving at a rapid pace. There are many components to these technologies. There are server, desktop client, and mobile client technologies which enable these connected games. This article provides on overview of the server, desktop, and mobile technologies that are available to build a networked game with Java technology.
Elliptic and hyperelliptic curves on embedded μP
Authors: Wollinger Thomas , Pelzl Jan , Wittelsberger Volker , Paar Christof , Saldamli Gökay , Koç Çetin K.
Published: August 2005

It is widely recognized that data security will play a central role in future IT systems. Providing public-key cryptographic primitives, which are the core tools for security, is often difficult on embedded processor due to computational, memory, and power constraints. This contribution appears to be the first thorough comparison of two public-key families, namely elliptic curve (ECC) and hyperelliptic curve cryptosystems on a wide range of embedded processor types (ARM, ColdFire, PowerPC). We investigated the influence of the processor type, resources, and architecture regarding throughput. Further, we improved previously known HECC algorithms resulting in a more efficient arithmetic.
Evaluation of hardware and software schedulers for embedded switches
Authors: Serpanos Dimitrios N. , Mountrouidou Poluxeni , Gamvrili Maria
Published: August 2005

High-speed packet switches become increasingly important to embedded systems because they provide multiple parallel data paths necessary in emerging systems such as embedded multiprocessors, multiprotocol communication processors, and so on. The most promising architecture for embedded switches is the one that uses multiple input queues, due to its low-cost integration in conventional embedded systems, which include memory management subsystems. Such switches require high-speed schedulers, in order to resolve conflicts among packet destinations and to achieve low latency, high bandwidth communication, while providing fairness guarantees. In general, these schedulers are categorized as centralized or distributed, depending on their operation.

In this paper, we evaluate hardware and software implementations of two schedulers: 2-dimensional round-robin and FIRM, which are centralized and distributed, respectively. The evaluation is performed for embedded system implementation, on a system that includes an FPGA and an embedded processor on-chip. The performance results show that, in contrast to expectations, centralized schedulers provide better performance than distributed ones in hardware implementations. In software implementations for embedded processors, surprisingly, distributed schedulers achieve better performance, due to better management of the processor's limited resources and simpler code; our experiments have shown that compilers for embedded systems are quite limited and require significant improvement. Finally, we evaluate the scalability of the schedulers, in terms of throughput, circuit complexity, and power consumption, based on implementation technology, considering the dramatic improvements expected in the availability of high-speed programmable logic and embedded processors on the same chip.
Real-time garbage collection for flash-memory storage systems of real-time embedded systems
Authors: Chang Li-Pin , Kuo Tei-Wei , Lo Shi-Wu
Published: August 2005

Flash-memory technology is becoming critical in building embedded systems applications because of its shock-resistant, power economic, and nonvolatile nature. With the recent technology breakthroughs in both capacity and reliability, flash-memory storage systems are now very popular in many types of embedded systems. However, because flash memory is a write-once and bulk-erase medium, we need a translation layer and a garbage-collection mechanism to provide applications a transparent storage service. In the past work, various techniques were introduced to improve the garbage-collection mechanism. These techniques aimed at both performance and endurance issues, but they all failed in providing applications a guaranteed performance. In this paper, we propose a real-time garbage-collection mechanism, which provides a guaranteed performance, for hard real-time systems. On the other hand, the proposed mechanism supports non-real-time tasks so that the potential bandwidth of the storage system can be fully utilized. A wear-leveling method, which is executed as a non-real-time service, is presented to resolve the endurance problem of flash memory. The capability of the proposed mechanism is demonstrated by a series of experiments over our system prototype.
SMU to offer women's industry scholarship
Authors: Lee Newton
Published: August 2005

The Guildhall at Southern Methodist University (SMU) has announced that it has partnered with WomenGamers.com to "present the first-ever women's-only, industry-funded scholarship to attend SMU's one-of-a-kind digital games education program in Dallas, Texas."

Funded by businesses that recognize the need for more women in the game developer workforce, the Game Development Scholarship for Women will help cover the cost of tuition ($37,000) during the 18-month Guildhall program. MaryMargaret.com, a sponsor of the Women's Game Conference, will be assisting WomenGamers.com and SMU in finding publishers or developers who may be able to donate to the scholarship program.

