Recent trends and open issues in reverse engineering

This paper discusses recent trends in the field of reverse engineering, particularly those highlighted at the Second Working Conference on Reverse Engineering, held in July 1995. The trends observed include increased orientation toward tasks, grounding in complex real-world applications, guidance from empirical study, analysis of non-code sources, and increased formalization. The paper also summarizes open research issues and provides pointers to future events and sources of information in this area.     

Chaotic synchronization as an information process

The chaotic synchronization phenomenon is studied from the information point of view. Synchronization of a chaos receiver by a chaos source is considered as copy recovery of the chaotic signal transmitted by the source. The main idea of this paper is to show that the necessary condition of chaotic synchronization is not the level of physical action of one system on another but the transmission of a certain volume of information on the chaotic process and, therefore, the capacity of the “communication channel” between the source and the receiver. This work was presented at the Summer Workshop “Dynamic Days” (Nizhny Novgorod, June 30–July 2, 1998). Institute of Radioengineering and Electronics of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia. Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Radiofizika, Vol. 41, No. 12, pp. 1497–1509, December, 1998.     

Critical thickness and stress relaxation in YBaCuO (123) strained epitaxial layers and YBaCuO based strained superlattices

An energy model has been used to calculate the critical thickness h _c of YBaCuO thin films and YBaCuO based superlattices within an isotropic or anisotropic approximation. The critical thickness of single layers calculated from the anisotropic model (16 nm) is in good agreement with the previously published experimental values which are spread out from 4 to 20 nm. In the case of superlattices, relaxation appears to be governed by the critical thickness of the elementary sub-layers and is then better evaluated through the calculation performed for YBaCuO single layers. XRD measurements on YBa₂Cu₃O₇/PrBa₂Cu_3?xGa_xO₇ superlattices grown on {100{ SrTiO₃ have evidenced a tetragonal stress in the YBaCuO ab plane which remains expanded when the YBaCuO elementary layer thickness is lower than 4.8 nm (4 YBaCuO cells). However the critical temperature of the shortest period superlattices is only slightly affected by this expanded stress in contrast to the effect of an elastic stress externally applied along the ab plane of YBaCuO thin films.     

States of surface V(IV)-bearing groups in phosphorus-vanadium oxide and titanium-vanadium oxide silica gels made by molecular epitaxy

ESR shows that V(IV) may occur in isolated or interacting vanadium-oxygen groups on the surfaces of catalytically active P-V and Ti-V-bearing silica gels; there is a relationship between the V(IV) content and the phthalic anhydride selectivity in the oxidation of o-xylene.Translated from Teoreticheskaya i Éksperimental'naya Khimiya, Vol. 28, No. 3, pp. 277–282, May–June, 1992.     

Surface characterization of fluorinated polymers (PTFE, PVDF, PFA) for use in ultratrace analysis

Surface characterization of new unused PTFE, PFA and PVDF labware has been carried out by light microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, profilometry and atomic force microscopy. It has been found that in spite of higher micro-roughness, PFA exhibits the lowest nano-roughness and hence seems best suited as vessel material for relatively mild pressureless chemical operations for sample preparation of ultrapure substances, as container material for storage of ultrapure liquids, and for transport of such liquids, e.g., from the producer in the chemical to the end user in the microelectronics industry. This suitability refers only to the surface quality of the investigated materials. PTFE-surfaces, due to the sintering process of production, exhibit the most unfavourable surface quality of the investigated fluorinated polymers.