Investigation of the oxidation behavior of Mg-implanted steel samples

Mg-implanted AISI 321 steel samples (implantation-energy 40 keV, dose: 2 * 10¹⁷ ions/cm²), were oxidized in air in the temperature region 350–650°C for several days. Nuclear Reaction Analysis (NRA) and Rutherford Backscattering Spectroscopy (RBS) were used to determine the oxygen concentration in the oxidized samples. An enhancement of the oxidation rate on the implanted material in comparison to the non-implanted was observed at high temperatures. It was demonstrated that the oxidation of Mg-implanted steel proceeds by two different mechanisms, at 350–550°C on the one hand and at 550–650°C on the other. The magnesium-depth distribution, determined by NRA (using the²⁴Mg(, P)²⁷Al reaction), RBS and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) also indicated a diffusion of the element at high temperatures confirming these assumptions. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy (STEM) were applied to investigate the surface morphology and to explain the influence of Mg-ion implantation on the oxidation behavior of AISI 321 austenitic stainless steel.     

Bitwise dimensional co-clustering for analytical workloads

Analytical workloads in data warehouses often include heavy joins where queries involve multiple fact tables in addition to the typical star-patterns, dimensional grouping and selections. In this paper we propose a new processing and storage framework called bitwise dimensional co-clustering (BDCC) that avoids replication and thus keeps updates fast, yet is able to accelerate all these foreign key joins, efficiently support grouping and pushes down most dimensional selections. The core idea of BDCC is to cluster each table on a mix of dimensions, each possibly derived from attributes imported over an incoming foreign key and this way creating foreign key connected tables with partially shared clusterings. These are later used to accelerate any join between two tables that have some dimension in common and additionally permit to push down and propagate selections (reduce I/O) and accelerate aggregation and ordering operations. Besides the general framework, we describe an algorithm to derive such a physical co-clustering database automatically and describe query processing and query optimization techniques that can easily be fitted into existing relational engines. We present an experimental evaluation on the TPC-H benchmark in the Vectorwise system, showing that co-clustering can significantly enhance its already high performance and at the same time significantly reduce the memory consumption of the system.     

Search combinators

The ability to model search in a constraint solver can be an essential asset for solving combinatorial problems. However, existing infrastructure for defining search heuristics is often inadequate. Either modeling capabilities are extremely limited or users are faced with a general-purpose programming language whose features are not tailored towards writing search heuristics. As a result, major improvements in performance may remain unexplored. This article introduces search combinators, a lightweight and solver-independent method that bridges the gap between a conceptually simple modeling language for search (high-level, functional and naturally compositional) and an efficient implementation (low-level, imperative and highly non-modular). By allowing the user to define application-tailored search strategies from a small set of primitives, search combinators effectively provide a rich domain-specific language (DSL) for modeling search to the user. Remarkably, this DSL comes at a low implementation cost to the developer of a constraint solver. The article discusses two modular implementation approaches and shows, by empirical evaluation, that search combinators can be implemented without overhead compared to a native, direct implementation in a constraint solver.     

On preconditioning for a parallel solution of the Richards equation

In this paper, we present a class of preconditioning methods for a parallel solution of the three-dimensional Richards equation. The preconditioning methods Jacobi scaling, block-Jacobi, incomplete lower–upper, incomplete Cholesky and algebraic multigrid were applied in combination with a parallel conjugate gradient solver and tested for robustness and convergence using two model scenarios. The first scenario was an infiltration into initially dry, sandy soil discretised in 500,000 nodes. The second scenario comprised spatially distributed soil properties using 275,706 numerical nodes and atmospheric boundary conditions. Computational results showed a high efficiency of the nonlinear parallel solution procedure for both scenarios using up to 64 processors. Using 32 processors for the first scenario reduced the wall clock time to slightly more than 1% of the single processor run. For scenario 2 the use of 64 processors reduces the wall clock time to slightly more than 20% of the 8 processors wall clock time. The difference in the efficiency of the various preconditioning methods is moderate but not negligible. The use of the multigrid preconditioning algorithm is recommended, since on average it performed best for both scenarios.     

Hidden Markov model-based ensemble methods for offline handwritten text line recognition

This paper investigates various ensemble methods for offline handwritten text line recognition. To obtain ensembles of recognisers, we implement bagging, random feature subspace, and language model variation methods. For the combination, the word sequences returned by the individual ensemble members are first aligned. Then a confidence-based voting strategy determines the final word sequence. A number of confidence measures based on normalised likelihoods and alternative candidates are evaluated. Experiments show that the proposed ensemble methods can improve the recognition accuracy over an optimised single reference recogniser.     

