Explain3D: Explaining Disagreements in Disjoint Datasets

Data plays an important role in applications, analytic processes, and many aspects of human activity. As data grows in size and complexity, we are met with an imperative need for tools that promote understanding and explanations over data-related operations. Data management research on explanations has focused on the assumption that data resides in a single dataset, under one common schema. But the reality of today's data is that it is frequently un-integrated, coming from different sources with different schemas. When different datasets provide different answers to semantically similar questions, understanding the reasons for the discrepancies is challenging and cannot be handled by the existing single-dataset solutions. In this paper, we propose Explain3D, a framework for explaining the disagreements across disjoint datasets (3D). Explain3D focuses on identifying the reasons for the differences in the results of two semantically similar queries operating on two datasets with potentially different schemas. Our framework leverages the queries to perform a semantic mapping across the relevant parts of their provenance; discrepancies in this mapping point to causes of the queries' differences. Exploiting the queries gives Explain3D an edge over traditional schema matching and record linkage techniques, which are query-agnostic. Our work makes the following contributions: (1) We formalize the problem of deriving optimal explanations for the differences of the results of semantically similar queries over disjoint datasets. (2) We design a 3-stage framework for solving the optimal explanation problem. (3) We develop a smart-partitioning optimizer that improves the efficiency of the framework by orders of magnitude. (4)~We experiment with real-world and synthetic data to demonstrate that Explain3D can derive precise explanations efficiently

Activated atmosphere case hardening of steels

Case hardening, a process which includes a wide variety of techniques, is used to improve the wear resistance, by diffusing carbon (carburization), nitrogen (nitriding) and/or boron (boriding) into the outer layer of the steel at high temperature, and then heat treating the surface layer to the desired hardness without affecting the softer, tough interior of the part. In this research, a nitrogen-hydrocarbon gas mixture was used as the process atmosphere for carburizing steels. It can offer a cost and part quality alternative to the conventional endothermic atmosphere and vacuum processes. It can hold the promise for matching the quality of work parts processed in vacuum furnace, i.e. eliminating the intergranular oxidation which normally occurs in the endogas atmosphere. The process control of nitrogen-hydrocarbon atmosphere is also investigated in the research. Modified shim stock method is used to measure the carbon pickup and constant carbon flux modeling tool is used afterwards to predict the carbon profile. With minimum modification, commercially available equipment or sensors can be used to monitor non-equilibrium process atmosphere. Gas nitriding was also studied. For nitriding, the kinetics of the nitriding process with hydrocarbon gases addition and electric arc discharge activation of the nitrogen diluted ammonia atmosphere were investigated. Prior to and during the nitriding, hydrocarbon gases were reacted with metal surface and removed oxidation layers, which can accelerate nitriding process. Overall, nitriding with this unique gas mixture provides an alternative to a long-hour pure ammonia nitriding with more efficient energy utilization. The main objective of this project is to develop the conventional, atmospheric-pressure, low-cost surface hardening treatments for the case hardening of carbon, alloy and stainless steel. The possibility of plasma activation of atmosphere and metal surface to shorten processing time and save energy and time is investigated in this research. The process atmosphere is safer, more efficient, less toxic and less flammable

Changing face: the evolution of Chinese women\u27s dress and appearance

Women’s dress and appearance can reflect a lot about a civilized society. It is influenced by many factors as well. The dress and appearance of contemporary Chinese women have not been studied much by mass communication researchers. This paper, however, explored the factors that influence the development and evolution of contemporary Chinese women’s dress and appearance. It traced back from Dynastic China to Republican China and then to Mao’s red China to examine the historical and political influences imposed on the dress and appearance of Chinese women. Then, it used in-depth interviews to find out factors that influence women’s dress and appearance in contemporary China. Especially, this paper analyzed the result of all these factors that typically were transmitted or reinforced by mass media. The paper found that media played a very important role in contemporary Chinese women’s dress and appearance. Chinese women depend on media very much in choosing their dress style and clothes. In addition to this, peers’ opinion and social environment also influence Chinese women’s choice in dress. Since the results showed that media dependency could also be applied to China’s contemporary society, the paper concluded that media in China will have much more role on the society especially on women’s dress and appearance in the future. It also concluded that Chinese women would not be totally westernized but would maintain some Chinese characteristics in dress and appearance in the future

The Effects of Rust on the Gas Carburization of AISI 8620 Steel

The effects of rust on the carburization behavior of AISI 8620 steel have been experimentally investigated. AISI 8620 steel samples were subjected to a humid environment for time of 1 day to 30 days. After the exposure, a part of the samples was cleaned by acid cleaning. Both cleaned and non-cleaned samples have been carburized, followed by quenching in mineral oil, and then tempered. To determine the effect of rust on gas carburizing, weight gained by the parts and the surface hardness were measured. Surface carbon concentration was also measured using mass spectrometry. Carbon flux and mass transfer coefficient have been calculated. The results show that acid cleaning removes the rust layer effectively. Acid cleaned samples displayed the same response to carburization as clean parts. Rusted parts had a lower carbon uptake as well as lower surface carbon concentration. The surface hardness (Rc) did not show a significant difference between the heavily rusted sample and clean sample. It has been observed that the carbon flux and mass transfer coefficient are smaller due to rust layer for the heavily rusted samples. These results are discussed in terms of the effects of carbon mass transfer on the steel surface and the resulting mass transfer coefficient

Reduced source memory for emotional pictures

Although many studies have examined the effect of emotion on item memory for pictures, the evidence is scanty on the effect of emotion on source memory for them. In this study, participants learned a list of neutral, positive, and negative pictures, and then took tests for item and source memory. We found that emotion did not affect accuracy of item memory; however, positive emotion enhanced subjective feeling of remembering. Both positive and negative emotions reduced source memory, which is consistent with some previous studies. The findings suggest that emotion have differential effects on item and source memory, and have some implications for evaluating eyewitness testimony