The PV infrastructure: Architecture from houses to highways

Integrating photovoltaics into the built environment presents unique opportunities and challenges. Designers have to mediate between the functional demands of photovoltaics as solar devices and their architectural role as a building material. Photovolt aics are highly modular and will be used in large and small projects; their design will have to be considered at all scales. Solutions to these problems will change, for better or worse, the orientation and focus of the built environment. Will buildings, now mostly indifferent or even hostile to their climate, turn outward, expressing their relationship to the sun, or will the landscape be transformed into a sea of modules, fixed at monotonously optimized angles?     

An efficient Resource Management to optimize the placement of hardware task on FPGA in the RVC framework

Dynamic partial reconfiguration (DPR) functionality allows implementing multi-tasks applications by exchanging tasks in a design at run-time. It is a promising solution to enhance system performances. But, the effective use of DPR is often hampered by the complexity added to the system design process. In this paper, we investigate the implementation of a multi-tasks applications using the DPR in the RVC framework. We present a resource management method which includes three steps: partitioning the application in HW/SW tasks, divided the FPGA in static and dynamic regions and placement the tasks on FPGA. The proposed method is based on using linear programming strategy to find the optimal placement of hardware tasks. We take into account the heterogeneity aspect of the device. The goal is to minimize the resource utilization and fragmentation. We use RVC technology which is based on a specific language for writing dataflow models called RVC-CAL. This language describes the application as set of blocks called actors connected through a network. To test the efficiency of our approach, we exploit the decoder MPEG-4 SP described in RVC-CAL. We measure the quality of placement in terms of tasks rejection, execution time and resource wastage. Application of different data combinations and a comparison with the state-of-the art method show the high performance of the proposed approach.     

MEG covariance difference analysis: a method to extract targetsource activities by using task and control measurements

A method is proposed for extracting target dipole-source activities from two sets of evoked magnetoencephalographic (MEG) data, one measured using task stimuli and the other using control stimuli. The difference matrix between the two covariance matrices obtained from these two measurements is calculated, and a procedure similar to the MEG-multiple signal classification (MUSIC) algorithm is applied to this difference matrix to extract the target dipole-source configuration. This configuration corresponds to the source-configuration difference between the two measurements. Computer simulation verified the validity of the proposed method. The method was applied to actual evoked-field data obtained from simulated task-and-control experiments. In these measurements, a combination of auditory and somatosensory stimuli was used as the task stimulus and the somatosensory stimulus alone was used as the control stimulus. The proposed covariance difference analysis successfully extracted the target auditory source and eliminated the disturbance from the somatosensory sources     

Progressive framework for deep neural networks:from linear to non-linear

We propose a novel progressive framework to optimize deep neural networks. The idea is to try to combine the stability of linear methods and the ability of learning complex and abstract internal representations of deep learning methods. We insert a linear loss layer between the input layer and the first hidden non-linear layer of a traditional deep model. The loss objective for optimization is a weighted sum of linear loss of the added new layer and non-linear loss of the last output layer. We modify the model structure of deep canonical correlation analysis (DCCA), i.e., adding a third semantic view to regularize text and image pairs and embedding the structure into our framework, for cross-modal retrieval tasks such as text-to-image search and image-to-text search. The experimental results show the performance of the modified model is better than similar state-of-art approaches on a dataset of National University of Singapore (NUS-WIDE). To validate the generalization ability of our framework, we apply our framework to RankNet, a ranking model optimized by stochastic gradient descent. Our method outperforms RankNet and converges more quickly, which indicates our progressive framework could provide a better and faster solution for deep neural networks.     

Hot-carrier damage from high to low voltage using the energy-driven framework

In this work, we confirm that the energy is the driving force of Hot Carrier effects. When the energy is high, the Energy-driven framework allows to retrieve Lucky Electron Model-like equations. But when the energy is lowered, high energy electrons generated by Electron-Electron Scattering become the dominant contribution to the degradation. For even lower energy Multiple Vibrational Excitation mechanism starts taking the lead.     

