Yield improvement using configurable analogue transistors (CATs)

Continued process scaling has led to significant yield and reliability challenges for today’s designers. Analogue circuits are particularly susceptible to poor variation, driving the need for new yield resilient techniques in this area. This paper describes a new configurable analogue transistor structure and supporting methodology that facilitates variation compensation at the post-manufacture stage. The approach has demonstrated significant yield improvements and can be applied to any analogue circui

Linking the exotic structure of 17{}^{17}C to its unbound mirror 17{}^{17}Na

The structure of ${}^{17}$C is used to define a nuclear interaction that, when used in a multichannel algebraic scattering theory for the $n+{}^{16}$C system, gives a credible definition of the (compound) excitation spectra. When couplings to the low-lying collective excitations of the ${}^{16}$C-core are taken into account, both sub-threshold and resonant states about the $n+{}^{16}$C threshold are found. Adding Coulomb potentials to that nuclear interaction, the method is used for the mirror system of $p+{}^{16}$Ne to specify the low-excitation spectrum of the particle unstable $^{17}$Na. We compare the results with those of a microscopic cluster model. A spectrum of low excitation resonant states in ${}^{17}$Na is found with some differences to that given by the microscopic-cluster model. The calculated resonance half-widths (for proton emission) range from $\sim 2$ to $\sim 672$ keV.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figure

Towards Machine Wald

The past century has seen a steady increase in the need of estimating and predicting complex systems and making (possibly critical) decisions with limited information. Although computers have made possible the numerical evaluation of sophisticated statistical models, these models are still designed \emph{by humans} because there is currently no known recipe or algorithm for dividing the design of a statistical model into a sequence of arithmetic operations. Indeed enabling computers to \emph{think} as \emph{humans} have the ability to do when faced with uncertainty is challenging in several major ways: (1) Finding optimal statistical models remains to be formulated as a well posed problem when information on the system of interest is incomplete and comes in the form of a complex combination of sample data, partial knowledge of constitutive relations and a limited description of the distribution of input random variables. (2) The space of admissible scenarios along with the space of relevant information, assumptions, and/or beliefs, tend to be infinite dimensional, whereas calculus on a computer is necessarily discrete and finite. With this purpose, this paper explores the foundations of a rigorous framework for the scientific computation of optimal statistical estimators/models and reviews their connections with Decision Theory, Machine Learning, Bayesian Inference, Stochastic Optimization, Robust Optimization, Optimal Uncertainty Quantification and Information Based Complexity.Comment: 37 page

Crystallographic structure reveals phosphorylated pilin from Neisseria : phosphoserine sites modify type IV pilus surface chemistry and fibre morphology

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/72468/1/j.1365-2958.1999.01184.x.pd

Mutation update for the SATB2 gene

SATB2-associated syndrome (SAS) is an autosomal dominant neurodevelopmental disorder caused by alterations in the SATB2 gene. Here we present a review of published pathogenic variants in the SATB2 gene to date and report 38 novel alterations found in 57 additional previously unreported individuals. Overall, we present a compilation of 120 unique variants identified in 155 unrelated families ranging from single nucleotide coding variants to genomic rearrangements distributed throughout the entire coding region of SATB2. Single nucleotide variants predicted to result in the occurrence of a premature stop codon were the most commonly seen (51/120=42.5%) followed by missense variants (31/120=25.8%). We review the rather limited functional characterization of pathogenic variants and discuss current understanding of the consequences of the different molecular alterations. We present an expansive phenotypic review along with novel genotype-phenotype correlations. Lastly, we discuss current knowledge on animal models and present future prospects. This review should help provide better guidance for the care of individuals diagnosed with SAS

Acceptance tests of Hamamatsu R7081 photomultiplier tubes

Photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) are traditionally an integral part of large underground experiments as they measure the light emission from particle interactions within the enclosed detection media. The BUTTON experiment will utilise around 100 PMTs to measure the response of different media suitable for rare event searches. A subset of low-radioactivity 10-inch Hamamatsu R7081 PMTs were tested, characterised, and compared to manufacture certification. This manuscript describes the laboratory tests and analysis of gain, peak-to-valley ratio and dark rate of the PMTs to give an understanding of the charge response, signal-to-noise ratio and dark noise background as an acceptance test of the suitability of these PMTs for water-based detectors. Following the evaluation of these tests, the PMT performance agreed with the manufacturer specifications. These results are imperative for modeling the PMT response in detector simulations and providing confidence in the performance of the devices once installed in the detector underground

Acceptance tests of Hamamatsu R7081 photomultiplier tubes

Photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) are traditionally an integral part of large underground experiments as they measure the light emission from particle interactions within the enclosed detection media. The BUTTON experiment will utilise around 100 PMTs to measure the response of different media suitable for rare event searches. A subset of low-radioactivity 10-inch Hamamatsu R7081 PMTs were tested, characterised, and compared to manufacture certification. This manuscript describes the laboratory tests and analysis of gain, peak-to-valley ratio and dark rate of the PMTs to give an understanding of the charge response, signal-to-noise ratio and dark noise background as an acceptance test of the suitability of these PMTs for water-based detectors. Following the evaluation of these tests, the PMT performance agreed with the manufacturer specifications. These results are imperative for modeling the PMT response in detector simulations and providing confidence in the performance of the devices once installed in the detector underground

Decay and Fission Hindrance of Two- and Four-Quasiparticle K Isomers in Rf 254

Two isomers decaying by electromagnetic transitions with half-lives of 4.7(1.1) and 247(73)μs have been discovered in the heavy Rf254 nucleus. The observation of the shorter-lived isomer was made possible by a novel application of a digital data acquisition system. The isomers were interpreted as the Kπ=8-, ν2(7/2+[624],9/2-[734]) two-quasineutron and the Kπ=16+, 8-ν2(7/2+[624],9/2-[734])⊗ - 8-π2(7/2-[514],9/2+[624]) four-quasiparticle configurations, respectively. Surprisingly, the lifetime of the two-quasiparticle isomer is more than 4 orders of magnitude shorter than what has been observed for analogous isomers in the lighter N=150 isotones. The four-quasiparticle isomer is longer lived than the Rf254 ground state that decays exclusively by spontaneous fission with a half-life of 23.2(1.1)μs. The absence of sizable fission branches from either of the isomers implies unprecedented fission hindrance relative to the ground state