Inside Front Cover: The Elastic Properties and Plastic Behavior of Two‐Dimensional Polymer Structures Fabricated by Laser Interference Lithography (Adv. Funct. Mater. 10/2006)

The probing of the micromechanical properties within a two‐dimensional polymer structure with sixfold symmetry fabricated via interference lithography reveals a nonuniform spatial distribution in the elastic modulus “imprinted” with an interference pattern in work reported by Tsukruk, Thomas, and co‐workers on p. 1324. The image prepared by M. Lemieux and T. Gorishnyy shows how the interference pattern is formed by three laser beams and is transferred to the solid polymer structure. The elastic and plastic properties within a two‐dimensional polymer (SU8) structure with sixfold symmetry fabricated via interference lithography are presented. There is a nonuniform spatial distribution in the elastic modulus, with a higher elastic modulus obtained for nodes (brightest regions in the laser interference pattern) and a lower elastic modulus for beams (darkest regions in the laser interference pattern) of the photopatterned films. We suggest that such a nonuniformity and unusual plastic behavior are related to the variable material properties “imprinted” by the interference pattern.     

The Influence and Interpretation of Surface Parameters for Wetting Transitions in Ternary Mixtures

Starting from a microscopic Hamiltonian defined on a semi-infinite cubic lattice, and employing a mean-field approximation, the surface parameters relevant for wetting in confined ternary mixtures are derived. These are found in terms of the microscopic coupling constants, and yield a physical interpretation of their origins. In comparison with the standard expression for the surface free-energy density, several new terms arising from the derivation are identified. The influence of the surface parameters on a predicted unbinding transition in a mixture of oil, water, and amphiphile demonstrate that existing results are robust to the addition of the extra surface terms.     

Spinel Phase Relations in the Fe3O4–CuFe2O4 System

Phase equilibria involving spinel solid solutions, delafossite, and hematite in the Fe–Cu–O system are studied by emf measurements in solid-electrolyte galvanic cells. The results demonstrate that, above 1250 K, Fe₃O₄ and CuFe₂O₄ form a continuous series of solid solutions. At lower temperatures, the solid solution disproportionates with the formation of delafossite and Fe₂O₃, and two spinel solid solutions appear: one based on Fe₃O₄ and the other based on Cu₂FeO₄. The compositions of the spinel phases in equilibrium with delafossite and Fe₂O₃ are determined in the range 1100–1250 K.     

Management gaps analysis: a case study of groundwater resource management in New Zealand

The primary objective of this project is to identify gaps, whether real or perceived, that hinder effective groundwater management in New Zealand. These gaps show as gaps in information, gaps in implementation, gaps in technological and management tools, and gaps in understanding of fundamental processes. The secondary objective is to propose a management strategy to close the identified gaps. Several methods are used to meet these objectives: surveys distributed to selected staff in each regional council; the review of various written reports; the analysis of land-use databases; and private consultation within each regional council. Results show that groundwater management in New Zealand is generally reactionary with the main gaps being in strategic planning and national guidelines. Most gaps appear to be predominantly information and implementation issues. In some cases there are gaps in the understanding of fundamental processes within an aquifer system, including the long-term effects of land-use on groundwater quality. An adaptive management approach is suggested as a means of closing these gaps.     

Modeling aviation baggage screening security systems: a case study

Aviation security protects vital national interests, as well as passengers and aircraft. Key components of an aviation security system include baggage and passenger screening devices and operations. Determining how and where to assign (deploy) such devices can be quite challenging. Moreover, even after such systems are in place, it can be difficult to measure their effectiveness. This paper describes how discrete optimization models can be used to address these questions, based on three performance measures that quantify the effectiveness of airport baggage screening security device systems. These models are used to solve for optimal airport baggage screening security device deployments considering the number of passengers on a set of flights who have not been cleared using a security risk assessment system in use by the Federal Aviation Administration (i.e., passengers whose baggage is subjected to screening), the number of flights in this set, and the size of the aircraft for such flights. Several examples are provided to illustrate these results, including an example that uses data available from the Official Airline Guide.     

Fifty Years On: Brown v. Board of Education and American Psychology, 1954-2004 An Introduction.

Introduces the current issue of the American Psychologist, which examines the ramifications of the Brown vs. Board of Education decision and its sequelae over the last 50 years, with a special focus on the mixed role of psychological research and practice. Despite the great strides toward a more just society since May 17, 1954, inequities remain in schooling, in social relations, and in economic opportunity. How will history judge American psychology 50 years from now vis-a-vis the possibilities it helped create via Brown? The articles in this special issue suggest several important directions of research and action our field will need to take if the verdict of history is to be a positive one. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Experimental characterisation of the drying effect on uniaxial mechanical behaviour of mortar

The main objective of this present study was to evaluate, for a standard mortar, the drying effect on its mechanical behaviour. Numerous uniaxial compression tests were thus performed with loading-unloading cycles. They were carried out on different samples previously preserved under various conditions of conservation: preserved from desiccation, air drying and rapid drying at 60°C. The obtained results showed significant influences of these conditions on the material behaviour (increase in strength, decrease in Young's modulus and Poisson's ratio) and the necessity of taking into account the coupling effects between mechanical—poromechanical behaviours and drying.     

Object segmentation and labeling by learning from examples

We propose a system that employs low-level image segmentation followed by color and two-dimensional (2-D) shape matching to automatically group those low-level segments into objects based on their similarity to a set of example object templates presented by the user. A hierarchical content tree data structure is used for each database image to store matching combinations of low-level regions as objects. The system automatically initializes the content tree with only "elementary nodes" representing homogeneous low-level regions. The "learning" phase refers to labeling of combinations of low-level regions that have resulted in successful color and/or 2-D shape matches with the example template(s). These combinations are labeled as "object nodes" in the hierarchical content tree. Once learning is performed, the speed of second-time retrieval of learned objects in the database increases significantly. The learning step can be performed off-line provided that example objects are given in the form of user interest profiles. Experimental results are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed system with hierarchical content tree representation and learning by color and 2-D shape matching on collections of car and face images.