From irradiance to output power fluctuations: the PV plant as a low pass filter

The power generated by large grid‐connected photovoltaic (PV) plants depends greatly on the solar irradiance. This paper studies the effects of the solar irradiance variability analyzing experimental 1‐s data collected throughout a year at six PV plants, totaling 18 MWp. Each PV plant was modeled as a first order filter function based on an analysis in the frequency domain of the irradiance data and the output power signals. An empiric expression which relates the filter parameters and the PV plant size has been proposed. This simple model has been successfully validated precisely determining the daily maximum output power fluctuation from incident irradiance measurements. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

HDR and image abstraction framework for dirt free line drawing to convey the shapes from blatant range images

Multidimensional Systems and Signal Processing - Due to the evolution of computer vision and non-photorealistic rendering (NPR) techniques, enhancements of image features from blatant range images...     

From commercialization to conglomeration: the transformation of the Chinese press within the orbit of the party state

This paper examines the trajectory of Chinese Communist party-controlled press commercialization in China and discusses the active role of the Chinese state in incorporating market-based press forms and practices into the existing press structure. Although market-oriented press developments in the past 2 decades have created a dynamic mass appeal sector catering to the urban middle class, it has also inadvertently led to a fragmented and decentralized press structure that undermined core party organs and their capital accumulation. Consequently, the party engineered a market rationalization campaign and pushed for press conglomeration. Both are aimed at enhancing political control on the one hand and facilitating press capitalization on the other. These developments are not only counter-intuitive to laissez-faire notions of free markets versus state control, but also have profound implications for emerging class and power relations in China.     

From smart cities to smart social urbanism: A framework for shaping the socio-technological ecosystems in cities

Advocated mostly by technology companies, the smart city concept promises participation, democratization and innovative urbanism. Tracking these promises and ideas, this paper explores “smart urbanism” in ten cities from all over Israel. Based on interviews with leading figures in municipalities, smart city consultants and key figures in technological companies (n = 40), the aims of this paper are to assess the efforts of cities to become smart by responding to the following questions: 1. What is guiding the decision-making process in developing technological initiatives? 2. Does context play a role in implementing technological initiatives? 3. How are the residents perceived, and what tools are being used to address residents' digital differences? The key argument of this paper is threefold: first, in the process of becoming a smart city, the roles of public and private actors are blurred, influencing the process of decision making. Second, despite contextual differences, cities adopt similar digital initiatives. Third, technological initiatives that focus on social needs and address inequality in the digital age are still at the margins. The final discussion suggests that most municipalities are still at an early stage of digitization implementation and have the ability to shape and form a vision for the cities as socio-technological ecosystems in a way that will serve their publics as a whole. The paper ends with a call for shifting the focus from the city to society in developing digital initiatives and cultivating smart social urbanism.     

Everything you always wanted to know about training: guidelines derived using the affine precoding framework and the CRB

In this paper, affine precoding is used to investigate the tradeoffs that exist while using the transmitter resources on training versus information symbols. The channel input is a training vector superimposed on a linearly precoded vector of symbols. A block-fading frequency-selective multi-input multi-output (MIMO) channel is considered. To highlight the tradeoffs between training and data symbols, the Fisher information matrix (FIM) is derived under two circumstances: the random parameter vector to be estimated contains 1) only fading channel coefficients and 2) unknown data symbols as well as the channel coefficients. While strategy 1 corresponds to the receiver structure in which the channel is estimated initially and the channel measurement is utilized to retrieve the data symbols, strategy 2 corresponds to the structure in which channel and symbol estimations are performed jointly. The interesting outcome of the study in this paper is that minimizing the channel Cramer-Rao bound (CRB) for strategies 1 and 2 under a total average transmit power constraint leads to different affine precoder design guidelines.     

WCDMA:从现在到未来

3G是移动通信技术演进的下一个阶段,它正在带来先进的多媒体移动服务,如为电信消费市场提供的信息娱乐服务和移动商务.     

