Efficient Black-box Checking of Snapshot Isolation in Databases

Snapshot isolation (SI) is a prevalent weak isolation level that avoids the performance penalty imposed by serializability and simultaneously prevents various undesired data anomalies. Nevertheless, SI anomalies have recently been found in production cloud databases that claim to provide the SI guarantee. Given the complex and often unavailable internals of such databases, a black-box SI checker is highly desirable. In this paper we present PolySI, a novel black-box checker that efficiently checks SI and provides understandable counterexamples upon detecting violations. PolySI builds on a novel characterization of SI using generalized polygraphs (GPs), for which we establish its soundness and completeness. PolySI employs an SMT solver and also accelerates SMT solving by utilizing the compact constraint encoding of GPs and domain-specific optimizations for pruning constraints. As demonstrated by our extensive assessment, PolySI successfully reproduces all of 2477 known SI anomalies, detects novel SI violations in three production cloud databases, identifies their causes, outperforms the state-of-the-art black-box checkers under a wide range of workloads, and can scale up to large-sized workloads.Comment: 20 pages, 15 figures, accepted by PVLD

Study on Rock Burst Event Disaster and Prevention Mechanisms of Hard Roof

Coal mining under hard roofs is jeopardized by rock burst-induced hazards. In this paper, mechanisms of hard roof rock burst events and key techniques for their prevention are analyzed from the standpoint of energy evolution within geological conditions typical of the hard roofs found in Chinese coal mines. Equations used to calculate the total strain energy densities of the coal-rock mass and hard roof working face are derived. Moreover, several failure-causing energy evolution rules are analyzed under various conditions. Various rock roof and coal mass thicknesses and strengths are considered, and a method of preventing hard roof rock burst events is proposed. The results obtained show that rock burst events can be facilitated by high stress concentrations, significant accumulation of strain energy in the coal-rock mass, and rapid energy release during roof breakage. The above conditions are subdivided into two classes: energy accumulation and energy release. The total strain energies of the coal mass and working faces in the roof are positively correlated with the roof thickness, roof strength, and coal mass strength. The coal mass strength primarily influences the overall accumulation of energy in the working face, and it also has the largest effect on the total energy release (i.e., the earthquake magnitude)

Risk Assessment and Control Strategy of Residual Coal Pillar in Room Mining: Case Study in Ecologically Fragile Mining Areas, China

Gradual instability of coal pillars left behind underground with room mining is one of the main reasons for sudden roof caving in the gob, surface subsidence, and other significant hazards. Moreover, room mining implies great losses of coal resources. In this paper, the main failure mode and room mining coal pillar process were analyzed according to the coalfield regional engineering geological and hydrogeological conditions. A numerical model was adopted to study the effect of different sizes of coal mining pillars and progressive instability failure of coal pillar on the plastic zone’s evolution characteristics and stress field of coal pillars in the stope. The proposed technologies of cemented paste backfilling and reinforcement of residual coal pillars are applied, and a numerical simulation model is established to study the strata movement characteristics and analyze the stability degree of residual coal pillar and key aquiclude strata in the Pliocene series of Neogene. Consequently, the performance and application prospect were evaluated. The results obtained substantiate a new method for the long-term stability control of coal pillars in room mining and protecting the ecological environment in China’s western eco-environmental frangible area

Optimal Pattern Synthesis of Linear Array and Broadband Design of Whip Antenna Using Grasshopper Optimization Algorithm

Antenna arrays with high directivity, low side-lobe level, and null control in desired direction and whip antenna with wider bandwidth both need to be optimized to meet different needs of communication systems. A new natural heuristic algorithm simulating social behavior of grasshoppers, grasshopper optimization algorithm (GOA), is applied to electromagnetic field as a new effective technology to solve the antenna optimization problem for the first time. Its algorithm is simple and has no gradient mechanism, can effectively avoid falling into local optimum, and is suitable for single-objective and multiobjective optimization problems. GOA is used to optimize the side lobe suppression, null depth, and notch control of arbitrary linear array and then used to optimize the loading and matching network of 10-meter HF broadband whip antenna compared with other algorithms. The results show that GOA has more advantages in side-lobe suppression, null depth, and notch control of linear array than other algorithms and has better broadband optimization performance for HF whip antenna. The pattern synthesis and antenna broadband optimization based on GOA provide a new and effective method for antenna performance optimization

