以奥林匹克精神为纲——中国运动鞋品牌运行之我见

2008年29届奥运会在北京举行，使得有关奥运的话题成为热门中的热门，与运动有关或无关的众多品牌、厂商对北京奥运年均寄予厚望，为赢取更大的收获和提升品牌知名度作最大的努力。其实早在几年前，国内外运动鞋品牌企业就已经大张旗鼓，在产品研发与广告宣传等多方面投入重金，为在这次北京奥运年带来的难得契机中处于市场制高点或明或隐地博杀着。     

含V、N无缝钢管表面外折缺陷产生原因的分析

通过对鞍钢生产的部分批号V、N微合金强化无缝钢管及生产该钢管的原料连铸坯和连轧管坯的表面缺陷进行研究，分析了含V、N钢管表面外折缺陷的成因，提出了改善钢管表面质量的方法。采用改进后工艺生产的无缝管，其表面外折废品量大幅度降低。     

A double-layer current conduction model for high-κ gate dielectric materials with interfacial oxide or silicate layer

The current-voltage (I-V) characteristics of metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) structures with hafnium oxide as the gate dielectric film were studied. Sharp shifts from a low-voltage ohmic regime to a tunneling conduction were observed in the high-voltage range. The paper demonstrates that this behavior can be described very well with a double-layer dielectric model. Excellent fittings of the experimental curves were obtained and the related key structural and physical parameters were obtained. The model fitting further suggests the optimal annealing conditions for preparing the hafnium oxide films.     

Oxidation of some aliphatic polyols on anodically deposited MnO2

Galvanostatic steady state current potential measurements were carried out for oxidation of a series of aliphatic alcohols having varying number of hydroxyl groups. The anodically deposited layer of MnO₂ on platinum was used as the electrode material. The deposit was characterised by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDAX) and electrode potential measurements. The catalytic role of MnO₂ in the electro-oxidation of alcohols was indicated by the chronopotentiograms and the cyclic voltammograms. An analysis of the electrochemical data indicated a catalytic EC mechanism in which Mn (V) is generated electrochemically and consumed chemically in succession. Based on this and the hydrogen bonding interaction between alcoholic hydroxyl groups and MnO₂ layer, a mechanism was proposed which accounts for the variation in the observed electrochemical reaction orders. Tafel behaviour was found to be followed only approximately. Current efficiency of the electrochemical oxidation of polyols was studied. Replacement of platinum by carbon as current collector was found to leave the electrocatalytic activity of the MnO₂ deposit practically unaltered.     

Analog and Digital Speed Control of DC Drives Using Proportional-Integral and Integral-Proportional Control Techniques

A comparative study of proportional-integral (P-I) and integral-proportional (I-P) control schemes, for the speed control of a dc drive, using both analog-and microprocessor-based digital circuits, is presented. The often-neglected current response is discussed and results are presented. The speed response to step changes in speed reference and load torque, using both the control schemes, is compared to evaluate the merits of I-P control. A brief discussion of sensitivity to controller gains is also given. It is shown that the I-P control scheme offers some distinctive advantages over P-I control. Experimental and simulation results are also presented.     

Ensuring reliability in B2B services: Fault tolerant inter-organizational workflows

In the age of Business-to-Business (B2B) collaboration, ensuring reliability of workflows underlying inter-organizational business processes is of significant importance. There are, however, quite a few challenges towards achieving seamless operation. Such challenges arise from heterogeneity in infrastructure and coordination mechanism at participant organizations, as well as time and cost associated with recovery from failure. Our research presents foundations for a reliable scheme for recovery from failure of workflow processes spanning through multiple business entities. First, a system model is adapted from the mobile computing literature that serves to establish the requirements to be enforced by each participating organization. In our model, we adopt the Maximal Sequence Path (MSP) approach from Yoo et al. (Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence 2132:222–236, 2001), as a means of decomposing workflows into mobile agent-driven processes that communicate via web services at each organization. This decomposition ensures defining logical points within the dynamics of a workflow instance for locating accurate and consistent states of the system for recovery in case of a failure. Then, a set of algorithms for various business scenarios are developed and presented as practical solutions. These algorithms are shown to create checkpoints such that the system is always in a globally consistent state. As such, these algorithms constitute a set of standards that can be incorporated in business process management suites that support reliable inter-organizational collaboration.     

Preparation and characterization of low-halogen and nonhalgoen fire-resistant low-smoke (FRLS) cable sheathing compound from blends of functionalized polyolefins and PVC

An attempt is made to develop a novel series of cable sheathing compounds with variation in chlorine content and sufficient fire retardance and unique low-smoke characteristics. These are prepared by blending PVC and functionalized polyolefins in different compositions. PE and EPDM have been functionalized by grafting dibutyl maleate (DBM) using DCP as initiator. FRLS compounds made from PVC-functionalized polyolefin blends possess the special characteristics of low-smoke, low-acid-gas generation, increased fire retardance, and improved volume resistivity, which are much better in comparison with a typical PVC sheathing compound. Thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) based nonhalogen FRLS compounds are also reported. The mechanisms for grafting, polymer-polymer and polymer-filler interactions have been presented.     

A novel ADRC‑based design for a kind of fexible aerocraft

The paper presents a novel control design, which is based on the idea of active disturbance rejection control (ADRC), for a kind of fexible aerocraft whose controlled variable cannot be measured directly. Since the original frame of ADRC cannot be directly applied, the paper puts forward a new extended state observer (ESO) and the corresponding ADRC law. In order to assign the poles of the closed-loop system to ideal positions such that the vibration can be quickly suppressed, an elastic damping term is added into feedback law. The advantages of the new ESO for efectively estimating both the rigid mode and elastic mode from the measurements are discussed. Moreover, the analysis on the stability, the relative stability and the steady state of the closed-loop system is given. Finally, the efectiveness and robustness of the proposed ADRC are verifed by simulations.     

Localized swelling of Fe-Cr-Ni alloy rollers in high-temperature applications

Localized swelling has been observed in 24Cr-24Ni-Nb steel transportation rollers used in the normalizing furnace of a plate mill after prolonged service at high temperature. Due to high localized thermal and mechanical stresses, the chromia layer formed on the roller surface ruptures, exposing the roller substrate to furnace oxygen. Oxidation of second-phase carbides results in the formation of carbon monoxide at very high partial pressure. This leads to formation of voids, leading in turn to localized swelling of the roller material.