Execution profiling blueprints

Although traditional approaches to code profiling help locate performance bottlenecks, they offer only limited support for removing these bottlenecks. The main reason is the lack of detailed visual runtime information to identify and eliminate computation redundancy. We provide three profiling blueprints that help identify and remove performance bottlenecks. The structural distribution blueprint graphically represents the CPU consumption share for each method and class of an application. The behavioral distribution blueprint depicts the distribution of CPU consumption along method invocations and hints at method candidates for caching optimizations. The behavioral evolution blueprint compares profiles of different versions of a software system and highlights performance‐critical changes in the system. These three blueprints helped us to significantly optimize Mondrian, an open source visualization engine. Our implementation is freely available for the Pharo development environment and has been evaluated in a number of different scenarios. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

德国迪林根ROGESA钢铁公司2号烧结机EFA(R)烟气处理系统及其运转情况

多年来,环境保护一直是烧结行业的一个重要课题.由于政府部门提出了更加严格的要求,烧结厂废气的进一步净化已经变得很有必要.一套新开发的、工业化的EFA(曳流吸收塔)烟气处理系统于2006年年中在ROGESA钢铁公司投入运行.本文就该系统的工艺流程、特点及运行情况作一介绍.     

Crystallization kinetics of Sn40Se60 thin films for phase change memory applications

The crystallization kinetics of Sn₄₀Se₆₀ thin films has been successfully investigated using sheet resistance versus temperature measurements. Thermal evaporation was used to deposit the films on ordinary glass substrates. The crystallization temperature for Sn₄₀Se₆₀ thin film was found to be 156.6 ± 0.3 ℃. In the as-deposited state, the sheet resistance was found to be 195 MΩ, this value declined to 1560 Ω/口 upon annealing. The value of activation energy obtained from the Kissinger plot was 0.62 ± 0.07 eV. From the results obtained, Sn₄₀Se₆₀ is a promising alloy for PCM application because of its high electrical contrast, high crystallization temperature, and relatively high activation energy.     

The in vitro and in vivo investigation of inhaled migraine therapies using a novel aerosol delivery system consisting of an air pressurized capsule device (APCD) in combination with a pMDI spacer for endotracheal dosing into beagle dogs

Abstract

Context: Aerosol delivery to animals in preclinical settings has historically been very challenging, requiring the use of techniques, such as intratracheal instillation and dry powder insufflation, that are somewhat invasive, inefficient and not representative of clinical inhalation.

Objective: The objective of this work is to develop a system to deliver dry powder to dogs in an efficient and effective manner for the study of new anti-migraine compounds in development.

Materials and methods: The new device uses a metered aliquot of a dry gas to force dry powder drug from a pre-filled HPMC capsule into an AeroChamber® spacer for subsequent inhalation by the animal.

Results: The delivery of two invesigational migraine drugs via the new device was assessed in vitro using abbreviated Andersen cascade impaction and showed the device is capable of generating a reproducible delivered dose of up to ～68% with more than 50% of the dose in the respirable range. In vivo studies have also been performed showing that this device effectively delivered the migraine drugs to spontaneously breathing dogs using a proprietary validated dog inhalation model.

Discussion: Results confirmed that the air pressurized capsule device (APCD) was effective in delivering the APIs to lungs of the animals. The in vivo data verified the advantages of inhaled delivery over oral delivery for this class of drugs and were used to establish the cardiopulmonary and respiratory side effect liability profile for these compounds.

Conclusions: This work has demonstrated the utility of this device for quick and accurate screening of prospective drug candidates, representing a significant improvement in ease of use and reprodicibility over current delivery methods.     

Probabilistic Seismic Hazard Assessment for Bridgetown-Barbados,Employing Subduction Interface Characteristic Earthquakes

A new probabilistic seismic hazard analysis was performed for the city of Bridgetown, Barbados, West Indies. Hazard computations have been performed using the standard Cornell-McGuire approach based on the definition of appropriate seismogenic sources and expected maximum magnitudes, the authors take into consideration the possibility of large subduction interface earthquakes of magnitude 8.0-9.0 beneath the Barbados accretionary prism via application of a characteristic model and slip rates. The analysis has been conducted using a standard logic-tree approach. Uniform hazard spectra have been calculated for the 5% of critical damping and the horizontal component of ground motion for rock site conditions setting 5 return periods （95, 475, 975, 2,475 and 4,975 years） and spectral accelerations for 34 structural periods ranging from 0 to 3 s. The disaggregation results suggest that the magnitude-distance pair that dominates the hazard yields M 7.4 and 8.6 and a distance of 42.5 km in the Interface Subduction Zone beneath Barbados for the 475 and 975 years RP （return period）, respectively. An event with an M 8.0 at a distance of 107.5 km in the Intraplate Subduction Zone is the second scenario that dominates the hazard for both 475 and 975 years RP.     

Water Resources: The Delaware Basin

Philadelphia is in competition with New York City and Baltimore in staking a claim for the water resources it will need in the next half century and beyond. A new governmental organization having a delegation of both state and federal powers for continuous planning and for unified management and control of the water resources of the entire Delaware River Basin has been proposed; and a federal-state compact for its establishment is being negotiated.     

Acid catalyst influence on the polymerization time of polyfurfuryl alcohol and on the porosity of monolithic vitreous carbon

This study compares the influence of different acid catalysts on the polymerization rate of polyfurfuryl alcohol (PFA) precursor and especially on the respective porosity of Monolithic Vitreous Carbon (MVC) produced from that. Five acid catalysts commonly used were compared: p‐toluenesulfonic (PTLS), hydrochloric, sulfuric, nitric, and phosphoric. A fixed molar concentration of catalyst was diluted in PFA resin under room pressure and temperature. The time dependence of PFA resin polymerization was investigated by optical transmittance of PFA films, and the polymerization degree, characterized by ATR spectroscopy and thermogravimetry. MVC samples prepared with the same PFA resin and each catalyst were carbonized up to 1200 °C, under inert atmosphere. MVC porosity was studied by nitrogen adsorption/desorption, and by SEM and optical microscopy. Higher polymerization degree and higher residual mass were obtained with faster catalysts. No direct relation between the polymerization rate and the acid force was observed. PTLS promoted the fastest PFA polymerization process and the sulfuric acid, the slowest one. MVC samples were obtained by slow carbonization. MVC presented low specific surface S_BET from 1.4 to 7.4 m²/g. Nitric acid catalyst contributed the most to micropores formation. Micrometric apparent porosity was smaller for the catalysts having longer polymerizations times, such as phosphoric and sulfuric acid. Phosphoric catalyst corresponded to the lowest porosity in MVC. As the polymerization time increased, the average size of the micrometric surface pores tended to augment. The MVC macroscopic porosity increased with the S_BET increment. Acid catalysts choice exerted a fundamental role on the porosity of MVC. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2016 , 133, 43272.