Instant restore after a media failure

Media failures usually leave database systems unavailable for several hours until recovery is complete, especially in applications with large devices and high transaction volume. Previous work introduced a technique called single-pass restore, which increases restore bandwidth and thus substantially decreases time to repair. Instant restore goes further as it permits read/write access to any data on a device undergoing restore--even data not yet restored--by restoring individual data segments on demand. Thus, the restore process is guided primarily by the needs of applications, and the observed mean time to repair is effectively reduced from several hours to a few seconds. This paper presents an implementation and evaluation of instant restore. The technique is incrementally implemented on a system starting with the traditional ARIES design for logging and recovery. Experiments show that the transaction latency perceived after a media failure can be cut down to less than a second and that the overhead imposed by the technique on normal processing is minimal. The net effect is that a few "nines" of availability are added to the system using simple and low-overhead software techniques

NRQCD results on the MILC extra coarse ensemble

We present preliminary results using NRQCD to describe heavy quarks on the MILC 2+1 flavour dynamical extra coarse ensemble. We calculate the spectra of low lying states in bottomonium to complement earlier results on the finer MILC ensembles. We then exploit the coarseness of the lattices to calculate charm propagators using NRQCD. These are used to examine the charmonium spectrum and to calclate the mass of the $B_c$ using NRQCD. Finally we look breifly at the $B_d$ and $B_s$ systems using the imporoved staggered formalism to describe the light valence quarks.Comment: 6 pages, Talk presented at Lattice 2005 (Heavy Quarks), Dublin, 25-30 July 200

Androgen Receptor and Vasopressin Receptor (AVPR1a) Genetic Polymorphisms are not associated with Marital Status or Fertility among Ariaal Men of Northern Kenya

A growing body of scholarship implicates testosterone and vasopressin in male reproductive behavior, including in humans. Since hormones exert their effects through their respective receptors, an open question has been whether genetic polymorphisms in the androgen receptor and vasopressin 1a receptor (AVPR1a) impact human male social behavior. Here, we sought to test for associations between polymorphisms in the coding region of the androgen receptor and promoter region of AVPR1a in relation to marital status and fertility among pastoralist Ariaal men of northern Kenya. None of the three polymorphisms were related to marital status (single, monogamously married, polygynously married) or fertility (number of current living children). We discuss these null findings in light of existing data

Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) data evaluation for use in monitoring vegetation. Volume 1: Channels 1 and 2

Data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration satellite system (NOAA-6 satellite) were analyzed to study their nonmeteorological uses. A file of charts, graphs, and tables was created form the products generated. It was found that the most useful data lie between pixel numbers 400 and 2000 on a given scan line. The analysis of the generated products indicates that the Gray-McCrary Index can discern vegetation and associated daily and seasonal changes. The solar zenith-angle correction used in previous studies was found to be a useful adjustment to the index. The METSAT system seems best suited for providing large-area analyses of surface features on a daily basis

Infrared Quasi Fixed Points and Mass Predictions in the MSSM II: Large tan(beta) Scenario

We consider the infrared quasi fixed point solutions of the renormalization group equations for the Yukawa couplings and soft supersymmetry breaking parameters in the MSSM in the \underline{large $\tan\beta$} regime. The existence of IR quasi fixed points together with the values of gauge couplings, third generation quarks, lepton and Z-boson masses allows one to predict masses of the Higgs bosons and SUSY particles as functions of the only free parameter, $m_{1/2}$, or the gluino mass. The lightest Higgs boson mass for $M_{SUSY} \approx 1$ TeV is found to be $m_h=128.2-0.4-7.1 \pm 5$ GeV for $\mu>0$ and $m_h=120.6-0.1-3.8 \pm 5$ GeV for $\mu<0$.Comment: 15 pages, LateX file with 4 eps figures, corrected numbers, new column in table, last versio

Fracture mechanics approach to design analysis of notches, steps and internal cut-outs in planar components

A new approach to the assessment and optimization of geometric stress-concentrating features is proposed on the basis of the correspondence between sharp crack or corner stressfield intensity factors and conventional elastic stress concentration factors (SCFs) for radiused transitions. This approach complements the application of finite element analysis (FEA) and the use of standard SCF data from the literature. The method makes it possible to develop closed-form solutions for SCFs in cases where corresponding solutions for the sharp crack geometries exist. This is helpful in the context of design optimization. The analytical basis of the correspondence is shown, together with the limits on applicability where stress-free boundaries near the stress concentrating feature are present or adjacent features interact. Examples are given which compare parametric results derived from FEA with closed-form solutions based on the proposed method. New information is given on the stress state at a 90° corner or width step, where the magnitude of the stress field intensity is related to that of the corresponding crack geometry. This correspondence enables the user to extend further the application of crack-tip stress-field intensity information to square-cornered steps, external U-grooves, and internal cut-outs

Rebuttal to "Comment by V.M. Krasnov on 'Counterintuitive consequence of heating in strongly-driven intrinsic junctions of Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+d Mesas' "

In our article [1], we found that with increasing dissipation there is a clear, systematic shift and sharpening of the conductance peak along with the disappearance of the higher-bias dip/hump features (DHF), for a stack of intrinsic Josephson junctions (IJJs) of intercalated Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+{\delta} (Bi2212). Our work agrees with Zhu et al [2] on unintercalated, pristine Bi2212, as both studies show the same systematic changes with dissipation. The broader peaks found with reduced dissipation [1,2] are consistent with broad peaks in the density-of-states (DOS) found among scanning tunneling spectroscopy [3] (STS), mechanical contact tunneling [4] (MCT) and inferred from angle (momentum) resolved photoemission spectroscopy [5] (ARPES); results that could not be ignored. Thus, sharp peaks are extrinsic and cannot correspond to the superconducting DOS. We suggested that the commonality of the sharp peaks in our conductance data, which is demonstrably shown to be heating-dominated, and the peaks of previous intrinsic tunneling spectroscopy (ITS) data implies that these ITS reports might need reinterpretation.Comment: Rebuttal to Comment of Krasnov arXiv:1007.451

Heavy-Light Meson Semileptonic Decays with Staggered Light Quarks

We report on exploratory studies of heavy-light meson semileptonic decays using Asqtad light quarks, NRQCD heavy quarks and Symanzik improved glue on coarse quenched lattices. Oscillatory contributions to three-point correlators coming from the staggered light quarks are found to be handled well by Bayesian fitting methods. B meson decays to both the Goldstone pion and to one of the point-split non-Goldstone pions are investigated. One-loop perturbative matching of NRQCD/Asqtad heavy-light currents is incorporated.Comment: 3 pages, 3 postscript figures, Lattice2003(heavy