Synchronization and fault-masking in redundant real-time systems

A real time computer may fail because of massive component failures or not responding quickly enough to satisfy real time requirements. An increase in redundancy - a conventional means of improving reliability - can improve the former but can - in some cases - degrade the latter considerably due to the overhead associated with redundancy management, namely the time delay resulting from synchronization and voting/interactive consistency techniques. The implications of synchronization and voting/interactive consistency algorithms in N-modular clusters on reliability are considered. All these studies were carried out in the context of real time applications. As a demonstrative example, we have analyzed results from experiments conducted at the NASA Airlab on the Software Implemented Fault Tolerance (SIFT) computer. This analysis has indeed indicated that in most real time applications, it is better to employ hardware synchronization instead of software synchronization and not allow reconfiguration

Environmental cancer in the Indian context

There is increasing global concern on the upward trend of cancer attributable to environmental causes. This has found articulate expression in the intensive action programme initiated in developed countries to carry out systematic epidemiological surveillance studies on environmental based cancer, to conduct both short-term and long-term studies on experimental animals on the mechanism of induction and to search for preventive measures. Of all environmental agents, chemicals which have been introduced by man have received the maximum attention on account of the fact that besides functioning per se as carcinogens, many chemicals can play roles of synergists, promotors, or procarcinogens. The total number of chemicals in wide use today will be more than a million but hardly a thousand of them has been subjected to the vigorous three animal safety evaluation according to Brigg. Developmental programmes initiated in post-independence India in the last three decades include industrialisation and modernisation of agriculture. So far as industrialisation is concerned, the major units have grown round certain urban centres or in settlements which have become identifiable pockets of high levels of air and water pollution. Data on air pollution inventory provided by NEERI and other agencies indicate a high content of polycyclic hydrocarbons, including 3,4-benzpyrenes especially in Bombay and Calcutta. The marginal health surveys conducted in these metropolitan cities have attempted only correlation between high incidence of respiratory disorders to particulate or gaseous pollutants. The modernisation of agriculture, particularly boosting of farm productivity, involves greater and greater use of past control chemicals and synthetic fertilisers. Chlorinated pesticides are also being used in massive quantities for controlling vector-borne epidemics. The evidence for an unusually high body burden of organochlorine pesticide residues in Indians has been documented. Many of them have been shown to be carcinogenic to experimental animals. Relatively high levels of residues of organochlorine have been detected in placentae, cord blood, and breast milk. The presence of high levels of suspected particulate matter (SPM) made up of industrially released pollutant in industrial areas, or air-borne pollens and microbial or fungal spores or the minute fugitive dust particles is also a problem of concern to us in this country. Besides health effects caused by them per se, they can act as nuclei for absorption of NO2 released from industrial activity or from bacterial reduction of nitrate fertilisers. Ideal matrices are formed for chain photochemical reaction triggered by solar or other cosmic irradiation giving rise to nitrosamines, free radicals, etc. Water used for potable purposes in some rural areas has been shown to contain relatively high nitrate and nitrite content. Occupational exposure to carcinogenic chemicals has also received some attention. Sporadic surveys have been conducted for the ulceration of the nose and septum in workers handling chromate salts (valency vi) or bladder tumors in anthracene dyes. Detailed analysis of environment related morbidity and mortality data has not yet been attempted to build models for the purpose of predictive epidemiology. Welders are exposed to fumes of heavy metals including those of chromium and nickel. The intake of nickel through leafy vegetables and hydrogenated vegetable oils has been considered as one possible source of bioaccumulation of this carcinogenic metal. In the absence of data banks or registry of reliable morbidity/mortality data in humans, the Industrial Toxicology Research Centre has made a partial survey of the dust load of lungs of food animals killed in abbatoirs in the industrial and mining areas of Bihar and West Bengal. Blocking of lymph nodes by dust has been observed in most of the animals and analysis of the dust collected from lung by X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy has revealed the presence of many toxic metals. The Outdoor Occupational Clinic run by the Industrial Toxicology Research Centre in ESI Hospital at Kanpur has recorded cases of skin allergy due to chromium

