Load-Unload Response Ratio and Accelerating Moment/Energy Release Critical Region Scaling and Earthquake Prediction

The main idea of the Load-Unload Response Ratio (LURR) is that when a system is stable, its response to loading corresponds to its response to unloading, whereas when the system is approaching an unstable state, the response to loading and unloading becomes quite different. High LURR values and observations of Accelerating Moment/Energy Release (AMR/AER) prior to large earthquakes have led different research groups to suggest intermediate-term earthquake prediction is possible and imply that the LURR and AMR/AER observations may have a similar physical origin. To study this possibility, we conducted a retrospective examination of several Australian and Chinese earthquakes with magnitudes ranging from 5.0 to 7.9, including Australia's deadly Newcastle earthquake and the devastating Tangshan earthquake. Both LURR values and best-fit power-law time-to-failure functions were computed using data within a range of distances from the epicenter. Like the best-fit power-law fits in AMR/AER, the LURR value was optimal using data within a certain epicentral distance implying a critical region for LURR. Furthermore, LURR critical region size scales with mainshock magnitude and is similar to the AMR/AER critical region size. These results suggest a common physical origin for both the AMR/AER and LURR observations. Further research may provide clues that yield an understanding of this mechanism and help lead to a solid foundation for intermediate-term earthquake prediction.

Prevalence Of Shear Banding In Compression Of Zr41Ti14Cu12.5Ni10Be22.5 Pillars As Small As 150 Nm In Diameter

Recently, the size dependence of mechanical behaviors, particularly the yield strength and plastic deformation mode, of bulk metallic glasses (BMG) has created a great deal of interest. Contradicting conclusions have been drawn by different research groups, based on various experiments on different BMG systems. Based on in situ compression transmission electron microscopy (TEM) experiments on Zr41Ti14Cu12.5Ni10Be22.5 (Vit 1) nanopillars, this paper provides strong evidence that shear banding still prevails at specimen length scales as small as 150 nm in diameter. This is supported by in situ and ex situ images of shear bands, and by the carefully recorded displacement bursts under load control its well as load drops under displacement control. Finite element modeling of the stress state within the pillar shows that the unavoidable geometry constraints accompanying such experiments impart a strong effect on the experimental results, including non-uniform stress distributions and high level hydrostatic pressures. The seemingly improved compressive ductility is believed to be due to such geometry constraints. Observations underscore the notion that the mechanical behavior of metallic glasses, including strength and plastic deformation mode, is size independent at least in Vit 1. (C) 2009 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Energy Functions And Basic Equations For Ferroelectrics

Energy functions (or characteristic functions) and basic equations for ferroelectrics in use today are given by those for ordinary dielectrics in the physical and mechanical communications. Based on these basic equations and energy functions, the finite element computation of the nonlinear behavior of the ferroelectrics has been carried out by several research groups. However, it is difficult to process the finite element computation further after domain switching, and the computation results are remarkably deviating from the experimental results. For the crack problem, the iterative solution of the finite element calculation could not converge and the solutions for fields near the crack tip oscillate. In order to finish the calculation smoothly, the finite element formulation should be modified to neglect the equivalent nodal load produced by spontaneous polarization gradient. Meanwhile, certain energy functions for ferroelectrics in use today are not compatible with the constitutive equations of ferroelectrics and need to be modified. This paper proposes a set of new formulae of the energy functions for ferroelectrics. With regard to the new formulae of the energy functions, the new basic equations for ferroelectrics are derived and can reasonably explain the question in the current finite element analysis for ferroelectrics.

Dielectric relaxation and giant dielectric constant of Nb-doped CaCu3Ti4O12 ceramics under dc bias voltage

CaCu3Ti(4-x)Nb(x)O(12) (x = 0, 0.01, 0.08, 0.2) ceramics were fabricated by a conventional solid-state reaction method. The ceramics showed the body-centered cubic structure without any foreign phases and the grain size decreases with Nb doping. Two Debye-type relaxations were observed for the Nb-doped samples at low frequency and high frequency, respectively. The complex electric modulus analysis revealed that the surface layer, grains and grain boundaries contributed to the dielectric constant. The low-frequency dielectric constant relative to the surface layer decreased to a minimum and then increased with the dc bias voltage at 100 Hz, which were well explained in terms of a model containing two metal oxide semiconductors in series, confirming the surface layer in the ceramics. The shift voltage V-B corresponding to the minimal capacitance increased with increase of the composition x. (C) 2009 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Modeling and optimization of semiconductor manufacturing process with neural networks

A neural network-based process model is proposed to optimize the semiconductor manufacturing process. Being different from some works in several research groups which developed neural network-based models to predict process quality with a set of process variables of only single manufacturing step, we applied this model to wafer fabrication parameters control and wafer lot yield optimization. The original data are collected from a wafer fabrication line, including technological parameters and wafer test results. The wafer lot yield is taken as the optimization target. Learning from historical technological records and wafer test results, the model can predict the wafer yield. To eliminate the "bad" or noisy samples from the sample set, an experimental method was used to determine the number of hidden units so that both good learning ability and prediction capability can be obtained.

Sputtering of ZnO buffer layer on Si for GaN blue light emitting materials

The preparation of high quality ZnO/Si substrates for the growth of GaN blue light emitting materials is considered. ZnO thin films have been deposited on Si(100) and Si(lll) substrates by conventional magnetron sputtering. Morphology, crystallinity and c-axis preferred orientation of ZnO thin films have been investigated by transmitting electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray rocking curve (XRC). It is proved that the ZnO thin films have perfect structure. The full-width-at-half-maximum (FWHM) of the ZnO(002) XRC of these films is about 1 degrees, while the minimum is 0.353 degrees. This result is better than the minimum FWHM (about 2 degrees) reported by other research groups. Moreover, comparison and discussion are given on film structure of ZnO/Si(100) and ZnO/Si(lll).

