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At least 55 records · Page 3

Mutual exclusion

Almost all computers today operate as part of a network, where they assist people in coordinating actions. Sometimes what appears to be a single computer is actually a network of cooperating computers; e.g., some supercomputers consist of many processors operating in parallel and exchanging synchronization signals. One of the most fundamental requirements in all these systems is that certain operations be indivisible: the steps of one must not be interleaved with the steps of another. Two approaches were designed to implement this requirement, one based on central locks and the other on distributed order tickets. Practicing scientists and engineers need to come to be familiar with these methods.

Denning, Peter J.↗

Sun-earth libration point trajectories that avoid the solar exclusion zone

Three-dimensional orbits in the restricted three-body problem have been the subject of a number of recent studies. One type of three-dimensional, quasi-periodic orbit that emanates from the general vicinity of the collinear libration points is known as a 'Lissajous' trajectory. Future mission plans include trajectories near the interior libration point. (L1) in the sun-earth system and may consider Lissajous orbits as part of the trajectory design. Such orbits may be constrained, however, to remain beyond the region of the solar disk as viewed from earth. This effort involves the numerical determination of Lissajous trajectories of arbitrary, but predetermined, length that never violate such a constraint as a result of maneuvers directed, in general, perpendicular to the ecliptic plane.

Howell, K. C.↗

Requirements engineering and program synthesis: Mutually exclusive or synergistic?

There has often been a clash within the formal methods community between early life-cycle proponents such as the requirements engineering community and late life-cycle proponents such as the program synthesis community. This talk will first characterize these positions and their underlying assumptions, and then expose a common set of problems and approaches. The talk will then propose an integrated life-cycle framework, and expound on its potential benefits. Technical challenges to achieving this integrated life-cycle framework will be described, as well as some preliminary work towards that goal.

Program synthesis↗

Morphological Evidence for an Exclusively Inorganic Origin for Magnetite in Martian Meteorite ALH84001

The origin of magnetite crystals in Martian Meteorite ALH84001 is the focus of a debate about the possibility of past (and present) life on Mars. McKay et al. originally suggested that some of the magnetite crystals associated with carbonate globules in Martian Meteorite ALH84001 are biogenic in ori-gin, because they are single magnetic domain, free of crystalline defects, chemically pure, and coexist with other metastable phases in apparent disequilibrium. Thomas-Keprta et al. reported that a subpopulation of magnetite crystals (approx. 25%) associated with carbonate globules in ALH84001 and magnetite crystals produced by magnetotactic bacterial strain MV-1 have similar morphologies with crystal elongation along the [111] crystallographic axis that they describe as "truncated hexa-octahedral" ([111-THO]) magnetite. Along with several other properties, the [111]-THO morphology has been proposed to constitute a biomarker (i.e., formed only in biogenic processes), so that the presence of [111]-THO magnetite in ALH84001 may be evidence for past life on Mars.

Golden, D. C.↗

Exclusive accumulation of Z-isomers of monolignols and their glucosides in bark of Fagus grandifolia

In addition to Z-coniferyl and Z-sinapyl alcohols, bark extracts of Fagus grandifolia also contain significant amounts of the glucosides, Z-coniferin, Z-isoconiferin (previously called faguside) and Z-syringin. The corresponding E-isomers of these glucosides do not accumulate to a detectable level. The accumulation of the Z-isomers suggests that either they are not lignin precursors or that they are reservoirs of monolignols for subsequent lignin biosynthesis; it is not possible to distinguish between these alternatives. The co-occurrence of Z-coniferin and Z-isoconiferin demonstrate that glucosylation of monolignols can occur at either the phenolic or the allylic hydroxyl groups.

NASA Discipline Number 40-30↗

Exclusive measurements of mean pion multiplicities in 4He-nucleus reactions from 200 to 800 MeV/nucleon

Mean multiplicities of pi+ and pi- in 4He collisions with C, Cu, and Pb at 200, 600, and 800 MeV/u, and with C and Pb at 400 MeV/u have been measured using the large solid angle detector Diogene. The independence of pion multiplicity on projectile incident energy, target mass and proton multiplicity is studied in comparison with intra-nuclear cascade predictions. The discrepancy between experimental results and theory is pointed out and discussed.

