Stress-Rupture of Nicalon/SiC Continuous Fiber Ceramic Composites in Air at 950°C

The stress-rupture behavior of plain-weave CG-Nicalon/enhanced SiC was studied in air at 950°C. It was found that this material exhibits delayed failure and that the lives of specimens subjected to constant stress levels of 80, 100, and 120 MPa were 21.6, 9.6, and 2.7 h, respectively. The strain histories of these tests revealed a continuous increase of the specimen compliance and accelerated deformation prior to failure. It is shown that both the shape of the strain vs time curves and the time dependence of the loss of strength can be explained using a simple model based on the oxidation-induced stress-rupture of the reinforcing fiber bundles.     

Cause of catty odour formation in packaged food

In two different ‘cook-in-the-bag’ ham products packed in polyamide-ethylene ionomer laminate pouches, the same obtrusive catty off-odour was complained about. In this paper the analytical resolution of a complex off-odour problem is described. Identification of the catty odour as the mesityf oxide-hydrogen sulphide adduct 4-methyl-4-mercaptopentan-2-one is followed by investigating the formation of the off-odour with the aid of different model experiments. It is pointed out that the ethylene ionomer material that is used for the sealing layer of the multilayer packaging film has some dehydration property for diacetone alcohol, which was found as a residual solvent in the film material in question. Probably this pathway seems most likely to be responsible for the off-odour.     

The robustness of markov reliability models

Markov models are an established part of current systems reliability and availability analysis. They are extensively used in various applications, including, in particular, electrical power supply systems. One of their advantages is that they considerably simplify availability evaluation so that the availability of very large and complex systems can be computed. It is generally assumed, with some justification, that the results obtained from such Markov reliability models are relatively robust. It has, however, been known for some time, that practical time to failure distributions are frequently non-exponential, particular attention being given in much reliability work to the Weibull family. Morover, recently additional doubt has been case on the validity of the Markov approach, both because of the work of Professor Kline and others on the non-exponentiality of practical repair time distribution, and because of the advantages to be obtained in terms of modelling visibility of the alternative simulation approach. In this paper we employ results on the ability of the k-out-of-n systems to span the coherent set to investigate the robustness of Markov reliability models based upon a simulation investigation of coherent systems of up to 10 identical components. We treat the case where adequate repair facilities are available for all components. The effects upon the conventional transient and steady-state measures of Weibull departures from exponentiality are considered. In general, the Markov models are found to be relatively robust, with alterations to failure distributions being more important than those to repair distributions, and decreasing hazard rates more critical than increasing hazard rates. Of the measures studied, the mean time to failure is most sensitive to variations in distributional shape.     

High and very high temperature reactor research for multipurpose energy applications

Ten years ago, the European High Temperature Reactor (HTR) Technology Network (HTR-TN) launched a programme for developing HTR Technology, which expanded so far through 4 successive Euratom Framework Programmes. Many projects have been performed - in particular the RAPHAEL project in the 6th Euratom Framework Programme and presently ARCHER in the 7th - in line with the Network strategy that identified cogeneration of process heat and power as the main specific mission of HTR. HTR can indeed address the growing energy needs of industry presently fully relying on fossil fuel combustion with a CO₂-lean generation technology, thanks to its high operating temperature and to its unique flexibility obtained from its large thermal inertia and its low power.Relying on the legacy of the former European leadership in HTR technology, this programme has addressed specific developments required for industrial process heat applications and for increasing HTR performances (higher temperatures and fuel burn-up). Decisive achievements have been obtained concerning fuel manufacturing and irradiation behaviour, key components and their materials, safety, computer code validation and specific HTR waste (fuel and graphite) management. Key experiments have been performed or are still ongoing: irradiation of graphite, fuel and vessel materials and the corresponding post-irradiation examinations, safety tests and isotopic analyses; thermal-hydraulic tests of an Intermediate Heat Exchanger mock-up in helium; air ingress experiments for a block type core, etc. Through Euratom participation in the Generation IV International Forum (GIF), these achievements contribute to international cooperation.HTR-TN strategy has been recently integrated by the “Sustainable Nuclear Energy Technology Platform” (SNE-TP) as one of the 3 “pillars” of its global nuclear strategy. It is also in line with the orientations and the timing of the “Strategic Energy Technology Plan (SET-Plan)” for the development of CO₂-lean energy technologies, and thus strengthens the nuclear option in a future European energy mix.Nuclear cogeneration for industrial process heat applications is a major innovation and a major challenge, requiring large-scale demonstration to prove its industrial viability. To enable demonstration, it is necessary not only to develop an appropriate nuclear heat source, but also to develop coupling technologies and to adapt industrial processes to the coupling with a HTR. This requires a close partnership between the conventional and the nuclear technology holders as the base of a Nuclear Cogeneration Industrial Initiative.Recently the project EUROPAIRS initiated by HTR-TN together with process heat user industries has set the bases of such a strategic partnership.     

