Reversible Fragmentation and Self‐Assembling of Nematic Liquid Crystal Droplets on Functionalized Pyroelectric Substrates

Investigation on the behavior of nematic liquid crystals on functionalized polar dielectric crystal substrates is accomplished. Very interesting effects can be observed in maneuvering liquid crystal droplets on the substrate surface, driven by electric fields generated by pyroelectric effect. Reversible drops fragmentation and self‐assembling in different configurations can be achieved. The dynamics of the observed phenomena is studied and the repeatability of the process is full assessed.     

FC2Q: exploiting fuzzy control in server consolidation for cloud applications with SLA constraints

Modern cloud data centers rely on server consolidation (the allocation of several virtual machines on the same physical host) to minimize their costs. Choosing the right consolidation level (how many and which virtual machines are assigned to a physical server) is a challenging problem, because contemporary multitier cloud applications must meet service level agreements in face of highly dynamic, nonstationary, and bursty workloads. In this paper, we deal with the problem of achieving the best consolidation level that can be attained without violating application service level agreements. We tackle this problem by devising fuzzy controller for consolidation and QoS (FC2Q), a resource management framework exploiting feedback fuzzy logic control, that is able to dynamically adapt the physical CPU capacity allocated to the tiers of an application in order to precisely match the needs induced by the intensity of its current workload. We implement FC2Q on a real testbed and use this implementation to demonstrate its ability of meeting the aforementioned goals by means of a thorough experimental evaluation, carried out with real‐world cloud applications and workloads. Furthermore, we compare the performance achieved by FC2Q against those attained by existing state‐of‐the‐art alternative solutions, and we show that FC2Q works better than them in all the considered experimental scenarios. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Software development tool for target systems and EPROM programmers within a Unix environment

A computer running under a Unix operating system is an excellent host on which to develop software for target systems which have the same type of microprocessor as the host computer. Unfortunately, facilities for preparing executable modules able to be sent to an EPROM programmer or to be loaded onto a RAM portion of target memory space are lacking in standard Unix. These facilities can be improved in any version of Unix without the need for expensive software using the set of commands presented in this paper.     

Energy intensity of maritime trades: Evidences from the EX-TREMIS database

This paper describes the energy consumption performance of sea-going ships engaged in the EU27 seaborne trades based on data and parameters resulting from the EX-TREMIS (EXploring non road TRansport EMISsions in Europe) database. EX-TREMIS is a comprehensive database of fleet and transport activity data, specific energy consumption, emission factors and total emissions from rail, maritime and air transport in the European Union. The EX-TREMIS maritime model derives from a mixture of top–down and bottom–up approaches for estimating pollutant emissions from shipping activities. The model did not use direct observations of actual trips, but empirically derived the number of equivalent-ships. Cargo type shipments were linked to seven ship type categories for which a further segmentation by ship size (three length classes), type and age of the main engine and type of fuel was applied.     

Review of the DOE/NASA wind turbine engineering information system

The NASA Lewis Research Center manages for the Department of Energy, the technology and engineering development of large horizontal axis wind turbines. In support of this activity each wind turbine has a variety of information systems used to acquire, process and analyze data. In general four categories of data systems, each responding to a distinct information need, can be identified. The categories are: Control, Technology, Engineering and Performance. The focus of this report is on the information that can be extracted by statistical analysis of data obtained from the Technology and Engineering Information Systems. These systems consist of the following elements: (1) sensors which measure critical parameters (e.g. wind speed and direction, output power, blade loads and component vibrations; (2) remote multiplexing units on each wind turbine which frequency-modulate, multiplex and transmit sensor outputs; (3) on-site instrumentation to record, process and display the sensor output; and (4) statistical analysis of data at the NASA-Lewis Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio. Two examples of the capabilities of these systems are presented. The first illustrates the standardized format for application of statistical analysis to each directly measured parameter. The second shows the use of a model to estimate the variability of the rotor thrust loading, which is a derived parameter.     

Optical and electronic properties of fluorene/thiophene/benzothiadiazole pseudorandom copolymers for photovoltaic applications

A new family of 9,9-bisalkylfluorene (F)/thiophene (T)/benzothiadiazole (B) π-conjugated copolymers for organic solar cells is reported. The structure of the reported copolymers is pseudorandom: in turn each F, T, B monomer unit is alternated to the other randomly distributed two units. Voltammetric, UV–visible, and photoluminescence measurements have been carried out to assess the optical and electronic properties of the synthesized materials. The occurring of photoinduced charge transfer towards a fullerene electron acceptor was investigated by photoluminescence quenching and light-induced electron spin resonance experiments. The copolymer having alternating thiophene monomer units and randomly distributed fluorene and benzothiadiazole units exhibits the most promising characteristics; the photophysic study shows that such polymer/fullerene blend could represent a novel and cheaper material to be used as convenient donor–acceptor system for polymer solar cells.     

Analysis of Yq microdeletions in infertile males by PCR and DNA hybridization techniques

Defects in spermatogenesis have been found associated with deletions of different portions of Y chromosome long arm (Yq), suggesting the presence of the azoospermia factor in the control of spermatogenesis. We studied 67 men with idiopathic azoospermia and severe oligozoospermia, cytogenetically normal, for the presence of microdeletions on Yq chromosome. By using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and Southern blotting techniques we analysed the AZFa, AZFb and AZFc loci on Yq, where deletions have been associated with defects in spermatogenesis. Deletions of a portion of the Y chromosome were detected in five patients. Four of these patients shared deletions in distal Yq11 interval 6, including the DAZ gene, while one patient lacked loci in the proximal Yq11. Testicular histology of two patients bearing distal Yq11 deletions showed two different spermatogenic defects including Sertoli cell-only (SCO) syndrome and maturation arrest, while the patient with microdeletions in the proximal Yq11 showed a SCO phenotype.