Selective laser sintering of bioactive glass scaffolds and their biological assessment for bone repair

Bone scaffold fabrication using powder-bed based additive manufacturing techniques, like the selective laser sintering (SLS) process, provides control over pore interconnectivity, pore geometry, and the overall shape of the scaffold, which aids in repairing different regions of the bone. The main objectives of this dissertation were to develop bioactive glass (BG) scaffolds using the SLS process and evaluate the scaffolds for their effectiveness in bone repair both in vitro and in vivo. 13-93 glass, a silicate based BG, and 13-93B3 glass, a borate based BG, are designed to accelerate the body\u27s natural ability to heal itself and are used in this research. After the initial feasibility study, the material and process parameters were optimized to improve the compressive strength from ~20 MPa to ~41 MPa, for a 13-93 BG scaffold with a porosity of ~50%. Pore geometry of the scaffold plays a crucial role as it not only affects the mechanical properties and subsequent degradation but also the bone cell proliferation. Scaffolds with a porosity of ~50% and five different pore geometries, namely, cubic, spherical, X, diamond, and gyroid, were fabricated and assessed in vitro for a possible preferential cell proliferation. The MTT labeling experiments indicated that the scaffolds with diamond and gyroid pore geometries have higher curvature-driven MLO-A5 cell proliferation. Finally, scaffolds with diamond and cubic pore geometries were evaluated in vivo using a rat calvarial defect model for 6 weeks. Though the results indicated no significant difference in the amount of new bone formation with respect to the defect region, the maturation of the fibrous tissue to bone appeared to be quicker in the scaffolds with diamond architecture --Abstract, page iv

Life cycle studies of the hexose transporter of Plasmodium species and genetic validation of their essentiality

A Plasmodium falciparum hexose transporter (PfHT) has previously been shown to be a facilitative glucose and fructose transporter. Its expression in Xenopus laevis oocytes and the use of a glucose analogue inhibitor permitted chemical validation of PfHT as a novel drug target. Following recent re-annotations of the P. falciparum genome, other putative sugar transporters have been identified. To investigate further if PfHT is the key supplier of hexose to P. falciparum and to extend studies to different stages of Plasmodium spp., we functionally analysed the hexose transporters of both the human parasite P. falciparum and the rodent parasite Plasmodium berghei using gene targeting strategies. We show here the essential function of pfht for the erythrocytic parasite growth as it was not possible to knockout pfht unless the gene was complemented by an episomal construct. Also, we show that parasites are rescued from the toxic effect of a glucose analogue inhibitor when pfht is overexpressed in these transfectants. We found that the rodent malaria parasite orthologue, P. berghei hexose transporter (PbHT) gene, was similarly refractory to knockout attempts. However, using a single cross-over transfection strategy, we generated transgenic P. berghei parasites expressing a PbHT–GFP fusion protein suggesting that locus is amenable for gene targeting. Analysis of pbht-gfp transgenic parasites showed that PbHT is constitutively expressed through all the stages in the mosquito host in addition to asexual stages. These results provide genetic support for prioritizing PfHT as a target for novel antimalarials that can inhibit glucose uptake and kill parasites, as well as unveiling the expression of this hexose transporter in mosquito stages of the parasite, where it is also likely to be critical for survival

