A combined dislocation—cohesive zone model for fracture in a confined ductile layer

The collective dislocation behavior near a crack tip in a ductile layer sandwiched between two brittle solids is analyzed via two-dimensional dislocation dynamics (DD) simulations that incorporate a cohesive zone (CZ) model. The cohesive crack tip is treated as part of a much larger finite crack confined in the ductile layer. The underlying boundary value problem is formulated with a set of boundary integral equations and numerically evaluated with a collocation method. The fracture energy of the layered composite material is shown to be strongly correlated with the layer thickness and is directly influenced by the cohesive strength of the ductile layer (Hsia KJ et al. (1994) J Mech Phys Solids 6 877–896).     

Effects of Ti on N distribution and diffusion in FeTiN thin films

We studied the distribution and diffusion of N atoms in FeTiN single-layer and bilayer thin films by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). We found that in as-deposited films N atoms are first absorbed by Ti atoms, the rest being dissolved into FeTi lattices. Ti not only directly absorbs N by chemical bonding, but also decreases the energy of the N atoms that are dissolved into FeTi lattices. The diffusion study of N atoms in single layer and bilayer films showed that although the presence of Ti stabilized the /spl alpha/ phase of FeTi lattices during 200/spl deg/C annealing, the diffusion length of dissolved N in FeTi (Ti/spl les/8 at.%) lattices was still comparable to the diffusion length of N in pure Fe. Thus, the addition of a small amount of Ti in /spl alpha/-Fe lattice can not completely stabilize N atoms in the film, and the induced magnetic anisotropy of the films can still be unstable, although the /spl alpha/ phase of FeTiN is stabilized by the addition of Ti. The distribution of N atoms in bilayer films can be fitted by a simple enthalpy model.     

Euler Critical Force Calculation for Laced Columns

The paper presents a method of solving the buckling problem of laced column as a statically indeterminate structure without analyzing determinants of high order. The flexural and torsional buckling problems of laced column are reduced to the two-point boundary value problem for a difference equation system. The value of Euler critical load is determined as a result of analyzing the fourth order determinant for column with any degree of static indeterminacy. The solution is based on the method of initial values. Stability of columns with any types of lattice (crosswise, serpentine, with batten struts); with any number of lattice panels and with variable lattice spacing can be examined by this manner. The analogy between the flexural and torsional buckling of the laced column is established. It enables one to use the same relations for consideration of both kinds of buckling. The obtained numerical results show that the Euler critical loads calculated by this method can be substantially differed from those based on the approximated Engesser’s approach. A PC program for checking stability of laced column by designer can be developed on the basis of the present method.     

Software release management for component‐based software

Software release management is the process through which software is made available to and obtained by its users. Until now, this process has been relatively straightforward. However, the emergence of component‐based software is complicating software release management. Increasingly, software is constructed via the assembly of pre‐existing, independently produced, and independently released components. Both developers and users of such software are affected by these complications. Developers need to accurately document the complex and changing dependencies among the components constituting the software. Users must be involved in locating, retrieving, and assembling components in order to appropriately bring the software into their particular environment. In this paper, we introduce the problem of release management for component‐based software and discuss SRM, a prototype software release management tool we have developed that supports both developers and users in the software release management process. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Retrieval Of Morphological Variants In Searches Of Latin Text Databases

This paper reports a detailed evaluation of the effectiveness of a system that has been developed for the identification and retrieval of morphological variants in searches of Latin text databases. A user of the retrieval system enters the principal parts of the search term (two parts for a noun or adjective, three parts for a deponent verb, and four parts for other verbs), this enabling the identification of the type of word that is to be processed and of the rules that are to be followed in determining the morphological variants that should be retrieved. Two different search algorithms are described. The algorithms are applied to the Latin portion of the Hartlib Papers Collection and to a range of classical, vulgar and medieval Latin texts drawn from the Patrologia Latina and from the PHI Disk 5.3 datasets. The effectiveness of these searches demonstrates the effectiveness of our procedures in providing access to the full range of classical and post-classical Latin text databases. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Detecting infeasibility and generating cuts for mixed integer programming using constraint programming

We study a hybrid MIP/CP solution approach in which CP is used for detecting infeasibilities and generating cuts within a branch-and-cut algorithm for MIP. Our framework applies to MIP problems augmented by monotone constraints that can be handled by CP. We illustrate our approach on a generic multiple machine scheduling problem, and present a number of computational experiments.     

Decentralized adaptive recurrent neural control structure

This paper presents a novel decentralized variable structure neural control approach for large-scale uncertain systems, which is developed using recurrent high-order neural networks (RHONN). It is assumed that each subsystem belongs to a class of block-controllable nonlinear systems whose vector fields includes interconnection terms, which are bounded by nonlinear functions. A decentralized RHONN structure and the respective learning law are proposed in order to approximate online the dynamical behavior of each nonlinear subsystem. The control law, which is able to regulate and to track the desired reference signals, is designed using the well-known variable structure theory. The stability of the whole system is analyzed via the Lyapunov methodology. The applicability of the proposed decentralized identification and control algorithm is illustrated via simulations as applied to an interconnected double inverted pendulum.     

Identifying cell-to-cell variability in internalization using flow cytometry

Biological heterogeneity is a primary contributor to the variation observed in experiments that probe dynamical processes, such as the internalization of material by cells. Given that internalization is a critical process by which many therapeutics and viruses reach their intracellular site of action, quantifying cell-to-cell variability in internalization is of high biological interest. Yet, it is common for studies of internalization to neglect cell-to-cell variability. We develop a simple mathematical model of internalization that captures the dynamical behaviour, cell-to-cell variation, and extrinsic noise introduced by flow cytometry. We calibrate our model through a novel distribution-matching approximate Bayesian computation algorithm to flow cytometry data of internalization of anti-transferrin receptor antibody in a human B-cell lymphoblastoid cell line. This approach provides information relating to the region of the parameter space, and consequentially the nature of cell-to-cell variability, that produces model realizations consistent with the experimental data. Given that our approach is agnostic to sample size and signal-to-noise ratio, our modelling framework is broadly applicable to identify biological variability in single-cell data from internalization assays and similar experiments that probe cellular dynamical processes.     

Enhanced surface-excitonic emission in ZnO/Al(2)O(3) core-shell nanowires

We report the influence of an Al(2)O(3) shell on the photoluminescence emission of ZnO nanowires. At room temperature, the spectrum of the core-shell nanowires shows a strong reduction of the relative intensity of the green defect emission with respect to the near-band-edge emission. At 5?K an increase of the relative intensity of the surface exciton band with respect to the donor-bound exciton emission is observed. Annealing the core-shell nanowires at 500?°C does not increase the green defect luminescence at 5?K. We propose a model explaining the spectral changes.