A new era for steel – drivers,implications and risks

Abstract

In the not too distant past, steel producers would have been happy to receive around $250 for a tonne of hot rolled coil. Now, with prices having peaked around four times this level, it is obvious that the entire cost make-up of the steel industry has undergone a significant structural shift. This paper will examine the fundamental reasons behind the steel price surge, together with implications, opportunities and risks for the steel industry going forward.     

Consulting psychology: A vision for the new millennium?

Consultants at all levels must be visionary as they approach the new millennium. In this article, the author examines the forces of change in consulting, the recognition of essential leadership styles, the use of algorithms and pathways for delivering consulting services, and the paradigm shifts that are likely to occur for professional psychology. A number of visionary projections are offered as consultants view with clarity and prepare for new directions in the 21st century. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A new look at children’s understanding of mind and emotion: The case of prayer.

Multiple methods were used to examine children’s awareness of connections between emotion and prayer. Four-, 6-, and 8-year-olds and adults (N = 100) predicted whether people would pray when feeling different emotions, explained why characters in different situations decided to pray, and predicted whether characters’ emotions would change after praying. Four- and 6-year-olds exclusively judged that positive emotions motivate prayer, whereas 8-year-olds and adults most often predicted that negative emotions would cause people to pray and that praying could improve emotions. There was also a significant increase between 4 and 8 years in explaining prayer as motivated by need for assistance, for thanksgiving, and for conversation, as well as for explaining postprayer emotions in relation to God or prayer. Religious background predicted individual differences in reasoning only for 4-year-olds. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Homogenization and Dissolution Kinetics of Fusion Welds in INCONEL® Alloy 740H®

Thermodynamic and kinetic modeling were used to determine appropriate heat treatment schedules for homogenization and second phase dissolution in INCONEL^® alloy 740H^® (INCONEL and 740H are registered trademarks of Special Metals Corporation) fusion welds. Following these simulations, a two-step heat treatment process was applied to specimens from a single pass gas tungsten arc weld (GTAW). Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) has been used to assess the changes in the distribution of alloying elements as well as changes in the fraction of second phase particles within the fusion zone. Experimental results demonstrate that adequate homogenization of alloy 740H weld metal can be achieved by a 1373 K/4 h (1100 °C/4 h) treatment. Complete dissolution of second phase particles could not be completely achieved, even at exposure to temperatures near the alloy’s solidus temperature. These results are in good agreement with thermodynamic and kinetic predictions.     

A person-oriented perspective on sexual offenders, offending trajectories, and risk of recidivism: A new challenge for policymakers, risk assessors, and actuarial prediction?

Current risk assessment tools are embedded in a variable-oriented perspective and based on the assumption that the risk of reoffending is linear, additive, and relatively stable over time. As a result, actuarial instruments tend to overestimate the risk of violent/sexual recidivism for some sex offenders while underestimating this risk for others. One of the main causes of such predictive inaccuracies is the inability of current actuarial tools to account for the dynamic aspects of offending trajectories over time. Using a person-oriented approach, the current study examined the presence of offending trajectories in sex offenders using measures of offending at multiple time points in adulthood to examine the risk of violent/sexual reoffending. The study was based on a sample of 246 adult males convicted of a sexual offense between 1994 and 1998. Group-based modeling was used to identify offending trajectories, while Cox proportional hazard was used to examine the links between the identified trajectories and recidivism. Findings suggest that a sex crime is more reflective of a transitory phase of the criminal career rather than evidence of a “sexual criminal career” in the making. The findings challenge underlying assumptions of current actuarial tools and calls for a more sophisticated approach to risk assessment that accounts for offending patterns. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Resource conservation in metallurgical processes by means of the KOMPAKS® monitoring system

The operation of equipment on the basis of its actual technical condition by means of a KOMPAKS® automatic control system is considered. In this approach, production machinery is equipped with KOMPAKS® modules that have a built-in automatic expert system to ensure safe, resource-conserving operation of the equipment on the basis of its actual technical condition, with maximum increase in the interval between repairs and significant increase in production efficiency.     

