Associations in the Course of Personality Disorders and Axis I Disorders Over Time.

In this study, the authors examined time-varying associations between schizotypal (STPD), borderline (BPD), avoidant (AVPD), or obsessive-compulsive (OCPD) personality disorders and co-occurring Axis I disorders in 544 adult participants from the Collaborative Longitudinal Personality Disorders Study. The authors tested predictions of specific longitudinal associations derived from a model of crosscutting psychobiological dimensions (L. J. Siever & K. L. Davis, 1991) with participants with the relevant Axis I disorders. The authors assessed participants at baseline and at 6-, 12-, and 24-month follow-up evaluations. BPD showed significant longitudinal associations with major depressive disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder. AVPD was significantly associated with anxiety disorders (specifically social phobia and obsessive-compulsive disorder). Two of the four personality disorders under examination (STPD and OCPD) showed little or no association with Axis I disorders. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Two-Year Stability and Change of Schizotypal, Borderline, Avoidant, and Obsessive-Compulsive Personality Disorders.

The authors examined the stability of schizotypal (STPD), borderline (BPD), avoidant (AVPD) and obsessive-compulsive (OCPD) personality disorders (PDs) over 2 years of prospective multiwave follow-up. Six hundred thirty-three participants recruited at 4 collaborating sites who met criteria for 1 or more of the 4 PDs or for major depressive disorder (MOD) without PD were assessed with semistructured interviews at baseline, 6, 12, and 24 months. Lifetable survival analyses revealed that the PD groups had slower time to remission than the MDD group. Categorically, PD remission rates range from 50% (AVPD) to 61% (STPD) for dropping below diagnostic threshold on a blind 24-month reassessment but range from 23% (STPD) to 38% (OCPD) for a more stringent definition of improvement. Dimensionally, these findings suggest that PDs may be characterized by maladaptive trait constellations that are stable in their structure (individual differences) but can change in severity or expression over time. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Modifications in the AA5083 Johnson-Cook Material Model for Use in Friction Stir Welding Computational Analyses

Johnson-Cook strength material model is frequently used in finite-element analyses of various manufacturing processes involving plastic deformation of metallic materials. The main attraction to this model arises from its mathematical simplicity and its ability to capture the first-order metal-working effects (e.g., those associated with the influence of plastic deformation, rate of deformation, and the attendant temperature). However, this model displays serious shortcomings when used in the engineering analyses of various hot-working processes (i.e., those utilizing temperatures higher than the material recrystallization temperature). These shortcomings are related to the fact that microstructural changes involving: (i) irreversible decrease in the dislocation density due to the operation of annealing/recrystallization processes; (ii) increase in grain-size due to high-temperature exposure; and (iii) dynamic-recrystallization-induced grain refinement are not accounted for by the model. In this study, an attempt is made to combine the basic physical-metallurgy principles with the associated kinetics relations to properly modify the Johnson-Cook material model, so that the model can be used in the analyses of metal hot-working and joining processes. The model is next used to help establish relationships between process parameters, material microstructure and properties in friction stir welding welds of AA5083 (a non-age-hardenable, solid-solution strengthened, strain-hardened/stabilized Al-Mg-Mn alloy).     

Control of Stress Concentration in Surface‐Mounted Multilayer Ceramic Capacitor Subjected to Bending

Failure of surface‐mounted multilayer ceramic capacitor (MLCC) results mainly from bending of the printed circuit board during handling and applications. Cracking of MLCC normally initiates at the junction of the bottom end of termination and the dielectric ceramics and it would cut through dielectric ceramics and electrodes to result in the capacitance loss and failure of MLCC. The purpose of this study was to mitigate the stress concentration and to shift the stress concentration location toward the side end of MLCC to minimize the number of electrodes cut by cracking. To achieve this, effects of the stiffness and the thickness of the solder and the size of MLCC on the location of crack initiation and the fracture load were examined. Nanoindentation was performed to obtain the mechanical properties of the constituents of the system. Finite element analyses were conducted to simulate the stress field in the surface‐mounted MLCC subjected to bending and the results were compared to the observed crack initiation locations and the fracture load. The outcome would provide guidelines in mounting and designing of MLCCs to enhance its reliability and lifetime.     

