European Master of Science in Nuclear Engineering

The need to preserve, enhance or strengthen nuclear knowledge is worldwide recognised since a couple of years. Among others, “networking to maintain nuclear competence through education and training”, was recommended in 2001 by an expert panel to the European Commission [EUR, 19150 EN, Strategic issues related to a 6th Euratom Framework Programme (2002–2006). Scientific and Technical Committee Euratom, pp. 14].It appears that within the European University education and training framework, nuclear engineering is presently still sufficiently covered, although somewhat fragmented. However, it has been observed that several areas are at risk in the very near future including safety relevant fields such as reactor physics and nuclear thermal–hydraulics. Furthermore, in some countries deficiencies have been identified in areas such as the back-end of the nuclear fuel cycle, waste management and decommissioning.To overcome these risks and deficiencies, it is of very high importance that European countries work more closely together. Harmonisation and improvement of the nuclear education and training have to take place at an international level in order to maintain the knowledge properly and to transfer it throughout Europe for the safe and economic design, operation and dismantling of present and future nuclear systems. To take up the challenges of offering top quality, new, attractive and relevant curricula, higher education institutions should cooperate with industry, regulatory bodies and research centres, and more appropriate funding from public and private sources. In addition, European nuclear education and training should benefit from links with international organisations like IAEA, OECD-NEA and others, and should include worldwide cooperation with academic institutions and research centres.The first and central issue is to establish a European Master of Science in Nuclear Engineering. The concept envisaged is compatible with the projected harmonised European architecture for higher education defining bachelors and masters degrees. The basic goal is to guarantee a high quality nuclear education in Europe by means of stimulating student and instructor exchange, through mutual checks of the quality of the programs offered, by close collaboration with renowned nuclear-research groups at universities and laboratories. The concept for a nuclear master program consists of a solid basket of recommended basic nuclear science and engineering courses, but also contains advanced courses as well as practical training. Some of the advanced courses also serve as part of the curricula for doctoral programs.A second important issue identified is Continued Professional Development. The design of corresponding training courses has to respond to the needs of industry and regulatory bodies, and a specific organisation has to be set up to manage the quality assessment and accreditation of the Continued Professional Development programs.In order to achieve the important objectives and practical goals described above, the ENEN Association, a non-profit association under French law, was formed. This international association can be considered as a step towards the creation of a virtual European Nuclear University symbolising the active collaboration between various national institutions pursuing nuclear education.Based on the concepts and strategy explained above, and with the full cooperation of the participating institutions, it may be stated that the intellectual erosion in the nuclear field can be reversed, and that high quality European education in nuclear sciences and technology can be guaranteed.     

An efficient sweep-line Delaunay triangulation algorithm

This paper introduces a new algorithm for constructing a 2D Delaunay triangulation. It is based on a sweep-line paradigm, which is combined with a local optimization criterion—a characteristic of incremental insertion algorithms. The sweep-line status is represented by a so-called advancing front, which is implemented as a hash-table. Heuristics have been introduced to prevent the construction of tiny triangles, which would probably be legalized. This algorithm has been compared with other popular Delaunay algorithms and it is the fastest algorithm among them. In addition, this algorithm does not use a lot of memory for supporting data structure, it is easy to understand and simple to implement.     

Impact of Incorporating Substituents onto the P‐o‐Anisyl Groups of DiPAMP Ligand on the Rhodium(I)‐Catalyzed Asymmetric Hydrogenation of Olefins

The introduction of 1,2‐bis[(o‐anisyl)(phenyl)phosphino]ethane (DiPAMP) as a P‐stereogenic ligand for rhodium(I)‐catalyzed hydrogenation by Knowles et al. came after their evaluation of several diphosphines. However, no in‐depth study was carried out on incorporating various substituents on its P‐o‐anisyl groups. In this work, we have prepared a large series of enantiopure and closely related DiPAMP analogues possessing various substituents (MeO, TMS, t‐Bu, Ph, fused benzene ring) on the o‐anisyl rings. The new ligands were evaluated in rhodium‐catalyzed hydrogenation of several model substrates: methyl α‐acetamidoacrylate, methyl (Z)‐α‐acetamidocinnamate, methyl (Z)‐β‐acetamidocrotonate, dimethyl itaconate, and atropic acid. They displayed enhanced activities and increased enantioselectivities, particularly the P‐(2,3,4,5‐tetra‐MeO‐C₆H)‐substituted ligand (4MeBigFUS). Interestingly enough, 88% ee was obtained in the hydrogenation of atropic acid using the Rh‐(4MeBigFUS) catalyst under mild conditions (10 bar H₂, room temperature) versus 7% ee using Rh‐DiPAMP. Conversely, the ligand possessing P‐(2,6‐di‐MeO‐C₆H₃) groups proved to slow down considerably the hydrogenation. X‐Ray structures of their corresponding Rh complexes are presented and discussed.     

