The emergence of multi-core processors is promoting the use of concurrency and multithreading. To raise the abstraction level of synchronization constructs is fundamental to ease the development of concurrent software, and Software Transactional Memory (STM) is a good approach towards such goal. However, execution environment issues such as the processor instruction set, caching policy, and memory model, may have strong influence upon the reliability of STM engines. This paper addresses the testing of STM engines aiming at improving their reliability and independence from execution environment. From our experience with porting and extending a specific STM engine, we report on some of the bugs found and synthesize some testing patterns that proved to be useful at testing STM engines.

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Ab initio and density functional calculations have been performed to study the benzyl azide, 2-, 3- and 4-methyl benzyl azides. Several molecular properties, such as conformational equilibrium, optimal geometry, and vibrational frequencies, have been computed for these molecules. Ionisation energies were also computed.

Ab initio and density functional calculations have been performed to study the benzyl azide, 2-, 3- and 4-methyl benzyl azides. Several molecular properties, such as conformational equilibrium, optimal geometry, and vibrational frequencies, have been computed for these molecules. Ionisation energies were also computed.

The thermoreactivity of a zinc acetate non-alkoxide solution used for the preparation of ZnO-based thin films was investigated in the temperature range 20-600°C by TG-DTA, XRD and SEM data. We found that the formation in air of ZnO crystallites from the sol-gel precursor occurs above 150°C simultaneously with the decomposition of an intermediary compound, most probably carbonate hydroxide (sciante and/or hydrozincite). At 200°C, the crystalline structure is well defined in terms of ZnO hexagonal lattice parameters, although residual organic compounds and water were not yet fully removed and an amorphous phase coexists. A kinetic investigation on the thermal decomposition of sol-gel precursor from DTA data using Kissinger differential equation is also presented. Apparent activation energy values of about. 100 kJ mol-1 corresponding to the non-isothermal decomposition of solid precursors in the temperature range 170-250°C have been found.

Wavelengths and oscillator strengths for all dipole-allowed fine-structure transitions in Zr III have been calculated within the Multi-Configuration Dirac-Fock method with QED corrections. These transitions are included in the spectrum of some chemically peculiar stars, like the B-type star Lupi observed by the Hubble space telescope. The results are compared to existing experimental and semi-empirical data.

Wavelengths and oscillator strengths for all dipole-allowed fine-structure transitions in Zr III have been calculated within the Multi-Configuration Dirac-Fock method with QED corrections. These transitions are included in the spectrum of some chemically peculiar stars, like the B-type star Lupi observed by the Hubble space telescope. The results are compared to existing experimental and semi-empirical data. Corr

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The technological evolution brought the society to a networked reality. New organizational forms are being created, towards a better response to market opportunities, both in terms of time-to-market and added-value creation. In this context the Collaborative Networked Organizations (CNO) paradigm appears as a good organizational form to attend market needs. To avoid the conventional barriers in the implementation of this new organizational form, education and training are very important activities, already building an international consensus. This paper surveys current work on teaching initiatives in the CNO area around the world.

Sauropods were the largest animals ever to walk the earth, and evolved several specializations in their limbs in order to support their body mass. Their legs became columnar and their manual digits became reduced and encapsulated in tissue to form a single weight-bearing unit in the derived sauropods. A new three-dimensionally preserved cast of a sauropod manus, found in the Upper Jurassic Lourinhã Formation, Portugal, demonstrates not only the shape, but also the actual movements of the sauropod manus during the stride. The manus cast is 32 cm deep, and show the manus to be hoof-shaped and lacking any impressions of individual digits, except for digit I, the pollex. Well preserved striations from skin on the sides of the cast show that the manus was covered in rough, tubercular skin. The width of the manus cast is consistent from top to bottom, demonstrating that the manus was brought down and lifted vertically before any parasaggital movement of the upper limb took place.

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