4,700 research outputs found
Symbolic QED Pre-silicon Verification for Automotive Microcontroller Cores: Industrial Case Study
We present an industrial case study that demonstrates the practicality and
effectiveness of Symbolic Quick Error Detection (Symbolic QED) in detecting
logic design flaws (logic bugs) during pre-silicon verification. Our study
focuses on several microcontroller core designs (~1,800 flip-flops, ~70,000
logic gates) that have been extensively verified using an industrial
verification flow and used for various commercial automotive products. The
results of our study are as follows: 1. Symbolic QED detected all logic bugs in
the designs that were detected by the industrial verification flow (which
includes various flavors of simulation-based verification and formal
verification). 2. Symbolic QED detected additional logic bugs that were not
recorded as detected by the industrial verification flow. (These additional
bugs were also perhaps detected by the industrial verification flow.) 3.
Symbolic QED enables significant design productivity improvements: (a) 8X
improved (i.e., reduced) verification effort for a new design (8 person-weeks
for Symbolic QED vs. 17 person-months using the industrial verification flow).
(b) 60X improved verification effort for subsequent designs (2 person-days for
Symbolic QED vs. 4-7 person-months using the industrial verification flow). (c)
Quick bug detection (runtime of 20 seconds or less), together with short
counterexamples (10 or fewer instructions) for quick debug, using Symbolic QED
The Arches cluster revisited
The Arches is one of the youngest, densest and most massive clusters in the Galaxy. As such it provides a unique insight into the lifecycle of the most massive stars known and the formation and survival of such stellar aggregates in the extreme conditions of the Galactic Centre. In a previous study we presented an initial stellar census for the Arches and in this work we expand upon this, providing new and revised classifications for âŒ30% of the 105 spectroscopically identified cluster members as well as distinguishing potential massive runaways. The results of this survey emphasise the homogeneity and co-evality of the Arches and confirm the absence of H-free Wolf-Rayets of WC sub-type and predicted luminosities. The increased depth of our complete dataset also provides significantly better constraints on the main sequence population; with the identification of O9.5 V stars for the first time we now spectroscopically sample stars with initial masses ranging from âŒ16âMâ to â„120âMâ. Indeed, following from our expanded stellar census we might expect âł50 stars within the Arches to have been born with masses âł60âMâ, while all 105 spectroscopically confirmed cluster members are massive enough to leave relativistic remnants upon their demise. Moreover the well defined observational properties of the main sequence cohort will be critical to the construction of an extinction law appropriate for the Galactic Centre and consequently the quantitative analysis of the Arches population and subsequent determination of the cluster initial mass function
The role of microRNAs in glucocorticoid action - literature review
Glucocorticoids (GCs) are steroids with profound anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory activities. Synthetic GCs are widely used for managing chronic inflammatory and autoimmune conditions, as immunosuppressants in transplantation, and as antitumor agents in certain hematological cancers. However, prolonged GC exposure can cause adverse effects. A detailed understanding of GCs' mechanisms of action may enable harnessing of their desirable actions while minimizing harmful effects. Here, we review the impact on GC biology of microRNAs, small noncoding RNAs that posttranscriptionally regulate gene expression. Emerging evidence indicates that microRNAs modulate GC production by the adrenal glands and cells' responses to GCs. Furthermore, GCs influence cell proliferation, survival, and function at least in part by regulating microRNA expression. We propose that the beneficial effects of GCs may be enhanced through combination with reagents targeting specific microRNAs
Optimized teleportation in Gaussian noisy channels
We address continuous variable quantum teleportation in Gaussian quantum
noisy channels, either thermal or squeezed-thermal. We first study the
propagation of twin-beam and evaluate a threshold for its separability. We find
that the threshold for purely thermal channels is always larger than for
squeezed-thermal ones. On the other hand, we show that squeezing the channel
improves teleportation of squeezed states and, in particular, we find the class
of squeezed states that are better teleported in a given noisy channel.
