45147395
Analysis of a Token Ring Protocol for Voice Transmission
Abstract For voice transmissions in a local-area network, it is desirable to have a small coefficient of variation for the interdeparture time of voice packets at the destination. This may be achieved by the proper design of the medium access protocol. A token ring protocol with provision for voice traffic is considered. An analytic model is developed to study the performance of this protocol with respect to voice traffic. Numerical results showing the effect of model parameters on interdeparture time are presented.
8690187
Distributed Simulation Using a Network of Processors
Abstract Simulation, particulary of networks of queues, is an application with a high degree of inherent parallelism and is of great practical interest. We hope to exploit this parallelism by performing simulations using a network of cheap, but slow, micro-processors. We define a taxonomy by which we classify a number of parameters of a distributed simulation method, and seek solutions to problems of synchronization, deadlock prevention and inter-process communication arising with various methods in each class of the taxonomy. We concentrate in particular on the class (loose, event-driven) which seems to possess the greatest potential parallelism, and on the class (scaled, tight, time-driven) which allows mock-up studies of real systems. We give algorithms for deadlock prevention and detection, and briefly discuss the design of a distributed operating system to support the simulation application. This research forms part of a joint program with the Dept. of Computer Sciences, University of Texas at Austin, directed by Prof. K.M. Chandy.
7414504
Performance Modeling of a Channel Reservation Service
Certain applications, such as videoconferencing and information broadcast, require the ability to reserve network resources in advance. In a reservation system, users submit requests to a service center. Each request is characterized by a start time, a bandwidth requirement and a holding time. We consider a loss system where the service center rejects a request if it cannot accommodate the request at the preferred start time. Scheduling decisions may be made as soon as a request arrives or may be delayed until a later time. The latter allows the system to make more informed scheduling decisions, but the delay may be unacceptable to the users. In this paper, we investigate the benefits of delaying the scheduling decisions from the performance point of view. Our investigation is based on a reservation system that can accommodate a range of bandwidth requirements. Optimal scheduling decisions are first obtained for some static systems, that is, systems where all requests have arrived before the scheduling decisions are made. The results are then used to develop heuristic scheduling algorithms for systems with delayed decisions. Simulation results on the performance of these algorithms, as compared to a system where scheduling decisions are made immediately upon a request's arrival, are presented.
3873642
On staleness and the delivery of web pages
A popular technique to improve the scalability of a web based system is caching at proxy servers. Caching has the drawback that a cached page becomes stale when the page is updated at the web server. In some cases, staleness may not be completely avoided because the server may not wish to expend the processing and communication resources required to transmit all the updates immediately. In general, if updates are transmitted less frequently, the staleness will tend to increase, but the amount of resources consumed will be reduced. The tradeoff between resource consumption and staleness is investigated. A measure of staleness is defined and optimization problems are formulated. The solutions to these problems allow one to come up with an optimal strategy for transmitting page updates. Numerical examples showing the resource consumption/staleness tradeoff are presented.
42047029
The effect of multiplexing, switching and other factors on the performance of broadband networks
A network model is developed for studying the effect of multiplexing and switching on broadband network performance. Emphasis is placed on the queuing behavior in the network and the impact of multiplexing and switching on the burstiness of the various traffic streams. The three parameters commonly used to characterize traffic (peak bit rate, mean bit rate, and mean burst length) are also considered, and the dependence of the queuing behavior on these parameters is investigated. The performance of three congestion control schemes based on the leaky bucket algorithm is evaluated. The results provide insight into how call acceptance, bandwidth allocation, and bandwidth enforcement should be implemented in a broadband integrated services digital network (BISDN).<<ETX>>
17359298
Queueing Network Modeling of Computer Communication Networks
The application of queueing network models to the performance analysis of messageswitched (or packet-switched) commumcatmn networks m surveyed. The main topics covered are the analysis of end-to-end delay and the analysis of buffer management schemes. A brief discussmn on flow control is also included. A queueing network model is developed for a simple user-resource network. The mean response time of a host computer m this network is illustrated by a numerical example.
