Applications of minicomputers to library and related problems : papers presented at the 1974 Clinic on Library Applications of Data Processing, April 28-May 1, 1974 /

Title on spine: Library applications of data processing.

Three essays on major trends in a slow clockspeed industry : the case of industrial automation

The motivation for this research initiated from the abrupt rise and fall of minicomputers which were initially used both for industrial automation and business applications due to their significantly lower cost than their predecessors, the mainframes. Later industrial automation developed its own vertically integrated hardware and software to address the application needs of uninterrupted operations, real-time control and resilience to harsh environmental conditions. This has led to the creation of an independent industry, namely industrial automation used in PLC, DCS, SCADA and robot control systems. This industry employs today over 200'000 people in a profitable slow clockspeed context in contrast to the two mainstream computing industries of information technology (IT) focused on business applications and telecommunications focused on communications networks and hand-held devices. Already in 1990s it was foreseen that IT and communication would merge into one Information and communication industry (ICT). The fundamental question of the thesis is: Could industrial automation leverage a common technology platform with the newly formed ICT industry? Computer systems dominated by complex instruction set computers (CISC) were challenged during 1990s with higher performance reduced instruction set computers (RISC). RISC started to evolve parallel to the constant advancement of Moore's law. These developments created the high performance and low energy consumption System-on-Chip architecture (SoC). Unlike to the CISC processors RISC processor architecture is a separate industry from the RISC chip manufacturing industry. It also has several hardware independent software platforms consisting of integrated operating system, development environment, user interface and application market which enables customers to have more choices due to hardware independent real time capable software applications. An architecture disruption merged and the smartphone and tablet market were formed with new rules and new key players in the ICT industry. Today there are more RISC computer systems running Linux (or other Unix variants) than any other computer system. The astonishing rise of SoC based technologies and related software platforms in smartphones created in unit terms the largest installed base ever seen in the history of computers and is now being further extended by tablets. An underlying additional element of this transition is the increasing role of open source technologies both in software and hardware. This has driven the microprocessor based personal computer industry with few dominating closed operating system platforms into a steep decline. A significant factor in this process has been the separation of processor architecture and processor chip production and operating systems and application development platforms merger into integrated software platforms with proprietary application markets. Furthermore the pay-by-click marketing has changed the way applications development is compensated: Three essays on major trends in a slow clockspeed industry: The case of industrial automation 2014 freeware, ad based or licensed - all at a lower price and used by a wider customer base than ever before. Moreover, the concept of software maintenance contract is very remote in the app world. However, as a slow clockspeed industry, industrial automation has remained intact during the disruptions based on SoC and related software platforms in the ICT industries. Industrial automation incumbents continue to supply systems based on vertically integrated systems consisting of proprietary software and proprietary mainly microprocessor based hardware. They enjoy admirable profitability levels on a very narrow customer base due to strong technology-enabled customer lock-in and customers' high risk leverage as their production is dependent on fault-free operation of the industrial automation systems. When will this balance of power be disrupted? The thesis suggests how industrial automation could join the mainstream ICT industry and create an information, communication and automation (ICAT) industry. Lately the Internet of Things (loT) and weightless networks, a new standard leveraging frequency channels earlier occupied by TV broadcasting, have gradually started to change the rigid world of Machine to Machine (M2M) interaction. It is foreseeable that enough momentum will be created that the industrial automation market will in due course face an architecture disruption empowered by these new trends. This thesis examines the current state of industrial automation subject to the competition between the incumbents firstly through a research on cost competitiveness efforts in captive outsourcing of engineering, research and development and secondly researching process re- engineering in the case of complex system global software support. Thirdly we investigate the industry actors', namely customers, incumbents and newcomers, views on the future direction of industrial automation and conclude with our assessments of the possible routes industrial automation could advance taking into account the looming rise of the Internet of Things (loT) and weightless networks. Industrial automation is an industry dominated by a handful of global players each of them focusing on maintaining their own proprietary solutions. The rise of de facto standards like IBM PC, Unix and Linux and SoC leveraged by IBM, Compaq, Dell, HP, ARM, Apple, Google, Samsung and others have created new markets of personal computers, smartphone and tablets and will eventually also impact industrial automation through game changing commoditization and related control point and business model changes. This trend will inevitably continue, but the transition to a commoditized industrial automation will not happen in the near future.

