Green Measurements for Software Product Based on Sustainability Dimensions

Software is a central component in the modern world and vastly affects the environment’s sustainability. The demand for energy and resource requirements is rising when producing hardware and software units. Literature study reveals that many studies focused on green hardware; however, limited efforts were made in the greenness of software products. Green software products are necessary to solve the issues and problems related to the long-term use of software, especially from a sustainability perspective. Without a proper mechanism for measuring the greenness of a particular software product executed in a specific environment, the mentioned benefits will not be attained. Currently, there are not enough works to address this problem, and the green status of software products is uncertain and unsure. This paper aims to identify the green measurements based on sustainable dimensions in a software product. The second objective is to reveal the relationships between the elements and measurements through empirical study. The study is conducted in two phases. The first phase is the theoretical phase, where the main components, measurements and practices that influence the sustainability of a software product are identified. The second phase is the empirical study that involved 103 respondents in Malaysia investigating current practices of green software in the industrial environment and further identifying the main sustainability dimensions and measurements and their impact on achieving green software products. This study has revealed seven green measurements of software product: Productivity, Usability, Cost Reduction, Employee Support, Energy Efficiency, Resource Efficiency and Tool Support. The relationships are statistically significant, with a significance level of less than 0.01 (p = 0.000). Thus, the hypothesised relationships were all accepted. The contributions of this study revolve around the research perspectives of the measurements to attain a green software product.     

Optical spectroscopic and electrochemical characterization of oxide films on a ferritic stainless steel

Colored oxide films that form on ferritic stainless steel in a high-temperature, oxidizing environment and correspond to different chemical compositions can cause a deterioration of pitting resistance and corrosion performance. Herein, optical spectroscopic and electrochemical techniques have been used to reveal the relationship between color, chemical composition, and corrosion resistance of oxide films formed in the temperature range from 400°C to 800°C for 30 min and at 800°C for 10, 20, 30, and 60 min. The substrate with a thin and dense passivation film leads to a low pitting potential but high corrosion resistance. Oxide films of yellowish or brownish color formed below 600°C are mainly iron oxides, which correspond to low corrosion resistance. No passivation characteristics can be observed for polarization curves of oxide films formed at 500°C and 600°C. The color of oxide films varies from blue to dark gray with the increase of oxidation time at 800°C. Corrosion resistance changes with different proportions of Fe₃O₄, Cr₂O₃, and FeCr₂O₄. The gray oxide films formed at 800°C for 30 min exhibit the lowest pitting susceptibility and the highest corrosion resistance.     

Real-time organic aerosol chemical speciation in the indoor environment using extractive electrospray ionization mass spectrometry

Understanding the sources and composition of organic aerosol (OA) in indoor environments requires rapid measurements, since many emissions and processes have short timescales. However, real-time molecular-level OA measurements have not been reported indoors. Here, we present quantitative measurements, at a time resolution of five seconds, of molecular ions corresponding to diverse aerosol-phase species, by applying extractive electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (EESI-MS) to indoor air analysis for the first time, as part of the highly instrumented HOMEChem field study. We demonstrate how the complex spectra of EESI-MS are screened in order to extract chemical information and investigate the possibility of interference from gas-phase semivolatile species. During experiments that simulated the Thanksgiving US holiday meal preparation, EESI-MS quantified multiple species, including fatty acids, carbohydrates, siloxanes, and phthalates. Intercomparisons with Aerosol Mass Spectrometer (AMS) and Scanning Mobility Particle Sizer suggest that EESI-MS quantified a large fraction of OA. Comparisons with FIGAERO-CIMS shows similar signal levels and good correlation, with a range of 100 for the relative sensitivities. Comparisons with SV-TAG for phthalates and with SV-TAG and AMS for total siloxanes also show strong correlation. EESI-MS observations can be used with gas-phase measurements to identify co-emitted gas- and aerosol-phase species, and this is demonstrated using complementary gas-phase PTR-MS observations.     

