Mechanism of localized corrosion of aluminum–silicon carbide composites in a chloride containing environment

In marine environments, more pits develop on SiC reinforced aluminum alloy composites than on their unreinforced counterparts. Although it has been suggested that the SiC plays an active role in composite corrosion by fostering the initiation of pits, this fact has not been conclusively demonstrated. The present paper considers data of two independent investigations concerning the effects of alloy type, and heat treatment on pit initiation in SiC reinforced aluminum composites. For four alloys, it is shown that pit initiation is dependent on the alloy type and heat treatment. Further, microscopic observations show that pit initiation sites are correlated with secondary phase particles. Results suggest that secondary phases, rather than the SiC particles, contribute to the pitting behavior of the composites.     

Critical Success Factors to Improve the Game Development Process from a Developer’s Perspective

The growth of the software game development industry is enormous and is gaining importance day by day. This growth imposes severe pressure and a number of issues and challenges on the game development community. Game development is a complex process, and one important game development choice is to consider the developer’s perspective to produce good-quality software games by improving the game development process. The objective of this study is to provide a better understanding of the developer’s dimension as a factor in software game success. It focuses mainly on an empirical investigation of the effect of key developer’s factors on the software game development process and eventually on the quality of the resulting game. A quantitative survey was developed and conducted to identify key developer’s factors for an enhanced game development process. For this study, the developed survey was used to test the research model and hypotheses. The results provide evidence that game development organizations must deal with multiple key factors to remain competitive and to handle high pressure in the software game industry. The main contribution of this paper is to investigate empirically the influence of key developer’s factors on the game development process.     

Low field ac study of PZT/PVDF nano composites

Composites of nanocrystalline Pb_0.96Sr_0.04(Zr_0.53,Ti_0.47)O₃ (PZT) and α-phase PVDF have been developed using solution casting technique. Characterization of the composites has been done using XRD, FEGSEM, DSC and impedance analysis. XRD and FEGSEM determined the size range of PZT as 22–40 nm. XRD shows the successful incorporation of PZT into PVDF matrix and also confirms that no new phase is developed. DSC of the nanocomposites showed decrease in crystallinity with increasing PZT content. Broadband impedance analysis has been carried out to study the effect of the addition of PZT on the low field ac electrical properties of PVDF. Room temperature dielectric permittivity measurement of the PZT-PVDF composites at 1 kHz determined using impedance analyzer gives values of permittivity 2–4 times higher as compared to neat PVDF. It is found that dielectric permittivity values at the lower frequency edge are affected by space charges while the higher frequencies show the influence of relaxation effects in the materials. It is suggested that PZT/PVDF composites are the preferred materials for high temperature and high frequency applications. However, for low frequency use at higher temperatures, these composites do not offer any specific advantage. At room temperature, the composites are again the better choice in the 1 mHz–1 MHz frequency range.     

Effect of heat treatment on the corrosion resistance of modified aluminum-magnesium alloys in seawater

Study of modified Al-2.5Mg alloys containing chromium, silica, iron, and manganese in various tempers (O, H-18, T-4, T-6, T-18, and H-34) has shown that their corrosion resistance is significantly altered by thermomechanical treatment and the beneficial effect of chromium on microstructural changes. Modified binary Al-2.5Mg alloys in the T-6 and T-4 tempers exhibit a higher resistance to corrosion in Arabian Gulf water than H-34 tempers due to the beneficial effect of chromium on microstructural changes.     

A3-Storm: topology-, traffic-, and resource-aware storm scheduler for heterogeneous clusters

The Journal of Supercomputing - Like other emerging fields, Stream Processing Engines (SPEs) pose several challenges to the researchers such as resource awareness, dynamic configurations,...     

Optimization of multi-objective integrated process planning and scheduling problem using a priority based optimization algorithm

For increasing the overall performance of modern manufacturing systems, effective integration of process planning and scheduling functions has been an important area of consideration among researchers. Owing to the complexity of handling process planning and scheduling simultaneously, most of the research work has been limited to solving the integrated process planning and scheduling (IPPS) problem for a single objective function. As there are many conflicting objectives when dealing with process planning and scheduling, real world problems cannot be fully captured considering only a single objective for optimization. Therefore considering multi-objective IPPS (MOIPPS) problem is inevitable. Unfortunately, only a handful of research papers are available on solving MOIPPS problem. In this paper, an optimization algorithm for solving MOIPPS problem is presented. The proposed algorithm uses a set of dispatching rules coupled with priority assignment to optimize the IPPS problem for various objectives like makespan, total machine load, total tardiness, etc. A fixed sized external archive coupled with a crowding distance mechanism is used to store and maintain the non-dominated solutions. To compare the results with other algorithms, a C-matric based method has been used. Instances from four recent papers have been solved to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm. The experimental results show that the proposed method is an efficient approach for solving the MOIPPS problem.     

Icariin Alleviates Escherichia coli Lipopolysaccharide-Mediated Endometritis in Mice by Inhibiting Inflammation and Oxidative Stress

Icariin (ICA) is a naturally occurring phytochemical agent primarily extracted from Epimedium Brevicornum Maxim (Family Berberidaceae) with a broad spectrum of bioactivities. Endometritis is a uterine disease that causes enormous losses in the dairy industry worldwide. In this study, anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant properties of ICA were investigated against lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced endometritis in mice to investigate possible underlying molecular mechanisms. Sixty heathy female Kunming mice were randomly assigned to four groups (n = 15), namely control, LPS, LPS + ICA, and ICA groups. The endometritis was induced by intrauterine infusion of 50 µL of LPS (1 mg/mL). After 24 h of onset of LPS-induced endometritis, ICA groups were injected thrice by ICA intraperitoneally six hours apart. Histopathological examination, enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), real time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR), western blotting, and immunohistochemistry were used in this study. Histological alterations revealed that ICA markedly mitigated uterine tissue injury caused by LPS. The results showed that the ICA inhibited the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-1ß, IL-6, and TNF-α) and boosted the production of anti-inflammatory cytokines (IL-10). Additionally, ICA modulated the expression of malondialdehyde (MDA), reactive oxygen species (ROS), superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1), catalase (CAT), and glutathione peroxidase 1 (Gpx1) induced by LPS. The administration of ICA significantly (p < 0.05) improved the mRNA and protein expression of Toll-like receptor (TLR) 4. The western blotting and ELISA finding revealed that the ICA repressed LPS-triggered NF-κB pathway activation. Moreover, ICA improved the antioxidant defense system via activation of the Nrf2 pathway. The results revealed that ICA up-regulated the mRNA and protein expression of Nuclear erythroid-2-related factor (Nrf2), NAD(P)H: quinone oxidoreductase 1 (NQO1), heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1), and glutamate-cysteine ligase catalytic subunit (GCLC) under LPS exposure. Conclusively, our findings strongly suggested that ICA protects endometritis caused by LPS by suppressing TLR4-associated NF-κB and Nrf2 pathways. Altogether, these innovative findings may pave the way for future studies into the therapeutic application of ICA to protect humans and animals against endometritis.