Scanning probe microscopy: Materials analysis with an added dimension

Encompassing such versatile analytical techniques as scanning tunneling microscopy and atomic (or scanning) force microscopy, scanning probe microscopes produce high-resolution three-dimensional images. Because of their power as quantitative tools for three-dimensional surface measurement and analysis, the techniques are being used in materials science and engineering for the study of a variety of advanced materials and for investigations into numerous phenomena, including reaction chemistry, crystallinity, kinetics, equilibrium processes, tribology, and conductivity.     

Spatiotemporal models for small-area social indicators

This paper investigates spatial effects in a generalized least-squares regression model for small-area social indicators. The significance of using spatial correlation in addition to an intermediate weighting (allowing for sampling and extraneous variation in the indicator) differs according to the index analyzed. It is greater for small-area fertility (over 758 London wards) than for small-area mortality. The model is extended to include serial as well as spatial correlation, then to spatial forecasting. The analyses show that the extent of spatial correlation can vary considerably according to (a) the specification of the form of spatial interaction, and (b) which independent variates are included. Further, spatial effects can be much reduced by including serial correlation.     

Wasserstofffreie amorphe Kohlenstoffschichten ‐ abgeschieden durch plasmaaktivierte Hochratebedampfung

Hydrogen free amorphous carbon coatings ‐ deposited with plasma‐activated high‐rate evaporation By using the technology of the plasmaactivated electron beam evaporation we deposited hydrogen free amorphous carbon coatings with deposition rates of up to 100 μm/h. The results of the mechanical and tribological investigations show the potential of these layers for the use in case of wear resistance. Hardnesses of up to 16GPa were proved. The actual state of the characterisation of the coatings is described and the outlook onto possibilities of further optimisation is given.     

Effect of spray nozzle design on liquid-solid contact in fluidized beds

In industrial fluid cokers the feedstock, consisting of heavy bituminous hydrocarbons, is atomized with steam and injected into a hot fluidized bed of coke. Good and uniform contact of the liquid droplets with the solid particles is required to provide heat for the cracking reactions while minimizing mass transfer effects. Experiments in a pilot plant coker have suggested that the initial particle/liquid mixing, in the spray jet, is rather poor. Experiments in a X-ray scanner showed that liquid droplets and entrained particles accumulate just below the tip of the jet plume to form agglomerates.An experimental technique was used to quantitatively determine the quality of mixing with a variety of nozzle configurations including several novel designs. By improving spray stability, redistributing liquid droplets to the solids-rich region of the jet and increasing the surface area of the gas-liquid jet-fluidized bed interface, liquid/solid contact is improved.     

丰富多彩的亚洲卫星电信市场

随着移动电视在美国的开始应用,新应用逐渐站稳了脚跟,并被美国消费者的要求所推动,而消费者的这些更丰富体验的要求在以前受到过抑制。为了在卫星电信领域更好契合这一趋势,注意亚洲发展并从其经验中总结教训这一做法是有意义的。     

Hardware development for the Bone Proteomics experiment

This paper gives a quick overview of how various scientific, operational and safety related requirements drove the development of hardware for the Bone Proteomics (BOP) experiment that was conducted on the International Space Station during the Italian Soyuz Mission in 2005. The experiment objectives will be highlighted briefly and design solutions will be presented. Comments will be given regarding the choice of a particular design solution and the impact on the complexity, cost and development time. Conclusions in this paper are based on the experience gained when developing the BOP experiment hardware and other relatively small experiment hardware packages, typical of European Soyuz Missions. The observations should not be extrapolated to large payloads. The objective of this paper is not to produce a recipe for developing experiment hardware; dedicated documents for that purpose are available elsewhere. Rather, the objective is to help others profit from experience gained in the development of relatively small experiment hardware packages, and to highlight where time and cost saving decisions can be made.     

On the effectiveness of early life cycle defect prediction with Bayesian Nets

Standard practice in building models in software engineering normally involves three steps: collecting domain knowledge (previous results, expert knowledge); building a skeleton of the model based on step 1 including as yet unknown parameters; estimating the model parameters using historical data. Our experience shows that it is extremely difficult to obtain reliable data of the required granularity, or of the required volume with which we could later generalize our conclusions. Therefore, in searching for a method for building a model we cannot consider methods requiring large volumes of data. This paper discusses an experiment to develop a causal model (Bayesian net) for predicting the number of residual defects that are likely to be found during independent testing or operational usage. The approach supports (1) and (2), does not require (3), yet still makes accurate defect predictions (an R ² of 0.93 between predicted and actual defects). Since our method does not require detailed domain knowledge it can be applied very early in the process life cycle. The model incorporates a set of quantitative and qualitative factors describing a project and its development process, which are inputs to the model. The model variables, as well as the relationships between them, were identified as part of a major collaborative project. A dataset, elicited from 31 completed software projects in the consumer electronics industry, was gathered using a questionnaire distributed to managers of recent projects. We used this dataset to validate the model by analyzing several popular evaluation measures (R ², measures based on the relative error and Pred). The validation results also confirm the need for using the qualitative factors in the model. The dataset may be of interest to other researchers evaluating models with similar aims. Based on some typical scenarios we demonstrate how the model can be used for better decision support in operational environments. We also performed sensitivity analysis in which we identified the most influential variables on the number of residual defects. This showed that the project size, scale of distributed communication and the project complexity cause the most of variation in number of defects in our model. We make both the dataset and causal model available for research use.     

Estimating thermal stress in BIPV modules

The thermal stress on building‐integrated photovoltaic modules (BIPV) in Espoo, Finland, was studied with field‐testing of amorphous silicon modules. Based on these results, the thermal stress at two other European locations (Paris and Lisbon) was estimated. The estimation procedure entailed thermal modelling of heat transfer in the façade with meteorological data as input. The results indicate that the thermal stress on BIPV modules in Lisbon is, in this case, approximately 50% higher that in Espoo and between 80 and 200% higher than in Paris, depending on the activation energy of the degradation process. The difference in stress between a BIPV module and a free‐standing module in Espoo was 50–200%. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.