Social Science and the District Court: The Observation of a Journeyman Trial Judge

The main objective of the thesis is to implement different architectures of 16-bit adders such as; Ripple CarryAdder (RCA), Manchester Carry Chain Adder (MCCA) and Kogge Stone Adder (KSA), in 65nm CMOS technology and to study their performance in terms of power, operating frequency and speed at near threshold operating regions. The performance of these adders are evaluated and compared with each other and a final conclusion is made as to which adder structure is more suitable for implementation in a 65nmtechnology for low power applications. Several optimisation techniques are performed for the adders to reduce the delay and power consumption. Propagation delay is the most critical or essential parameter to be considered, hence, to minimise the delay of the adder, a technique called sizing and ordering are required for the transistors. The purpose of the thesis is to make a fair comparison among adders over several metrics which include linearity, delay and power. Simulation results of MCCA achieved a greater significant performance upon or over RCA and KSA, and proved it is the best suitable adder for low power applications

Splitting Proofs for Interpolation

We study interpolant extraction from local first-order refutations. We present a new theoretical perspective on interpolation based on clearly separating the condition on logical strength of the formula from the requirement on the com- mon signature. This allows us to highlight the space of all interpolants that can be extracted from a refutation as a space of simple choices on how to split the refuta- tion into two parts. We use this new insight to develop an algorithm for extracting interpolants which are linear in the size of the input refutation and can be further optimized using metrics such as number of non-logical symbols or quantifiers. We implemented the new algorithm in first-order theorem prover VAMPIRE and evaluated it on a large number of examples coming from the first-order proving community. Our experiments give practical evidence that our work improves the state-of-the-art in first-order interpolation.Comment: 26th Conference on Automated Deduction, 201

Thermal contact resistance with non-uniform interface pressures

This work considers the effect of roughness and waviness on interfacial pressure distributions and interfacial contact resistance. It is shown that for moderate roughness the contour area could be substantially different from the contour area calculated using the Hertzian theory. The model for pressure calculation assumes plastic deformation of surface irregularities and elastic deformation of a spherically wavy base. The calculations of pressure distributions cover the range of parameters of practical interest. Experimental contact resistance values have been determined and are compared with theoretical predictions. It was calculated that contact conductance for wavy surfaces can be increased for certain ranges of parameters by making surfaces rough.NASA DSR Projec

The incidence and position of melanocytic nevi for the purposes of forensic image comparison

Expert witness opinion based on the comparison of images has been accepted by UK courts as admissible evidence in relation to issues of identity. Within images of the hand are a multiplicity of anatomical features of different aetiology, incidence and distribution patterns and this includes melanocytic nevi, referred to more colloquially as moles and/or birthmarks. The hand is not a common place for these isolated features to develop and so their presence in this anatomical region has the potential to be useful for issues of identity. The results of this study show that approximately 9 % of individuals in a sample of 476 hands, displayed at least one nevus on the back of their hand and, contrary to the literature, the incidence was found to be greater in females (15 % of female cohort) than males (7 % of male cohort). Almost a third of all nevi identified on the dorsum of the hand were abnormal or dysplastic. The most frequent location for these aggregations of melanocytes was in the central region of the dorsum of the hand or at the base of the index finger. The relevance of nevi identified in the image of a perpetrator’s hand and also on that of a suspect/accused is discussed in relation to the issue of whether the images have originated from the same individual