The Guildhall at SMU Executive Director, Peter Raad, PhD, commented, "Game development studios and publishers must learn to capitalize more effectively on the increasing numbers of women playing games. We believe the most important step toward achieving that goal is for game developers' staffing choices to be reflective of the growing market of female gamers."

A press conference concerning the women's scholarship will be held at the upcoming Women's Game Conference during September 9-10 in Austin, Texas.

The Guildhall at SMU

WomenGamers.com Scholarship Fund

5232 Tennyson Parkway

Plano, Texas 75024

http://guildhall.ecsrv.smu.edu/womenscholarship.htm

http://guildhall.ecsrv.smu.edu/more-about-womenscholarships.htm
The soul of ActiveCube
Authors: Watanabe Ryoichi , Itoh Yuichi , Asai Masatsugu , Kitamura Yoshifumi , Kishino Fumio , Kikuchi Hideo
Published: August 2005

ActiveCube is a novel user interface that allows intuitive interaction with computers. ActiveCube allows users to construct and interact with three-dimensional (3D) environments using physical cubes equipped with input/output devices. Spatial, temporal, and functional consistency is always maintained between the physical object and its corresponding representation in the computer. In this article we detail the design and implementation of our system. We describe the method we used to realize flexible 3D modeling by controlling the recognition signals of each face in each cube. We also explain how we integrated additional multimodal interaction options via a number of sophisticated I/O devices and the inclusion of a second microprocessor in our cubes. We argue that ActiveCube, with its current real-time multimodal and spatial capabilities, is ready to enable a large range of interactive entertainment applications that were impossible to realize before.
Schedulability-driven frame packing for multicluster distributed embedded systems
Authors: Pop Paul , Eles Petru , Peng Zebo
Published: August 2005

We present an approach to frame packing for multicluster distributed embedded systems consisting of time-triggered and event-triggered clusters, interconnected via gateways. In our approach, the application messages are packed into frames such that the application is schedulable, thus the end-to-end message communication constraints are satisfied. We have proposed a schedulability analysis for applications consisting of mixed event-triggered and time-triggered processes and messages, and a worst-case queuing delay analysis for the gateways, responsible for routing inter-cluster traffic. Optimization heuristics for frame packing aiming at producing a schedulable system have been proposed. Extensive experiments and a real-life example show the efficiency of our frame-packing approach.
SAFE-OPS: An approach to embedded software security
Authors: Zambreno Joseph , Choudhary Alok , Simha Rahul , Narahari Bhagi , Memon Nasir
Published: August 2005

The new-found ubiquity of embedded processors in consumer and industrial applications brings with it an intensified focus on security, as a strong level of trust in the system software is crucial to their widespread deployment. The growing area of
software protection
attempts to address the key steps used by hackers in attacking a software system. In this paper, we introduce a unique approach to embedded software protection that utilizes a hardware/software codesign methodology. Results demonstrate that this framework can be the successful basis for the development of embedded applications that meet a wide range of security and performance requirements.
Portholes and planes
Authors: Roden Timothy , Parberry Ian
Published: August 2005

We describe a simple and efficient dynamic occlusion- culling algorithm for computing potentially visible sets (PVS) in densely occluded virtual environments. Our method is an optimization of a widely used technique in which a 3D environment is divided into cells and portals. Our algorithm computes the PVS in approximately half the time of previous portal methods at the expense of producing a slightly relaxed PVS. In addition, our algorithm enables fast culling of objects within cells using inexpensive object-space methods by using a lookup table to compute the diminished object-space view frustum. The algorithm takes advantage of temporal coherence, is easy to implement, and is particularly well suited for applications that need to compute a PVS for use in non-rendering tasks such as AI.
Understanding digital cinema
Authors: Swartz Charles S.
Published: August 2005

This Handbook is devoted to an examination and explanation of this new process and the issues that arise in designing it.
Verification of safety properties for parameterized regular systems
Authors: Cachera David , Morin-Allory Katell
Published: August 2005

We propose a combination of heuristic methods to prove properties of control signals for regular systems defined by means of affine recurrence equations (AREs). We benefit from the intrinsic regularity of the underlying polyhedral model to handle parameterized systems in a symbolic way. Our techniques apply to safety properties. The general proof process consists in an iteration that alternates two heuristics. We are able to identify the cases when this iteration will stop in a finite number of steps. These techniques have been implemented in a high level synthesis environment based on the polyhedral model.
Power balance and apportionment algorithms for the United States Congress
Authors: Hemaspaandra Lane A. , Rajasethupathy Kulathur S. , Sethupathy Prasanna , Zimand Marius
Published: August 2005

