Service level agreement based energy-efficient resource management in cloud data centers

As cloud computing has become a popular computing paradigm, many companies have begun to build increasing numbers of energy hungry data centers for hosting cloud computing applications. Thus, energy consumption is increasingly becoming a critical issue in cloud data centers. In this paper, we propose a dynamic resource management scheme which takes advantage of both dynamic voltage/frequency scaling and server consolidation to achieve energy efficiency and desired service level agreements in cloud data centers. The novelty of the proposed scheme is to integrate timing analysis, queuing theory, integer programming, and control theory techniques. Our experimental results indicate that, compared to a statically provisioned data center that runs at the maximum processor speed without utilizing the sleep state, the proposed resource management scheme can achieve up to 50.3% energy savings while satisfying response-time-based service level agreements with rapidly changing dynamic workloads.     

Seasonal evolution of the interannual variability of chlorophyll-a concentration and its forcing factors in the northwestern Pacific from 1998 to 2010

The northwestern Pacific Ocean is a complex region with significant biological spatial variations on a seasonal timescale. To investigate the joint variation patterns on both seasonal and interannual timescales, a season-reliant empirical orthogonal function (S-EOF) analysis was applied to seasonal mean chlorophyll-a concentration (chl-a) anomalies in the northwestern Pacific Ocean during the period 1998–2010. The first two dominant modes accounted for nearly 31% of the total interannual variance, with the second S-EOF mode (S-EOF2) lagging behind the first S-EOF mode (S-EOF1) by one year. S-EOF1 featured a strong variation pattern to the north of 30° N, with maximum chl-a in winter and minimum chl-a in summer. However, S-EOF2 indicated an opposite seasonally evolving pattern compared with S-EOF1, with chl-a increasing along the Kuroshio and extension current from boreal winter to autumn. Both these modes revealed significant relationships with climate-related indices. The two modes corresponded to the central Pacific (CP) La Niña developing episodes and the turnaround from eastern Pacific (EP) La Niña to CP El Niño, respectively. Both modes were associated with the cold phase of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, which played an important role in prolonging the impact of the El Niño/Southern Oscillation on chl-a seasonal evolution from 1998 to 2010. In addition, we discuss the possible factors dominating chl-a seasonal variation, in terms of the subregions of the northwestern Pacific Ocean. In the subtropical northwestern Pacific Ocean (15° N – 30° N), the chl-a growth was primarily nutrient-limited, whereas in the mid-latitude northwestern Pacific Ocean (35° N – 50° N), the chl-a growth was mainly light-limited.     

Tensile properties of hollow glass bead‐filled polypropylene composites

The tensile properties of polypropylene (PP) filled with hollow glass beads have been measured at room temperature to identify the effects of the particle contents, size and its distribution on them in the present article. The mean diameters of the fillers were 11, 35, and 70 μm, and they were named as TK10, TK35, and TK70 respectively. The surface of these particles was pretreated with silane coupling agent. The results showed that the yield stress (σ_y) decreased gently for PP/TK70 systems, whereas decreased relatively obviously for PP/TK35 systems with increasing the volume fraction (?_f) of the fillers. When ?_f was less than 5%, the tensile strength at break (σ_b) of the composites increased with the increase of ?_f. When ?_f was more than 5%, σ_b was almost a constant for PP/TK70 systems, while σ_b decreased linearly for PP/TK35 systems. The tensile fracture strain (ε_b) of the composites decreased suddenly when ?_f was less than 5%, and then decreased slightly with increasing ?_f. When ?_f was 10%, σ_y and σ_b increased while ε_b decreased with the increase of the bead diameter. Furthermore, the σ_y was predicted by means an equation proposed in the previous work, and good interfacial adhesion was shown between the hollow glass beads and the matrix. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 104: 1697–1701, 2007     

Manipulating the phase morphology in PPS/PA66 blends using clay

By adding a small amount of clay into poly(p‐phenylene sulfide) (PPS)/polyamide 66 blends, the morphology was found to change gradually from sea–island into cocontinuity and lamellar supramolecular structure, as increasing of clay content. Clay was selectively located in the PA66 phase, and the exfoliated clay layers formed an edge‐contacted network. The change of morphology is not caused by the change of volume ratio and viscosity ratio but can be well explained by the dynamic interplay of phase separation between PPS and PA66 through preferential adsorption of PA66 onto the clay layers and through layer–layer repulsion. This provides a means of manipulating the phase morphology for the immiscible polymer blends. The mechanical and tribological properties of PPS/PA66 blends with different phase morphologies (different clay contents) were studied. Both tensile and impact strength of the blends were found obviously increased by the addition of clay. The antiwear property was greatly improved for the blends with cocontinuous phase form. Our work indicates that the phase‐separating behavior of polymer blends contained interacting clay can be exploited to create a rich diversity of new structures and useful nanocomposites. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 2007     

Morphologies and dynamic mechanical properties of core‐shell emulsifier‐free latexes and their copolymers for P(BA/MMA)/P(MMA/BA) and P(BA/MMA)/PSt systems in the presence of AHPS