Overview no. 89 Thermoelasticity and plasticity of composites—II. A model system

A theory of the workhardening and Bauschinger effect in two-phase materials, combining dislocation mechanisms with a continuum model, is extended to high volume fraction of the hard phase by using the mean field theory of Paper I [Acta metall.31, 1795 (1983)]. Application of the extended model to available workhardening data for the simple experimental model system of copper with continuous tungsten fibres reveals a novel workhardening contribution: “elastic friction”. The contribution arises from the interaction of gliding dislocations with the complex spatially fluctuating pattern of internal stresses induced by the applied stress as a result of elastic heterogeneity. Elastic friction is taken into account in a simple model of the Bauschinger effect, the “modified Orowan-Wilson model”, which is substantiated by a new set of experiments on copper-tungsten with large tungsten volume fractions.     

Phase transition ordering–separation: A new approach to heat treatment of alloys

The problems of the consequence of heat treatment of alloys performed using the concept of an ordering–separation phase transition are considered. Fe₅₀Cr₅₀ and Ni₈₈Al₁₂ alloys and U13 steel are used as examples to show that this transition occurs at a temperature specific for each system, and a change in the sign of the chemical interaction between alloy component atoms changes the direction of diffusion fluxes in alloys into the opposite direction, which changes the type of microstructure. The detection of this phase transition radically changes the generally accepted concepts of heat treatment of alloys. This finding calls for transmission electron microscopy investigations to modify the phase diagrams where this phase transition was detected. It is concluded that quenching of alloys from a so-called solid-solution field, which is usually performed before tempering (aging), is an unnecessary and useless operation, since the final structure of an alloy forms upon tempering (aging) irrespective of the structure existing before this heat treatment.     

A new selection criterion for APA papers?

Comments on an incident which appears to involve the application of criteria other than scientific merit to a research contribution. The author includes a letter explaining why his paper with Porter, Conrad, and Mason, "Chronic avoidance behavior, gastrointestinal pathology, and death in the Rhesus monkey," was rejected from inclusion at the opening meeting of an APA convention. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A∕E∕C Teamwork: A Collaborative Design and Learning Space

This paper describes an ongoing effort focused on combined research and curriculum development for multidisciplinary, geographically distributed architecture∕engineering∕construction (A∕E∕C) teamwork. It presents a model for a distributed A∕E∕C learning environment and an Internet-based Web-mediated collaboration tool kit. The distributed learning environment includes six universities from Europe, Japan, and the United States. The tool kit is aimed to assist team members and owners (1) capture and share knowledge and information related to a specific project; (2) navigate through the archived knowledge and information; and (3) evaluate and explain the product's performance. The A∕E∕C course offered at Stanford University acts as a testbed for cutting-edge information technologies and a forum to teach new generations of professionals how to team up with practitioners from other disciplines and take advantage of information technology to produce a better, faster, more economical product. The paper presents new assessment metrics to monitor students' cross-disciplinary learning experience and track programmatic changes. The paper concludes with challenges and quandaries regarding the impact of information technologies on team performance and behavior.     

Yichuan Concentration Area: Aluminum Processing Industry Gained A “new Lease Of Life”

正Under the impact of nationwide de-capacity campaign,Yichuan,which is a key city in Henan Province’s aluminum smelting and processing industry,has become the focus of attention for all social circles in the whole province concerning the issue of how it will accomplish development and transition.     

Job search and employment: A personality–motivational analysis and meta-analytic review.

A motivational, self-regulatory conceptualization of job search was used to organize and investigate the relationships between personality, expectancies, self, social, motive, and biographical variables and individual differences in job search behavior and employment outcomes. Meta-analytic results indicated that all antecedent variables, except optimism, were significantly related to job search behavior, with estimated population correlations ranging from –.15 to .46. As expected, job search behavior was significantly and positively related to finding employment. Several antecedents of job search were also significantly related to employment success, although the size of these relationships was consistently smaller than those obtained for job search. Moderator analyses showed significant differences in the size of variable relationships for type of job search measure (effort vs. intensity) and sample type (job loser vs. employed job seeker vs. new entrant). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Behavioral approach system (BAS)–relevant cognitive styles and bipolar spectrum disorders: Concurrent and prospective associations.

