Filler-induced failure mechanism in plastic-encapsulated microelectronic packages

Based on empirical data, the present work provides a model to prevent filler-induced reliability degradation in plastic-encapsulated LOC (lead-on-chip) packages. According to the model, the maximum size of the silica fillers included in the plastic package body should be smaller than one half of the inter-distance between the device and its overlying lead-frame. In particular, it is shown in the model that the spherical silica particles, which are sometimes trapped in the space between the top surface of the device and the bottom of the lead-frame during the encapsulating process, can induce huge compressive stress on a specific site of the integrated circuit pattern due to the thermal shrinkage of the plastic package body. Further, the present model suggests that tiny fillers squeezed beneath a large trapping filler might directly attack the brittle layer of the device pattern because the compressive force from the large filler particle can develop into huge compressive stress due to the reduced load-carrying area.     

Reliability and stability of executive functioning in older adults.

A number of methodological questions have been raised about the reliability and validity of measuring executive functioning (EF) across multiple time points. In this study, correlational and latent-variable analyses were used to examine test-retest reliability of 5 common measures of EF and the stability of a latent EF construct. One hundred eighteen nondemented older adults were tested twice over a 4- to 8-week period. Findings demonstrated modest reliability of individual EF measures but very high stability of a latent EF construct. Relative contributions of each measure to the latent EF factor did not change across measurement trials. In addition, age-related effects on EF were similar at the 2 time points and were within the expected range. Implications for future studies of EF are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Assessing the relative priority of projects

Where there are a large number of projects competing for a limited pool of resources, projects have to be assigned priorities to determine which should proceed and which should be curtailed. The traditional economic procedures for assessing the relative priority of projects are reviewed, and alternative methods of ranking projects are suggested, with particular emphasis on methods that are inexpensive and easy to use.     

Using rainbow net simulation to measure fault tolerance in a multiprocessor

The Rainbow net simulation technique is applied to modelling the impact of system load and fault handling on the availability of a fault-tolerant multiprocessor architecture. Rainbow nets are described along with the motivation for creating this modelling technique. A Rainbow net fault-handling model is created for the fault-tolerant multiprocessor architecture and the topology is shown to remain constant in size, independent of the number of processor, memory and I/O elements configured in the system. Simulation is performed with a varying load in terms of the number of active jobs the system must support. Results are given showing how the fault-tolerant capability varies with load. Two new metrics for evaluating fault tolerance are introduced; namely full fault-tolerability and partial fault-tolerability. They are based on simple observations in the model.     

Structural reliability optimization using an efficient safety index calculation procedure

The objective of this paper is to conduct reliability-based structural optimization in a multidisciplinary environment. An efficient reliability analysis is developed by expanding the limit functions in terms of intermediate design variables. The design constraints are approximated using multivariate splines in searching for the optimum. The reduction in computational cost realized in safety index calculation and optimization are demonstrated through several structural problems. This paper presents safety index computation, analytical sensitivity analysis of reliability constraints and optimization using truss, frame and plate examples.     

Evaluate the performance of a stochastic-flow network with cost attribute in terms of minimal cuts

This paper proposes a performance index to measure the quality level of a stochastic-flow network in which each node has a designated capacity, which will have different lower levels due to various partial and complete failures. The performance index is the probability that the maximum flow of the network equals the demand d without exceeding the budget b. A simple algorithm in terms of minimal cuts is first proposed to generate all upper boundary points for (d, b), and then the probability that the maximum flow is less than or equal to d can be calculated in terms of such points. The upper boundary point for (d, b) is a maximal vector representing the capacity of each arc such that the maximum flow of the network under the budget b is d. The performance index can be calculated by repeating the proposed algorithm to obtain all upper boundary point for (d−1, b). A benchmark example is shown to illustrate the solution procedure.     

山西资源环境状况探析

在对山西资源现状分析的基础上，就山西如何走新型工业化道路，如何正确地处理山西日益突出的生态环境，自然资源和社会经济发展的矛盾问题，提出了对策和建议。     

结构安全性综合评估方法的研究

已有结构的安全性的评估是关系到社会经济、安全的重大问题。本文作者从临界结构入手，以构件失效影响面积为参考，得到了计算构件重要性系数的简便方法，结合构件的可靠度提出了定性与定量结合的结构安全性综合评估方法。从工程实例来看，本文提出的方法简单实用，与现行的鉴定标准符合得比较好。     

Some better practices for measuring racial and ethnic identity constructs.

Racial and ethnic identity (REI) measures are in danger of becoming conceptually meaningless because of evaluators' insistence that they conform to measurement models intended to assess unidimensional constructs, rather than the multidimensional constructs necessary to capture the complexity of internalized racial or cultural socialization. Some aspects of the intersection of REI theoretical constructs with research design and psychometric practices are discussed, and recommendations for more informed use of each are provided. A table that summarizes some psychometric techniques for analyzing multidimensional measures is provided. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

浅谈电梯选型应注意的问题

电梯选型配置问题是个十分有实际意义的话题。本文结合作者多年来检测检验电梯的经验，浅谈几点选型配置应注意的问题。