Computer-aided process control system design using interactive graphics

Design programs employing interactive computer graphics can simplify and greatly facilitate the synthesis of feedback controllers for dynamic systems. In this paper a program for design of three mode controllers for single input-single output linear system is described. Seven displays can be employed for analyzing either time domain or frequency domain characteristics, as illustrated in the paper.     

Rectangular polyomino set weak (1, 2)-achievement games

In a polyomino set (1, 2)-achievement game the maker and the breaker alternately mark one and two previously unmarked cells respectively. The maker’s goal is to mark a set of cells congruent to one of a given set of polyominoes. The breaker tries to prevent the maker from achieving his goal. The teams of polyominoes for which the maker has a winning strategy is determined up to size 4. In set achievement games, it is natural to study infinitely large polyominoes. This enables the construction of super winners that characterize all winning teams up to a certain size.     

Dynamic Allocation of Ragged Arrays Using C++: Potentiality for Finite-Element Method Software

A ragged array is an irregularly shaped data structure that is an extremely convenient and natural means of implementing storage schemes that exploit the symmetry and sparsity of the different stiffness matrices involved in the finite-element method. Ragged arrays have the potential for improving the programmer’s productivity as well as enhancing code maintainability. Additionally, no performance degradation was detected when ragged arrays were used; the performance of the Gauss elimination procedure, implemented in C++ using ragged arrays, was comparable to the performance of the same procedure implemented in FORTRAN using traditional data structures.     

Nonparametric analysis of clustered data in diagnostic trials: Estimation problems in small sample sizes

In diagnostic trials, clustered data are obtained when several subunits (e.g., organs or vessels) of the same patient are observed where no, several, or all subunits may be diseased or non-diseased as classified by a gold standard. In such a design, repeated measures appear in a natural way since the same patient is observed under different conditions by several readers and the repeated measures may have a quite involved correlation structure. A nonparametric method for clustered data in multiple reader studies to estimate the area under the ROC curve has been previously considered. The disadvantage of this procedure is that the test statistic (a quadratic form) can become negative in case of small samples. Therefore, a slightly different approach by weighting the estimators of the areas under the curves (AUC) is proposed. It is shown that the proposed new estimator of the covariance matrix of the weighted AUC estimators is always positive semidefinite. Simulation studies show that the new statistic maintains the pre-assigned type-I error level quite well even in case of small sample sizes. The method is motivated by a real data example where the previously suggested statistic becomes negative. This example demonstrates the advantage of the new method.     

Analysis of social interaction: Actual, role playing, and projective.

The differences and relationships among responses of subjects as expressed in three types of situations, identified simply as actual, role playing, and pencil and paper projective test are investigated by the factor analysis of Bales' set of behavioral categories for Interaction Process Analysis, and the examination of these categories in terms of external criteria. A major conclusion is that great caution must be observed in predicting from verbal behavior to actual or role playing situations; however, role playing appears to give the same kinds of information that are available from interaction in actual situations as defined in this study. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Authoritarianism" and authority.

The author discusses and contrasts the psychological concept of "authoritarian personality" with the popular concept of similar name and stresses the clear need for a distinction between both concepts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)