Browsing by Issue Date, starting with "2006-11"
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- A Framework for Implementing Radiation-Tolerant Circuits on Reconfigurable FPGAsPublication . Gericota, Manuel G.; Alves, Gustavo R.; Lemos, Luis; Ferreira, José M.The outstanding versatility of SRAM-based FPGAs make them the preferred choice for implementing complex customizable circuits. To increase the amount of logic available, manufacturers are using nanometric technologies to boost logic density and reduce prices. However, the use of nanometric scales also makes FPGAs particularly vulnerable to radiation-induced faults, especially because of the increasing amount of configuration memory cells that are necessary to define their functionality. This paper describes a framework for implementing circuits immune to radiation-induced faults, based on a customized Triple Modular Redundancy (TMR) infrastructure and on a detection-and-fix controller. This controller is responsible for the detection of data incoherencies, location of the faulty module and restoration of the original configuration, without affecting the normal operation of the mission logic. A short survey of the most recent data published concerning the impact of radiation-induced faults in FPGAs is presented to support the assumptions underlying our proposed framework. A detailed explanation of the controller functionality is also provided, followed by an experimental case study.
- Human salivary α-amylase (EC.3.2.1.1) activity and periodic acid and schiff reactive (PAS) staining: a useful tool to study polysaccharides at an undergraduate levelPublication . Fernandes, Ruben; Correia, Rossana; Fonte, Rosália; Prudêncio, CristinaHealth science education is presently in discussion throughout Europe due to the Bologna Declaration. Teaching basic sciences such as biochemistry in a health sciences context, namely in allied heath education, can be a challenging task since the students of preclinical health sciences are not often convinced that basic sciences are clinically valuable (J. R. Rudland, S. C. Rennie ( 2003) The determination of the relevance of basic sciences learning objectives to clinical practice using a questionnaire survey, Med. Educ. (Oxf.) 37, 962-965; E. C. Wragg ( 2003) How can we determine the relevance of basic sciences learning objectives to clinical practice?, Med. Educ. ( Oxf.) 37, 948-949). Thus, nowadays teachers are compelled to use their imagination to be able to elaborate laboratory sessions aiming for the understanding of theoretical concepts that are also clinically related: in other words, basic concepts and skills that underlie the competencies demanded of the future health professional. In the present work, we describe a set of laboratory sessions implemented in the discipline of biochemistry, belonging to the first year of several courses of allied health professionals, which can also be implemented in other health sciences courses. These sessions focus on the characteristics and properties of carbohydrates. The exercises we propose include two different laboratory practical sessions based on a histopathological routine technique known as periodic acid and Schiff reactive that is currently used to detect sugar metabolic and tumor diseases ( J. M. T. Rivera, C. T. Lopez, B. C. Segui ( 2001) Bioquimica Estructural: Conceptos y Tests, Tebar Flores, Madrid). The methodology described enables the demonstration of some biochemical properties of polysaccharides, namely animal and vegetable, and the catalytic activity of the human salivary alpha-amylase (EC.3.2.1.1) enzyme. A further comparison between alpha-amylase activity in vitro and in situ is also possible by the proposed methodology. Additionally, to this extent, a comparison between the results of the learning improvement that occurred after the implementation of this tool is presented.