Different poly(methyl methacrylate/n‐butyl acrylate)/poly(n‐butyl acrylate/methyl methacrylate) [P(BA/MMA)/P(MMA/BA)] and poly(n‐butyl acrylate/methyl methacrylate)/polystyrene [P(BA/MMA)/PSt] core‐shell structured latexes were prepared by emulsifier‐free emulsion polymerization in the presence of hydrophilic monomer 3‐allyloxy‐2‐hydroxyl‐propanesulfonic salt (AHPS). The particle morphologies of the final latexes and dynamic mechanical properties of the copolymers from final latexes were investigated in detail. With the addition of AHPS, a latex of stable and high‐solid content (60 wt %) was prepared. The diameters of the latex particles are ～0.26 μm for the P(BA/MMA)/P(MMA/BA) system and 0.22–0.24 μm for the P(BA/MMA)/PSt system. All copolymers from the final latexes are two‐phase structure polymers, shown as two glass transition temperatures (T_gs) on dynamic mechanical analysis spectra. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 86: 3078–3084, 2002     

An exploratory study on ontology engineering for software architecture documentation

The usefulness of Software Architecture (SA) documentation depends on how well its Architectural Knowledge (AK) can be retrieved by the stakeholders in a software project. Recent findings show that the use of ontology-based SA documentation is promising. However, different roles in software development have different needs for AK, and building an ontology to suit these needs is challenging. In this paper we describe an approach to build an ontology for SA documentation. This approach involves the use of typical questions for eliciting and constructing an ontology. We outline eight contextual factors, which influence the successful construction of an ontology, especially in complex software projects with diverse AK users. We tested our ‘typical question’ approach in a case study and report how it can be used for acquiring and modeling AK needs.     

非均匀卵砾石粗糙床面的分形特征

针对传统方法刻画粗糙床面总体特征存在缺陷的问题,将分形几何理论引入非均匀卵砾石粗糙床面特征研究,以卵砾石床面激光扫描试验资料为基础,探讨了分形尺度区宽度与中值粒径d50的关系,分析了覆盖基准面对分形维数的影响,研究了床面整体与局部分形维数的特征与联系,获得了分形维数随床面颗粒组成及高程统计参数的变化规律。结果表明:分形尺度区宽度与床面颗粒中值粒径d50有关,上临界尺度可取为1.5d50;分形维数与覆盖基准面位置有关,覆盖基准面距平均床面的距离越大,分形维数越大且逐渐失真,为有效量化和区分床面粗糙特征,覆盖基准面宜取平均床面;粗糙床面分形维数具有良好的稳定性,局部分形维数变异性很小,并与整体分形维数接近;粗糙床面的分形维数与颗粒大小、级配组成及床面高程统计参数有关,中值粒径越大,颗粒组成越均匀,床面高程极差、标准差、偏度(绝对值)和峰度越大,分形维数越小。     

以创新的理念搞好热力学第二定律及其工程应用的教学

热力学第二定律是化工热力学核心教学内容之一,是工业装置用能标定和评价的基础,因此如何在本科热力学教学中说清热力学第二定律,掌握其工程应用方法显得尤为重要.作者根据多年的实际教学经验,从熵的基本概念、定性与定量表达方法出发,引申出熵产、理想功、损失功和有效能等基本热力学量,并将其应用于评价实际化工单元过程和装置组合.     

圆盘反应器中的PET缩聚过程

利用薄膜实验研究了PET缩聚过程反应和传质规律 ,建立了链增长、链降解反应动力学模型和泡沫脱挥时的传质速率方程 ;通过冷模实验研究了圆盘反应器中PET的混合、流动、成膜、膜表面更新以及传质规律 ;综合了反应和反应器研究结果 ,建立了圆盘反应器中的PET缩聚过程模型 ,对圆盘反应器中的PET缩聚过程进行了仿真分析 ,考察了温度、压力、停留时间、转速、催化剂浓度、负荷大小等各种因素的影响     

Reaction Coupling of Ethylbenzene Dehydrogenation with Nitrobenzene Hydrogenation

The chemical equilibrium for the coupling of ethylbenzene dehydrogenation with nitrobenzene hydrogenation, to produce styrene and aniline simultaneously, has been calculated on the basis of the Soave–Redlich–Kwong equation of state. The dehydrogenation of ethylbenzene in the presence of nitrobenzene over the catalysts -Al₂O₃, ZSM-5, activated carbon and platinum supported on activated carbon has been carried out at 400 °C. The effects of Pt loading and the pretreatment of the catalysts have been investigated. It has been revealed that the conversion of ethylbenzene can be greatly improved by the reaction coupling due to the elimination of the hydrogen produced in the reaction by the hydrogenation of nitrobenzene. Platinum supported on the activated carbon has been suggested as a suitable catalyst. The best results with ethylbenzene conversion of 33.8% and styrene selectivity of 99.2% were obtained over Pt(0.02 wt%)/AC at 400 °C. Moreover, such process is also energetically favored since the necessary process heat to drive the ethylbenzene dehydrogenation can be provided by the coupling with the exothermic nitrobenzene hydrogenation reaction.