Optimistic distributed systems often rely on version vectors or their variants in order to track updates on replicated objects. Some of these mechanisms rely on some form of global configuration or distributed naming protocol in order to assign unique identifiers to each replica. These approaches are incompatible with replica creation under arbitrary partitions, a typical operation mode in mobi...

These UK stamps were issued in (clockwise, from top right) 1965, 1982 and 1996, to commemorate the centenary of Joseph Lister's discovery of antiseptic surgery, the centenary of the death of Charles Darwin, and the work of crystallographer Dorothy Hodgkin (who is backed by her model of vitamin B 12). The Hodgkin stamp is one of a series entitled Twentieth Century Women of Achievement, which inc...

2 Alam M. The atrioventricular plane displacement as a means of evaluating left ventricular systolic function in acute myocardial infarction. Clin Cardiol 1991;14:588-94. 3 Alam M, Hoglund C, Thorstrand C, Hellekant C. Haemodynamic significance of the atrioventricular plane displacement in patients with coronary artery disease. Eur Heart Jf 1992;13: 194-200. 4 Alam M, Hoglund C, Thorstrand C. L...

In a distributed system with N processes, time stamps of size N (such as vector clocks) are necessary to accurately track potential causality between events. Plausible clocks are a family of time-stamping schemes that use smaller time stamps at the expense of some accuracy. To date, all plausible clocks have been designed to use fixed-sized time stamps, and the inaccuracy of these schemes varie...

The Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in Tobacco Products (The Protocol) was born out of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) to address the growing threat that untaxed and smuggled tobacco products have on public health. The Protocol seeks to reduce the manufacture, selling and transporting of tobacco without payment of applicable duties, taxes and/or bearing applicable tax sta...

A moderately hydrophilic, thermoplastic elastomer (poly(ether-ester)) was investigated as a stamp material for microcontact printing of a polar ink: pentaerythritol-tetrakis-(3-mercaptopropionate). Stamps with a relief structure were produced from this polymer by hot embossing, and a comparison was made with conventional poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) and oxygen-plasma-treated PDMS. It is shown ...