波动方程叠前深度偏移辛算法及速度建模

On 70~(th) SEG Annual meeting, many author have announced their result on the wave equation prestack depth migration. The methods of the wave-field imaging base on wave equation becomes mature and the main direction of seismic imaging. The direction of imaging the complex media has been the main one of the projects that the national "85" and "95" reservoir geophysics key projects and "Knowledge innovation key project of Chinese Academy of Science" have been supported. Furthermore, we began the study for special oil field situation of our nation with the international research groups. Under the background, the author combined the thoughts of symplectic with wave equation pre-stack depth migration, and develops and efficient wave equation pre-stack depth migration method. The purpose of this work is to find out a way to imaging the complex geological goals of Chinese oilfields and form a procedure of seismic data processing. The paper gives the approximation of one way wave equation operator, and shows the numerical results. The comparisons have been made between split-step phase method, Kirchhoff and Ray+FD methods on the pulse response, simple model and Marmousi model. The results shows that the method in this paper has an higher accuracy. Four field data examples have also be given in this paper. The results of field data demonstrate that the method can be usable. The velocity estimation is an important part of the wave equation pre-stack depth migration. A parallel velocity estimation program has been written and tested on the Beowulf clusters. The program can establish a velocity profile automatically. An example on Marmousi model has shown in the third part of the paper to demonstrate the method. Another field data was also given in the paper. Beowulf cluster is the converge of the high performance computer architecture. Today, Beowulf Cluster is a good choice for institutes and small companies to finish their task. The paper gives some comparison results the computation of the wave equation pre-stack migration on Beowulf cluster, IBM-SP2 (24 nodes) in Daqing and Shuguang 3000, and the comparison of their prize. The results show that the Beowulf cluster is an efficient way to finish the large amount computation of the wave equation pre-stack depth migration, especially for 3D.

辛格式波动方程叠前深度偏移及速度建模

On 70~(th) SEG Annual meeting, many author have announced their result on the wave equation pre-stack depth migration. The methods of the wave-field imaging base on wave equation becomes mature and the main direction of seismic imaging. The direction of imaging the complex media has been the main one of the projects that the national "85" and "95" reservoir geophysics key projects and "Knowledge innovation key project of Chinese Academy of Science" have been supported. Furthermore, we began the study for special oil field situation of our nation with the international research groups. Under the background, the author combined the thoughts of symplectic with wave equation pre-stack depth migration, and develops and efficient wave equation pre-stack depth migration method. The purpose of this work is to find out a way to imaging the complex geological goals of Chinese oilfields and form a procedure of seismic data processing. The paper gives the approximation of one way wave equation operator, and shows the numerical results. The comparisons have been made between split-step phase method, Kirchhoff and Ray+FD methods on the pulse response, simple model and Marmousi model. The result shows that the method in this paper has an higher accuracy. Four field data examples have also be given in this paper. The results of field data demonstrate that the method can be usable. The velocity estimation is an important part of the wave equation pre-stack depth migration. A. parallel velocity estimation program has been written and tested on the Beowulf clusters. The program can establish a velocity profile automatically. An example on Marmousi model has shown in the third part of the paper to demonstrate the method. Another field data was also given in the paper. Beowulf cluster is the converge of the high performance computer architecture. Today, Beowulf Cluster is a good choice for institutes and small companies to finish their task. The paper gives some comparison results the computation of the wave equation pre-stack migration on Beowulf cluster, IBM-SP2 (24 nodes) in Daqing and Shuguang3000, and the comparison of their prize. The results show that the Beowulf cluster is an efficient way to finish the large amount computation of the wave equation pre-stack depth migration, especially for 3D.

工作投入的影响因素及其作用机制研究

Work engagement (WE) has recently become a fashionable term among Human Resource practitioners and Organizational Behavior researchers. However, academic research that has theoretically examined WE at the psychological level is limited, as is research on its place among other job attitude constructs that are used to describe employees at work, and its antecedents and consequences. This dissertation addresses a number of issues with regard to the discriminant validity of WE, the influences of WE and the mediating role of affective commitment, and the interaction effects of different job demands, job resources and personal resources on WE. The major findings are listed as follows: Firstly, the concept of WE is different from JB and job involvement (JI), and is more positively related to quality of employees’ work and life than the other two concepts. Specifically, WE is more related to employees’ creative performance than JB does; compared with JI, WE can better predict task performance, creative performance, organizational citizenship behavior (OCB), and life satisfaction; although both WE and JB cause work to family conflict, WE improves employees’ life satisfaction, while JB is deleterious to life satisfaction. Secondly, WE influences employees’ work and life directly or through the mediation effect of affective commitment. Specifically, WE reduces employees’ turnover intention and increase their OCBs by the the mediation effect of effective commitment. Furthermore, WE is positively related to task performance, creative performance, and life satisfaction directly. Thirdly, challenge job demands influence WE by the mediation effect of intrinsic motivation, and the impact of challenge job demands on WE is moderated by perceived supervisor support and growth needs. Specifically speaking, challenge job demands enhance employees’ intrinsic motivation, therefore boost WE. Employees with higher growth needs are more likely to be motivated by challenge job demands. In other words, the moderation effect of growth need is mediated by intrinsic motivation. In addition, those who perceive more supervisor support have higher level of WE when challenge job demands are high.