Pervasive machine intelligence is bound to be a major theme behind the research and development of future computer systems, from computing artifacts embedded in millimeter-scale IoT devices to blade servers stacked in large-scale data centers. These intelligent systems will be capable of gathering, processing, exchanging, and extracting information from the environment in an increasingly autono...

The Bulletin of the Technical Committee on Data Engineering is published quarterly and is distributed to all TC members. Its scope includes the design, implementation, modelling, theory and application of database systems and their technology. Letters, conference information, and news should be sent to the Editor-in-Chief. Papers for each issue are solicited by and should be sent to the Associa...

The outermost nanometres of a poly(vinylidene difluoride) (PVdF) based coil coating have been investigated using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS). A reference PVdF based coating formulation and three variations of this formulation were characterised by XPS. The addition of flow agent and/or acrylic co-polymers induced significa...

The core-hole excitation spectra-near-edge x-ray absorption spectroscopy (NEXAFS), x-ray emission spectroscopy (XES), and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) shake-up satellites have been simulated at the level of density functional theory for the azafullerene C59N and its derivatives (C59N)(+), C59HN, (C59N)2, and C59N-C60, in which the XPS shake-up satellites were simulated using our devel...

A hard disk medium is typically composed of several layers including the magnetic recording layer, a buffer layer, as well as a wear protective layer. In the work presented here, the hard disks analysed have a total of five layers with the uppermost layer being the lubricant. The second layer is diamond like coating and this is followed by the magnetic layer consisting of an alloy of cobalt and...

The effect of γ-irradiation on the structure and composition of chemically synthesized few-layered graphene materials was studied. Fully oxidized graphene oxide and graphene nanoribbons, as well as their respective chemically post-reduced forms, were treated under γ-irradiation in an air-sealed environment. Three different irradiation doses of 60, 90 and 150 kGy were applied. Structure and comp...

We set new near-infrared and optical magnitude limits for the central X-ray point source (XPS) in the Cassiopeia A supernova remnant based on HST images. Near-infrared images of the center of Cas A taken with the NICMOS 2 camera in combination with the F110W and F160W filters (∼ J and H bands) have magnitude limits ≥26.2 and ≥24.6, respectively. These images reveal no sources within a 1. 2 radi...

The oxidation behavior of supported Pd-deposits on Au(111) and ZnO(0001) single crystals has been studied by x-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS). Oxidation has been carried out ex situ in a high-pressure cell and subsequent vacuum-transfer and characterization by ultra-high vacuum XPS, as well as in situ characterization by synchrotron based near ambient pressure XPS. On Au(111) alloying of ...

The effect of the solid-state environment for an Mn cation in MnO on the Mn 2pand 3p-shell x-ray photoemission spectra XPS has been investigated using ab initio relativistic wave functions for an embedded MnO6 cluster model of MnO. These wave functions include many-body effects due to the angular momentum coupling and recoupling of the open-shell electrons. They also include the covalent mixing...

A detailed electron spin resonance (ESR) study of mixtures of 1-palmitoyl-2-oleoyl-phosphatidylcholine (POPC) and phosphatidylserine (POPS) in oriented multilayers in the liquid crystalline phase is reported with the purpose of characterizing the effects of headgroup mixing on the structural and dynamical properties of the acyl chains. These studies were performed over a range of blends of POPC...