Tetradentate Pt(II) 3,6-substitued salophen complexes: Synthesis and tuning emission from deep-red to near infrared by appending donor-acceptor framework

Two novel tetradentate platinum (II) 3,6-substituted salophen complexes of Pt-2 and Pt-3 were synthesized and characterized, in which the substituted group is a donor (D) unit of 4,4′-di(tert-butyl)triphenylamine (Bu^tTPA) for Pt-2 and a donor-acceptor (D-A) framework of Bu^tTPA and benzothiadiazole (BT) for Pt-3. Their thermal, optophysical, electrochemical and electroluminescent properties were primarily investigated. It is found that the emission for this type of tetradentate platinum (II) complexes is tuned from deep red to near infrared by appending D-A framework under photo-excitation. As a result, Pt-3 presented a significant near infrared electroluminescence peaked at 703 nm in its doped polymer light-emitting devices (PLEDs). The maximum external quantum efficiency of 0.88% is observed in the Pt-3 doped PLEDs using a blend of poly(vinylcarbazole) and 1,3-bis(5-(4-(tert-butyl)phenyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazol-2-yl) benzene as the host matrix. Our work indicates that appending D-A framework into tetradentate Pt(II) salophen complex is a useful strategy to get high-performance near infrared emission for this type of tetradentate Pt (II) complexes.     

A framework for analyzing the information monitoring and decisionsupport system investment tradeoff dilemma: an application to crisismanagement

The simplest form of a system consists of an input, a process which adds value to the input, and an output containing actionable information. The value of the output from a system is a function of not only the quality of the input but also the appropriateness, validity, and reliability of the transforming process. For certain classes of decisions such as those that correspond to crisis management, even the most simplistic version of a system presents problems for system developers and hence decision makers. Unlike in highly structured decision settings where precise models exist and high quality data is readily available, decision making in crisis settings involves ill-structured tasks which pose considerable problems for those responsible for the investment of a limited information resource budget. This paper presents a framework for analyzing the information monitoring decision support system tradeoff dilemma that occurs in crisis management settings, it concludes with several insights and recommendations for future research     

Incorporating domain knowledge into the fuzzy connectedness framework: application to brain lesion volume estimation in multiple sclerosis

A method for incorporating prior knowledge into the fuzzy connectedness image segmentation framework is presented. This prior knowledge is in the form of probabilistic feature distribution and feature size maps, in a standard anatomical space, and "intensity hints" selected by the user that allow for a skewed distribution of the feature intensity characteristics. The fuzzy affinity between pixels is modified to encapsulate this domain knowledge. The method was tested by using it to segment brain lesions in patients with multiple sclerosis, and the results compared to an established method for lesion outlining based on edge detection and contour following. With the fuzzy connections (FC) method, the user is required to identify each lesion with a mouse click, to provide a set of seed pixels. The algorithm then grows the features from the seeds to define the lesions as a set of objects with fuzzy connectedness above a preset threshold. The FC method gave improved interobserver reproducibility of lesion volumes, and the set of pixels determined to be lesion was more consistent compared to the contouring method. The operator interaction time required to evaluate one subject was reduced from an average of 111 min with contouring to 16 min with the FC method.     

Scaling the Si MOSFET: from bulk to SOI to bulk

Scaling the Si MOSFET is reconsidered. Requirements on subthreshold leakage control force conventional scaling to use high doping as the device dimension penetrates into the deep-submicrometer regime, leading to an undesirably large junction capacitance and degraded mobility. By studying the scaling of fully depleted SOI devices, the important concept of controlling horizontal leakage through vertical structures is highlighted. Several structural variations of conventional SOI structures are discussed in terms of a natural length scale to guide the design. The concept of vertical doping engineering can also be realized in bulk Si to obtain good subthreshold characteristics without large junction capacitance or heavy channel doping     

RSA:给电信业从头到脚的保护

随着电信服务越来越多地融入大众生活,安全正以前所未有的速度成为电信行业所面临的棘手问题。从电信运营商到使用移动业务的终端用户,安全都不再是纸上谈兵的长远规划,而是时时刻刻相关的实际问题。