Feasibility Investigation of Geothermal Energy Heating System in Mining Area: Application of Mine Cooling and Aquifer Thermal Energy Exploitation Technique

Mine heat hazards have resulted in large amounts of high-quality coal resources in deep that cannot be mined. The mining industry is paying more and more attention to the extraction and utilization of geothermal energy in mines, while at the same time reducing the underground temperature to realize co-extraction of coal and heat. In addition, coal mines tend to burn large amounts of coal to heat mine buildings and provide hot water for workers’ daily baths, creating operating costs and increasing greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore, it is of great significance to investigate the feasibility of extracting geothermal energy to provide the daily heat load for mines. Currently, there is little research on the feasibility of geothermal energy extraction and utilization in productive mines instead of abandoned mines. In this study, according to the actual situation of Xinhu mine in eastern China, a combined geothermal water system and heat-pump heating system is proposed, aiming to effectively realize mine cooling and geothermal exploitation and utilization. The geothermal storage capacity in the area is analyzed, and an economic analysis is developed. The economic analysis indicates that the main factors affecting the feasibility of the system are the number of mine users, the distance from the geothermal production well to the mine buildings, and the coal price. The research shows that the economic efficiency of the system is better when the heating scale is larger and the distance is smaller. As coal prices rise, the combined geothermal water and heat-pump heating system will be more economical than traditional coal heating. If a mine has 2000 workers, the application of this system can prevent 334.584 t of CO2 emissions per year

Experimental Investigation of Perceptual Characteristics of Functional Cemented Backfilling Materials in Coal Mines

For investigating perceptual stress characteristics of Functional Cemented Backfilling Materials (FCBM) in coal mines, we prepared functional specimens based on Cemented Backfilling Materials (CBM) with the perceptual stress ability, and clarified their conductive mechanism, perceptual mechanism, and possible engineering applications. Using mechanical tests and the network parallel dynamic method, the mechanical and electrical properties of the prepared materials and the perceptual characteristics under mechanical–electric coupling conditions were analyzed in depth. The test results demonstrate that the deformation of FCBMs obey standard stress–strain rules, while the conductive phase addition can deteriorate their mechanical properties and simultaneously enhance the electrical conductivity of materials. Through fitting, the percolation threshold was determined to be 9.85%. Before the failure, the spatial distribution of the apparent resistivity in the materials was shown to follow the X-shaped radial pattern; after the failure, the material apparent resistivity obeys different distribution rules at various stages. The apparent resistivity of FCBM is negatively correlated with the strain value at the elastic and plastic stages and positively correlated with it at the failure stage. When the graphite content exceeds the percolation threshold, the materials exhibit a favorable perceptual functionality at the elastic stage

Efficient Black-box Checking of Snapshot Isolation in Databases

Snapshot isolation (SI) is a prevalent weak isolation level that avoids the performance penalty imposed by serializability and simultaneously prevents various undesired data anomalies. Nevertheless, SI anomalies have recently been found in production cloud databases that claim to provide the SI guarantee. Given the complex and often unavailable internals of such databases, a black-box SI checker is highly desirable. In this paper we present PolySI, a black-box checker that efficiently checks SI and provides understandable counterexamples upon detecting violations. PolySI builds on a characterization of SI using generalized polygraphs (GPs), for which we establish its soundness and completeness. PolySI employs an SMT solver and also accelerates SMT solving by utilizing a compact constraint encoding of GPs and domain-specific optimizations for pruning constraints. As our extensive assessment demonstrates, PolySI successfully reproduces all of 2477 known SI anomalies, detects novel SI violations in three production cloud databases, identifies their causes, outperforms the state-of-the-art black-box checkers under a wide range of workloads, and can scale up to large workloads.ISSN:2150-809