Formation and retention of local melted films in AZ91 friction stir spot welds

The formation of local melted films during friction stir spot welding of as-cast AZ91D and thixomolded AZ91 material is investigated. The average temperatures close to the tip of the rotating pin vary from 438 to 454 °C during the dwell period in friction stir spot welding. These measured temperature values are higher than the melting temperature of α-Mg + Mg₁₇Al₁₂ eutectic (437 °C). It is suggested that the temperature in the stir zone during the dwell period is determined by the relative proportions of α-Mg and (α-Mg + Mg₁₇Al₁₂) eutectic material, which are incorporated during friction stir spot welding. Based on the stir zone temperature measurements and a detailed examination of material located at the root of the pin thread it is suggested that material is moved downwards via the pin thread and into the stir zone during the dwell period in friction stir spot welding. Evidence of local melted film formation is observed in the stir zone of AZ91 spot welds. It is suggested that melted films are retained since their dissolution rate is much slower in the high temperature stir zone than it is when melted films is formed in the stir zone during Al 7075-T6 friction stir spot welding. The spontaneous melting temperature, solute diffusion rate and the thermodynamic driving force for droplet dissolution are much higher during Al 7075-T6 friction stir spot welding.     

Data mining of resilience indicators

In recent years, the Asia-Pacific region has experienced several financial setbacks, including speculative attacks in 1998 and the SARS outbreak in 2003. Financial stresses of this nature are unanticipated, and not all of the dangers can be predicted by the examination of market information and macroeconomic indicators. The Early Warning System (EWS) that has been adopted by the International Monetary Fund may not be able to predict future financial crises for all possible scenarios, because shocks come in many different forms. To supplement the EWS, this paper proposes a data mining framework to measure the resilience of an economy. The resilience framework does not predict a crisis, but rather assesses the current state of health of an economy and its ability to withstand a financial shock should one occur. The framework is based on a feedback system consisting of two stages. The first stage assigns a resilience score to each economy based on a fuzzy logic scoring scheme that is built on the ambiguous reasoning of experts. The second stage uses the classification tree approach to estimate thresholds for each economic indicator, and examines the quality of the fuzzy score. The result from the second stage is then passed back to the first stage as feedback. The final result is obtained when the feedback system reaches its equilibrium state. The proposed resilience framework is applied to the external-sector and the public-sector economies of several countries to illustrate its applicability.     

Glyconanoparticle-DNA interactions: an atomic force microscopy study.

Glyconanoparticles which present carbohydrate and amino groups motifs at their surface were produced. These particles were highly stable and soluble in aqueous solutions. The presence of the carbohydrate groups also allowed the inclusion of more strongly binding groups, without affecting solubility. The binding of a model DNA, plasmid by these nanoparticles was studied by atomic force microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and gel electrophoresis. Significant differences between the nanoparticles based on their affinities for the DNA were found, with implications for their potential use as nonviral gene delivery agents.     

What are the key elements of a sustainable university?

Nowadays, the principles of sustainable development are becoming increasingly important and universities are acting as agents in promoting these principles within society. In the future, universities will inevitably play crucial role in propagating these principles. This paper highlights important documents and discusses definitions of the term education for sustainable development. Elements, based on continuous feedback loop (Deming spiral) are discussed, in order to incorporate sustainability principles into university activities. The University of Maribor has been used as a case study to test the effectiveness of the proposed integration of sustainable development principles.     

Imaging the domain pattern of the canted magnetization state in Co/Pt multilayer films

The exact magnetization pattern of magnetic films close to a spin-reorientation transition is difficult to analyze due to the intrinsically three-dimensional (3d) variation of the orientation of the local magnetization. We present a technique how this can be performed, based on the analysis of high quality 2d polarization maps from a single scanning electron microscope with polarization analysis (SEMPA) measurement with tilted sample. The key tool is the statistical distribution of all occurring polarization doublets, visualized in a 2d histogram plot. From the shape of the distribution the type of transition—canted-phase, or coexisting phases—can be inferred. For the canted-phase state, the canting angle can be accurately determined from geometrical considerations. With help of the histogram the image data can be analyzed and the three components of the magnetization can be calculated for most points of the image. For a Co/Pt multilayer film we found a cone state. The magnetization forms a complex pattern consisting of out-of-plane domains while the in-plane magnetization shows a maze pattern.     

Response Selection in Visual Search: The Influence of Response Compatibility of Nontargets.

The authors used visual search tasks in which components of the classic flanker task (B. A. Eriksen & C. W. Eriksen, 1974) were introduced. In several experiments the authors obtained evidence of parallel search for a target among distractor elements. Therefore, 2-stage models of visual search predict no effect of the identity of those distractors. However, clear compatibility effects of the distractors were obtained: Responses were faster when the distractors were compatible with the response than when they were incompatible. These results show that even in parallel search tasks identity information is extracted from the distractors. In addition, alternative interpretations of the results in terms of the occasional identification of a distractor before or after the target was identified could be ruled out. The results showed that flat search slopes obtained in visual search experiments provide no benchmark for preattentive processing. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

网络安全和亚洲企业

2002年，60％的亚洲公司报告了信息安全遭到破坏的事件。2003年上半年，黑客攻击事件的发生率更是上升到77％，2003年亚洲公司报告情况好转的可能性微乎其微。     

网络安全和亚洲企业

2002年,60％的亚洲公司报告了信息安全遭到破坏的事件。2003年上半年,黑客攻击事件发生率猛增至77％,因此,2003年亚洲公司报告情况好转的可能性微乎其微。     

WLAN chip antenna mountable above the system ground plane of a mobile device

A novel wireless local-area network (WLAN) chip antenna suitable to be mounted above the system ground plane of a mobile device is presented. The antenna in the study is easily fabricated from folding a single metal plate onto a foam base, and mainly comprises a short-circuited radiating strip and an antenna ground. The antenna ground occupies the bottom surface and two adjacent side surfaces of the foam base. When the antenna is mounted at the corner of the system ground plane, this antenna ground structure is expected to effectively reduce the antenna's possible fringing electromagnetic fields inside the mobile device. In this case, when the associated element such as the radio-frequency shielding metal case is placed under the proposed antenna, small or negligible variations in the antenna performance are obtained. Design considerations of the proposed antenna for WLAN operation in the 2.4 GHz band are described, and results of the constructed prototypes are presented.