We measure the performance, in the task of apportioning the Congress of the United States, of an algorithm combining a heuristic-driven (simulated annealing) search with an exact-computation dynamic programming evaluation of the apportionments visited in the search. We compare this with the actual algorithm currently used in the United States to apportion Congress, and with a number of other algorithms that have been proposed. We conclude that on every set of census data in this country's history, the heuristic-driven apportionment provably yields far fairer apportionments than those of any of the other algorithm considered, including the algorithm currently used by the United States for Congressional apportionment.
A new deterministic parallel sorting algorithm with an experimental evaluation
Authors: Helman David R. , JáJá Joseph , Bader David A.
Published: August 2005

We introduce a new deterministic parallel sorting algorithm for distributed memory machines based on the regular sampling approach. The algorithm uses only two rounds of regular all-to-all personalized communication in a scheme that yields very good load balancing with virtually no overhead. Moreover, unlike previous variations, our algorithm efficiently handles the presence of duplicate values without the overhead of tagging each element with a unique identifier. This algorithm was implemented in SPLIT-C and run on a variety of platforms, including the Thinking Machines CM-5, the IBM SP-2-WN, and the Cray Research T3D. We ran our code using widely different benchmarks to examine the dependence of our algorithm on the input distribution. Our experimental results illustrate the efficiency and scalability of our algorithm across different platforms. In fact, the performance compares closely to that of our random sample sort algorithm, which seems to outperform all similar algorithms known to the authors on these platforms. Together, their performance is nearly invariant over the set of input distributions, unlike previous efficient algorithms. However, unlike our randomized sorting algorithm, the performance and memory requirements of our regular sorting algorithm can be deterministically guaranteed.
Greeding matching algorithms, an experimental study
Authors: Magun Jakob
Published: August 2005

We conduct an experimental study of several greedy algorithms for finding large matchings in graphs. Further we propose a new graph reduction, called k-Block Reduction, and present two novel algorithms using extra heuristics in the matching step and k-Block Reduction for k = 3. Greedy matching algorithms can be used for finding a good approximation of the maximum matching in a graph G if no exact solution is required, or as a fast preprocessing step to some other matching algorithm. The studied greedy algorithms run in O(m). They are easy to implement and their correctness and their running time are simple to prove. Our experiments show that a good greedy algorithm looses on average at most one edge on random graphs from Gn,p with up to 10,000 vertices. Furthermore the experiments show for which edge densities in random graphs the maximum matching problem is difficult to solve.
A response to the commentaries on CoRR
Authors: Halpern Joseph Y.
Published: August 2005

This paper responds to specific comments on, suggestions about, and analysis of ACMs Computing Research Repository (CoRR), agruing that CoRR is both viable and suitably placed amid current online publishing alternatives.
Confessions of a gardener
Authors: Hart-Davidson William
Published: August 2005

This review of Information Ecologies places the text in the mediating tradition that seeks a middle ground between rigid technological determinism and indifferent value neutrality. The biological metaphors for situated technology use make interesting reading,but the stories may not be compelling evidence that users really can shape technological change from the local level.
A review and applications of information ecologies
Authors: Selfe Dickie , Hayden Dawn
Published: August 2005

This review of Information Ecologies notes how well Nardi and O'Day's biological approach fits with articulation theory (in rhetoric), since both encourage spelling out alternatives and consequences so as to avoid oversimplified technology choices. A closer look at the relevance of their case studies to promoting suitable technological improvements in K-12 education, however, finds concerns (about adequate social rewards and sustainability) along with promising parallels.
Klare's “useful information” is useful for Web designers
Authors: Zibell Kristin
Published: August 2005

In many ways the writing principles that Klare recommended 37 years ago to promote high readability scores still apply to web-site design.
Behind the pursuit of readability lies audience analysis, a concern with the intellectual level, previous experience, motivation, and reading goals of ones intended audience. Suitably adjusted to take account of online
interactivity, those same concerns should guide design work on web
structure and interfaces today.
Efficient implementation of an optimal greedy algorithm for wavelength assignment in directed tree networks
Authors: Erlebach T. , Jansen K.
Published: August 2005

