Impact of Thermal Gradients on Clock Skew and Testing

It is a well-known phenomenon that test-mode switching activity and power consumption can exceed that of mission mode. Thus, testing can induce localized heating and temperature gradients with deleterious results. The authors quantify this problem and propose a novel design scheme to circumvent it.     

Insoluble Polymer-Supported Conjugate Bases of Thiazolium Ions As Catalysts in Organic Chemistry

The synthetic possibilities of the generalized benzoin condensation are examined: benzoin condensation in its strict sense and closely related reactions, Michael type additions of aldehydes to activated double bonds, and oxidative benzoin condensation. In solid phase chemistry, comments are made on cyanide resins and details are given on the preparation of insoluble 5-(2-hydroxyethyl)-4-methyl-3-(polystyrylmethyl)thiazolium chloride and of 4-methyl-3-(polystyrylmethyl)thiazolium chloride. Examples of the use of polymer thiazolium salts in the three types of reactions mentioned are presented and information on the stability of these salts is presented.     

Evaluation of high modulus mixture behaviour with high reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) percentages for sustainable road construction

The aim of this work is to characterize the behaviour of high modulus bituminous mixes with low penetration grade bitumen and high reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) percentages. Four mixtures with RAP percentages of 0%, 15%, 30% and 50%, respectively, were analyzed. Their volumetric and mechanical characteristics were evaluated for several binder contents to define a job mix formula for real scale testing. Mechanical properties included stiffness modulus, toughness, moisture sensitivity, resistance to rutting and fatigue resistance. The most important conclusion is that it is possible to prepare high modulus mixtures (HMM) with high RAP contents and good mechanical properties similar to those of conventional high modulus mixes. However, preparation in non-adapted plants, where RAP is not previously heated, allows a maximum RAP percentage of approximately 30% only.     

The costs and benefits of sexism: Resistance to influence during relationship conflict.

This study tested whether men's and women's hostile sexism (HS) and benevolent sexism (BS) were associated with resistance to influence in couples' conflict interactions. Ninety-one heterosexual couples were recorded while trying to produce desired changes in each other. Participants reviewed their discussions and rated how open they were to their partner's perspective. Objective coders also rated the extent to which each partner exhibited hostile communication. We tested key principles arising from ambivalent sexism theory (Glick & Fiske, 1996). First, BS is necessary because mutual interdependence reduces the power of HS to influence women within intimate relationships. We found that the more men endorsed HS, the less open and more hostile both partners were, and the less successful their discussions were in producing desired change. Second, BS reduces the threat of women's dyadic power by revering and respecting women's interpersonal roles while restricting women's influence outside the relationship domain. We found that men who expressed higher agreement with BS were more open to their partners' influence and behaved with less hostility, and their discussions were more successful. These relationship benefits illustrate why BS is effective at disarming women's resistance to wider inequalities. These benefits, however, were contingent on men adopting BS attitudes. When women strongly endorsed BS but their male partner did not, women were less open, behaved with greater hostility, and perceived their discussions as less successful. These results indicate that, because BS increases the stakes within the relationship domain, women who endorse BS will react more negatively when their expectations are not realized. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

In vitro study of the effect of sodium hypochlorite and glutaraldehyde on substrate adherence capacity of macrophages

The purpose of this study was to investigate the in vitro effect of two irrigation solutions used in endodontics (5.25% sodium hypochlorite and 1% glutaraldehyde) on substrate adherence capacity of macrophages to determine if these substances can alter macrophage function. Inflammatory macrophages were obtained from Wistar rats and resuspended in RPMI-1640 medium. Substrate adherence capacity assays were carried out in Eppendorf tubes for 15 min of incubation at 37 degrees C in a humidified atmosphere of 5% CO2. The adherence index was calculated. Results showed that both sodium hypochlorite and glutaraldehyde significantly decreased the substrate adherence capacity of inflammatory macrophages. To take into account that adhesion is the first step in the phagocytic process of macrophages and in antigen presentation, sodium hypochlorite and glutaraldehyde could inhibit macrophage function and reduce inflammatory reactions in periapical tissues when they are used in root-canal therapy.     

Improved Voice Activity Detection Using Contextual Multiple Hypothesis Testing for Robust Speech Recognition

This paper shows an improved statistical test for voice activity detection in noise adverse environments. The method is based on a revised contextual likelihood ratio test (LRT) defined over a multiple observation window. The motivations for revising the original multiple observation LRT (MO-LRT) are found in its artificially added hangover mechanism that exhibits an incorrect behavior under different signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) conditions. The new approach defines a maximum a posteriori (MAP) statistical test in which all the global hypotheses on the multiple observation window containing up to one speech-to-nonspeech or nonspeech-to-speech transitions are considered. Thus, the implicit hangover mechanism artificially added by the original method was not found in the revised method so its design can be further improved. With these and other innovations, the proposed method showed a higher speech/nonspeech discrimination accuracy over a wide range of SNR conditions when compared to the original MO-LRT voice activity detector (VAD). Experiments conducted on the AURORA databases and tasks showed that the revised method yields significant improvements in speech recognition performance over standardized VADs such as ITU T G.729 and ETSI AMR for discontinuous voice transmission and the ETSI AFE for distributed speech recognition (DSR), as well as over recently reported methods.     

Polymer Nanoparticles Encased in a Cyclodextrin Complex Shell for Potential Site‐ and Sequence‐Specific Drug Release

Time‐staggered combination chemotherapy strategies show immense potential in cell culture systems, but fail to successfully translate clinically due to different routes of administration and disparate formulation parameters that preclude a specific order of drug presentation. A novel platform consisting of drug‐containing PLGA polymer nanoparticles, stably fashioned with a shell composed of drug complexed with cationic cyclodextrin, capable of releasing drugs time‐ and sequence‐specifically within tumors is designed. Morphological examination of nanoparticles measuring 150 nm highlight stable and distinct compartmentalization of model drugs, rhodamine and bodipy, within the core and shell, respectively. Sequential release is observed in vitro, owing to cyclodextrin shell displacement and subsequent sustained release of core‐loaded drug, kinetics preserved in breast cancer cells following internalization. Importantly, time‐staggered release is corroborated in a murine breast cancer model following intravenous administration. Precise control of drug release order, site‐specifically, potentially opens novel avenues in polychemotherapy for synergy and chemosensitization strategies.     

A detailed analysis of CMOS SRAM's with gate oxide short defects

Using a model of gate oxide short defects, previously developed and validated experimentally, we investigate the behavior of CMOS SRAM memories having this defect. Faulty behaviors caused by gate oxide shorts are characterized classifying those that may cause a logic malfunction and those that degrade the memory operation without causing a logic error. Merits of SRAM test algorithms to detect gate oxide shorts are analyzed, identifying which are effective in terms of coverage and test cost     

Carbon nanostructures/cadmium-sulfide hybrid heterostructures formation

We present a simple method for preparing heterostructures based on cadmium sulfide thin films modified by the addition of carbon nanostructures. For this particular system, we have examined the effect on the photocurrent produced by the addition of multiwall carbon nanotubes or multiwall carbon nanocones between the transparent metallic electrode and CdS, a II–VI semiconductor. Our preliminary results indicate the photocurrent through the semiconductor is strongly modified by the presence of carbon nanotubes or carbon cones.