Multistate self-electrooptic effect devices

Multistate self-electrooptic-effect devices (M-SEEDs) containing several quantum-well diodes in series are discussed. It is shown that a device with N diodes in series with a voltage source and illuminated by N diodes in series with a voltage source and illuminated by N light beams has N stable states corresponding to any one (and only one) of the diodes being highly transmissive. This voltage-biased M-SEED can perform contention resolution in the sense required by analog systems, because the diode illuminated by the weakest beam becomes the highly transmitting one on powering up the system. A current-biased M-SEED with N diodes in series with a current supply can have 2^N stable states, corresponding to any combination of diodes in their transmitting or absorbing states. This same device can also function as a binary image thresholder. The M-SEEDs are multistable in multiple beams, in contrast to previous multistable optical devices that have multiple states for one beam. Electrically and optically enabled symmetric SEEDs (S-SEEDs) that comprise a pair of quantum-well p-i-n diodes in series with a transistor or a third diode are also discussed. This device is the equivalent of an electrical tristate device that is used in some bus architectures     

Changes in masculinity and femininity across the family life cycle: A reexamination.

Rather than remaining fixed once adulthood is reached, such personality characteristics as masculinity and femininity have been shown to fluctuate systematically as a function of the individual's current family lifestage (i.e., cohabiting, married, expecting a first child, parenthood; Abrahams, Feldman, & Nash, 1978; Feldman, Biringen, & Nash, 1981). These workers concluded that the anticipation and presence of children have strong consequences for the masculinity and femininity of their parents. However, findings from 582 Australian survey respondents showed that the individual's involvement in the adult world of work and study has a greater impact on his or her masculinity and femininity scores than a nurturant role toward children. In a combined sample of dating, cohabiting, and married couples and divorced partners, employed women had lower femininity, and their male partners slightly lower masculinity, than nonemployed women and their partners, respectively. Women engaged in tertiary study had lower femininity scores than women who were not. It is concluded that previous studies in this area may have been too hasty in identifying the presence or absence of children as the key feature of the family life cycle affecting masculinity and femininity, instead of the employment or education of the female partner. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An exercise in program design using SIMULA class invariants

The concept of an invariant assertion has been shown by Hoare to be central to the problem of proving correctness of data representation in a program. A consequent approach for program design is to establish the parts of an overall invariant which characterize the components of the design. In this way it is feasible to synthesize a verified program. There is a gulf between verification theory and practical reality in this area, but the SIMULA class concept is close to the data representation technique required for such an approach. Some of the benefits and problems of this approach to design have been explored by the development of a SIMULA program to simulate a bounded delay resource allocation strategy in a job scheduling environment.     

Using feedback in collaborative reinforcement learning to adaptively optimize MANET routing

Designers face many system optimization problems when building distributed systems. Traditionally, designers have relied on optimization techniques that require either prior knowledge or centrally managed runtime knowledge of the system's environment, but such techniques are not viable in dynamic networks where topology, resource, and node availability are subject to frequent and unpredictable change. To address this problem, we propose collaborative reinforcement learning (CRL) as a technique that enables groups of reinforcement learning agents to solve system optimization problems online in dynamic, decentralized networks. We evaluate an implementation of CRL in a routing protocol for mobile ad hoc networks, called SAMPLE. Simulation results show how feedback in the selection of links by routing agents enables SAMPLE to adapt and optimize its routing behavior to varying network conditions and properties, resulting in optimization of network throughput. In the experiments, SAMPLE displays emergent properties such as traffic flows that exploit stable routes and reroute around areas of wireless interference or congestion. SAMPLE is an example of a complex adaptive distributed system.     

Genetic hearing loss with preauricular sinus and branchiogenic fistula

A mother and her two children had hearing loss associated with bilateral preauricular sinus and branchiogenic fistula. All six cochleas studied showed two turns rather than 2 1/2 turns. Complete studies including audiometry, tympanotomy findings, and temporal bone polytomography of these anomalies are reported. Similar cases reported in the English literature are reviewed. It seems that all previous cases may have had an abnormal cochlea as was seen in these cases.     

In vitro translation and processing of a precursor form of favin, a lectin from Vicia faba

Favin, the glucose- and mannose-binding lectin isolated from fava (Vicia faba) beans, consists of two polypeptide chains (alpha, Mr = 5,571; beta, Mr = 20,700). Translation of fava bean mRNA in vitro in a wheat germ-derived system yields a single favin polypeptide chain of Mr = 29,000. This molecule appears to consist of a hydrophobic 29-amino acid residue signal sequence at the NH2 terminus followed by the beta chain sequence; it also includes the alpha chain sequence. These results suggest that the alpha and beta chains arise by post-translational cleavage of a single precursor polypeptide: signal-beta chain-alpha chain. The signal peptide is similar in sequence to those seen in animal and prokaryotic systems, suggesting that translocation mechanisms are highly conserved. Translation of favin mRNA in the presence of dog pancreas microsomal membranes yields at least three polypeptides in addition to the presumed precursor chain. The largest of these molecules is translocated into the lumen of the membrane vesicles and glycosylated but its signal sequence remains intact. The two other species are translocated and glycosylated, but their signal sequences have been removed; they appear to differ from each other in that one begins with the beta chain sequence and the other begins one residue after the NH2-terminal threonine of the beta chain. These three variants could reflect normal features of the processing of the favin precursor but more likely result from aberrant processing of the plant protein by dog pancreas membranes.