Characterization of Hardening by Design Techniques on Commercial, Small Feature Sized Field-Programmable Gate Arrays

In this thesis, a methodology is developed to experimentally test and evaluate a programmable logic device unde r gamma irradiation. The purpose of which is to determine the radiation effects and characterize the improvements of various hardening by design techniques. The techniques analyzed in this thesis include Error Correction Coding (ECC) and Triple Modular Redundancy (TMR). The TMR circuit includes three different functional implementations of adders compared to TMR voted circuits of those same adders. The TMR is implemented with the same functional adders and as a Functional TMR (FTMR) with three different function adders that are voted on. The three functional adders are: a behavioral adder that allows the FPGA synthesis software to create the implementation, a ripple carry adder that consists of multiple single bit full adders linked together, and a carry look ahead adder that operates the fastest by using an algorithm that creates generate and propagate signals. These adders are connected to single voter TMR and FTMR circuits to evaluate the improvements that could be obtained. The ECC circuit includes Block RAM (BRAM) and Distributed RAM memory elements that are loaded both with ECC and non-error corrected data. The circuit is designed to check for errors in memory data, stuck bit values in the memory, and the performance improvements that ECC provides the system

Inconceivability, Horror, and the Mercy Seat

In an ordinary home in Huron, South Dakota-sometime in the very early morning hours of Sunday, April 5, 1987-a young girl was murdered in her crib. By March of the next year, her mother, Debra Jenner, had been convicted of second-degree murder. She was sentenced to life in prison. Although she became eligible for parole in 2003 after Governor Janklow commuted her sentence, her applications for discretionary parole were consistently denied. She remained incarcerated until last year, when she was finally granted parole. This essay embarks on a retelling of Debra Jenner\u27s trial, her subsequent post-conviction proceedings, and her numerous parole hearings, including the one in which she finally won release in September of 2021. In the process, it confronts a criminal act so ghastly that it evades nearly every attempt to comprehend it and attempts to assess the proper role of mercy in the criminal justice system-specifically, in the context of applications for discretionary parole. [M]ercy is above this scepter\u27d sway. - Shakespear

A Will for Willa Cather

Consider a songwriter who wants to ban the use of her music in advertisements or an author intent on eliminating the possibility that her novel will be optioned to a filmmaker. The law frowns upon these sorts of alienability limitations and use constraints. Property – including intellectual property – comes with an assorted bundle of use and alienability rights. The law detests unreasonable restraints on alienability. Courts have deterred owners from placing use limitations on property that bind future owners. Restraints on alienation are said to be repugnant, as are future interests that vest too remotely. The dead hand is feared and the living hand is protected. Exceptions can be noted, such as short-term use limitations between contracting parties, equitable servitudes, and the nearly extinct determinable estates. These exceptions, however, are generally present either in commercial or charitable contexts. In the private noncharitable donative context, which we will be concerned in the pages that follow, use and alienability limitations are more closely scrutinized. This Article is concerned specifically with use restrictions in the private non-charitable donative context

Unproceedings of the Fourth .Astronomy Conference (.Astronomy 4), Heidelberg, Germany, July 9-11 2012

The goal of the .Astronomy conference series is to bring together astronomers, educators, developers and others interested in using the Internet as a medium for astronomy. Attendance at the event is limited to approximately 50 participants, and days are split into mornings of scheduled talks, followed by 'unconference' afternoons, where sessions are defined by participants during the course of the event. Participants in unconference sessions are discouraged from formal presentations, with discussion, workshop-style formats or informal practical tutorials encouraged. The conference also designates one day as a 'hack day', in which attendees collaborate in groups on day-long projects for presentation the following morning. These hacks are often a way of concentrating effort, learning new skills, and exploring ideas in a practical fashion. The emphasis on informal, focused interaction makes recording proceedings more difficult than for a normal meeting. While the first .Astronomy conference is preserved formally in a book, more recent iterations are not documented. We therefore, in the spirit of .Astronomy, report 'unproceedings' from .Astronomy 4, which was held in Heidelberg in July 2012.Comment: 11 pages, 1 figure, .Astronomy 4, #dotastr

Eddy Impacts on the Florida Current

The Gulf Stream in the Atlantic carries warm water northwards and forms both the return closure of the subtropical gyre as well as the upper limb of the meridional overturning circulation. Recent time series recorded east of the Bahamas at 26°N indicate that from May 2009 to April 2011, in contrast with past observations, the northward flowing Antilles Current covaried with the Gulf Stream in the Florida Straits—the Florida Current—even though the Florida and Antilles Currents are separated by banks and islands spanning 150?km. The peak-to-trough amplitude of transport variations during this period was 15?×?106?m3?s?1 for the Florida Current and 12?×?106?m3?s?1 for the Antilles Current, at time scales of 50?days to a year. From satellite observations, we show that the fluctuations in both the Florida and Antilles Currents between May 2009 and April 2011 are driven by eddy activity east of the Bahamas. Since the Florida Current time series is a critical time series for the state of the oceans, and often compared to climate models, this newly identified source of variability needs careful consideration when attributing the variability of the Florida Current to changes in the larger-scale circulations (e.g., gyre and overturning) or wind forcing.<br/

Prospectus, November 16, 2005

https://spark.parkland.edu/prospectus_2005/1027/thumbnail.jp