Systematic testing and formal verification to validate reactive programs

The use of systematic testing and formal verification in the validation of reactive systems implemented in synchronous languages is illustrated. Systematic testing and formal verification are two techniques for checking the consistency between a program and its specification. The approach to validation is through specification: two system views are developed in addition to the program, a behavioural specification for systematic testing and a logical specification for formal verification. Pursuing both activities, reactive programs can be validated both more efficiently (in terms of costs) and more effectively (in terms of confidence in correctness). This principle is demonstrated here using the well known lift example.     

Enforcement of data consistency in database systems

The absolute correctness of a database is an ideal goal and can not be guaranteed. Only a lower level of database consistency can be enforced in practice. We discuss the issue of database consistency beginning with identification of correctness criteria for database systems. A taxonomy of methods for verification and restoration of database consistency is used to identify classes of methods with a practical significance. We discuss how fault tolerance (using both general and application-specific system properties) allows us to maintain database consistency in the presence of faults and errors in a database system and how database consistency can be restored after site crashes and network partitionings. A database system can ensure the semantic integrity of a database via verification of a set of integrity assertions. We show how to efficiently verify the integrity of a database state. Finally, batch verification of integrity assertions is presented as one of the promising approaches that use parallelism to speed up the verification.     

On discrete lower π-strategies

Two-person zero-sum differential games of survival are investigated. It is assumed that player I, as well as player II, can employ during the course of the game any lower π-strategy [2], π(t_i) being a finite partition of [t₀, ∞). The concept of a discrete lower π-strategy is introduced and it is shown that if player I (II) confines himself to the space of discrete lower π-strategies, being a subset of the space of lower π-strategies, then he will be able to force the same lower (upper) value as if he could employ any lower π-strategy. Since we do not use any deep facts about differential games, the results contained here might be extended to continuous games.     

Influence of hydrodynamics of rotary dynamic filters on separation processes

The fluid flow in a filter chamber, consisting of a rotating disk and a stationary plate, has been numerically investigated. A proposed model provided acceptable predictions for shear rate and frictional torque in laminar and turbulent flow regimes. Owing to the pronounced effect of the shear stress on the filtration rate, the data obtained were used in analysis of the influence of hydrodynamics on the shear stress field in the filter chamber.     

Chemical composition,amino acid and fatty acid contents,and mineral concentrations of European beaver (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Castor fiber</Emphasis> L.) meat

The present investigation was designed to determine the meat nutritional profile of European beaver (Castor fiber L.). The proximate composition, energy value, amino acids composition, chemical scores for indispensable amino acids, fatty acids composition and mineral concentrations were determined. In 100 g of meat the content for moisture ranged from 75.42 to 77.32 g, for protein from 20.21 to 22.33 g, for fat from 0.66 to 2.44 and for ash from 1.12 to 1.24 g. The Nutritional Quality Index for muscle protein was 9. The indispensable amino acids (IAA) at the highest content were lysine and leucine (1.85 and 1.65 g 100 g^?1). The average percentage of IAA was 45% and their chemical scores amounted to more than 100. The total percentages of trans-, saturated (SFA), mono, and polyunsaturated (PUFA) fatty acids were 2.25, 32.25, 18.83 and 49.08%. The ratio of PUFA/SFA and n-6/n-3 PUFA were 1.56 and 5.58. The cholesterol content averaged 55.10 mg 100 g^?1. The muscle tissue of beavers contained favourable amount of minerals, particularly Fe and heme Fe (64.49 and 45.60 mg kg^?1), Zn and Cu (45.07 and 0.98 mg kg^?1), as well a low level of Na (461.9 mg kg^?1). Summing up, beavers are a valuable nutritional meat source with a desirable chemical composition and a low calorific value and can constitute a healthy alternative food as advantageous for human health and coherent with diet recommendations.     