Force patterns of hypoxic myocardium applied to oxygenated muscle preparations: Comparison with effects of regional ischemia on the contraction of non-ischemic myocardium

Objective: To examine the basis for local wall motion abnormalities commonly seen in patients with ischemic heart disease, computer-controlled isolated muscle studies were carried out. Methods: Force patterns of physiologically sequenced contractions (PSCs) from rat left ventricular muscle preparations under well-oxygenated conditions and during periods of hypoxia and reoxygenation were recorded and stored in a computer. Force patterns of hypoxic-reoxygenating and oxygenated myocardium were applied to oxygenated and hypoxic-reoxygenating myocardium, respectively. Results: Observed patterns of shortening and lengthening closely resemble those obtained from ischemic and non-ischemic myocardial segments using ultrasonic crystals in intact dog hearts during coronary occlusion and reperfusion, and are similar to findings reported in angiographic studies of humans with coronary artery disease. Conclusion: The current study, demonstrating motions of oxygenated isolated muscle preparations which are similar to those in perfused segments of intact hearts with regional ischemia, supports the concept that the multiple motions of both ischemic and non-ischemic segments seen in regional myocardial disease can be explained by interactions of strongly and weakly contracting muscle during the physiologic cardiac cycle.

Elastostatics P-adaptive boundary elements for micros

This paper attempts to demonstrate the advantages of adaptive boundary element techniques and their implementation in microcomputers. It is shown how it is possible to treat elastostatics problems using adaptive BEM techniques. The paper comments on the solutions proposed for the problems encountered when tryng to implement adaptive BEM in minicomputers.

Ruggedized minicomputer hardware and software topics, 1981 : proceedings of a conference held in San Diego, California, February 22-25, 1981.

"The Fourth ROLM MIL-SPEC Users Group Conference"--Pref.

The ICGS system : users manual /

Bibliography: p. [B5]

The design and implementation of a calculator terminal /

"UIUCDCS-R-75-706"

The design, implementation, and analysis of a computer-assisted instruction system on a mini-computer,

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

A batch system with rapid overlay capabilities /

Originally presented as the author's thesis (M.S.), University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

The minicomputer : an educational tool /

"February, 1971."

The design and implementation of a portable operating system for microcomputers

Communication and portability are the two main problems facing the user. An operating system, called PORTOS, was developed to solve these problems for users on dedicated microcomputer systems. Firstly, an interface language was defined, according to the anticipated requirements and behaviour of its potential users. Secondly, the PORTOS operating system was developed as a processor for this language. The system is currently running on two minicomputers of highly different architectures. PORTOS achieves its portability through its high-level design, and implementation in CORAL66. The interface language consists of a set of user cotnmands and system responses. Although only a subset has been implemented, owing to time and manpower constraints, promising results were achieved regarding the usability of the language, and its portability.

In memoriam: Dimitar Shishkov

Bulgarian and world computer science lost a prominent colleague: Dimitar Petrov Shishkov 22th January 1939, Varna – 8th March 2004, Sofia D. Shishkov graduated mathematics at Sofia University in 1962. In the last year of his studies he started a specialization as a programmer at the Joint Institute of Nuclear Research – Dubna which lasted three years. Then he worked at the Institute of Mathematics for two years. In 1966 D. Shishkov together with a group of experts transferred to the newly created Central Laboratory for Information Technologies. In 1976 he defended his PhD dissertation. He has been an associate professor in computer science at Sofia University since 1985 and a professor in computer science since 2000. His scientific interests and results were in the fields of computer architectures, computational linguistics, artificial intelligence, numerical methods, data structures, etc. He was remarkable with his teaching activities. D. Shishkov was the creator of high-quality software for the first Bulgarian electronic calculator “ELKA” – one of the first calculators in the world as well as for the series of next calculators and for specialized minicomputers. He was the initiator of the international project “Computerization of the natural languages”. He was a member of a range of international scientific organizations. Among his numerous activities was the organization of the I-st Programming competition in 1979. D. Shishkov was the initiator of sport dancing in Bulgaria (1967) and founder of the first sport-dancing high school education in the world. D. Shishkov was a highly accomplished person with a diversity of interests, with a developed social responsibility and accuracy in his work. In 1996 D. Shishkov was awarded with the International Prize ITHEA for outstanding achievements in the field of Information Theories and Applications. We are grateful to D. Shishkov for the chance to work together with him for establishment and development of IJ ITA.