A 400-MHz S/390 microprocessor

A microprocessor implementing IBM S/390 architecture operates in a 10+2 way system at frequencies up to 411 MHz (2.43 ns). The chip is fabricated in a 0.2-μm L_eff CMOS technology with five layers of metal and tungsten local interconnect. The chip size is 17.35 mm×17.30 mm with about 7.8 million transistors. The power supply is 2.5 V and measured power dissipation at 300 MHz is 37 W. The microprocessor features two instruction units (IUs), two fixed point units (FXUs), two floating point units (FPUs), a buffer control element (BCE) with a unified 64-KB L1 cache, and a register unit (RU). The microprocessor dispatches one instruction per cycle. The dual-instruction, fixed, and floating point units are used to check each other to increase reliability and not for improved performance. A phase-locked-loop (PLL) provides a processor clock that runs at 2× the system bus frequency. High-frequency operation was achieved through careful static circuit design and timing optimization, along with limited use of dynamic circuits for highly critical functions, and several different clocking/latching strategies for cycle time reduction. Timing-driven synthesis and placement of the control logic provided the maximum flexibility with minimum turnaround time. Extensive use of self-resetting CMOS (SRCMOS) circuits in the on-chip L1 cache provides a 2.0-ns access time and up to 500 MHz operation     

Patent Claims Revisited: Examiners and Trolls

In this column, the author revisits the writing of claims, and demonstrate two other styles of writing them. In one style, he shows how to write a more narrow and focused claim. In the other style, he shows how to write claims that are beyond broad--claims that can be written prior to actually inventing anything.     

A novel multimodal interface for improving visually impaired people’s web accessibility

This paper introduces a novel interface designed to help blind and visually impaired people to explore and navigate on the Web. In contrast to traditionally used assistive tools, such as screen readers and magnifiers, the new interface employs a combination of both audio and haptic features to provide spatial and navigational information to users. The haptic features are presented via a low-cost force feedback mouse allowing blind people to interact with the Web, in a similar fashion to their sighted counterparts. The audio provides navigational and textual information through the use of non-speech sounds and synthesised speech. Interacting with the multimodal interface offers a novel experience to target users, especially to those with total blindness. A series of experiments have been conducted to ascertain the usability of the interface and compare its performance to that of a traditional screen reader. Results have shown the advantages that the new multimodal interface offers blind and visually impaired people. This includes the enhanced perception of the spatial layout of Web pages, and navigation towards elements on a page. Certain issues regarding the design of the haptic and audio features raised in the evaluation are discussed and presented in terms of recommendations for future work.     

Trypsin-Like Proteases and Their Role in Muco-Obstructive Lung Diseases

Trypsin-like proteases (TLPs) belong to a family of serine enzymes with primary substrate specificities for the basic residues, lysine and arginine, in the P1 position. Whilst initially perceived as soluble enzymes that are extracellularly secreted, a number of novel TLPs that are anchored in the cell membrane have since been discovered. Muco-obstructive lung diseases (MucOLDs) are characterised by the accumulation of hyper-concentrated mucus in the small airways, leading to persistent inflammation, infection and dysregulated protease activity. Although neutrophilic serine proteases, particularly neutrophil elastase, have been implicated in the propagation of inflammation and local tissue destruction, it is likely that the serine TLPs also contribute to various disease-relevant processes given the roles that a number of these enzymes play in the activation of both the epithelial sodium channel (ENaC) and protease-activated receptor 2 (PAR2). More recently, significant attention has focused on the activation of viruses such as SARS-CoV-2 by host TLPs. The purpose of this review was to highlight key TLPs linked to the activation of ENaC and PAR2 and their association with airway dehydration and inflammatory signalling pathways, respectively. The role of TLPs in viral infectivity will also be discussed in the context of the inhibition of TLP activities and the potential of these proteases as therapeutic targets.     