Multi-epoch intra-night optical monitoring of 8 radio-quiet BL Lac candidates

For a new sample of 8 weak-line-quasars (WLQs) we report a sensitive search in 20 intranight monitoring sessions, for blazar-like optical flux variations on hour-like and longer time scale (day/month/year$-$like). The sample consists exclusively of the WLQs that are not radio$-$loud and have either been classified as `radio-weak probable BL Lac candidates' and/or are known to have exhibited at least one episode of large, blazar$-$like optical variability. Whereas only a hint of intra$-$night variability is seen for two of these WLQs, J104833.5$+$620305.0(z = 0.219) and J133219.6$+$622715.9 (z = 3.15), statistically significant inter$-$night variability at a few per cent level is detected for three of the sources, including the radio-intermediate WLQ J133219.6$+$622715.9 (z = 3.15) and the well known bona$-$fide radio$-$quiet WLQs J121221.5$+$534128.0 (z = 3.10) and WLQ J153259.9$-$003944.1 (z = 4.62). In the rest$-$frame, this variability is intra-day and in the far$-$UV band. On the time scale of a decade, we find for three of the WLQs large brightness changes, amounting to 1.655$\pm$0.009, 0.163$\pm$0.010 and 0.144$\pm$0.018 mag, for J104833.5$+$620305.0, J123743.1$+$630144.9 and J232428.4$+$144324.4, respectively. Whereas the latter two are confirmed radio-quiet WLQs, the extragalactic nature of J104833.5$+$620305.0 remains to be well established, thanks to the absence of any feature(s) in its available optical spectra. The present study forms a part of our ongoing campaign of intranight optical monitoring of radio quiet weak-line quasars, in order to improve the understanding of this enigmatic class of Active Galactic Nuclei and to look among them for a possible tiny, elusive population of radio-quiet BL Lacs.Comment: Accepted to MNRAS. 12 pages, 1 figure, 4 Tabl

Entropic uncertainty relations and entanglement

We discuss the relationship between entropic uncertainty relations and entanglement. We present two methods for deriving separability criteria in terms of entropic uncertainty relations. Especially we show how any entropic uncertainty relation on one part of the system results in a separability condition on the composite system. We investigate the resulting criteria using the Tsallis entropy for two and three qubits.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures, v2: small change

The dynamics and control of large flexible space structures, part 7

A preliminary Eulerian formulation of the in-plane dynamics of the proposed spacecraft control laboratory experiment configuration is undertaken when the mast is treated as a cantilever type beam and the reflector as a lumped mass at the end of the beam. Frequency and mode shapes are obtained for the open loop model of the beam system and the stability of closed loop control systems is analyzed by both frequency and time domain techniques. Environmental disturbances due to solar radiation pressure are incorporated into models of controlled large flexible orbiting platforms. Thermally induced deformations of simple beam and platform type structures are modelled and expressions developed for the disturbance torques resulting from the interaction of solar radiation pressure. Noise effects in the deterministic model of the hoop/column antenna system are found to cause a degradation in system performance. Appropriate changes in the ratio of plant noise to the measurement noise and/or changes in the control weighting matrix elements can improve transient and steady state performance

Differentiation of pathogenic amoebae: encystation and excystation ofacanthamoeba culbertsoni - a model

Differentiation into dormant cysts and vegetative trophozoites is an inherent character intimately associated with the life cycle and infectivity of pathogenic amoebae. In the case of human intestinal amoebiasis encystation and excystation are of immediate relevance to the process of transmission of the disease from healthy carriers to susceptible individuals. Using a pathogenic free living amoebaAcanthamoeba culbertsoni as a model, considerable progress has been achieved in understanding the mechanism and control of the process of differentiation. The turnover of the regulatory molecule cyclic 3: '5' adenosine monophosphate is responsible for triggering the process of encystation. Amoebae bind effector molecules such as biogenic amines to a membrane localized receptor which itself resembles the β-adrenergic receptor of mammalian organisms. The activation of adenylate cyclase or inhibition of cyclic AMP phosphodiesterase maintain the dynamic intracellular cyclic AMP. The cytosol fraction of amoebae has a cyclic AMP binding protein. During encystation, enzymes needed for synthesis of cellulose and glycoproteins are induced. Control is exercised at transcriptional level and the process is subject to catabolic repression. Excystation of mature amoebic cysts is mediated by glutamic acid and certain other amino acids by an as yet unelucidated mechanism. During excystation there is dormancy break, induction of deploymerizing enzymesviz. two proteases, a cellulase and a chitinase. The empty cysts or cyst walls are digested by these enzymes and their break down products are used for cellular growth. By invoking a flip-flop mechanism of repression and derepression some plausible explanation can be offered for the cascade of biochemical events that sets in when amoeba is 'turned on' to encystation or excystation