Design of a fault tolerant airborne digital computer. Volume 2: Computational requirements and technology

This final report summarizes the work on the design of a fault tolerant digital computer for aircraft. Volume 2 is composed of two parts. Part 1 is concerned with the computational requirements associated with an advanced commercial aircraft. Part 2 reviews the technology that will be available for the implementation of the computer in the 1975-1985 period. With regard to the computation task 26 computations have been categorized according to computational load, memory requirements, criticality, permitted down-time, and the need to save data in order to effect a roll-back. The technology part stresses the impact of large scale integration (LSI) on the realization of logic and memory. Also considered was module interconnection possibilities so as to minimize fault propagation

Nod1 signaling overcomes resistance of S. pneumoniae to opsonophagocytic killing

Airway infection by the Gram-positive pathogen Streptococcus pneumoniae (Sp) leads to recruitment of neutrophils but limited bacterial killing by these cells. Co-colonization by Sp and a Gram-negative species, Haemophilus influenzae (Hi), provides sufficient stimulus to induce neutrophil and complement-mediated clearance of Sp from the mucosal surface in a murine model. Products from Hi, but not Sp, also promote killing of Sp by ex vivo neutrophil-enriched peritoneal exudate cells. Here we identify the stimulus from Hi as its peptidoglycan. Enhancement of opsonophagocytic killing was facilitated by signaling through nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain-1 (Nod1), which is involved in recognition of γ-D-glutamyl-meso-diaminopimelic acid (meso-DAP) contained in cell walls of Hi but not Sp. Neutrophils from mice treated with Hi or compounds containing meso-DAP, including synthetic peptidoglycan fragments, showed increased Sp killing in a Nod1-dependent manner. Moreover, Nod1-/- mice showed reduced Hi-induced clearance of Sp during co-colonization. These observations offer insight into mechanisms of microbial competition and demonstrate the importance of Nod1 in neutrophil-mediated clearance of bacteria in vivo

Immobilization of Polyethylene Oxide Surfactants for Non-Fouling Biomaterial Surfaces Using an Argon Glow Discharge Treatment

A non-fouling (protein-resistant) polymer surface is achieved by the covalent immobilization of polyethylene oxide (PEO) surfactants using an inert gas discharge treatment. Treated surfaces have been characterized using electron spectroscopy for chemical analysis (ESCA), static secondary ion mass spectrometry (SSIMS), water contact angle measurement, fibrinogen adsorption, and platelet adhesion. This paper is intended to review our recent work in using this simple surface modification process to obtain wettable polymer surfaces in general, and non-fouling biomaterial surfaces in particular

Effects Of Length, Complexity, And Grammatical Correctness On Stuttering In Spanish-Speaking Preschool Children

Purpose: To explore the effects of utterance length, syntactic complexity, and grammatical correctness on stuttering in the spontaneous speech of young, monolingual Spanish-speaking children. Method: Spontaneous speech samples of 11 monolingual Spanish-speaking children who stuttered, ages 35 to 70 months, were examined. Mean number of syllables, total number of clauses, utterance complexity (i.e., containing no clauses, simple clauses, or subordinate and/or conjoined clauses), and grammatical correctness (i.e., the presence or absence of morphological and syntactical errors) in stuttered and fluent utterances were compared. Results: Findings revealed that stuttered utterances in Spanish tended to be longer and more often grammatically incorrect, and contain more clauses, including more subordinate and/or conjoined clauses. However, when controlling for the interrelatedness of syllable number and clause number and complexity, only utterance length and grammatical incorrectness were significant predictors of stuttering in the spontaneous speech of these Spanish-speaking children. Use of complex utterances did not appear to contribute to the prediction of stuttering when controlling for utterance length. Conclusions: Results from the present study were consistent with many earlier reports of English-speaking children. Both length and grammatical factors appear to affect stuttering in Spanish-speaking children. Grammatical errors, however, served as the greatest predictor of stuttering.Communication Sciences and Disorder

Photoproduction of Long-Lived Holes and Electronic Processes in Intrinsic Electric Fields Seen through Photoinduced Absorption and Dichroism in Ca_3Ga_{2-x}Mn_xGe_3O_{12} Garnets

Long-lived photoinduced absorption and dichroism in the Ca_3Ga_{2-x}Mn_xGe_3O_{12} garnets with x < 0.06 were examined versus temperature and pumping intensity. Unusual features of the kinetics of photoinduced phenomena are indicative of the underlying electronic processes. The comparison with the case of Ca_3Mn_2Ge_3O_{12}, explored earlier by the authors, permits one to finally establish the main common mechanisms of photoinduced absorption and dichroism caused by random electric fields of photoproduced charges (hole polarons). The rate of their diffusion and relaxation through recombination is strongly influenced by the same fields, whose large statistical straggling is responsible for a broad continuous set of relaxation components (observed in the relaxation time range from 1 to about 1000 min). For Ca_3Ga_{2-x}Mn_xGe_3O_{12}, the time and temperature dependences of photoinduced absorption and dichroism bear a strong imprint of structure imperfection increasing with x.Comment: 20 pages, 10 figure

