Recursive retrospective revaluation of causal judgments.

Recursive causal evaluation is an iterative process in which the evaluation of a target cause, T, is based on the outcome of the evaluation of another cause, C, the evaluation of which itself depends on the evaluation of a 3rd cause, D. Retrospective revaluation consists of backward processing of information as indicated by the fact that the evaluation of T is influenced by subsequent information that is not concerned with T directly. Two experiments demonstrate recursive retrospective revaluation with contingency information presented in list format as well as with trial-by-trial acquisition. Existing associative models are unable to predict the results. The model of recursive causal disambiguation that conceptualizes the revaluation as a recursive process of disambiguation predicts the pattern of results correctly. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Trading goods versus sharing money: An experiment testing whether fairness and efficiency are frame dependent.

Systematic experiments with distribution games have shown that participants are strongly motivated by considerations of fairness and efficiency. This evidence, however, results mainly from experimental designs in which money is shared directly. Furthermore, fairness does not necessarily require equal payoffs, but may instead require equal allocations. We investigate experimentally the frame dependency of reaching equal (commodity or payoff) splits by systematically comparing net-trade proposals and payoff proposals for the same exchange economy with two traders, two commodities and multi-period negotiations. We can confirm the hypothesis that asking participants to allocate money directly, rather than more naturally via the allocation of commodities, is far from being harmless and likely overstates fairness and efficiency concerns. What is more, we try to apply the insights gained from our experiment to management problems. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Verkleinerung verfahrenstechnischer Versuchsanlagen — was ist erreichbar?

Scale-down of chemical engineering pilot plant – what is attainable? The use of fully automated experimental laboratory-scale plantoffer interesting possibilities for assessment of the economic operation and technical feasibility of new or modified processes. An important condition for the success of this kind of experimental approach is the availability of miniaturized equipment, machines, and sensors. The goal of such experimental plant can be both the process engineering development of individual process steps and also integrated running to model complete processes. Moreover, questions of scale-up can be studied and typical quantities can be provided. The state of the art is reported with the aid of selected examples of equipment and mechanical components and measurement and control units.     

Effect of the finish rolling and cooling conditions on the properties of microalloyed plate steels

The processing parameters of finish rolling and cooling of three HSLA steels were varied in a wide range applying the plane strain hot compression simulation test on the hot deformation simulator (Wumsi). Evaluating the flow curves of the deformation steps, some metallurgical phenomena in austenite during hot deformation could be determined. The results of material testing after the simulation experiments exhibit a strong correlation between the finish rolling and cooling conditions and the final mechanical properties of the steels tested. As a way to increase strength, lowering finishing temperatures and/or accelerating cooling after finish rolling proved to be most effective. To improve notch toughness, on the other hand, a high total finishing strain should be applied as well as low finishing temperatures, however, above A_r3.     

Electron subband structure and controlled valley splitting in silicon thin-body SOI FETs: Two-band k · p theory and beyond

We use a two-band k · p Hamiltonian to describe the subband structure in strained silicon thin films. The model describes the dependence of the transversal effective mass on strain and film thickness. However, it is found that the two-band k · p model is unable to describe recently observed large valley splitting. Therefore a generalization of the model is necessary. To go beyond the k · p theory, an auxiliary tight-binding model defined on a lattice of sites containing two localized orbitals is introduced in such a way that it reproduces the bulk dispersion obtained from the two-band k · p model. Corresponding dispersion relations including strain are obtained. We discuss an alternative mechanism to create and control the valley splitting by applying shear strain. The valley splitting increases with increased shear strain and decreasing film thickness and can be larger than the spin splitting. This makes silicon-based quantum devices promising for future applications in quantum computing.     

Regeneration von mit Ammoniak beladenem Klinoptilolith durch ein nicht‐thermisches Plasmaverfahren

Adsorbents are widely‐used in the area of cleaning as well as enrichment of gas components. For the regeneration of clinoptilolite loaded with ammonia, a packed‐bed reactor was developed on the basis of a dielectric barrier discharge. It was proved that adsorbed NH₃ is released at relatively low temperature and low energy consumption. For the further optimization of the method the influence of the power and the pulse break ratio of sustaining voltage were tested. It was shown that with the chosen plasma method the absorber material was loaded repeatedly and subsequently regenerated.