Portable Low‐Pressure Solar Steaming‐Collection Unisystem with Polypyrrole Origamis

Solar steaming has emerged as a promising green technology that can address the global issue of scarcity of clean water. However, developing high‐performance, cost‐effective, and manufacturable solar‐steaming materials, and portable solar steaming‐collection systems for individuals remains a great challenge. Here, a one‐step, low‐cost, and mass‐producible synthesis of polypyrrole (PPy) origami‐based photothermal materials, and an original portable low‐pressure controlled solar steaming‐collection unisystem, offering synergetic high rates in both water evaporation and steam collection, are reported. Due to enhanced areas for vapor dissipation, the PPy origami improves the water evaporation rate by at least 71% to 2.12 kg m^?2 h^?1 from that of a planar structure and exhibits a solar–thermal energy conversion efficiency of 91.5% under 1 Sun. When further controlling the pressure to ≈0.17 atm in the steaming‐collection unisystem, the water collection rate improves by up to 52% systematically and dramatically. Although partial energy is utilized toward obtaining low‐pressure, evaluations show that the overall energy efficiency is improved remarkably in the low‐pressure system compared to that in ambient pressure. Furthermore, the device demonstrates effective decontamination of heavy metals, bacteria, and desalination. This work can inspire new paradigms toward developing high‐performance solar steaming technologies for individuals and households.     

An experimental study of a three-bar structure subjected to variable temperature

Experiments on a three-bar structure subjected to constant mechanical load and to variable temperature are reported. After about thirty temperature cycles, the structure settles down to exhibit a steady increment of displacement per cycle. Reference parameters presented in an earlier paper provide acceptable predictions of the displacement rates occurring in the cyclic stationary state, the predictions erring on the safe side.     

Self-doped sulfonated polyaniline ultrafiltration membranes with enhanced chlorine resistance and antifouling properties

Membranes heavily rely on chlorination to diminish (bio)fouling, but chlorination can also lead to membrane degradation. We developed sulfonated polyaniline (S-PANI) ultrafiltration (UF) membranes with improved chlorine resistance and intrinsic antifouling properties. The S-PANI membranes were synthesized through Non-solvent Induced Phase Separation (NIPS). Membrane performance was evaluated under harsh chlorine conditions (250 ppm sodium hypochlorite for 3 days under different pH conditions). The S-PANI membranes showed improved chlorine resistance including a stable performance without changes in model foulant BSA rejection. In contrast, PANI membranes suffered critical structural damage with complete leakage and commercial PES membranes showed a 76% increase in pure water flux and a noticeable change in BSA rejection. Small changes in S-PANI membrane performance could be linked to membrane structural changes with pH, as confirmed by SEM, IR spectroscopy, and contact angle measurements. Additionally, the S-PANI membranes showed better antifouling properties with a high flux recovery ratio in comparison to PANI membranes using alginic acid, humic acid, and BSA model foulants. Chemical cleaning by sodium hypochlorite re-instated the transport properties to its initial condition. Overall, the developed S-PANI membranes have a high chlorine tolerance and enhanced antifouling properties making them promising for a range of UF membrane applications.     

Many hepatitis C reinfections that spontaneously clear may be undetected: Markov-chain Monte Carlo analysis of observational study data

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) reinfection rates are probably underestimated due to reinfection episodes occurring between study visits. A Markov model of HCV reinfection and spontaneous clearance was fitted to empirical data. Bayesian post-estimation was used to project reinfection rates, reinfection spontaneous clearance probability and duration of reinfection. Uniform prior probability distributions were assumed for reinfection rate (more than 0), spontaneous clearance probability (0–1) and duration (0.25–6.00 months). Model estimates were 104 per 100 person-years (95% CrI: 21–344), 0.84 (95% CrI: 0.59–0.98) and 1.3 months (95% CrI: 0.3–4.1) for reinfection rate, spontaneous clearance probability and duration, respectively. Simulation studies were used to assess model validity, demonstrating that the Bayesian model estimates provided useful information about the possible sources and magnitude of bias in epidemiological estimates of reinfection rates, probability of reinfection clearance and duration or reinfection. The quality of the Bayesian estimates improved for larger samples and shorter test intervals. Uncertainty in model estimates notwithstanding, findings suggest that HCV reinfections frequently and quickly result in spontaneous clearance, with many reinfection events going unobserved.