Phase-separation phenomena in solutions of poly(2,6-dimethyl-1,4-phenylene oxide). I. Thermodynamic parameters of solutions in toluene

New experimental data have been collected on thermodynamic properties of solutions of poly(2,6-dimethyl-1,4-phenylene oxide) (PPO) in toluene. The Flory-Huggins interaction parameters g have been determined from light scattering measurements. These values are in agreement with values obtained by osmotic measurements at low concentrations and they allow the calculation of a melting point curve which fits the experimental melting points. No liquid-liquid phase separation can be calculated, as was concluded in a preceding paper. Spinodals could not be detected by light scattering or DSC-measurements. This also indicates that liquid-liquid phase separation does not occur. The phase separation on cooling of a PPO-toluene solution is thus believed to be a crystallization phenomenon

SEUSS: rapid serverless deployment using environment snapshots

Modern FaaS systems perform well in the case of repeat executions when function working sets stay small. However, these platforms are less effective when applied to more complex, large-scale and dynamic workloads. In this paper, we introduce SEUSS (serverless execution via unikernel snapshot stacks), a new system-level approach for rapidly deploying serverless functions. Through our approach, we demonstrate orders of magnitude improvements in function start times and cacheability, which improves common re-execution paths while also unlocking previously-unsupported large-scale bursty workloads.Published versio

PHYSICA CONDITINS OF THE ‘LIGHT’ CORE FORMATION AND THERMONUCLEAR HEAT SOURCE DEEP INSIDE THE EARTH

Purpose. Experimental research into the physical model of the Earth’s core formation in the center of gas‑dust spiral vortex and numerical assessment of the physical conditions associated with the development of thermonuclear reactions in the Earth’s core. Methodology. Analysis of the main points of conventional conceptions, their principal merits and drawbacks which delineate their potential possibilities. Experimental studies implementing shock‑wave treatment of porous materials in cylindrical containers. Numerical assessment of the physical conditions that initiate thermonuclear reactions in the Earth’s core. Findings. It is extremely important to choose the model of the Earth formation with originally “light” core for several reasons. First, it provides a physically grounded mechanism of the thermonuclear heat source formation;second, the process of the Earth transition to equilibrium state inevitably creates conditions for mechanical, physical and chemical activity of elements in geospheres. Numerical assessment was performed to estimate the main conditions which are necessary for thermonuclear heating of the Earth’s central bulk – to determine the deuterium nuclei concentration and the respective temperatures. Originality. The authors suggested a model describing formation of the initially “light” core of the Earth. Experiments allowed studying some physical peculiarities of spiral vortices initiation and development. Regularities of change in plasma parameters, core temperature and thermonuclear energy release have been established in reference to the Earth’s age. Practical value. The obtained results will be useful for studying such important planetary geological phenomena as matter differentiation and formation of spheres inside the planet, as well as heat flow distribution in its bulk

Thermal evolution of the primordial clouds in warm dark matter models with keV sterile neutrinos

We analyze the processes relevant for star formation in a model with dark matter in the form of sterile neutrinos. Sterile neutrino decays produce an X-ray background radiation that has a two-fold effect on the collapsing clouds of hydrogen. First, the X-rays ionize the gas and cause an increase in the fraction of molecular hydrogen, which makes it easier for the gas to cool and to form stars. Second, the same X-rays deposit a certain amount of heat, which could, in principle, thwart the cooling of gas. We find that, in all the cases we have examined, the overall effect of sterile dark matter is to facilitate the cooling of gas. Hence, we conclude that dark matter in the form of sterile neutrinos can help the early collapse of gas clouds and the subsequent star formation.Comment: aastex, 31 pages, 4 figures; one figure and some references added, minor changes in the text; to appear in Astrophysical Journa

MultiLibOS: an OS architecture for cloud computing

Cloud computing is resulting in fundamental changes to computing infrastructure, yet these changes have not resulted in corresponding changes to operating systems. In this paper we discuss some key changes we see in the computing infrastructure and applications of IaaS systems. We argue that these changes enable and demand a very different model of operating system. We then describe the MulitLibOS architecture we are exploring and how it helps exploit the scale and elasticity of integrated systems while still allowing for legacy software run on traditional OSes