Konzeptuelle Modellierung von Geodiensten

Zusammenfassung  Navigationssysteme, ortsbezogene Suchdienste wie Google Maps, interaktive Augmented-Reality-Spiele, Handy-basierte FindMe-Dienste – diese wenige Beispiele zeigen bereits, wie direkt oder indirekt raumbezogene Dienste unser Alltagsleben immer mehr durchdringen. Wir beobachten, wie sich die Nutzung von Geodaten schrittweise vom pers?nlichen Desktop-Geoinformationssystem (GIS) über hausinternen Zugriff auf die Geodatenbank bis zum Webzugriff durch Clients und Servern unterschiedlicher Provenienz ausweitet (,,Web-GIS“). Klassische Aufgaben wie Kartenproduktion und Beauskunftung treten dabei gegenüber komplexen, situationsbezogenen Verknüpfungen von Geo- mit anderen Daten eher in den Hintergrund. Damit geht offensichtlich ein Paradigmenwechsel von der einfachen, passiven Geodatenbereitstellung via WWW zu funktional komplexeren Geodiensten einher. Sollen solche Mehrwertdienste offen und flexibel orchestrierbar sein, so müssen Geodaten systemübergreifend ad hoc abgefragt werden k?nnen. Unabdingbar sind dafür offene Standards, nicht nur auf der Ebene von Datenaustauschformaten, sondern auch bei den Zugriffsdiensten; diese Geoservice-Standardisierung leistet das Open GeoSpatial Consortium (OGC). Im vorliegenden Beitrag geben wir einen überblick über die Modellierung von Web-basierten Geodiensten auf Basis ausgew?hlter OGC-Standards. Modellierung bedeutet in diesem Kontext die Gestaltung von Funktionalit?t und Schnittstellen eines potenziell komplexen Dienstes auf Basis offener Standards und ihrer Basisdienste und -operationen. Diskutiert werden Standards für den Meta-, Vektor- und Rasterdatenzugriff sowie ein anwendungsorientierter Standard für Sensordaten.     

Evidence for Glass–glass Interfaces in a Columnar Cu–Zr Nanoglass

Comprehensive analyses of the atomic structure using advanced analytical transmission electron microscopy-based methods combined with atom probe tomography confirm the presence of distinct glass–glass interfaces in a columnar Cu-Zr nanoglass synthesized by magnetron sputtering. These analyses provide first-time in-depth characterization of sputtered film nanoglasses and indicate that glass–glass interfaces indeed present an amorphous phase with reduced mass density as compared to the neighboring amorphous regions. Moreover, dedicated analyses of the diffusion kinetics by time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectroscopy (ToF SIMS) prove significantly enhanced diffusivity, suggesting fast transport along the low density glass–glass interfaces. The present results further indicate that sputter deposition is a feasible technique for reliable production of nanoglasses and that some of the concepts proposed for this new class of glassy materials are applicable.     

Enterprise networks: The re-engineering of complex software systems

Today technology design can no longer be understood as a design process on a green site. Design and implementation of new technology are always dependent on existing technology and the way it is used by people. In this respect Software-Engineering has also changed to the characteristics of normal technology design taking into account existing computer systems. Experiences show that the conditions and needs of such Software-Reengineering projects are highly complex and differ in their special characteristics ranging from aspects of quality of existing system documentation to organizational structures of the computer departments concerned. The Task-Artifact Cycle presented here gives a suitable reengineering approach emphasizing both analysis and design in Software-Reengineering.     

The shadow approach: An orphan detection protocol for mobile agents

Orphan detection in distributed systems is a well-researched field for which many solutions exist. These solutions exploit well defined parent-child relationships given in distributed systems. But they are not applicable in mobile agent systems, since no similar natural relationship between agents exist. Thus new protocols have to be developed. In this paper one such protocol for controlling mobile mobile agents and for orphan detection is presented. The shadow approach presented in this paper uses the idea of a placeholder (shadow) which is assigned by the agent system to each new agent. This defines an artificial relationship between agents and shadow. The shadow records the location of all dependent agents. Removing the root shadow implies that all dependent agents are declared orphan and are eventually be terminated. We introduce agent proxies that create a path from shadow to every agent. In an extension of the basic protocol we additionally allow the shadow to be mobile.The shadow approach can be used for termination of groups of agents even if the exact location of each single agent is not known.