The effect of glycols on the hydrophile-lipophile balance and the micelle formation of nonionic surfactants

The empirical hydrophile-liophile balance (HLB) value of nonionic surfactants is an important parameter used to predict performance as, e.g., emulsifiers, solubilizers and wetting agents. However, the HLB value is based on an original molecular structure and does not take into account all the factors affecting the performance of nonionics, such as presence of additives, type of solvent, temperature, degree of hydration, structural modifications of the surfactant molecule and decomposition of surfactants. On a performance basis, where these factors come into play, a given nonionic surfactant may exhibit a multiplicity of apparent HLB values. Accordingly, we recently introduced the term “effective HLB value” which is a performance value which incorporates into the HLB the parameters listed above. The HLB value thus becomes a variable depending on the physical and chemical conditions at the time of the measurement. In this work, we investigated the effect of adding glycols and diglycols on the HLB using 3 different methods: cloud point, phenol index and critical micelle concentration (cmc). We found that this type of additive increases the cloud point, phenol index, cmc and the “effective HLB” of a polyoxyethylated nonionic surfactant. The effectiveness of the glycols in causing these increases was in the following order; dipropylene glycol > 1,4-butanediol > 1,2-propanediol > diethylene glycol > ethylene glycol. The solvent effect of glycols and diglycols on the hydrophobic and hydrophilic portions of the surfactant molecule are discussed. On the hydrocarbon part of the surfactant molecule, the solvents cause a weakening of the hydrophobic bond and an increase in the cmc. On the polyoxyethylene part of the molecule, the solvent may cause either an increase or a decrease in the cmc. The effect on the hydro-philic portion is related to hydrogen bonding exhibited by the additives. The results obtained again suggest that the effective HLB value, which is a measure of the HLB under operative conditions, may be of greater practical significance than calculated HLB.     

Thermodynamically controlled crystal orientation in stressed polymers: 1. Effects of strain energy of crystals embedded in an uncrosslinked amorphous matrix and hydrodynamic potential

Thermodynamics is one of the factors which control the orientation distribution of polymer crystals. The present paper deals with crystal orientation in uncrosslinked polymer systems, in which small, isolated crystals are embedded in a viscous matrix. With transient effects neglected, and in the absence of the production of new crystals, orientation is controlled by the orientation-dependent free energy of an anisotropic crystal, F(

), and a hydrodynamic potential of the velocity field, Φ (

). Example distributions for uniaxially stressed polyethylene are discussed. It has been shown that different mechanisms control crystal orientation depending on the stress difference Δ? = ?₃₃ ? ?₁₁ applied, and the crystal shape factor, ø. At low stresses, Δ? and high assymetry factors, ø, crystal orientation is practically controlled by the hydrodynamic potential. At high stresses and/or low asymmetry ratios it is the strain energy of anisotropic crystals, $\text{F(}\textcolor{red}{}\text{)}$, which is responsible for orientation distribution. In the intermediate range both mechanisms have to be considered.     

State of the Art of High Heat Flux Cooling Technologies

The purpose of this literature review is to compare different cooling technologies currently in development in research laboratories that are competing to solve the challenge of cooling the next generation of high heat flux computer chips. Today, most development efforts are focused on three technologies: liquid cooling in copper or silicon micro-geometry heat dissipation elements, impingement of liquid jets directly on the silicon surface of the chip, and two-phase flow boiling in copper heat dissipation elements or plates with numerous microchannels. The principal challenge is to dissipate the high heat fluxes (current objective is 300 W/cm²) while maintaining the chip temperature below the targeted temperature of 85°C, while of second importance is how to predict the heat transfer coefficients and pressure drops of the cooling process. In this study, the state of the art of these three technologies from recent experimental articles (since 2003) is analyzed and a comparison of the respective merits and drawbacks of each technology is presented. The conclusion is that two-phase flow boiling in microchannels is the most promising approach; impingement cooling also has good prospects but single-phase liquid cooling is probably only a short-term solution. As an example of the state of the first technology, the Heat and Mass Transfer Laboratory at Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne has already achieved 200 W/cm² of cooling in a first prototype, with a low pumping power, good temperature uniformity, and at the required maximal operating temperature.     

Trichlorosilanes as Anchoring Groups for Phenylene‐Thiophene Molecular Monolayer Field Effect Transistors

Self assembled monolayer field effect transistors (SAMFETs) are reported using a phenylene‐thiophene containing semiconducting mesogen attached through a trichlorosilane anchoring group. Monolayer films, covalently attached to silicon dioxide substrates, form in less than 10 h from solution, thanks to the accelerated reaction of the trichlorosilane anchor. Devices exhibit mobilities as high as 1.7 × 10^?2 cm² V^?1 s^?1, currents of up to 15 μA (on/off current ratio of 10⁶) with device yields close to unity over large areas for channel lengths up to 100 μm.