A Combined Admission and Priority Control Mechanism for Assuring Communication Quality in VANETs integrated with Wireless Mesh Networks

In this paper, we introduce a new combined priority and admission control mechanism applying in the VCN （Vehicular Communication Network） which is designed with an integration of the Vehicular Ad-hoc Networks （VANETs） based on standard IEEE 802.11 p and IEEE 802.11 s WMNs （Wireless Mesh Networks）. Simulation experiments are intensively investigated to evaluate the novel combined priority and admission control mechanism to assure quality of the I2V （Infrastructure to Vehicle） emergency services occurred during the time video flows are being delivered between content servers and cars. The simulation results show effectiveness of proposed priority and admission control schemes in term of the minimized end-to-end delay as well as the increase of throughput and PDR （Packet Delivery Ratio） of the emergency data flow.

The Applicability of Gd-DTPA Magnetic Resonance Imaging Contrast Agent for the Evaluation of Blood Compartment Flow Distribution in Hollow Fiber Hemodialyzers

Observation of flow distribution pattern in the hemodialyzers is significant as it is a valuable in-dication of the performance of these modules. Therefore, in this study, a feasible non-destructive Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) technique is proposed to characterize the flow distribution in the blood compartment of hemodialyzers using Gd-DTPA MRI contrast agent. The distribution of flow is qualitatively observed in two commercial clinical dialyzers through an in-vitro experiment. The contrast enhanced T1 weighted images are acquired along the dialyzer length using Spin Echo (SE) pulse sequence after an injection of 0.5 mmol/L Gd-DTPA solution into the blood compartment. Although relatively uniform flow distribution pattern over the spatial volume of transverse images, close the dialyzer inlet is observed, the heterogeneity of flow distribution can be identified towards the blood outlet port. Furthermore, the signal intensity profiles formed by the injected Gd-DTPA are gradually decreased towards the outlet port. These results of the study suggest that although no advanced techniques and protocols available, MRI and Gd-DTPA contrast agent can be utilized to characterize the flow distribution within a dialyzer qualitatively.

Assessment the Optimal Effect of Time of Repetition: Extrinsic Pulse Parameter on Gd-DTPA Enhanced, Spin-Echo T1-Weighted MR Images under Low Magnetic Field Strength

The contrast agent concentration, the time of repetition (TR) and magnetic field strength are significant parameters that influence for the accurate signal intensity (SI) in quantitative Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). Therefore, this study was conducted to investigate and refine the dependence and the optimal effect of Time of Repetition (TR) on the relationship between signal intensity and Gd-DTPA (Gadolinium-diethylene-triaminepenta-acetic acid) concentration, after applying two-dimensional (2D) Spin Echo (SE) pulse sequence under low-field MRI. In addition to that, the optimal concentration of Gd-DTPA at given sequence parameters at low-field MRI was also evaluated. A water-filled phantom was constructed for a range of Gd-DTPA concentrations (0 - 6 mmol/L) and the mean signal intensities (SIs) were assessed in the defined region of interest on T1-weighted images with different TR values (40 - 2000 ms). The generated signal-concentration curves for Gd-DTPA revealed that increasing TR was associated with the increase of the overall SIs and the maximum relationship between SI to concentration. Moreover, the required Gd-DTPA concentration to produce the maximum SI was associated to decrease with the increase of TR. In addition to this, the application of beyond 100 ms TR values in this study with relatively higher concentrations (beyond 1 - 2 mmol/L) has resulted predominantly non-linear patterns in the signal-concentration curves and it appears the saturation or decay of the SIs due to T2 effect. From these results, it can be suggested that the selection of relatively lower Gd-DTPA concentration ( mmol/L) with less than 800 ms (<800 ms) TR values can produce a better linear relationship between the concertation and SIs in T1-weighted SE low field contrast-enhanced MRI. Furthermore, this study also outlined the significance and necessity of the optimization of TR in SE sequence in low field MRI prior to a particular examination.

A Competitive Markov Approach to the Optimal Combat Strategies of On-Line Action Role-Playing Game Using Evolutionary Algorithms

In the case of on-line action role-playing game, the combat strategies can be divided into three distinct classes, Strategy of Motion(SM), Strategy of Attacking Occasion (SAO) and Strategy of Using Skill (SUS). In this paper, we analyze such strategies of a basic game model in which the combat is modeled by the discrete competitive Markov decision process. By introducing the chase model and the combat assistant technology, we identify the optimal SM and the optimal SAO, successfully. Also, we propose an evolutionary framework, including integration with competitive coevolution and cooperative coevolution, to search the optimal SUS pair which is regarded as the Nash equilibrium point of the strategy space. Moreover, some experiments are made to demonstrate that the proposed framework has the ability to find the optimal SUS pair. Furthermore, from the results, it is shown that using cooperative coevolutionary algorithm is much more efficient than using simple evolutionary algorithm.

Solving the Balance Problem of On-Line Role-Playing Games Using Evolutionary Algorithms

In on-line role-playing games (RPG), each race holds some attributes and skills. Each skill contains several abilities such as physical damage, hit rate, etc. Parts of the attributes and all the abilities are a function of the character’s level, which are called Ability-Increasing Functions (AIFs). A well-balanced on-line RPG is characterized by having a set of well-balanced AIFs. In this paper, we propose an evolutionary design method, including integration with an improved Probabilistic Incremental Program Evolution (PIPE) and a Cooperative Coevolutionary Algorithm (CCEA), for on-line RPGs to maintain the game balance. Moreover, we construct a simplest turn-based game model and perform a series of experiments based on it. The results indicate that the proposed method is able to obtain a set of well-balanced AIFs efficiently. They also show that in this case the CCEA outperforms the simple genetic algorithm, and that the capability of PIPE has been significantly improved through the improvement work.