Richard Sharp – författare

There is considerable interest in thermophile microorganisms, in their environments, their ability to survive at temperatures which normally denature proteins, but more importantly, as a valuable resource for bio­ technology. The first reported isolation of Thermus by Tom Brock was in 1969. This initiated the present era of thermophilic research with the realization that where liquid water is available, there may be no limits to the temper­ ature at which microorganisms can grow. Considerable research into the ecology, physiology, metabolism, and thermostable enzymes of thermo­ philes has led to their evaluation for a range of industrial and commercial processes. The past fifteen years have been an explosive period of dis­ covery of many new genera and species, including the descriptions of a new fundamental kingdom-the Archaea. Much of the current research has been focused on the Archaea; but it is significant that during this period, the original type strain YT-l of Thermus aquaticus described by Brock has provided a major step forward in molecular biology. DNA polymerase from strain YT-I has proved to be the major success in the commercialization of enzymes from thermophilic microorganisms to date. The ease with which Thermus strains can be handled in laboratories without specialized equipment, together with the large investment in de­ scribing their structure, metabolism, and genetics, should ensure a con­ tinuing effort in Thermus research.

There is considerable interest in thermophile microorganisms, in their environments, their ability to survive at temperatures which normally denature proteins, but more importantly, as a valuable resource for bio­ technology. The first reported isolation of Thermus by Tom Brock was in 1969. This initiated the present era of thermophilic research with the realization that where liquid water is available, there may be no limits to the temper­ ature at which microorganisms can grow. Considerable research into the ecology, physiology, metabolism, and thermostable enzymes of thermo­ philes has led to their evaluation for a range of industrial and commercial processes. The past fifteen years have been an explosive period of dis­ covery of many new genera and species, including the descriptions of a new fundamental kingdom-the Archaea. Much of the current research has been focused on the Archaea; but it is significant that during this period, the original type strain YT-l of Thermus aquaticus described by Brock has provided a major step forward in molecular biology. DNA polymerase from strain YT-I has proved to be the major success in the commercialization of enzymes from thermophilic microorganisms to date. The ease with which Thermus strains can be handled in laboratories without specialized equipment, together with the large investment in de­ scribing their structure, metabolism, and genetics, should ensure a con­ tinuing effort in Thermus research.

In the mid 1960s, when a single chip contained an average of 50 transistors, Gordon Moore observed that integrated circuits were doubling in complexity every year. In an in?uential article published by Electronics Magazine in 1965, Moore predicted that this trend would continue for the next 10 years. Despite being criticized for its “unrealistic optimism,” Moore’s prediction has remained valid for far longer than even he imagined: today, chips built using state-- the-art techniques typically contain several million transistors. The advances in fabrication technology that have supported Moore’s law for four decades have fuelled the computer revolution. However,this exponential increase in transistor density poses new design challenges to engineers and computer scientists alike. New techniques for managing complexity must be developed if circuits are to take full advantage of the vast numbers of transistors available. In this monograph we investigate both (i) the design of high-level languages for hardware description, and (ii) techniques involved in translating these hi- level languages to silicon. We propose SAFL, a ?rst-order functional language designedspeci?callyforbehavioralhardwaredescription,anddescribetheimp- mentation of its associated silicon compiler. We show that the high-level pr- erties of SAFL allow one to exploit program analyses and optimizations that are not employed in existing synthesis systems. Furthermore, since SAFL fully abstracts the low-leveldetails of the implementation technology, we show how it can be compiled to a range of di?erent design styles including fully synchronous design and globally asynchronous locally synchronous (GALS) circuits.