In all-optical networks with wavelength-division multiplexing several connections can share a physical link if the signals are transmitted on different wavelengths. As the number of available wavelengths is limited in practice, it is important to find wavelength assignments minimizing the number of different wavelengths used. This path coloring problem is NP-hard, and the best known polynomial-time approximation algorithm for directed tree networks achieves approximation ratio 5/3, which is optimal in the class of greedy algorithms for this problem. It is shown how the algorithm can be modified in order to improve its running-time to O(Tec(N,L)) for sets of paths with maximum load L in trees with N nodes, where Tec(n, k) is the time for edge-coloring a k-regular bipartite graph with n nodes. An implementation of this efficient version of the algorithm in C++ using the LEDA class library is described, and experimental results regarding the running-times and the number of wavelengths used are reported. An additional heuristic that reduces the number of wavelengths used in the average case while maintaining the worst-case bound of 5L/3 is described.
Dijkstra's algorithm on-line
Authors: Schulz Frank , Wagner Dorothea , Weihe Karsten
Published: August 2005

Traffic information systems are among the most prominent real-world applications of Dijkstra's algorithm for shortest paths. We consider the scenario of a central information server in the realm of public railroad transport on wide-area networks. Such a system has to process a large number of on-line queries for optimal travel connections in real time. In practice, this problem is usually solved by heuristic variations of Dijkstra's algorithm, which do not guarantee an optimal result. We report results from a pilot study, in which we focused on the travel time as the only optimization criterion. In this study, various speed-up techniques for Dijkstra's algorithm were analysed empirically. This analysis was based on the timetable data of all German trains and on a "snapshot" of half a million customer queries.
NoteCards in the age of the web
Authors: Marshall Catherine C.
Published: August 2005

Frank Halasz's "Reflections on NoteCards: Seven Issues for the Next Generation of Hypermedia Systems" was a remarkably prescient analysis that continues to influence the international hypertext research community. Meanwhile, the Web has offered a basic reality check on the seven issues and has given us, as a community, an opportunity to learn from many and diverse hypertext practitioners. In essence, the Web has brought hypertext out of the realm of research and into the realm of the everyday, the ordinary, the practical. In particular, I would like to introduce three major themes that come from observations of the Web in use: (1) The growing heterogeneity of hypermedia genres, uses, and users; (2) the need to acknowledge the distinct role of hypermedia readers and, more specifically, provide hypermedia readers with tools for personal annotation, re-retrieval, gathering, contextual access from mobile devices, and collaborative reading; and (3) the recurring tension between formal and informal hypertext structures and representations.
Reflections on "Seven Issues"
Authors: Halasz Frank G.
Published: August 2005

Frank Halasz revisits his papers "Reflections on NoteCards: Seven Issues for the Next Generation of Hypermedia Systems" and "Seven Issues: Revisited" from a Web perspective. His goal is to better understand how the Web has shaped and often overshadowed how we look at the tremendous possibilities of hypertext.
System-level exploration of association table implementations in telecom network applications
Authors: Ykman-Couvreur Ch. , Lambrecht J. , Van Der Togt A. , Catthoor F. , De Man H.
Published: August 2005

We present a new exploration and optimization method at the system level to select customized implementations for dynamic data sets, as encountered in telecom network, database, and multimedia applications. Our method fits in the context of embedded system synthesis for such applications, and enables to further raise the abstraction level of the initial specification, where dynamic data sets can be specified without low-level details. Our method is suited for hardware and software implementations. In this paper, it mainly aims at minimizing the average memory power, although it can also be driven by other cost functions such as memory size and performance. Compared with existing methods, for large dynamic data sets, it can save up to 90% of the average memory power, while still saving up to 80% of the average memory size.
Commentary on
Authors: Haramundanis Kathy
Published: August 2005

Changing needs in technical communications alter but are far from eliminating the personal satisfactions of the individual practitioner. They expand rather than contract opportunities.
Conversations on context
Authors: Johnson-Eilola Johndan
Published: August 2005

Johnson-Eilola responds to commentaries by noting that all ask, in different ways, the same question he is asking: How far can and should we go in supplying greater context and complexity to software users?