Finally, we find regimes where optimized teleportation of squeezed states
improves amplitude-modulated communication in comparison with direct
transmission
A Neutron Star with a Massive Progenitor in Westerlund 1
We report the discovery of an X-ray pulsar in the young, massive Galactic
star cluster Westerlund 1. We detected a coherent signal from the brightest
X-ray source in the cluster, CXO J164710.2-455216, during two Chandra
observations on 2005 May 22 and June 18. The period of the pulsar is 10.6107(1)
s. We place an upper limit to the period derivative of Pdot<2e-10 s/s, which
implies that the spin-down luminosity is Edot<3e33 erg/s. The X-ray luminosity
of the pulsar is L_X = 3(+10,-2)e33 (D/5 kpc)^2 erg/s, and the spectrum can be
described by a kT = 0.61+/-0.02 keV blackbody with a radius of R_bb =
0.27+/-0.03 (D/5 kpc}) km. Deep infrared observations reveal no counterpart
with K1 Msun. Taken together,
the properties of the pulsar indicate that it is a magnetar. The rarity of slow
X-ray pulsars and the position of CXO J164710.2-455216 only 1.6' from the core
of Westerlund 1 indicates that it is a member of the cluster with >99.97%
confidence. Westerlund 1 contains 07V stars with initial masses M_i=35 Msun and
>50 post-main-sequence stars that indicate the cluster is 4+/-1 Myr old.
Therefore, the progenitor to this pulsar had an initial mass M_i>40 Msun. This
is the most secure result among a handful of observational limits to the masses
of the progenitors to neutron stars.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures. Final version to match ApJL (added one figure
since v2
Global hydrodynamic analysis of the molecular flexibility of galactomannans
In the past, intrinsic viscosity and sedimentation velocity analyses have been used separately to assess the conformation and flexibility of guar and locust bean gum galactomannans based on worm-like chain and semi-flexible coil models. Publication of a new global method combining data sets of both intrinsic viscosity and sedimentation coefficient with molecular weight, and minimising a target (error) function now permits a more robust analysis. Using this approach, values for the persistence length of (10 ñ 2) nm for guar and (7 ñ 1) nm for locust bean gum are returned if the mass per unit length ML is floated as a variable. Using a fixed mass per unit length based on the known compositional data of each galactomannan yields a similar value for Lp in both cases, (8 ñ 1) nm for guar and (9 ñ 1) nm for locust bean gum, with combined set of data yielding (9 ñ 1) nm: within experimental error the flexibilities of both galactomannans are very similar. é 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved
Statistical challenges in the development and evaluation of marker-based clinical tests
Exciting new technologies for assessing markers in human specimens are now available to evaluate unprecedented types and numbers of variations in DNA, RNA, proteins, or biological structures such as chromosomes. These markers, whether viewed individually, or collectively as a 'signature', have the potential to be useful for disease risk assessment, screening, early detection, prognosis, therapy selection, and monitoring for therapy effectiveness or disease recurrence. Successful translation from basic research findings to clinically useful test requires basic, translational, and regulatory sciences and a collaborative effort among individuals with varied types of expertise including laboratory scientists, technology developers, clinicians, statisticians, and bioinformaticians. The focus of this commentary is the many statistical challenges in translational marker research, specifically in the development and validation of marker-based tests that have clinical utility for therapeutic decision-making
Complicated variations of early optical afterglow of GRB 090726
We report on a detection of an early rising phase of optical afterglow (OA)
of a long GRB 090726. We resolve a complicated profile of the optical light
curve. We also investigate the relation of the optical and X-ray emission of
this event. We make use of the optical photometry of this OA obtained by the
0.5 m telescope of AI AS CR, supplemented by the data obtained by other
observers, and the X-ray Swift/XRT data.
