A Highly Scalable GALS Crossbar Using Token Ring Arbitration

With increases in die size and clock frequency, driving signals across dies is becoming increasingly more difficult. To reduce clock skew and power, the general trend is to use multiple clock domains on a single die, making both synchronous and asynchronous interclock domain communication possible. The 2005 International Technology Roadmap for Semiconductors states that asynchronous global signaling is required to handle multiple clock domains. According to the ITRS, the globally asynchronous, locally synchronous (GALS) methodology should address this problem. This methodology enables the use of a clocked design for smaller-scale functional units, and this has been the standard approach in industry. The GALS methodology also makes it possible to connect synchronous functional units using robust asynchronous interconnects. The efficient design of an asynchronous crossbar is one of the most promising implementations of the GALS methodology. In this article, we present a low-latency crossbar that uses a distributed arbitration mechanism in the form of token rings. We further improve the latency of this implementation by implementing asynchronous-to-synchronous and synchronous-to-asynchronous interface logic using bidirectional signals. These signals serve as requests and acknowledges, and they exhibit a very fast GasP-like implementation - although, unlike GasP, this implementation is not self-resetting.     

Software-Based Failure Detection and Recovery in Programmable Network Interfaces

Emerging network technologies have complex network interfaces that have renewed concerns about network reliability. In this paper, we present an effective low-overhead fault tolerance technique to recover from network interface failures. Failure detection is based on a software watchdog timer that detects network processor hangs and a self-testing scheme that detects interface failures other than processor hangs. The proposed self-testing scheme achieves failure detection by periodically directing the control flow to go through only active software modules in order to detect errors that affect instructions in the local memory of the network interface. Our failure recovery is achieved by restoring the state of the network interface using a small backup copy containing just the right amount of information required for complete recovery. The paper shows how this technique can be made to minimize the performance impact to the host system and be completely transparent to the user.     

Deciphering robust reactor kinetic data using mutual information

Experimentalists use Chauvenets’s criterion to check the quality of any measured data. Based on this criterion they rejected data having high degree of correlation. Multivariate techniques like principal component analysis used for analysis of these correlated data, does not provide any scope to minimize the effect of correlation. We propose a novel method using information theory and the technique of determinant inequalities developed by us to reduce the effect of correlation among these data without summarily rejecting them. We demonstrate the utility of our technique in transient measurements of kinetic parameters performed on the commercially advanced gas cooled reactor (CAGCR).     

Contrasting REE Signatures on Manganese Ores of Iron Ore Group in North Orissa, India

The distribution pattern of Rare Earth Elements （REE） in three categories of manganese ores viz. stratiform, stratabound-replacement, and detrital of Precambrian Iron Ore Group from north Orissa, India was reported. These categories of Mn-ore differed in their major and trace chemistry and exhibited contrasting REE signature. The stratiform ores were relatively enriched in ∑REE content （697 μg·g^-1） and their normalized pattern showed both positive Ce and Eu anomalies, whereas the stratabound-replacement types were comparatively depleted in ∑REE content （211 μg·g^-1） and showed negative Ce and flat Eu signatures. The detrital categories showed mixed REE pattern. The data plotted in different discrimination diagrams revealed a mixed volcaniclastic and chemogenic source of material for stratiform categories, and LREE （Light Rare Earth Elements） and HREE （Heavy Rare Earth Elements） are contributed by such sources, respectively. In contrast, the stratabound ore bodies were developed during the remobilization of stratiform ores, and associated Mncontaining rocks under supergene condition followed by the redeposition of circulating mineralized colloidal solutions in structurally favorable zones. During this process, some of the constituents were found only in very low concentration within stratabound ores, and this is attributed to their poor leachability/mobility. The detrital ores did not exhibit any significant characteristic in respect of REE as their development was via a complex combination of processes involving weathering, fragmentation, recementation, and burial under soil cover.     

Analysis of structural modifications in γ-irradiated PbO–B2O3–SiO2 glasses by FTIR spectroscopy

The effect of γ-irradiation on the structure of lead borosilicate glasses of varying composition has been probed by FTIR spectroscopy, before and immediately after γ-irradiation. The glasses were irradiated at Calliope ⁶⁰Co plant (RC ENEA Casaccia, Rome), and the spectra were recorded after absorbed doses of 50 Gy, 500 Gy, and 4 kGy. The structural analysis have been made considering both the effect of composition and of irradiation. The experimental results clearly indicate that after irradiation a significant change in structure of borosilicate glass network is observed.     

Role of Direct Reduced Iron Fines in Nitrogen Removal from Electric Arc Furnace Steel

Electric arc furnace steel contains about 70‐120 ppm nitrogen. There is no suitable method for nitrogen removal from electric arc furnace steel up to the level desired for good quality bars and flat rolled products (30 ppm max). The existing process based on vacuum degassing can remove only up to 20% of nitrogen in steel. In the present study DRI fines have been injected into a steel bath which can drift out nitrogen in steel through production of fine CO bubbles in‐situ on reaction with residual FeO in DRI fines and C in bath. For high and medium carbon steel, nitrogen got reduced to 30 ppm and 60 ppm respectively where initial nitrogen was 150 – 200 ppm in steel. Nitrogen removal also depends upon bath depth and addition level of DRI.     

Diagnostic Curve Methods for Consolidation Coefficient

Two new diagnostic curve methods, which do not require the implicit or explicit determination of initial or final dial gauge readings for primary settlement, are proposed for the identification of the consolidation coefficient. Besides the estimate of the consolidation coefficient, these methods also yield an estimate of the range of primary settlement. In these methods, the diagnostically plotted points are matched to the diagnostic curves with a parallel shift of axes to yield the estimates of the consolidation coefficient and range of primary settlement. The new methods do not require dial gauge readings up to 100% of primary consolidation and can also be used even when very scarce data are available. Using the proposed methods, a nonideal condition can also be identified.     

Making the invisible visible: Fear and disclosure of sexual orientation at work.

Stigma theory was used to examine the fears underlying the disclosure of a gay identity at work. Using a national sample of 534 gay, lesbian, and bisexual employees, this study examined the antecedents that affect the degree of disclosure of a gay identity at work and, for those who had not disclosed, the factors that influence their fears about full disclosure. Employees reported less fear and more disclosure when they worked in a group that was perceived as supportive and sharing their stigma. Perceptions of past experience with sexual orientation discrimination were related to increased fears but to greater disclosure. For those who had not fully disclosed their stigma, the fears associated with disclosure predicted job attitudes, psychological strain, work environment, and career outcomes. However, actual disclosure was unrelated to these variables. The utility of fear of disclosure for understanding processes underlying the disclosure of gay and other invisible stigmatized identities in the workplace is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)