Forty-Five Years After Broadbent (1958): Still No Identification Without Attention.

According to D. E. Broadbent's (1958) selective filter theory, people do not process unattended stimuli beyond the analysis of basic physical properties. This theory was later rejected on the basis of numerous findings that people identify irrelevant (and supposedly unattended) stimuli. A careful review of this evidence, however, reveals strong reasons to doubt that these irrelevant stimuli were in fact unattended. This review exposed a clear need for new experiments with tight control over the locus of attention. The authors present 5 such experiments using a priming paradigm. When steps were taken to ensure that irrelevant stimuli were not attended, these stimuli produced no priming effects. Hence, the authors found no evidence that unattended stimuli can be identified. The results support a modern version of Broadbent's selective theory, updated to reflect recent research advances. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Life task appraisals, spouse involvement in strategies, and daily affect among short- and long-term married couples.

The purpose of this study was to examine predictors and consequences of spouses' involvement in each others' strategies for pursuing important personal goals called life tasks. Husbands and wives within 39 short- and long-term marriages described five life tasks and provided appraisals of whether each was shared with their spouse. Participants later completed 14 consecutive diary entries recording daily life task pursuit strategies, the extent of spouse involvement in each, and measures of positive and negative affect. Results indicated that interdependence in life task appraisals prospectively predicted greater spouse involvement, and greater spouse involvement was associated with more positive affect for that day. Life task appraisals may provide avenues for understanding couples' strategies for dealing with goals or stressors and how those strategies affect mood. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

In situ regeneration of the Ni-based catalytic reformer of a 5 kW PEMFC system

The paper reports the results of on-site regeneration catalytic bed of the natural gas reformer in a 5 kW PEM fuel cell system. The Ni catalyst previously poisoned by sulphur from the available natural gas, could be re-activated by injection of pure water steam, following the method developed for industrial reformers using the same metal catalyst: this method was shown to be perfectly efficient, provided no natural gas was fed during the operation. Results of the tests conducted are presented and discussed in relation to published data on S-sorption on Ni surfaces.     

Behavioral response to naturally occurring stress in cyclothymia and dysthymia.

Outlines an approach to epidemiologic-type life-stress studies that involves the intensive study of smaller groups of well-defined disordered individuals across the course of the response. On the basis of their previous research, the authors suggest that cyclothymia may be characterized by poor regulation of biologic and behavioral variation and that this condition may be exaggerated by stress. To extend the evidence on poor regulation generated in laboratory studies of cortisol functioning, 31 cyclothyme patients and 24 normal controls (median age 19.3 yrs) were asked to provide daily ratings of moods and events over 28 consecutive days. Data show that Ss with cyclothymia showed prolonged duration of recovery of behavioral levels compared to controls. Findings support a notion of weak inhibitory modulation in certain CNS systems that control biologic and behavioral variables related to affective disorder. It is suggested that the prolonged duration of behavioral change in cyclothymia is unlikely to be the consequence of concurrent depression and that the nature of prolonged recovery to stress in cyclothymia reflects the operation of an endogenous regulatory process, as opposed to a cognitive appraisal bias. (33 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An application of expert systems techniques to the on-line control and fault diagnosis of a mixing process

An application of expert hierarchical control is described in this paper. The control is implemented in a two-level configuration, where the lower layer performs direct regulation control and the upper layer performs supervisory functions. In the regulation layer, a rule-based controller performs the regulation task, where the controller is constructed upon causal relations between subsystems. The control action is inferred from the measurement of both controlled and noncontrolled variables. In the supervisory layer, the main function is a fault diagnosis system which diagnoses faults on-line. The diagnosis is based upon reasoning from the structure of the system and the functions of its components, and efficient diagnosis is achieved by dividing the system into several subsystems. The overall technique has been successfully implemented on a pilot scale mixing process under on-line computer control.     