NASA Discipline Radiation Health↗

Exclusive measurements of light fragment production at forward angles in Ne-Pb and Ne-NaF collisions at E/A=400 MeV and 800 MeV

Emission of light fragments at small angles is studied in relativistic heavy ion collisions using the Diogene plastic wall for both symmetrical and non-symmetrical target-projectile systems with 400 MeV per nucleon and 800 MeV per nucleon incident neon nuclei. Efficiency of multiplicity measurements in the small angle range for the selection of central or peripheral collisions is confirmed for asymmetric systems. Differential production cross sections of Z = 1 fragments show evidence for the existence of two emitting sources. The apparent temperature of each source is obtained from comparison with a thermodynamical model.

NASA Discipline Number 04-10↗

Quantum mechanical signature in exclusive coherent pion production

We calculate the coherent production of pions from subthreshold to relativistic energies in heavy-ion collisions using a quantum, microscopic, many-body model. For the first time, in this approach, we use harmonic oscillator wave functions to describe shell-model information. The theoretical quantum mechanical results obtained for the pion spectra represent an important improvement over our previous microscopic, many-body calculations.

NASA Discipline Radiation Health↗

Detection of Orbital Debris Collision Risks for the Automated Transfer Vehicle

In this paper, we present a general collision risk assessment method, which has been applied through numerical simulations to the Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) case. During ATV ascent towards the International Space Station, close approaches between the ATV and objects of the USSTRACOM catalog will be monitored through collision rosk assessment. Usually, collision risk assessment relies on an exclusion volume or a probability threshold method. Probability methods are more effective than exclusion volumes but require accurate covariance data. In this work, we propose to use a criterion defined by an adaptive exclusion area. This criterion does not require any probability calculation but is more effective than exclusion volume methods as demonstrated by our numerical experiments. The results of these studies, when confirmed and finalized, will be used for the ATV operations.

Peret, L.↗

The Logic of Reachability

In recent years, Graphplan style reachability analysis and mutual exclusion reasoning have been used in many high performance planning systems. While numerous refinements and extensions have been developed, the basic plan graph structure and reasoning mechanisms used in these systems are tied to the very simple STRIPS model of action. In 1999, Smith and Weld generalized the Graphplan methods for reachability and mutex reasoning to allow actions to have differing durations. However, the representation of actions still has some severe limitations that prevent the use of these techniques for many real-world planning systems. In this paper, we 1) separate the logic of reachability from the particular representation and inference methods used in Graphplan, and 2) extend the notions of reachability and mutual exclusion to more general notions of time and action. As it turns out, the general rules for mutual exclusion reasoning take on a remarkably clean and simple form. However, practical instantiations of them turn out to be messy, and require that we make representation and reasoning choices.

Smith, David E.↗

System and Method for Network Bandwidth, Buffers and Timing Management Using Hybrid Scheduling of Traffic with Different Priorities and Guarantees

Systems and methods for network bandwidth, buffers and timing management using hybrid scheduling of traffic with different priorities and guarantees are provided. In certain embodiments, a method of managing network scheduling and configuration comprises, for each transmitting end station, reserving one exclusive buffer for each virtual link to be transmitted from the transmitting end station; for each receiving end station, reserving exclusive buffers for each virtual link to be received at the receiving end station; and for each switch, reserving a exclusive buffer for each virtual link to be received at an input port of the switch. The method further comprises determining if each respective transmitting end station, receiving end station, and switch has sufficient capability to support the reserved buffers; and reporting buffer infeasibility if each respective transmitting end station, receiving end station, and switch does not have sufficient capability to support the reserved buffers.

Varadarajan, Srivatsan↗

Alteration mapping at Goldfield, Nevada, by cluster and discriminant analysis of LANDSAT digital data

The ability of Landsat multispectral digital data to differentiate among 62 combinations of rock and alteration types at the Goldfield mining district of Western Nevada was investigated by using statistical techniques of cluster and discriminant analysis. Multivariate discriminant analysis was not effective in classifying each of the 62 groups, with classification results essentially the same whether data of four channels alone or combined with six ratios of channels were used. Bivariate plots of group means revealed a cluster of three groups including mill tailings, basalt and all other rock and alteration types. Automatic hierarchical clustering based on the fourth dimensional Mahalanobis distance between group means of 30 groups having five or more samples was performed. The results of the cluster analysis revealed hierarchies of mill tailings vs. natural materials, basalt vs. non-basalt, highly reflectant rocks vs. other rocks and exclusively unaltered rocks vs. predominantly altered rocks. The hierarchies were used to determine the order in which sets of multiple discriminant analyses were to be performed and the resulting discriminant functions were used to produce a map of geology and alteration which has an overall accuracy of 70 percent for discriminating exclusively altered rocks from predominantly altered rocks.

Ballew, G.↗