The authors examined concurrent and prospective associations of behavioral approach system (BAS)–relevant and non-BAS-relevant cognitive styles with bipolar spectrum disorders. Controlling for depressive and hypomanic/manic symptoms, 195 individuals with bipolar spectrum disorders scored higher than 194 demographically similar normal controls on BAS sensitivity and BAS-relevant cognitive dimensions of performance concerns, autonomy, and self-criticism, but not on behavioral inhibition system sensitivity and non-BAS-relevant dimensions of approval seeking, sociotropy, and dependency. Moreover, group differences on autonomy fully mediated the association between higher BAS sensitivity and bipolar status. In addition, only BAS-related cognitive dimensions predicted the likelihood of onset of depressive and hypomanic/manic episodes among the bipolar individuals over a 3.2-year follow-up, controlling for initial symptoms and past history of mood episodes. Higher autonomy and self-criticism predicted a greater likelihood of hypomanic/manic episodes, and higher autonomy predicted a lower likelihood of major depressive episodes. In addition, autonomy mediated the associations between BAS sensitivity and prospective hypomanic/manic episodes. These findings suggest that individuals with bipolar spectrum disorders may exhibit a unique profile of BAS-relevant cognitive styles that influence the course of their mood episodes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Characterization and Comparison of Single VAR-Remelted and Double VAR-Remelted Ingots of INCOLOY ® Alloy 925

Metallurgical and Materials Transactions A - Alloy 925 is a nickel-based superalloy usually produced by Electric Arc Furnace (EAF), followed by Argon Oxygen Decarburization (AOD) and Vacuum Arc...     

Bridge employment and retirees’ health: A longitudinal investigation.

The present study examined the relationship between bridge employment and retirees’ health outcomes (i.e., major diseases, functional limitations, and mental health). We used a nationally representative sample of 12,189 retirees from the first 4 waves of the Health and Retirement Study. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that compared with full retirement, engaging in bridge employment either in a career field or in a different field was associated with fewer major diseases and functional limitations, whereas engaging in career bridge employment was associated with better mental health. The findings highlight the health benefits of engaging in bridge employment for retirees. The practical implications of this study are discussed at both the individual and policy levels. Limitations of the current findings are also noted in conjunction with future research directions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Modelling of mixing,mass transfer and phase distribution in a Peirce–Smith converter model

Abstract

This study presents a numerical and physical modelling study of flow pattern, mixing, solid–liquid mass transfer and slag matte phase distribution in an industrial Peirce–Smith converter (PSC) slice model. The two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) numerical simulations of the three phase system were carried out using volume of fluid (VOF) and realisable k?? (RKE) turbulence model to account for the multiphase and turbulence nature of the flow respectively. These models were implemented using the commercial computational fluid dynamics (CFD) numerical code FLUENT. In physical simulations, water, kerosene, air and sintered benzoic acid compacts were used to simulate matte, slag, injected gas and solid additions into PSC. Both numerical and physical simulations were able to predict, in agreement, the mixing and dispersion characteristics of the system in relation to different blowing conditions employed in this study. Measurement of dimensionless turbulence characteristic values conclusively indicated that fluid flow in PSC is stratified.

Ce document présente une étude de modélisation numérique et physique de la configuration de l’écoulement, du mélangeage, du transfert de masse solide-liquide et de la distribution de phase scorie-matte dans un modèle en tranches de convertisseur industriel Peirce–Smith (PSC). On a effectué les simulations numériques 2D et 3D du système à trois phases en utilisant le modèle du Volume de Fluide (VOF) et de la turbulence réalisable (RKE) pour tenir compte des phases multiples et de la nature turbulente de l’écoulement, respectivement. On a exécuté ces modèles en utilisant le code numérique commercial de la dynamique numérique des fluides (CFD) FLUENT. Dans les simulations physiques, on a utilisé de l’eau, du kérosène, de l’air et des compacts frittés d’acide benzoïque pour la simulation de la matte, de la scorie, du gaz d’injection et des additions de solide dans le PSC. Les simulations numériques et physiques étaient toutes deux capables de prédire, en accord, les caractéristiques de mélangeage et de dispersion du système en relation avec les différentes conditions de soufflage utilisées dans cette étude. La mesure des valeurs caractéristiques sans dimension de la turbulence indiquait décisivement que l’écoulement du fluide dans le PSC était stratifié.