Experimental methods in chemical engineering: X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy-XPS

X\u2010ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) is a quantitative surface analysis technique used to identify the elemental composition, empiricalformula, chemical state, and electronic state of an element. The kinetic energy of the electrons escaping from the material surface irradiated by anx\u2010ray beam produces a spectrum. XPS identifies chemical species and quantifies their content and the interactions between surface species. It isminimally destructive and is sensitive to a depth between 1\u201310 nm. The elemental sensitivity is in the order of 0.1 atomic %. It requires ultra highvacuum (1 7107 12Pa) in the analysis chamber and measurement time varies from minutes to hours per sample depending on the analyte. XPSdates back 50 years ago. New spectrometers, detectors, and variable size photon beams, reduce analysis time and increase spatial resolution. AnXPS bibliometric map of the 10 000 articles indexed by Web of Science[1]identifies five research clusters: (i) nanoparticles, thin films, and surfaces;(ii) catalysis, oxidation, reduction, stability, and oxides; (iii) nanocomposites, graphene, graphite, and electro\u2010chemistry; (iv) photocatalysis,water, visible light, andTiO2; and (v) adsorption, aqueous solutions, and waste water

The Formal Dynamism of Categories: Stops vs. Fricatives, Primitivity vs. Simplicity

Minimalist Phonology (MP; Pöchtrager 2006) constructs its theory based on the phonological epistemological principle (Kaye 2001) and exposes the arbitrary nature of standard Government Phonology (sGP) and strict-CV (sCV), particularly with reference to their confusion of melody and structure. For Pöchtrager, these are crucially different, concluding that place of articulation is melodic (expressed with elements), while manner of articulation is structural. In this model, the heads (xN and xO) can license and incorporate the length of the other into their own interpretation, that is xN influences xO projections as well as its own and vice versa. This dynamism is an aspect of the whole framework and this paper in particular will show that stops and fricatives evidence a plasticity of category and that, although fricatives are simpler in structure, stops are the more primitive of the two. This will be achieved phonologically through simply unifying the environment of application of the licensing forces within Pöchtrager's otherwise sound onset structure. In doing so, we automatically make several predictions about language acquisition and typology and show how lenition in Qiang (Sino-Tibetan) can be more elegantly explained

Argininosuccinate synthetase activity in cultured human lymphocytes

The activity of argininosuccinate synthetase (E.C. 6.3.4.5), a urea cycle enzyme, was measured in cultured human lymphocytes using a new radioactive assay. Control cells had a maximum specific activity of 15.7±8.7 nmoles per hour per milligram of protein and an apparent K m for citrulline of 2 × 10 −4 m , whereas cells derived from a patient with citrullinemia had no detectable activity. A nutritional variant, selected out of the citrullinemic lymphocyte population by ability to grow in citrulline, had a maximum specific activity of 10.7±3.8 nmoles/hr/mg and an apparent K m for citrulline of 2 × 10 −2 m . These measurements confirm the observation that citrullinemia is associated with a defect in argininosuccinate synthetase activity and provide further evidence that citrullinemia is expressed in cultured lymphocytes. The emergence of a nutritional variant with a partial defect in argininosuccinate synthetase enzyme suggests that this citrullinemic patient has a heterogeneous population of cells, some totally defective and others only partially defective in argininosuccinate synthetase. The new activity assay is described in detail.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/44125/1/10528_2004_Article_BF00484469.pd

In-plane optical response of Bi2Sr2CuO6

We report on infrared reflectivity measurements of the $ab$-plane response of superconducting Bi$_2$Sr$_2$CuO$_6$ single crystals. The frequency dependent conductivity has a maximum near 700 cm$^{-1}$ at room temperature, which shifts to lower frequency and merges with a Drude-peak below 100 K. We attribute the unusual behaviour of the mid-infrared conductivity to low frequency transitions between electronic bands of mainly BiO character near the $\overline{M}$ point. The linear temperature dependence of the low-frequency resistivity can be followed down to approximately 40 K where it saturates.Comment: Revtex, 4 pages, 4 postscript figures, Phys. Rev. B, in pres

On the low-temperature lattice thermal transport in nanowires

We propose a theory of low temperature thermal transport in nano-wires in the regime where a competition between phonon and flexural modes governs the relaxation processes. Starting with the standard kinetic equations for two different types of quasiparticles we derive a general expression for the coefficient of thermal conductivity. The underlying physics of thermal conductance is completely determined by the corresponding relaxation times, which can be calculated directly for any dispersion of quasiparticles depending on the size of a system. We show that if the considered relaxation mechanism is dominant, then at small wire diameters the temperature dependence of thermal conductivity experiences a crossover from $T^{1/2}$ to $T^3$-dependence. Quantitative analysis shows reasonable agreement with resent experimental results.Comment: 12 pages, 3 eps figure