6228197
Copy detection for intellectual property protection of VLSI designs
We give the first study of copy detection techniques for VLSI CAD applications; these techniques are complementary to previous watermarking-based IP protection methods in finding and proving improper use of design IP. After reviewing related literature (notably in the text processing domain), we propose a generic methodology for copy detection based on determining basic elements within structural representations of solutions (IPs), calculating (context-independent) signatures for such elements, and performing fast comparisons to identify potential violators of IP rights. We give example implementations of this methodology in the domains of scheduling, graph coloring and gate-level layout; experimental results show the effectiveness of our copy detection schemes as well as the low overhead of implementation. We remark on open research areas, notably the potentially deep and complementary interaction between watermarking and copy detection.
10964676
SpecAlign - processing and alignment of mass spectra datasets
SUMMARY
Pre-processing of chromatographic profile or mass spectral data is an important aspect of many types of proteomics and biomarker discovery experiments. Here we present a graphical computational tool, SpecAlign, that enables simultaneous visualization and manipulation of multiple datasets. SpecAlign not only provides all common processing functions, but also uniquely implements an algorithm that enables the complete alignment of each mass spectrum within a loaded dataset. We demonstrate its utility by aligning two datasets each containing six spectra; one set was acquired prior to instrument calibration and the other following calibration.


AVAILABILITY
The software is free of charge and available for download from http://ptcl.chem.ox.ac.uk/~jwong/specalign. Supports Windows operating systems including Windows 9X/NT/2000/XP.
18507162
A statistical methodology for wire-length prediction
In this paper, the classic wire-length estimation problem is addressed and a new statistical wire-length estimation approach that captures the probability distribution function of net lengths after placement and before routing is proposed. These types of models are highly instrumental in formalizing a complete and consistent probabilistic approach to design automation and design closure where, along with optimizing the pertinent cost function, the associated prediction error is also considered. The wire-length prediction model was developed using a combination of parametric and nonparametric statistical techniques. The model predicts not only the length of the net using input parameters extracted from the floorplan of a design, but also probability distributions that a net with given characteristics after placement will have a particular length. The model is validated using the learn-and-test and resubstitution techniques. The model can be used for a variety of purposes, including the generation of a large number of statistically sound, and therefore realistic, instances of designs. The net models were applied to the probabilistic buffer-insertion problem and substantial improvement was obtained in net delay after routing (~ 20%) when compared to a traditional bounding box (BBOX)-based buffer-insertion strategy
29262099
Transaction models for design environments
Abstract Design data bases used in the design of engineering artifacts have characteristics quite different from conventional data bases. While conventional data bases have, at any given time, a single correct value for each of object, design data bases, due to the presence of design alternates or versions, have available several correct versions of design objects. However, during a design process, when several design objects are involved, the different versions of each object chosen for the design has to be controlled such that they are compatible or version consistent. This article formalizes the notion of version consistency and proposes two transaction models for design processes, where the notion of version consistency itself is used as a basis for scheduling design transactions. A mechanism for enforcing version control is also presented.
14348286
A Visual Model Approach for Parsing Colonoscopy Videos
Colonoscopy is an important screening procedure for colorectal cancer. During this procedure, the endoscopist visually inspects the colon. Currently, there is no content-based analysis and retrieval system that automatically analyzes videos captured from colonoscopic procedures and provides a user-friendly and efficient access to important content. Such a system will be valuable as an educational resource for endoscopic research, a platform to assess procedural skills for endoscopists, and a platform for mining for unknown abnormality patterns that may lead to colorectal cancer. The first necessary step for the analysis is parsing for semantic units. In this paper, we propose a new visual model approach that employs visual features extracted directly from compressed videos together with audio analysis to discover important semantic units called scenes. Our experimental results show average precision and recall of 93% and 85%, respectively.