Electrical properties of the grain boundaries of oxygen ion conductors: Acceptor-doped zirconia and ceria

This article reviews the current understanding of the electrical properties of the grain boundaries of acceptor-doped zirconia and ceria, however, with an emphasis on the grain-boundary defect structure. From an electrical point of view, a grain boundary consists of a grain-boundary core and two adjacent space-charge layers. The grain-boundary cores of acceptor-doped zirconia and ceria are positively charged, probably owing to the oxygen vacancy enrichment there. Oxygen vacancies are therefore depleted in the space-charge layer. The grain-boundary conductivities of acceptor-doped zirconia and ceria are at least two orders of magnitude lower than the corresponding bulk values, depending on temperature and dopant level. Such a phenomenon is due to the facts: (1) that oxygen vacancies are severely depleted in the space-charge layer, and (2) that the grain-boundary impurity phase blocks the ionic transport across the grain boundaries by decreasing the conduction path width and constricting current lines. In materials of high purity, the effect of the space-charge depletion layer is dominant; however, in materials of normal purity, the effect of the grain-boundary impurity phase is dominant. A Schottky barrier model satisfactorily explains all the phenomenological observations of the grain-boundary electrical properties of materials of high purity, and experimental evidence soundly supports the model. Various factors (alumina addition and grain size) influencing the grain-boundary electrical properties are discussed, and some special aspects of nanocrystalline materials are highlighted.     

打破固定／移动电信网络界限 WiMax 802．16e行动自如

WiMax最大的胜利是吸引了一群无线宽带厂商，同时通过最佳技术、标准平台和开放协议让业界对下一代宽带无线基础设施达成广泛共识。本文将从市场应用和上市时间的角度探讨WiMax带给无线宽带产业的商机，以及对于生产制造和服务业的正面影响，并剖析固网业者如何透过它进入移动服务市场以扩大营收来源。     

Towards Efficient Execution of MPI Applications on the Grid: Porting and Optimization Issues

The message passing interface (MPI) is a standard used by many parallel scientific applications. It offers the advantage of a smoother migration path for porting applications from high performance computing systems to the Grid. In this paper Grid-enabled tools and libraries for developing MPI applications are presented. The first is MARMOT, a tool that checks the adherence of an application to the MPI standard. The second is PACX-MPI, an implementation of the MPI standard optimized for Grid environments. Besides the efficient development of the program, an optimal execution is of paramount importance for most scientific applications. We therefore discuss not only performance on the level of the MPI library, but also several application specific optimizations, e.g., for a sparse, parallel equation solver and an RNA folding code, like latency hiding, prefetching, caching and topology-aware algorithms.     

Software Process Improvement Problems in Twelve Software Companies: An Empirical Analysis

In this paper we discuss our study of the problems 12 software companies experienced in software development. In total we present qualitative data collected from 45 focus groups that involved over 200 software staff. We look at how different practitioner groups respond to software process improvement problems. We show our classification and analysis of this data using correspondence analysis. Correspondence analysis is a graphical data representation method new to software development research. The aim of the work we present is to develop a more holistic understanding of the problems practitioners are experiencing in their attempts to improve their software processes. Our main finding is that there is an association between a company's capability maturity and patterns of reported problems. Organizational problems are more associated with high maturity companies than with low maturity companies. Low maturity companies are closely linked to problems relating directly to projects such as documentation, timescales, tools and technology. Our findings also confirm differences in practitioner group problems. Senior managers cite problems with goals, culture and politics. Project managers are concerned with timescales, change management, budgets and estimates. Developers are experiencing problems with requirements, testing, documentation, communication, tools and technology. These associations are displayed graphically through correspondence analysis maps.     

RH装置的多种设计概念

西马克美马克公司近些年来不断致力于改进RH装置的装备水平和冶金技术并取得了丰富的经验,其处理的钢水可以满足用户对在最短的处理周期及最小的工艺成本下获得极低碳或极低氢含量的要求.RH装置的形式可从单真空室到双工位双真空室快速更换等多种.本文以冶金和经济的角度详细地阐述了西马克美马克公司RH装置的概念和应用实践.西马克美马克公司在中国攀枝花钢铁集团公司最新投产的LF和RH装置就是我们二次精炼现代化工艺概念的代表.与西马克美马克公司的工艺自动化2级相似,其可以得到精确的成分,纯净的和最低的氢含量.工艺模型在线的修改方式也将有所介绍.     

适合制造钢包和中间包的合适隔热材料

连铸技术的迅速发展要求开发高质量的隔热材料,从1960年以来,德国Reftatechick公司一直致力于开发隔热材料,以炭化稻壳为原料生产合适的保温材料,并用于炼钢厂,作为钢包和中间包的覆盖剂.     

Assessment of Agricultural NonPoint Source Model for a Watershed in Tropical Environment

Very little work on the application of watershed modeling has been done in the tropical climatic conditions of Thailand to explore the nature of environmental problems arising from nonpoint source pollution due to agricultural activities, and to evaluate possible remedial measures and strategies. The present study attempts to verify the suitability of a nonpoint source pollution model, the Agricultural NonPoint Source model, for the Huai Nong Prong watershed in Southeastern Thailand. Extensive fieldwork was carried out to collect data and information needed for the model preparation and application. The study has revealed that simulated runoff volume, sediment, and nutrient yield from the watershed with mixed land use and relatively high slopes match favorably with observed data. For the ten rainfall events simulated, the coefficient of performance, a measure of model efficiency (equal to zero for a perfect match), was 0.09, 0.47, 0.09, and 0.03 for runoff volume, sediment yield, total nitrogen, and total phosphorus, respectively. The model, however, could not accurately simulate peak flow rates, suggesting the need for changes in the modeling approach or governing equations and relationships to calculate peak discharges in a tropical environment.     

Effect of Inclusion Size and Distribution on the Corrosion Behavior of Medical-Device Grade Nitinol Tubing

Nonmetallic inclusions in Nitinol, such as carbides (TiC) and intermetallic oxides (Ti₄Ni₂O _x ), are known to be triggers for fatigue failure of Nitinol medical devices. These mechanically brittle inclusions are introduced during the melting process. As a result of hot and cold working in the production of Nitinol tubing inclusions are fractionalized due to the mechanical deformation imposed. While the role of inclusions regarding Nitinol fatigue performance has been studied extensively in the past, their effect on Nitinol corrosion behavior was investigated in only a limited number of studies. The focus of the present work was to understand the effect of inclusion size and distribution on the corrosion behavior of medical-device grade Nitinol tubing made from three different ingot sources during different manufacturing stages: (i) for the initial stage (hollow: round bar with centric hole), (ii) after hot drawing, and (iii) after the final drawing step (final tubing dimensions: outer diameter 0.3 mm, wall thickness 0.1 mm). For one ingot source, two different material qualities were investigated. Potentiodynamic polarization tests were performed for electropolished samples of the above-mentioned stages. Results indicate that inclusion size rather than inclusion quantity affects the susceptibility of electropolished Nitinol to pitting corrosion.