Reliability evaluation and optimisation of imperfect inspections for a component with multi-defects

In this paper, a model is developed to evaluate the reliability and optimise the inspection schedule for a multi-defect component. The model uses a non-homogeneous Poisson process (NHPP) method in conjunction with a delay time approach. The inspections are designed to detect any defects in the component, however it can be imperfect. The defect is a definable state before a functional failure happens to the component. Occurrences of defects are assumed to follow an NHPP and a defect will be minimally repaired if it is identified during an inspection. It is shown that the failures occurring in an interval of inspection will also follow an NHPP. The situation of imperfect inspections and non-constant inspection intervals are considered. An algorithm is presented to optimise the intervals of inspections in order to maximise the reliability of the component, and the properties of the algorithm are shown. A numerical example with parametric study is given to show the performance of the model and the algorithm.     

Nonaqueous Phase Liquid Pool Dissolution as a Function of Average Pore Water Velocity

Bench-scale reactor experiments were performed to study the dissolution of a binary naphthalene-in-nonane mixture nonaqueous phase liquid (NAPL) pool over a wide range of average pore water velocities, vx (≈0.1–60 m/day). Experimental NAPL pool dissolution flux values were determined using a steady-state mass balance approach. The experimental flux data were compared to model predictions made assuming either local equilibrium or mass-transfer limited conditions. The local equilibrium model could describe the trends in the average effluent concentration and dissolution flux with 0.110?m/day. Data determined to be under mass-transfer limited conditions were fit to the nonequilibrium model to estimate values for an overall mass-transfer coefficient. The calculated overall mass-transfer coefficients had an average value of 0.407 m/day and showed no correlation with vx, probably due to mass-transfer resistance becoming dominated by the diffusional resistance in the NAPL. These results suggest that the nonequilibrium approach is better suited for describing high velocity (vx>10?m/day) dissolution of multicomponent NAPL pools, and that flushing of groundwater at very high velocities may not be an effective approach for enhancing NAPL-pool dissolution flux.     

Preliminary irradiation test results from the Yankee Atomic Electric Company reactor vessel test irradiation program

The Yankee Atomic Electric Company test irradiation program was implemented to characterize the irradiation response of representative Yankee Rowe reactor vessel beltline plate materials and to remove uncertainties in the analysis of existing irradiation data on the Yankee Rowe reactor vessel steel. Plate materials each containing 0·24 w/o copper, but different nickel contents at 0·63 w/o and 0·19 w/o, were heat treated to simulate the Yankee vessel heat treatment (austenitized at 982°C (1800°F)) and to simulate Regulatory Guide 1·99 database materials (austenitized at 871°C (1600°F)). These heat treatments produced different microstructures so the effect of microstructure on irradiation damage sensitivity could be tested. Because the nickel content of the test plates varied and the copper level was constant, the effect of nickel on irradiation embrittlement was also tested. Correlation monitor material, HSST-02, was included in the program to benchmark the Ford Nuclear Reactor (University of Michigan Test Reactor) which had never been used before for this type of irradiation program. Materials taken from plate surface locations (versus 1/4T) were included to test whether or not the improved toughness properties of the plate surface layer, resulting from the rapid quench, are maintained after irradiation. If the improved properties are maintained, pressurized thermal shock calculations could utilize this margin. Finally, for one experiment, irradiations were conducted at two irradiation temperatures (260°C and 288°C) to determine the effect of irradiation temperature on embrittlement. The preliminary results of the irradiation program show an average temperature effect of 38°C for a 28°C difference in irradiation temperature. The results suggest that for nickel bearing steels, the superior toughness of plate surface material is maintained after irradiation and for the copper content tested, nickel has little effect on irradiation response. No apparent microstructure effect on irradiation response was noted and the HSST-02 material's response to irradiation was similar to results from power reactor and other test reactor tests, thus qualifying the Ford Test Reactor for irradiation experiments such as those conducted for the Yankee Atomic program.