Robotic Assembly System in Semiconductor Industry

A sensor-based robotic production system for assembly of rectifier bridges is described. Assembly tasks in semiconductor industry require a robot with good positional accuracy having the capability of high velocities and accelerations in all degrees of freedom. An important part of the semiconductor production is to measure the diode properties. The trajectory of the manipulator end-effector is determined by the results from these measurements. A vaccum gripper with an air flow sensor is also used in this particular task. The robotic language DARL was used to control the assembly process.     

Elektrodenkinetische Untersuchungen zum Siliciumdurchtritt an der Phasengrenze zwischen einer kieselsäurehaltigen Oxidschmelze und einer siliciumhaltigen Metallschmelze

Bedeutung elektrochemischer Untersuchungen von Reaktionen zwischen flüssigen Metallen und Schlacken. Aufbau einer galvanischen Kette, deren Bruttoreaktion der Bildung von SiO₂ entspricht. Anwendung der galvanostatischen Impulsmethode zur Ermittlung der Abhängigkeit der Stromdichte von der Durchtrittsüberspannung und der Austauschstromdichte beim Siliciumdurchtritt an der Phasengrenze Metallschmelze/Oxidschmelze. Ergänzende Messungen der EMK und der Stromausbeuten in bezug auf elektrolytisch entwickelten Sauerstoff.     

Compressed vertex chain codes

This paper introduces three new vertex chain codes. Firstly, considering that the vertex chain code uses 2 bits to represent only three code elements, a new code is introduced without increasing the average bits per code. The second case introduces a variable-length vertex chain code. Finally, a new compressed chain code is proposed based on the Huffman method. The continuation introduces a method for quantificationally evaluating the efficiency of chain codes. The efficiencies of the new vertex chain codes are then compared theoretically and practically against the most popular chain codes. The result of the comparison shows that the new compressed chain code is the most efficient.     

Dealing with redundancy and inconsistency in constructive geometric constraint solving

General constructive geometric constraint solvers are pre-processed by a degree-of-freedom analysis, which enables efficient graph decomposition and recombination. However, all these methods are based on the assumption that structural rigidity automatically assures solvability. In this paper, we show that this assumption fails in numerous, even the most basic, configurations. We introduce several simple but efficient rules aimed to additionally analyse solvability in such cases. Another novelty addresses conditional constraints between three or more geometric parts, rules for their simplification and a redundancy check. All these functionalities are built into our original 2D geometric constraint solver, based on concepts of rigid clusters and constrained-angle (CA) sets.     

Influence of treatment temperature on wettability of Norway spruce thermally modified in vacuum

Wettability of Norway spruce modified by a new vacuum thermal modification procedure was studied. The mass loss caused by this process ranged from almost 0% when treated at 140?°C to 4.3% at 210?°C. Apparent contact angles of water, formamide, and diiodomethane were measured by the Wilhelmy plate method on the specimens taken from the centers of the thermally modified wood samples. For the treatment at the highest temperature, the contact angle of water was significantly higher when compared to untreated spruce (96.6° vs. 83.6°); lower treatment temperatures, however, did not result in a clear correlation between treatment temperature and contact angle. Formamide yielded lower contact angles for treated spruce compared to the untreated one, but without clear influence of the treatment temperature and diiodomethane always gave perfect wetting. Surface energy calculations according to the Owens, Wendt, Rabel, and Kaelble method revealed that the thermal modification process in vacuum increased the surface free energy and lowered the polarity of wood significantly only at the highest applied temperature (210?°C); the treatment had only limited effect at lower temperatures of modification. These results indicate that adequate wetting and adhesion can be achieved on the surfaces of Norway spruce thermally modified in vacuum.