New method for critical failure prediction of complex systems

Rigorous analytical technique, called criticality determination methodology /or CD technique/ determines the probability that a given complex system will successfully achieve stated objectives. The CD technique identifies critical elements of the system by a failure mode and effects analysis

The bosonic Kondo effect

The Kondo effect is associated with the formation of a many-body ground state that contains a quantum-mechanical entanglement between a (localized) fermion and the free fermions. We show that a bosonic version of the Kondo effect can occur in degenerate atomic Fermi gases near the Feshbach resonance. We also discuss how this bosonic Kondo effect can be observed experimentally.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, some references added, some removed. More comments adde

The Herschel view of the nebula around the luminous blue variable star AG Carinae

Far-infrared Herschel PACS imaging and spectroscopic observations of the nebula around the luminous blue variable (LBV) star AG Car have been obtained along with optical imaging in the Halpha+[NII] filter. In the infrared light, the nebula appears as a clumpy ring shell that extends up to 1.2 pc with an inner radius of 0.4 pc. It coincides with the Halpha nebula, but extends further out. Dust modeling of the nebula was performed and indicates the presence of large grains. The dust mass is estimated to be ~ 0.2 Msun. The infrared spectrum of the nebula consists of forbidden emission lines over a dust continuum. Apart from ionized gas, these lines also indicate the existence of neutral gas in a photodissociation region that surrounds the ionized region. The abundance ratios point towards enrichment by processed material. The total mass of the nebula ejected from the central star amounts to ~ 15 Msun, assuming a dust-to-gas ratio typical of LBVs. The abundances and the mass-loss rate were used to constrain the evolutionary path of the central star and the epoch at which the nebula was ejected, with the help of available evolutionary models. This suggests an ejection during a cool LBV phase for a star of ~ 55 Msun with little rotation.Comment: accepted for publication in A&

Implementing a Shared Dataspace Language on a Message-Based Multiprocessor

The term shared dataspace refers to the general class of models and languages in which the principal means of communication is a common, content-addressable data structure called a dataspace. This paper reports on progress we have made toward the development of prototype implementation of a shared dataspace language, Swarm, on a hypercube multiprocessor. The paper includes an informal overview of the Swarm language, describes the design organization of a transaction processing system which forms the kernels of a Swam implementation, and explains the algorithms implementing a subset of Swarm embedded in the language C

Phylogenetic relationships of haplolepideous mosses (Dicranidae) inferred from rps4 gene sequences

The haplolepideous mosses (Dicranidae) constitute a large group of ecologically and morphologically diverse species recognised primarily by having peristome teeth with a single row of cells on the dorsal surface