Radiation tolerance of type IIa synthetic diamond detector for 14 MeV neutrons

Radiation tolerance of a type IIa synthetic diamond detector was examined from irradiation of mono-energetic 14 MeV neutrons. Measurements of I–V (current–voltage) characteristics and energy spectrum for 5.486 MeV alpha particles were performed after neutron irradiation. In the I–V characteristics measurement, enhancement of rectification was observed after neutron irradiation of up to 2.0 × 10¹² n/cm². Concurrently with the enhancement of rectification, significant decrease in signal amplitude was observed in energy spectrum measurement for alpha particles. It is considered that these changes were due to increase in the concentration of defects acting as shallow energy levels in the forbidden band. For neutron irradiation of higher than 1.6 × 10¹³ n/cm², weakening of the rectification characteristics and recovery of the signal amplitude were observed. These changes imply that deep energy levels, which were also considered to be introduced by defects, were dominant and weakened the effects of the shallow energy levels. Increase in the concentration of the deep trapping levels resulted in gradual decrease of the signal amplitude and degradation in the energy resolution. The peak for the alpha particles was obtained up to 5.5 × 10¹³ n/cm².     

Linear self-stabilizing algorithms for the independent and dominating set problems using an unfair distributed scheduler

This paper presents distributed self-stabilizing algorithms for the maximal independent and the minimal dominating set problems. Using an unfair distributed scheduler the algorithms stabilizes in at most max{3n−5,2n} resp. 9n moves. All previously known algorithms required O(n²) moves.     

A novel methanol-tolerant Ir-Se chalcogenide electrocatalyst for oyxgen reduction

A novel methanol-tolerant oxygen-reduction catalyst, Iridium-selenium (Ir-Se) chalcogenide, was synthesized by chemical precipitation in an organic solvent. Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) analysis confirmed that the synthesized Ir-Se chalcogenide had a chemical formula of Ir₄Se. This chalcogenide showed strong catalytic activity towards the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and a high methanol tolerance. It was found that most of the oxygen could be directly reduced to water through a four-electron pathway with less than 10% hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) being produced during the ORR. The improvement in catalytic activity of the Ir-Se chalcogenide in comparison with that of pure Ir might be attributed to the effect of a bimetallic interaction.     

基于异常检测的NVP表决器

一般的表决器多是针对一维输出进行表决,构建表决器相对应的决策树,预先给出阈值来制定表决策略。但是对于多维输出的表决器研究相对较少,尤其是输出各个变量之间非独立的情况下,不能将多维输出的每个变量进行单独表决,否则会引入异常点,影响表决结果。实验表明,将异常检测技术引入到表决器中,净化需要表决的数据,可以提高表决结果的准确率。     

Effective vehicle width in self-paced tracking

In self-paced tracking tasks, such as driving, the speed is related to the lateral tolerance. This lateral tolerance has been varied in two ways in previous studies by changing the track width for constant vehicle width and vice versa. The current study used both an automobile driving task and a computer/mouse task to show that these two ways of varying lateral tolerance did not produce equivalent results. Subjects behaved as if vehicle width were less important than track width. Speeds and errors both increased as vehicle width increased for a constant lateral tolerance. This could have safety consequences when driving in confined spaces.     

A self-adjusting algorithm for byzantine agreement

Summary Byzantine Agreement is important both in the theory and practice of distributed computing. However, protocols to reach Byzantine Agreement are usually expensive both in the time required as well as in the number of messages exchanged. In this paper, we present a self-adjusting approach to the problem. The Mostly Byzantine Agreement is proposed as a more restrictive agreement problem that requires that in the consecutive attempts to reach agreement, the number of disagreements (i.e., failures to reach Byzantine Agreement) is finite. Fort faulty processes, we give an algorithm that has at mostt disagreements for 4t or more processes. Another algorithm is given forn3t+1 processes with the number of disagreements belowt ²/2. Both algorithms useO(n ³) message bits for binary value agreement. Yi Zhao is currently working on his Ph.D. degree in Computer Science at University of Houston. His research interests include fault tolerance, distributed computing, parallel computation and neural networks. He obtained his M.S. from University of Houston in 1988 and B.S. from Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics in 1984, both in computer science. Farokh B. Bastani received the B. Tech. degree in electrical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, India, and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering and computer science from the University of California, Berkeley. He joined the University of Houston in 1980, where he is currently an Associate Professor of Computer Science. His research interests include software design and validation techniques, distributed systems, and fault-tolerant systems. He is a member of the ACM and the IEEE and is on the editorial board of theIEEE Transactions on Software Engineering.     

一种基于门限ECC的PKI/CA模型的设计

随着电子商务的发展,如何实现对网络用户的身份认证成为了一个非常迫切的问题,目前广泛采用的是基于PKI的认证技术,而在PKI认证体系中,认证中心CA是核心部分。本文提出了一个基于门限ECC的PKI/CA的设计,本方案在传统的CA方案上引入了入侵容忍机制,结合椭圆曲线密码体制和门限密码方案,提高了CA系统的可靠性和安全性。     

Na+ and/or Cl− Toxicities Determine Salt Sensitivity in Soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.), Mungbean (Vigna radiata (L.) R. Wilczek), Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata (L.) Walp.), and Common Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.)

Grain legumes are important crops, but they are salt sensitive. This research dissected the responses of four (sub)tropical grain legumes to ionic components (Na⁺ and/or Cl⁻) of salt stress. Soybean, mungbean, cowpea, and common bean were subjected to NaCl, Na⁺ salts (without Cl⁻), Cl⁻ salts (without Na⁺), and a “high cation” negative control for 57 days. Growth, leaf gas exchange, and tissue ion concentrations were assessed at different growing stages. For soybean, NaCl and Na⁺ salts impaired seed dry mass (30% of control), more so than Cl⁻ salts (60% of control). All treatments impaired mungbean growth, with NaCl and Cl⁻ salt treatments affecting seed dry mass the most (2% of control). For cowpea, NaCl had the greatest adverse impact on seed dry mass (20% of control), while Na⁺ salts and Cl⁻ salts had similar intermediate effects (~45% of control). For common bean, NaCl had the greatest adverse effect on seed dry mass (4% of control), while Na⁺ salts and Cl⁻ salts impaired seed dry mass to a lesser extent (~45% of control). NaCl and Na⁺ salts (without Cl⁻) affected the photosynthesis (P_n) of soybean more than Cl⁻ salts (without Na⁺) (50% of control), while the reverse was true for mungbean. Na⁺ salts (without Cl⁻), Cl⁻ salts (without Na⁺), and NaCl had similar adverse effects on P_n of cowpea and common bean (~70% of control). In conclusion, salt sensitivity is predominantly determined by Na⁺ toxicity in soybean, Cl⁻ toxicity in mungbean, and both Na⁺ and Cl⁻ toxicity in cowpea and common bean.