A Lattice Approach to Image Segmentation

After a formal definition of segmentation as the largest partition of the space according to a criterion σ and a function f, the notion of a morphological connection is reminded. It is used as an input to a central theorem of the paper (Theorem 8), that identifies segmentation with the connections that are based on connective criteria. Just as connections, the segmentations can then be regrouped by suprema and infima. The generality of the theorem makes it valid for functions from any space to any other one. Two propositions make precise the AND and OR combinations of connective criteria. The soundness of the approach is demonstrated by listing a series of segmentation techniques. One considers first the cases when the segmentation under study does not involve initial seeds. Various modes of regularity are discussed, which all derive from Lipschitz functions. A second category of examples involves the presence of seeds around which the partition of the space is organized. An overall proposition shows that these examples are a matter for the central theorem. Watershed and jump connection based segmentations illustrate this type of situation. The third and last category of examples deals with cases when the segmentation occurs in an indirect space, such as an histogram, and is then projected back on the actual space under study. The relationships between filtering and segmentation are then investigated. A theoretical chapter introduces and studies the two notions of a pulse opening and of a connected operator. The conditions under which a family of pulse openings can yield a connected filter are clarified. The ability of segmentations to generate pyramids, or hierarchies, is analyzed. A distinction is made between weak hierarchies where the partitions increase when going up in the pyramid, and the strong hierarchies where the various levels are structured as semi-groups, and particularly as granulometric semi-groups. The last section is based on one example, and goes back over the controversy about “lattice” versus “functional” optimization. The problem is now tackled via a case of colour segmentation, where the saturation serves as a cursor between luminance and hue. The emphasis is put on the difficulty of grouping the various necessary optimizations into a single one.     

Classification of the Uncertainty of Measurements

A discussion is given of questions arising when classifying uncertainties from the point of view of the structure of the measurement process.     

用增量的累积量方法测量大气风场

为了在非平稳、非线性条件下能得到真实风场的良好估计,提出了一种用空间分布天线（SA）雷达信号的增量累积量测量大气风场参数的方法。该方法基于结构函数方法,利用高阶累计量在信息处理中的特性,用零延迟的增量累计量求解平均水平风速等具体参量，并在大气散射模型基础上对增量累积量方法进行了数值模拟,得出了同理论分析一致的结果.分析和计算表明,该方法完全适用于局地平稳条件，可以减小风场参量估计对天线间距的敏感度；阶数k≥3时,对高斯噪声有很强抑制;同时可以得到风场参量的高阶估计，这是普通的二阶方法（如全相关分析、全谱分析）不具备的。     

液力联轴器喷油着火事故的原因分析及预防

以矿用液力联轴器为研究对象 ,阐明其喷油着火的机理 ,分析其喷油着火的原因并作出事故树分析 ,针对现场使用的情况 ,提出预防措施及发展趋势 ,对矿井安全生产具有指导性作用。     

Cd-ZSM-5沸石催化剂的制备、表征和芳构化催化性能

采用离子交换、浸渍和混合三种方法制备镉改性ZSM-5沸石催化剂,考察了改性方法和镉含量对催化剂的表面酸性和Cd状态以及芳构化性能的影响。结果表明,加入镉降低了B酸性,Cd~(2+)与沸石结合形成了L_(1612)酸中心,其生成量取决于改性方法和Cd含量,并与芳构化活性提高有直接关系。     

Chemical leaching and magnetic properties of non-equilibrium Al(Co–Cu) powders produced by rod milling

We report upon the chemical leaching and magnetic properties of nanoscale crystalline Al_0.6(Co₂₅Cu₇₅)_0.4 alloy powders produced by rod milling. X-Ray diffractometry (XRD), transmission electron microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, vibrating sample magnetometry, and superconducting quantum interference device magnetometry were used to characterize the as-milled and leached specimens. After 400 h of milling, only the b.c.c. phase of the intermetallic compound γ-Al_3.892Cu_6.10808 was detected by XRD. After annealing the leached specimen at 600 °C for 1 h, the nanoscale crystalline phase was transformed into the f.c.c. Cu phase, and this was accompanied by a change in the magnetic properties. The peaks of the magnetization shifted towards lower temperature with increasing external field. The temperature behavior at T_f (45 K) for direct current (d.c.) magnetic susceptibility measurements was quite different for field cooling and zero-field cooling. After cooling the leached specimen from 800 °C, magnetization increased gradually.     

Intercomparison of scanning probe microscopes

Comparison measurements on reference standards are reported in which 13 partners with different instruments took part. A set of prototype standards which had been produced and calibrated within a European project were used for the measurements. Here, results of measurements on a 240 nm step height standard and a two-dimensional lateral standard with a nominal pitch of 1 μm are reported.