The optical emission peaked at ~ 17.5 mag (R) at t-T0 ~ 500 s. We find a
complex profile of the light curve during the early phase of this OA: an
approximately power-law rise, a rapid transition to a plateau, a weak flare
superimposed on the center of this plateau, and a slowly steepening early
decline followed by a power-law decay. We discuss several possibilities to
explain the short flare on the flat top of the optical light curve at t-T0 ~
500 s; activity of the central engine is favored although reverse shock cannot
be ruled out. We show that power-law outflow with Theta_obs/Theta_c > 2.5 is
the best case for OA of GRB 090726. The initial Lorentz factor is Gamma_0 ~
230-530 in case of propagation of the blast wave in a homogeneous medium, while
propagation of this wave in a wind environment gives Gamma_0 ~ 80-300. The
value of Gamma_0 in GRB 090726 thus falls into the lower half of the range
observed in GRBs and it may even lie on the lower end. We also show that both
the optical and X-ray emission decayed simultaneously and that the spectral
profile from X-ray to the optical band did not vary. This OA belongs to the
least luminous ones in the phase of its power-law decay corresponding to that
observed for the ensemble of OAs of long GRBs.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, accepted to A&
Are metabolic equivalents (METS) an accurate method for estimating change in peak oxygen consumption after cardiac rehabilitation?
Background: Maximal cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) is the âgold standardâ method of determining Vo2peak. When CPET is unavailable, VO2peak and metabolic equivalents (METs) are estimated from treadmill or cycle ergometer workloads. UK cardiac rehabilitation programmes (CR) use estimated METs to report changes in cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF). However, the accuracy of determining changes in VO2peak based on changes in estimated METs is not known. Methods: 27 patients with coronary heart disease (88.9% male; age 59.5 ± 10.0 years, body mass index 29.6 ± 3.8 kg.m-2) performed maximal CPET before and after an exercise based CR intervention. VO2peak was directly determined using ventilatory gas exchange data and was also estimated using the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) leg cycling equation for METs. Agreement between changes in directly determined VO2peak and VO2peak estimated from METs was tested using Bland-Altman limits of agreement (LoA), and intraclass correlation coefficients. Results: Directly determined VO2peak did not increase significantly following CR (0.5 ml.kg-1.min-1 (2.7%); p=0.332). In contrast, estimated VO2peak increased significantly (0.4 METs; 1.4 ml.kg-1.min-1; 6.7%; p=0.006). The mean bias for estimated VO2peak versus directly-determined VO2peak was 0.7 ml.kg-1.min-1 (LoA -4.7 to 5.9 ml.kg-1.min-1). Aerobic efficiency, (ÎVO2/ÎWR slope) was significantly associated with estimated VO2peak measurement error. Conclusion: Changes in estimated VO2peak determined using the ACSM equation for leg cycling are not accurate surrogates for directly determined changes in VO2peak. Reporting mean CRF changes using estimated METs may over-estimate the efficacy of CR and lead to a different interpretation of study findings compared to directly determined VO2peak
Towards Rechargeable Zinc-Air Batteries with Aqueous Chloride Electrolytes
This paper presents a combined theoretical and experimental investigation of
aqueous near-neutral electrolytes based on chloride salts for rechargeable
zinc-air batteries (ZABs). The resilience of near-neutral chloride electrolytes
in air could extend ZAB lifetime, but theory-based simulations predict that
such electrolytes are vulnerable to other challenges including pH instability
and the unwanted precipitation of mixed zinc hydroxide chloride products. In
this work, we combine theory-based simulations with experimental methods such
as full cell cycling, operando pH measurements, ex-situ XRD, SEM, and EDS
characterization to investigate the performance of ZABs with aqueous chloride
electrolytes. The experimental characterization of near-neutral ZAB cells
observes the predicted pH instability and confirms the composition of the final
discharge products. Steps to promote greater pH stability and control the
precipitation of discharge products are proposed.Comment: 13 pages, 12 figure
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