Solutions to Industrial Engineering problems using integrated software environments

The development of word processing systems and the spreadsheet environment marked the beginning of the professional computing movement. For the first time, programs were available that were both highly functional and highly usable, even by non-computer people. The next group of “hot” programs in the business market were “integrated” packages providing a combination of word processing, spreadsheet, database, graphics, and telecommunications. Unfortunately, these integrated packages have not displaced such single purpose programs as Lotus 1-2-3, dBase and WordPerfect as the dominant forces in desktop computing. Integrated packages are generally perceived as complex, cumbersome, and difficult to master. An important point to note, however, is that high proficiency is not necessary; successful users of commercial software seldom know or use more that 40% of a programs functionality.

This paper addresses the use of integrated software packages to solve Industrial Engineering problems. More specifically, examples are presented demonstrating the use of Ashton Tate's Framework II to solve production and operations management problems. Sample applications include forecasting, after tax economic analysis, and data storage and retrieval, demonstrating the advantages of linking word processing, spreadsheets, and databases.     

Facile Preparation of Multifunctional WS2/WOx Nanodots for Chelator‐Free 89Zr‐Labeling and In Vivo PET Imaging

While position emission tomography (PET) is an important molecular imaging technique for both preclinical research and clinical disease diagnosis/prognosis, chelator‐free radiolabeling has emerged as a promising alternative approach to label biomolecules or nanoprobes in a facile way. Herein, starting from bottom‐up synthesized WS₂ nanoflakes, this study fabricates a unique type of WS₂/WO_x nanodots, which can function as inherent hard oxygen donor for stable radiolabeling with Zirconium‐89 isotope (⁸⁹Zr). Upon simply mixing, ⁸⁹Zr can be anchored on the surface of polyethylene glycol (PEG) modified WS₂/WO_x (WS₂/WO_x‐PEG) nanodots via a chelator‐free method with surprisingly high labeling yield and great stability. A higher degree of oxidation in the WS₂/WO_x‐PEG sample (WS₂/WO_x (0.4)) produces more electron pairs, which would be beneficial for chelator‐free labeling of ⁸⁹Zr with higher yields, suggesting the importance of surface chemistry and particle composition to the efficiency of chelator‐free radiolabeling. Such ⁸⁹Zr‐WS₂/WO_x (0.4)‐PEG nanodots are found to be an excellent PET contrast agent for in vivo imaging of tumors upon intravenous administration, or mapping of draining lymph nodes after local injection.     

Quantitative atomic 3-D imaging of single/double sheet graphene structure

Graphene sheets can be regarded as base structure of many carbon nanostructures, and atomic arrangements and variations in the atomic structure have a drastic impact on their unique properties. Using a single/double layer graphene model structure, we present a strategy to “see” single carbon atoms in 3-D. In high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, exit-wave images are essential to obtain and to understand 3-D atomic structure. Using electrons at 80 kV not only minimizes the knock-on damage, but also improves the detection sensitivity due to the higher scattering power of carbon at lower acceleration voltage of the electron. Using experiments and image simulations, positions of individual carbon atoms in a single/double layer structure in graphene have been identified.     

The effect of ionic liquids with imidazolium and pyridinium cations on the corrosion inhibition of mild steel in acidic environment

Ionic liquids with chemical formula 1,3-dioctadecylimidazolium bromide and N-Octadecylpyridinium bromide were synthesized by conventional and microwave-assisted reactions, respectively. Ionic liquids tested as corrosion inhibitors after polarization curves displayed corrosion protection efficiency within 82-88% at 100 ppm for mild steel in a 1 M aqueous solution of sulfuric acid. Standard free energy indicated that corrosion inhibition occurred by a chemical adsorption process. Surface analysis (SEM, EDX) completed by XRD and Mössbauer spectroscopy indicated the presence of carbon species pertaining to inhibitor and corrosion products, which was rationalized in an inhibition mechanism.     

Generic entity resolution with negative rules

Entity resolution (ER) (also known as deduplication or merge-purge) is a process of identifying records that refer to the same real-world entity and merging them together. In practice, ER results may contain “inconsistencies,” either due to mistakes by the match and merge function writers or changes in the application semantics. To remove the inconsistencies, we introduce “negative rules” that disallow inconsistencies in the ER solution (ER-N). A consistent solution is then derived based on the guidance from a domain expert. The inconsistencies can be resolved in several ways, leading to accurate solutions. We formalize ER-N, treating the match, merge, and negative rules as black boxes, which permits expressive and extensible ER-N solutions. We identify important properties for the rules that, if satisfied, enable less costly ER-N. We develop and evaluate two algorithms that find an ER-N solution based on guidance from the domain expert: the GNR algorithm that does not assume the properties and the ENR algorithm that exploits the properties.     

Mutual exclusion in partitioned distributed systems

A network partition can break a distributed computing system into groups of isolated nodes. When this occurs, a mutual exclusion mechanism may be required to ensure that isolated groups do not concurrently perform conflicting operations. We study and formalize these mechanisms in three basic scenarios: where there is a single conflicting type of action; where there are two conflicting types, but operations of the same type do not conflict; and where there are two conflicting types, but operations of one type do not conflict among themselves. For each scenario, we present applications that require mutual exclusion (e.g., name servers, termination protocols, concurrency control). In each case, we also present mutual exclusion mechanisms that are more general and that may provide higher reliability than the voting mechanisms that have been proposed as solutions to this problem. Daniel Barbara is a graduate student in the Computer Science Department at Princeton University and expects to receive his Ph.D. Degree by July 1985. He obtained his BS in Electrical Engineering at the Universidad Metropolitana, Caracas, Venezuela in 1975. His research interests are Distributed Systems, Databases and Computer Networks. He is a member of IEEE and ACM. Hector Garcia-Molina is associate professor in the Department of Computer Science at Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey. His research interests include distributed computing systems and database systems. He received a BS in electrical engineering from the Instituto Tecnologico de Monterrey. Mexico, in 1974. From Stanford University, Stanford, California, he received in 1975 a MS in electrical engineering and a PhD in computer science in 1979. Garcia-Molina is a member of the ACM and IEEE.