A programmable-load CMOS ring oscillator/inverter chain for propagation-delay measurements

A description is given of a test structure consisting of a combination of a ring oscillator and an inverter chain. The circuit can be used to carry out propagation delay measurements on two circuit types and under a number of load conditions. Full characterization only takes one test circuit. The elements of this structure are connected to a programmable load varying from a fan-in of 1 up to a fan-in of 15. In this way, the operating environment of the circuit can be simulated in hardware. The measurements can be carried out by means of a conventional automated digital measurement system providing AC and DC parametric measurement capabilities

Regulation of Logging on Private Land in California Under Governor Gray Davis

Few issues in California have been more controversial or engendered more passionate public debate than the damage to the state\u27s environment from logging. The almost complete disappearance of the primeval old-growth redwood forests that once blanketed the north coast of California has been the focal point for much of the debate. Since the redwood forests have for the most part remained in private hands, they are subject to regulation by the state of California. And the fate of the redwoods has brought several waves of litigation, ballot initiatives, new regulations and numerous public acquisitions, all designed to preserve these forests from commercial logging. To evaluate the Davis administration\u27s performance in this area, the authors of this article conducted their own research into Governor Davis\u27 election fundraising activities and relied on their own extensive, continuous experience in working with and against the California Department of Forestry ( CDF ) and the Board of Forestry ( Board ) over the last 10 to 15 years. In addition, this article discusses the results of a number of other investigations conducted by government agencies and non-profit organizations into the effectiveness of California\u27s regulation of logging

Penalized for challenging traditional gender roles: Why heterosexual relationships in which women wear the pants may be more precarious

There is growing evidence that heterosexual relationships in which traditional gender roles are reversed because women have attained higher societal status than their male partner are more precarious. We argue that this is the case because both partners in role-reversed relationships are evaluated more negatively than partners in more egalitarian or traditional gender role relationships. In two experimental studies conducted in the United States (N = 223) and the Netherlands (N = 269), we found that when encountering role-reversed relationships, participants perceive the woman as the more dominant and agentic one and the man as the weaker one in the relationship. They also perceive women in role-reversed relationships as less likeable, have less respect for men in role-reversed relationships, and expect that such relationships are less satisfying. In addition, in a third partner study (N = 94 heterosexual couples), we found that both male and female partners in role-reversed relationships considered the man to be the weaker one and the woman to be the more dominant one. Moreover, perceiving the man as the weaker one predicted lower relationship satisfaction in role-reversed couples. Overall, this research indicates that gender stereotypes about heterosexual relationships should be considered in efforts to achieve gender equity

From Teamchef Arminius to Hermann Junior: glocalised discourse about a national foundation myth

If for much of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the ‘Battle of the Teutoburg Forest’, fought in 9 CE between Roman armies and Germanic tribes, was predominantly a reference point for nationalist and chauvinist discourses in Germany, the first decade of the twenty-first century has seen attempts to link public remembrance with local/regional identities on the one hand and international/intercultural contact on the other. In the run up to and during the ‘anniversary year’ of 2009, German media, sports institutions and various other official institutions articulating tourist, economic and political interests attempted to create a new ‘glocalised’ version of the public memory of the Teutoburg battle. Combining methods of Cognitive Linguistics and Critical Discourse Analysis, the paper analyses the narrative and argumentative topoi employed in this re-orientation of public memory, with a special emphasis on hybrid, post-national identity-construction. Das zweitausendjährige Gedenkjahr der „Schlacht im Teutoburger Wald“ im Jahr 2009 bot eine günstige Gelegenheit, die bis in die zweite Hälfte des 20. Jahrhunderts dominante Tradition nationalistisch–chauvinistischer Deutungen des Sieges von germanischen Stämmen über drei römische Legionen zu korrigieren und zu überwinden. Der Aufsatz analysiert mit Hilfe diskurslinguistischer Methoden die Anstrengungen regionaler Institutionen und Medien, die nationale Vereinnahmung des historischen Gedenkens kritisch zu thematisieren sowie neue, zum eine lokal situierte, zum andern international orientierte Identifikationsangebote anzubieten. Die Analyse zeigt, dass solche „de-nationalisierten“ Identifikationsangebote zwar teilweise auch früher verwendet wurden, aber heutzutage rekontextualisiert und auf innovative Weise in den Vordergrund gestellt werden

Dynamic reconfiguration of human brain networks during learning

Human learning is a complex phenomenon requiring flexibility to adapt existing brain function and precision in selecting new neurophysiological activities to drive desired behavior. These two attributes -- flexibility and selection -- must operate over multiple temporal scales as performance of a skill changes from being slow and challenging to being fast and automatic. Such selective adaptability is naturally provided by modular structure, which plays a critical role in evolution, development, and optimal network function. Using functional connectivity measurements of brain activity acquired from initial training through mastery of a simple motor skill, we explore the role of modularity in human learning by identifying dynamic changes of modular organization spanning multiple temporal scales. Our results indicate that flexibility, which we measure by the allegiance of nodes to modules, in one experimental session predicts the relative amount of learning in a future session. We also develop a general statistical framework for the identification of modular architectures in evolving systems, which is broadly applicable to disciplines where network adaptability is crucial to the understanding of system performance.Comment: Main Text: 19 pages, 4 figures Supplementary Materials: 34 pages, 4 figures, 3 table

