An Iona of the East : the early-medieval monastery at Portmahomack, Tarbat Ness

A new research programme located on the Tarbat peninsula in north-east Scotland offers the first large-scale exposure of a monastery in the land of the Picts. A case is argued that the settlement at Portmahomack was founded in the 6th century, possibly by Columba himself, and by the 8th century had developed into an important political and industrial centre comparable with Iona. Signs of the monastery's former prominence survive in workshops producing liturgical objects, possibly including books, and in the brilliant art of the Tarbat cross-slabs at Portmahomack, Nigg, Shandwick and Hilton of Cadboll. The monastic institution, which had contacts with Northumbria and beyond, seems to have been expunged by the 11th century, probably in the context of political struggles between Scandinavian, Pictish and Scottish interests

A notation for designing restoring logic circuitry in CMOS

We introduce a programming notation in which every syntactically correct program specifies a restoring logic component, i.e., a component whose outputs are permanently connected, via "not too many" transistors, to the power supply. It is shown how the specified components can be translated into transistor diagrams for CMOS integrated circuits. As these components are designed as strict hierarchies, it is hoped that the translation of the transistor diagrams into layouts for integrated circuits can be accomplished mechanically

Early Scottish Monasteries and Prehistory: A Preliminary Dialogue

Reflecting oil the diversity of monastic attributes found in the east and west of Britain, the author proposes that prehistoric ritual practice was influential on monastic form. An argument is advanced that this was not based solely oil inspiration Front the landscape, nor oil conservative tradition, but oil the intellectual reconciliation of Christian and non-Christian ideas, with disparate results that account. for the differences in monumentality. Among more general matters tentatively credited with a prehistoric root are the cult of relics, the tonsure and the date of Easter

What were they thinking? : Intellectual territories in Anglo-Saxon England

Chapter explores how archaeology reveals the differences in belief between territories and between the sexes in early Medieval Britai

Cost and Performance of VLSI Computing Structures

Using VLSI technology, it will soon be possible to implement entire computing systems on one monolithic silicon chip. Conducting paths are required for communicating information throughout any integrated system. The length and organization of these communication paths place a lower bound on the area and time required for system operations. Optimal designs can be achieved in only a few of the many alternative structures. Two illustrative systems are analyzed in detail: a RAM-based system and an associative system. It is shown that in each case an optimum design is possible using the area-time product as a cost function

Sicily in Transition Research Project : Investigations at Castronovo di Sicilia. Results and Prospects 2015

Il progetto Sicily in Transition è nato dalla collaborazione delle Università di York e di Roma Tor Vergata, con il pieno ap-poggio della Soprintendenza ai BB. CC. AA di Palermo. La finalità della nostra ricerca è quella di analizzare, attraverso il registro archeologico, in quale modo i mutamenti di regime politico hanno influenzato organizzazione, composizione e stili di vita delle popolazioni soggette. L’arco di tempo considerato va dal VI al XIII secolo, periodo nel quale la Sicilia ha visto diverse dominazioni: quella bizantina, islamica, normanna e sveva. Sicily in Transition prevede di analizzare con metodi in parte nuovi, in parte più tradizionali, sia insiemi di reperti (ecofatti e manufatti) prodotti da precedenti scavi, sia di acquisire dati attraverso nuove indagini. In particolare gli scriventi hanno scelto di indagare un’area molto promettente della Sicilia centrale: il territorio di Castronovo di Sicilia. Qui, in due campagne di ricerca durate ciascuna quattro settimane, sono state realizzate indagini magnetometriche, ricognizioni di superficie, di archeologia dell’architettura e sondaggi stratigrafici. La finalità era quella di valutare il potenziale archeologico dei principali siti storici del territorio. I primi risultati sono promettenti in relazione alla varietà tipologica e cronologica dei diversi insediamenti identificati: una fortezza dei secoli VII-IX sul Monte Kassar; un fortilizio con fasi del pieno medioevo e dell’età moderna sul Colle San Vitale; un ampio villaggio non difeso con fasi dall’età tardoantica al medioevo, incluse importanti testimonianze di età islamica, nell’area del Casale San Pietro. Le indagini preliminari hanno quindi confermato le ampie potenzialità informative dell’intero territorio di Castronovo rispetto ai temi della nostra ricerca e stanno quindi consentendo di programmare gli interventi futuri