Engineering PapersSearch

Engineering topics

Cox, G. W.

Publications and source records attributed to Cox, G. W..

Immunocytochemical localization of latent transforming growth factor-beta1 activation by stimulated macrophages

Transforming growth factor-beta1 (TGF-beta) is secreted in a latent form consisting of mature TGF-beta noncovalently associated with its amino-terminal propeptide, which is called latency associated peptide (LAP). Biological activity depends upon the release of TGF-beta from the latent complex following extracellular activation, which appears to be the key regulatory mechanism controlling TGF-beta action. We have identified two events associated with latent TGF-beta (LTGF-beta) activation in vivo: increased immunoreactivity of certain antibodies that specifically detect TGF-beta concomitant with decreased immunoreactivity of antibodies to LAP. Macrophages stimulated in vitro with interferon-gamma and lipopolysaccharide reportedly activate LTGF-beta via cell membrane-bound protease activity. We show through dual immunostaining of paraformaldehyde-fixed macrophages that such physiological TGF-beta activation is accompanied by a loss of LAP immunoreactivity with concomitant revelation of TGF-beta epitopes. The induction of TGF-beta immunoreactivity colocalized with immunoreactive betaglycan/RIII in activated macrophages, suggesting that LTGF-beta activation occurs on the cell surface. Confocal microscopy of metabolically active macrophages incubated with antibodies to TGF-beta and betaglycan/RIII prior to fixation supported the localization of activation to the cell surface. The ability to specifically detect and localize LTGF-beta activation provides an important tool for studies of its regulation.

NASA Discipline Radiation Health

Standard Transistor Arrays

Standard Transistor Array (STAR) design system is semicustom approach to generating random-logic integrated MOS digital circuits. Primary program in STAR system is CAPSTAR, STAR Cell Arrangement Program. CAPSTAR is augmented by automatic routining program, Display program and library of logic cells.

Cox, G. W.

Placement technique for semicustom digital LSI circuits

Small lots of special-purpose integrated circuits are fabricated from standard transitor arrays. Folded linear order of cells minimzes interconnection length and puts cell in juxtaposition. Cell-placement technique is carried out via computer program.

Carroll, B.

Standard Transistor Array (STAR). Volume 1: Placement technique

A large scale integration (LSI) technology, the standard transistor array uses a prefabricated understructure of transistors and a comprehensive library of digital logic cells to allow efficient fabrication of semicustom digital LSI circuits. The cell placement technique for this technology involves formation of a one dimensional cell layout and "folding" of the one dimensional placement onto the chip. It was found that, by use of various folding methods, high quality chip layouts can be achieved. Methods developed to measure of the "goodness" of the generated placements include efficient means for estimating channel usage requirements and for via counting. The placement and rating techniques were incorporated into a placement program (CAPSTAR). By means of repetitive use of the folding methods and simple placement improvement strategies, this program provides near optimum placements in a reasonable amount of time. The program was tested on several typical LSI circuits to provide performance comparisons both with respect to input parameters and with respect to the performance of other placement techniques. The results of this testing indicate that near optimum placements can be achieved by use of the procedures incurring severe time penalties.

Cox, G. W.

Reliability and coverage analysis of non-repairable fault-tolerant memory systems

A method was developed for the construction of probabilistic state-space models for nonrepairable systems. Models were developed for several systems which achieved reliability improvement by means of error-coding, modularized sparing, massive replication and other fault-tolerant techniques. From the models developed, sets of reliability and coverage equations for the systems were developed. Comparative analyses of the systems were performed using these equation sets. In addition, the effects of varying subunit reliabilities on system reliability and coverage were described. The results of these analyses indicated that a significant gain in system reliability may be achieved by use of combinations of modularized sparing, error coding, and software error control. For sufficiently reliable system subunits, this gain may far exceed the reliability gain achieved by use of massive replication techniques, yet result in a considerable saving in system cost.

Cox, G. W.