Weak Lensing from Space I: Instrumentation and Survey Strategy

A wide field space-based imaging telescope is necessary to fully exploit the technique of observing dark matter via weak gravitational lensing. This first paper in a three part series outlines the survey strategies and relevant instrumental parameters for such a mission. As a concrete example of hardware design, we consider the proposed Supernova/Acceleration Probe (SNAP). Using SNAP engineering models, we quantify the major contributions to this telescope's Point Spread Function (PSF). These PSF contributions are relevant to any similar wide field space telescope. We further show that the PSF of SNAP or a similar telescope will be smaller than current ground-based PSFs, and more isotropic and stable over time than the PSF of the Hubble Space Telescope. We outline survey strategies for two different regimes - a ``wide'' 300 square degree survey and a ``deep'' 15 square degree survey that will accomplish various weak lensing goals including statistical studies and dark matter mapping.Comment: 25 pages, 8 figures, 1 table, replaced with Published Versio

Supernova / Acceleration Probe: A Satellite Experiment to Study the Nature of the Dark Energy

The Supernova / Acceleration Probe (SNAP) is a proposed space-based experiment designed to study the dark energy and alternative explanations of the acceleration of the Universe's expansion by performing a series of complementary systematics-controlled measurements. We describe a self-consistent reference mission design for building a Type Ia supernova Hubble diagram and for performing a wide-area weak gravitational lensing study. A 2-m wide-field telescope feeds a focal plane consisting of a 0.7 square-degree imager tiled with equal areas of optical CCDs and near infrared sensors, and a high-efficiency low-resolution integral field spectrograph. The SNAP mission will obtain high-signal-to-noise calibrated light-curves and spectra for several thousand supernovae at redshifts between z=0.1 and 1.7. A wide-field survey covering one thousand square degrees resolves ~100 galaxies per square arcminute. If we assume we live in a cosmological-constant-dominated Universe, the matter density, dark energy density, and flatness of space can all be measured with SNAP supernova and weak-lensing measurements to a systematics-limited accuracy of 1%. For a flat universe, the density-to-pressure ratio of dark energy can be similarly measured to 5% for the present value w0 and ~0.1 for the time variation w'. The large survey area, depth, spatial resolution, time-sampling, and nine-band optical to NIR photometry will support additional independent and/or complementary dark-energy measurement approaches as well as a broad range of auxiliary science programs. (Abridged)Comment: 40 pages, 18 figures, submitted to PASP, http://snap.lbl.go

The ideal job-seeker norm: unemployment and marital privileges in the professional middle-class

Objective: To understand how heterosexual US married parents interpret and respond to a spouse's unemployment and subsequent job-searching. Background: The pervasiveness of employment uncertainty, and unemployment, may propel families to embrace gender egalitarian norms. Quantitative research finds that this possibility is not borne out. Qualitative research has sought to illuminate mechanisms as to how gender norms persist even during a time that is optimal for dismantling them, but these mechanisms remain unclear. Method: Seventy-two in-depth interviews were conducted with a nonrandom sample of heterosexual, professional, dual-earner, married, unemployed women, men, and their spouses in the United States. Follow-up interviews were conducted with 35 participants. Intensive family observations were conducted with four families, two of unemployed men, and two of unemployed women. Results: Unemployed women, men, and spouses acknowledge that a set of time-intensive activities are key for reemployment (the ideal job-seeker norm). Couples with unemployed men direct resources such as time, space, and even money to facilitate unemployed men's compliance with the ideal job-seeker norm. Couples downplay the importance of women's reemployment and do not direct similar resources to help unemployed women job-search. Conclusion: Couples preserve a traditional gender status quo, often in defiance of material realities, by actively maintaining men's position at the helm of paid work and women's at unpaid work. Implications: Linking unemployment and job-seeking with the institution of heterosexual marriage reveals novel insights into social and marital processes shaping job-seeking

Afferent signalling from the acid-challenged rat stomach is inhibited and gastric acid elimination is enhanced by lafutidine

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Lafutidine is a histamine H₂receptor antagonist, the gastroprotective effect of which is related to its antisecretory activity and its ability to activate a sensory neuron-dependent mechanism of defence. The present study investigated whether intragastric administration of lafutidine (10 and 30 mg/kg) modifies vagal afferent signalling, mucosal injury, intragastric acidity and gastric emptying after gastric acid challenge.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Adult rats were treated with vehicle, lafutidine (10 – 30 mg/kg) or cimetidine (10 mg/kg), and 30 min later their stomachs were exposed to exogenous HCl (0.25 M). During the period of 2 h post-HCl, intragastric pH, gastric volume, gastric acidity and extent of macroscopic gastric mucosal injury were determined and the activation of neurons in the brainstem was visualized by c-Fos immunocytochemistry.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Gastric acid challenge enhanced the expression of c-Fos in the nucleus tractus solitarii but caused only minimal damage to the gastric mucosa. Lafutidine reduced the HCl-evoked expression of c-Fos in the NTS and elevated the intragastric pH following intragastric administration of excess HCl. Further analysis showed that the gastroprotective effect of lafutidine against excess acid was delayed and went in parallel with facilitation of gastric emptying, measured indirectly via gastric volume changes, and a reduction of gastric acidity. The H₂receptor antagonist cimetidine had similar but weaker effects.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>These observations indicate that lafutidine inhibits the vagal afferent signalling of a gastric acid insult, which may reflect an inhibitory action on acid-induced gastric pain. The ability of lafutidine to decrease intragastric acidity following exposure to excess HCl cannot be explained by its antisecretory activity but appears to reflect dilution and/or emptying of the acid load into the duodenum. This profile of actions emphasizes the notion that H₂receptor antagonists can protect the gastric mucosa from acid injury independently of their ability to suppress gastric acid secretion.</p