Effects of the cryogenic cooling on the fatigue strength of the AISI 304 stainless steel ground components

For environmental considerations, the substitution of the conventionally used oil-based grinding fluids has nowadays become strongly recommended. Although several alternatives have been proposed, cryogenic cooling by liquid nitrogen is the non-polluting coolant that has been given relatively more attention because of its very low temperature. In this investigation, in order to contribute to developing this promising cooling mode, its beneficial effects on the ground surface integrity of the AISI 304 stainless steel and their consequences on the fatigue lifetime are explored. Results of this investigation show that grinding under cryogenic cooling mode generates surfaces with lower roughness, less defects, higher work hardening and less tensile residual stresses than those obtained on surfaces ground under oil-based grinding fluid. These surface enhancements result into substantial improvements in the fatigue behaviour of components ground under this cooling mode. An increasing rate of almost 15% of the endurance limit at 2 × 10⁶ cycles could be realized. SEM analyses of the fatigue fracture surfaces have shown that the fatigue cracks observed on the specimens ground under cryogenic cooling are shorter (i.e., 30-50 μm) than those generated under oil-based cooling mode (i.e., 150-200 μm). The realized improvements in the surface integrity and in the fatigue behaviour are thought to be related to the reduction of the grinding zone temperature observed under cryogenic cooling, as no significant differences between the grinding force components for both cooling modes have been observed.     

Pinhole density measurements of barriers deposited on low-k films

Evaluation of diffusion barrier integrity is an important issue in advanced interconnects. A diffusion barrier separating Cu from low-k must be as thin as possible and must not contain pinholes. We have developed a method for measuring pinhole density in diffusion barriers deposited on low-k materials. The method employs ellipsometric porosimetry for measuring diffusion of toluene in a porous low-k film beneath the barrier in question.     

Characterization of temporal response, spectral responsivity and its spatial uniformity in photoconductive diamond detectors

Three photoconductive diamond detectors with highly oriented diamond (HOD) films fabricated by the same process were characterized with respect to temporal response, spectral responsivity and its spatial uniformity over the wavelength range from 190 to 250 nm. Temporal measurements showed a drift in the baseline, suggesting the presence of deep level carrier traps. The responsivity of specimen No. 2 was more than twice those of the other two specimens, but it showed an unpredictable current fluctuation. It was found that the spatial uniformities of all the specimens were too low for radiometric purposes. A prominent peak, thought to be due to photoemission, was found in the responsivity spatial distribution of specimen No. 3 under a negative applied voltage.     

Automated Theorem Proving in Temporal Logic:T-Resolution

This paper presentes a novel resolution method,T-resolution,based on the first order temporal logic.The primary claim of this method is its soundness and completeness.For this purpose,we construct the corresponding semantic trees and extend Herbrand‘s Theorem.     

Branching and pruning: An optimal temporal POCL planner based on constraint programming

A key feature of modern optimal planners such as graphplan and blackbox is their ability to prune large parts of the search space. Previous Partial Order Causal Link (POCL) planners provide an alternative branching scheme but lacking comparable pruning mechanisms do not perform as well. In this paper, a domain-independent formulation of temporal planning based on Constraint Programming is introduced that successfully combines a POCL branching scheme with powerful and sound pruning rules. The key novelty in the formulation is the ability to reason about supports, precedences, and causal links involving actions that are not in the plan. Experiments over a wide range of benchmarks show that the resulting optimal temporal planner is much faster than current ones and is competitive with the best parallel planners in the special case in which actions have all the same duration.¹     

Development of a simple model for batch and boundary information updation for a similar ship’s block model

In early 2000,large domestic shipyards introduced shipbuilding 3D computer-aided design (CAD) to the hull production design process to define manufacturing and assembly information.The production design process accounts for most of the man-hours (M/H) of the entire design process and is closely connected to yard production because designs must take into account the production schedule of the shipyard,the current state of the dock needed to mount the ship’s block,and supply information.Therefore,many shipyards are investigating the complete automation of the production design process to reduce the M/H for designers.However,these problems are still currently unresolved,and a clear direction is needed for research on the automatic design base of manufacturing rules,batches reflecting changed building specifications,batch updates of boundary information for hull members,and management of the hull model change history to automate the production design process.In this study,a process was developed to aid production design engineers in designing a new ship’s hull block model from that of a similar ship previously built,based on AVEVA Marine.An automation system that uses the similar ship’s hull block model is proposed to reduce M/H and human errors by the production design engineer.First,scheme files holding important information were constructed in a database to automatically update hull block model modifications.Second,for batch updates,the database’s table,including building specifications and the referential integrity of a relational database were compared.In particular,this study focused on reflecting the frequent modification of building specifications and regeneration of boundary information of the adjacent panel due to changes in a specific panel.Third,the rollback function is proposed in which the database (DB) is used to return to the previously designed panels.     

