Analysis of peg-hole automated pre-assembly engagement search

The paper presents the main characteristics of search strategies used for automated pre-assembly engagement. The handling of such operations is described through an experimental set-up. Finally, experimental results are used to facilitate the decision-making process for correct automated engagement prior to the assembly insertion stage. The multi peg-hole system for preassembly engagement as a more complex system is discussed.     

A generalized method for characterizing elastic anisotropy in solid living tissues

The microstructure of cortical bone may exhibit either transverse isotropic or orthotropic symmetry, thus requiring either five or nine independent elastic stiffness coefficients (or compliances), respectively, to describe its elastic anisotropy. Our previous analysis to describe this anisotropy in terms of two scalar quantities for the transverse isotropic case is extended here to include orthotropic symmetry. The new results for orthotropic symmetry are compared with previous calculations using the transverse isotropic analysis on the same sets of anisotropic elastic constants for bone, determined either by mechanical or by ultrasonic experiments. In addition, the orthotropic calculation has been applied to full sets of orthotropic elastic stiffness coefficients of a large variety of wood species. Although having some resemblance to plexiform bone in microstructural organization, there is a dramatic difference in both the shear and the compressive elastic anisotropy between the two materials: wood is at least one order of magnitude more anisotropic than bone.     

Integration of reconfigurable inspection with stream of variations methodology

This paper describes an advanced closed loop quality control methodology for reconfigurable manufacturing systems. The methodology enables rapid root-cause diagnostics for faster ramp-up of reconfigurable systems through integration of the Reconfigurable Inspection Machine (RIM) and the Stream of Variations (SoV) methodology. The RIM enables reconfigurable, rapid, and accurate inspection using non-contact sensors while the SoV methodology is used to quickly analyze the measurements and identify the root-cause of the errors produced during machining.The feasibility of the industrial concept was experimentally validated. A machining error was introduced during machining of an engine head. Measurement information collected by the RIM was processed and used to locate the root-cause of the error using the SoV methodology.     

Transmitting to colocated users in wireless ad hoc and sensor networks

We consider wireless ad hoc networks and sensor networks where a remotely located source is transmitting information to a destined user embedded within a group of K densely packed physically colocated users enjoying favorable signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) conditions among themselves, but suffering from quasi-static flat Rayleigh fading with respect to the source. Stringent delay constraints require that information, once available, be transmitted immediately and delivered reliably to its destination during a period of one fading block, precluding waiting until the destined user enjoys favorable fading conditions with respect to the source. A cooperative transmission strategy is proposed for this scenario and its expected throughput is investigated. The strategy exhibits a substantial gain in throughput, especially when the colocation gain factor is high. In addition, a broadcast approach is incorporated into the transmission strategy suggesting further throughput benefits.     

Near surface modification affected by hydrogen interaction: Global supplemented by local approach

The current study is centered on elastic-plastic solid interaction with hydrogen. Here, the environment is free hydrogen, from either external or internal origins providing as such aggressive effects. In this context, near surface displacement occurred, beside microcracking onset or growth, significant interfacial weakening, as critical forms of mechanical degradation. Metastable austenitic stainless 316L steel was selected, in order to provide a comprehensive study on bulk surfaces. Global findings on hydrogen effects were supplemented by nanoscale information. Only for the nanosection, Ti/Cu thin films were also included, namely an additional small-volume case. Samples have been charged with hydrogen under low fugacity conditions and the outcoming effects have been sorted out by mechanical response tracking assisted by contact mechanics methodology. Nanoindentation and continuous scratch tests were utilized supplemented by Scanning Probe Microscopy (SPM) visualization. Local resolution provided remarkable input to the global findings, in terms of dislocation nucleation aspects, near surface modification, plastic localization and microfracture onset. In thin layers, the effective work of the adhesion was reduced indicating significant degradation that could be expressed quantitatively. Global/local benefits of the stainless steel system under study made it possible to apply multiscale models describing complex micro-mechanical processes. __________ Translated from Problemy Prochnosti, No. 1, pp. 93–96, January–February, 2008.     

Psychometric properties of the Geriatric Depression Scale among the institutionalized aged.

Validity and reliability of the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) were examined among 806 nursing home and congregate apartment residents (mean age 84 years). The scale was highly internally consistent and, although a clean factor structure emerged, basically unidimensional. Test-retest reliability at 1 mo was good, but correlations with staff-rated depression were only moderate. GDS-based classifications of respondents as suffering possible major, minor, or no depression were fairly consistent with those based on a symptom checklist and with clinical diagnoses. However, both the GDS and the checklist yielded high false negative rates vis à vis clinically diagnosed minor depression. There were no differences in reliability or validity for cognitively impaired and intact groups. GDS responses did not vary with age or length of institutionalization, but there was a positive correlation with functional disability and ill health. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Paradoxes of masochism.

Presents 5 paradoxes of masochism, which delineate intrapsychic and interpersonal patterns in which pain and "unpleasure" seem to become aims. Elements of the apparent contradictions inherent in masochistic disorders and some of their transference and countertransference implications are discussed. The 5 paradoxes highlight (1) intrapsychic conflict around issues of drive and defense, (2) conflict between autonomy and gratification through depending on others, (3) pain inherent in the quest for perfection, (4) pain associated with attachment to the object, and (5) pleasure evokes physical pain and injury, a screen for early dire physical trauma. Case material illustrates each paradox. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Helen Peak (1900–1985).

Presents an obituary for Helen Peak. Peak was a brilliant scholar, an innovative researcher, and one of the few generalists left in an age of specialization. She helped to build social psychology as a research discipline by bringing the methodologies of the laboratory and of measurement to the study of personality and interpersonal relations. Her scientific contributions began in the 1930s with experiments that were solid contributions to the foundation of behavioral psychology. Her interest in methodology led to her classic chapter, "Problems of Objective Observation" (1953), an account of methods of data collection and analysis. It showed the fundamental assumptions and limitations of scaling procedures and interitem correlations, and considered problems of functional unity. It became a standard source for research workers both in the US and abroad. The major research that occupied Helen Peak in the postwar years was concerned with attitudinal structure and change. Her experiments showed how attitudes could be successfully changed. From this work she developed a general activation theory of both motivational processes and the properties of structure. Peak, in the spirit of Kurt Lewin, helped reunite social psychology with individual psychology in her research and theories on attitudes and motivation—central problems of both disciplines. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

CFD simulation of particle deposition in a reconstructed human oral extrathoracic airway for air and helium–oxygen mixtures

In order to compare the effects of using helium–oxygen and air in assisted breathing and inhalation therapies, flow and particle deposition results were obtained in a realistic model of human oral extrathoracic (ET) airways using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and pressure loss measurements. As the main deposition mechanism for pharmaceutical aerosols in the ET is inertial impaction, the ET model was reconstructed from medical images to take into account the complexity of realistic morphological features. Calculations were performed with the CFD software Fluent^®, and pressure losses were measured on a cast based on a stereolithographic fabrication of the model. Results show that ET pressure loss and particle deposition are lower with helium–oxygen as compared to air. Moreover, further simulations were performed with various particle sizes and inspiratory flow rates, which indicate that particle deposition in the ET depends on both the Stokes and Reynolds number.