无失效数据机载多余度EWIS可靠性研究

针对高可靠度机载多余度EWIS各组成部分寿命服从指数分布但参数未知的情况，提出采用无失效数据可靠度分析方法评估EWIS的可靠度水平。通过Monte-Carlo仿真方法对连接形式为“先并联、后串联”EWIS各组成部分寿命进行抽样，利用“最小最大值”方法获得系统寿命的抽样值，用概率纸检验法初步判断EWIS寿命是否服从威布尔分布，再用Pearson拟合优度检验法判断EWIS寿命是否服从威布尔分布。结合无故障飞行时间的样本值与EWIS寿命服从威布尔分布的假设，采用无失效数据分析方法评估EWIS的可靠度水平。研究方法对机载多余度EWIS无失效数据可靠度分析有一定的贡献。     

Recent activities in the field of Nuclear Operational Management and Nuclear Safety Engineering

Recent activities in the field of Nuclear Operational Management and Nuclear Safety Engineering, the studies related to risk analysis methodology, design, and operational management, physical phenomena, and emergency preparedness and nuclear security, have been progressed. Especially, ‘risk analysis methodology’ and ‘design and operational management’ are the main categories of the field, in which more than half of published articles on Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology are related to these categories.     

The Art of Masonry

Brick masonry is not only a question of building physics, building construction and durability, i.e. sustainability, but has much to do with aesthetics and making sense, which may have been forgotten in modern architecture with its absolute lack of décor. Masonry as an art form has been scarce since the era of brick expressionism. Recently, there have been some exceptions – and thoroughly welcome. The ”Fjordenhus“ in Vejle, Denmark, is an astonishing example.     

Multiphase topology optimization with a single variable using the phase-field design method

In this study, a multimaterial topology optimization method using a single variable is proposed by combining the solid isotropic material with penalization method and the reaction-diffusion equation. Unlike ordinary multimaterial optimization, which requires several variables depending on the number of material types, this method intends to represent various materials as one variable. The proposed method combines two special functions in the sensitivity analysis of the objective function to converge the design variable into prespecified density values defined for each of the multimaterials. The composition constraint based on a normal distribution function is also introduced to estimate the distribution of each target density value in a single variable. It enables density exchange between multiple materials by increasing or decreasing the amount of a specific material. The proposed method is applied to structural and electromagnetic problems to verify its effectiveness, and its usefulness is also confirmed from the viewpoint of cost and computation time.     

Biologically Inspired Design of Context-Aware Smart Products

The rapid development of information and communication technologies (ICTs) and cyber–physical systems (CPSs) has paved the way for the increasing popularity of smart products. Context-awareness is an important facet of product smartness. Unlike artifacts, various bio-systems are naturally characterized by their extraordinary context-awareness. Biologically inspired design (BID) is one of the most commonly employed design strategies. However, few studies have examined the BID of context-aware smart products to date. This paper presents a structured design framework to support the BID of context-aware smart products. The meaning of context-awareness is defined from the perspective of product design. The framework is developed based on the theoretical foundations of the situated function–behavior–structure ontology. A structured design process is prescribed to leverage various biological inspirations in order to support different conceptual design activities, such as problem formulation, structure reformulation, behavior reformulation, and function reformulation. Some existing design methods and emerging design tools are incorporated into the framework. A case study is presented to showcase how this framework can be followed to redesign a robot vacuum cleaner and make it more context-aware.     

Combining 1,3-Ditriazolylbenzene and Quinoline to Discover a New G-Quadruplex-Interactive Small Molecule Active against Cancer Stem-Like Cells

Quadruplex nucleic acids are promising targets for cancer therapy. In this study we used a fragment-based approach to create new flexible G-quadruplex (G4) DNA-interactive small molecules with good calculated oral drug-like properties, based on quinoline and triazole heterocycles. G4 melting temperature and polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-stop assays showed that two of these compounds are selective G4 ligands, as they were able to induce and stabilize G4s in a dose- and DNA sequence-dependent manner. Molecular docking studies have suggested plausible quadruplex binding to both the G-quartet and groove, with the quinoline module playing the major role. Compounds were screened for cytotoxicity against four cancer cell lines, where 4,4′-(4,4′-(1,3-phenylene)bis(1H-1,2,3-triazole-4,1-diyl))bis(1-methylquinolin-1-ium) ( 1 d ) showed the greater activity. Importantly, dose–response curves show that 1 d is cytotoxic in the human colon cancer HT-29 cell line enriched in cancer stem-like cells, a subpopulation of cells implicated in chemoresistance. Overall, this study identified a new small molecule as a promising lead for the development of drugs targeting G4 in cancer stem cells.     

Expert evaluation of traffic signs: conventional vs. alternative designs

Traffic sign comprehension is significantly affected by their compliance with ergonomics design principles. Despite the UN Convention, designs vary among countries. The goal of this study was to establish theoretical and methodological bases for evaluating the design of conventional and alternative signs. Thirty-one conventional signs and 1–3 alternatives for each conventional sign were evaluated for their compliance with three ergonomics guidelines for sign design: physical and conceptual compatibility, familiarity and standardisation. Twenty-seven human factors and ergonomics experts from 10 countries evaluated the signs relative to their compliance with the guidelines. Analysis of variance across alternatives revealed that for 19 of the 31 signs, an alternative design received a significantly higher rating in its ergonomics design than the conventional sign with the same meaning. We also found a very high correlation between the experts’ ratings and comprehension from previous studies. In conclusion, many countries use signs for which better alternative designs exist, and therefore UN Convention signs should be re-examined, and ergonomics experts evaluation can serve as a good surrogate for road users’ comprehension surveys.

Practitioner summary: This study presents theoretical and methodological bases for evaluating the design of UN Conventional and alternative traffic signs. Human factors and ergonomics experts evaluated 31 conventional and 68 alternative road signs, based on ergonomics principles for sign design. Results indicated the need to re-examine poorly designed UN Convention signs.