Hash算法在数据库安全中的应用

介绍了Hash算法在数据库加密系统中的应用,包括在用户身份验证中的应用,在数据库完整性认证中的应用,以及在密文检索中的应用。     

云存储安全增强系统的设计与实现

云存储是一种新型的网络存储形式,并逐步为大家所接受,企业和个人用户都开始使用云存储作为其网络存储媒介。目前很多著名的IT企业都推出了云存储服务,其中Amazon公司推出的SimpleStorageService（S3）就是商用云存储服务的典型代表。随着云存储的广泛使用,云存储中数据的安全问题,如数据泄漏和数据篡改,也成了用户广泛关注的问题。文章基于Amazons3的云存储服务,设计并实现了一款云存储安全增强系统,对用户上传至Amazons3的数据进行加密保护,使得文件以密文形式存储于Amazons3,可以有效防止数据在传输和存储过程中的泄漏;同时系统还对从s3下栽的文件进行完整性校验,检测其内容与上传时是否一致,以防止文件被篡改;最后,系统还提供了多用户访问控制支持,多个用户可以共享同一个S3账号,同时保证各自存储的内容互相隔离,禁止一个用户非授权访问其他用户存储的文件。     

Practical Issues in Temporal Difference Learning

This paper examines whether temporal difference methods for training connectionist networks, such as Sutton's TD() algorithm, can be successfully applied to complex real-world problems. A number of important practical issues are identified and discussed from a general theoretical perspective. These practical issues are then examined in the context of a case study in which TD() is applied to learning the game of backgammon from the outcome of self-play. This is apparently the first application of this algorithm to a complex non-trivial task. It is found that, with zero knowledge built in, the network is able to learn from scratch to play the entire game at a fairly strong intermediate level of performance, which is clearly better than conventional commercial programs, and which in fact surpasses comparable networks trained on a massive human expert data set. This indicates that TD learning may work better in practice than one would expect based on current theory, and it suggests that further analysis of TD methods, as well as applications in other complex domains, may be worth investigating.     

The Effects of Insulin-Like Growth Factor I and BTP-2 on Acute Lung Injury

Acute lung injury (ALI) afflicts approximately 200,000 patients annually and has a 40% mortality rate. The COVID-19 pandemic has massively increased the rate of ALI incidence. The pathogenesis of ALI involves tissue damage from invading microbes and, in severe cases, the overexpression of inflammatory cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukin-1β (IL-1β). This study aimed to develop a therapy to normalize the excess production of inflammatory cytokines and promote tissue repair in the lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced ALI. Based on our previous studies, we tested the insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) and BTP-2 therapies. IGF-I was selected, because we and others have shown that elevated inflammatory cytokines suppress the expression of growth hormone receptors in the liver, leading to a decrease in the circulating IGF-I. IGF-I is a growth factor that increases vascular protection, enhances tissue repair, and decreases pro-inflammatory cytokines. It is also required to produce anti-inflammatory 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D. BTP-2, an inhibitor of cytosolic calcium, was used to suppress the LPS-induced increase in cytosolic calcium, which otherwise leads to an increase in proinflammatory cytokines. We showed that LPS increased the expression of the primary inflammatory mediators such as toll like receptor-4 (TLR-4), IL-1β, interleukin-17 (IL-17), TNF-α, and interferon-γ (IFN-γ), which were normalized by the IGF-I + BTP-2 dual therapy in the lungs, along with improved vascular gene expression markers. The histologic lung injury score was markedly elevated by LPS and reduced to normal by the combination therapy. In conclusion, the LPS-induced increases in inflammatory cytokines, vascular injuries, and lung injuries were all improved by IGF-I + BTP-2 combination therapy.