Hydraulic characteristics and startup of anaerobic rotating biological contactors

Abstract

In this study the hydraulic characteristics and the start‐up of anaerobic rotating biological contactor (AnRBC) were investigated experimentally and theoretically. Results of tracer study showed that the AnRBC reactor is a well‐mixed reactor in the first and second stages. Start‐up of the AnRBC reactor was successfully carried out using high strength synthetic wastewaters at hydraulic retention time of 21.6 hours, organic surface loading of 111.4 g‐COD/m²?d, organic volumetric loading of 13.33 Kg‐COD/m³?d, disk rotational speed of 12 rpm and 100% disk submergence. In the steady‐state operating condition, the removal efficiencies of soluble COD and BOD could be up to 71% and 76% for the inlet COD and BOD concentrations of 12,000 and 7,267 mgL^‐1, respectively. The microscopic observations after start‐up of the AnRBC reactor showed that the acetogenic bacteria are significant in the first two stages while the methanogenic bacteria predominate in the last two stages.     

A study on the formation of a measurement scale for the environmental quality of Taiwan’s long-term care institutions by the Delphi method

This study used a two-round modified Delphi technique with a questionnaire survey in order to reach a consensus for the questionnaire; the survey was conducted from September to December 2009. The six indicators for the environmental quality of long-term care institutions in Taiwan are (1) indoor environmental quality, (2) safety equipment for the prevention and management of disasters occurring in residents?? daily lives, (3) provision for assistive devices for residents?? daily use, (4) provision for privacy and individualized space, (5) provision for comfortable and decorated indoor environments, and (6) provision for social interaction space. The scale included 34 items with an acceptable number of panel members and acceptable construct validity. Panel members all highly approved of Indicators 1, 2, and 6. Although they approved of Indicator 3, they suggested that caregivers at institutions should replace the functions of living assistive devices. They approved of Indicator 5; however, they questioned the method for providing comfortable and decorated environments. They approved of Indicator 4; however, they suggested that private space need not be provided in the living room of the institution. In terms of long-term care institution environments in Taiwan, Indicators 1, 2, and 6 were important for protecting residents?? physical and psychological well-being and improving their social interactions. Indicator 3, although important, could be directly replaced by caregivers. Indicator 5 required more implementation methods, while Indicator 4, the living room of the institution, was considered unnecessary.     

Spall-Fracture Physics and Spallation-Resistance-Based Material Selection

Spallation is a fracture mode commonly observed in ballistically/blast-wave-loaded structures. The interaction between decompression waves generated within the target structure produces tensile stresses which, if of a sufficient magnitude, may cause material damage and ultimate fracture (spallation). In this study, the phenomenon of spall-fracture is analyzed within a one-dimensional Lagrangian framework. Two distinct analyses are carried out. Within the first analysis, decompression waves are treated as decompression shocks, which simplified the analysis and enabled the formation of spallation-strength-based material index. In the second analysis, decompression waves are treated as smooth (centered simple) waves. This increased the fidelity of the computational analysis, but the material-selection procedure could be done only numerically and an explicit formulation of the spallation-strength-based material-selection index could not be carried out. Overall, the two analyses yielded similar results for the spallation-strength-based material-selection criterion suggesting that the simpler (decompression shock based) one is still adequate for use in the material-selection process.     

Seqential approach in job shop scheduling

Abstract

This study investigats a new approach‐the sequential approach‐ in job shop scheduling. The objective is to minimize the total of lateness cost and set‐up cost in job shops. Whenever a scheduling decision has to be made as to which job should receive the next processing, this approach considers each cost sequentially. One of the two costs is considered first, and every time all waiting jobs must be examined in terms of this cost, and only those jobs qualified would the second cost apply to and from which a job would be selected for processing. This investigation was carried out by using GASP IV simulation under a variety of job shop situations. The effectiveness of this approach and job selection mechanism constitute the main theme of this study.