Misalignment-Induced Bending in Pin-Loaded Tensile-Creep Specimens

In this paper, we have examined the possibility that elastic bending induced by load misalignment can affect creep measurements on pin-loaded tension specimens of silicon nitride (Si₃N₄). We have shown that elastic bending at room temperature can be as great as 42% of the axial strain when clean pins were used but was reduced to ∼3% when lubricated pins were used. Creep tests at the same applied stress and temperature were conducted on two groups of Si₃N₄ test specimens: one group used clean pins, and the other group used lubricated pins. By measuring the shapes of the specimens before and after the creep tests, we have determined that the loading holes were slightly misaligned before the creep tests and that small amounts of bending were induced by the creep tests. Bending occurred both in the gauge section of the specimen and in the transition region between the gauge section and the heads of the specimen (the latter phenomenon is defined as hinge bending). Our study indicated that the secondary creep rate, the hinge bending, and the bending of the gauge section was not dependent on pin lubrication, because the results from the clean and lubricated groups were statistically indistinguishable. Hinge bending was dependent on initial misalignment of the loading holes, whereas bending of the gauge section was independent of such factors.     

Electrochemical characterization of electrolytes for lithium-ion batteries based on lithium difluoromono(oxalato)borate

The salt lithium difluoromono(oxalato)borate (LiDFOB) showed some promising results for lithium-ion-cells. It was synthesized via a new synthetic route that avoids chloride impurities. Here we report the properties of its solutions (solvent blend ethylene carbonate/diethyl carbonate (3:7, mass ratio), including its conductivity, cationic transference number, hydrolysis, Al-current collector corrosion-protection ability and its cycling performance with some electrode materials. Some Al-corrosion studies were also performed with the help of our recently developed computer controlled impedance scanning electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance (EQCM) that proofed to be a useful tool for battery material investigations.     

Oxidation-abrasion of TiC-based cermets in SiC medium

The aim of the current study was to investigate the effect of oxidation on abrasive wear behaviour of TiC based cermets at temperatures ranging from 20 to 900 °C. Three types of material performance maps were constructed: oxidation rate maps, wear rate maps and maps showing the effect of oxidation on abrasion. Discussion on the performance of different cermet grades is supported by the SEM images combined with EDS and XRD analysis. The results should facilitate the selection of TiC-based cermets providing optimum composition of cermets for high temperature applications.     

Compositional specification of commercial contracts

We present a declarative language for compositional specification of contracts governing the exchange of resources. It extends Eber and Peyton Jones’s declarative language for specifying financial contracts (Jones et al. in The Fun of Programming. 2003) to the exchange of money, goods and services amongst multiple parties and complements McCarthy’s Resources, Events and Agents (REA) accounting model (McCarthy in Account Rev. LVII(3), 554–578, 1982) with a view- independent formal contract model that supports definition of user-defined contracts, automatic monitoring under execution and user-definable analysis of their state before, during and after execution. We provide several realistic examples of commercial contracts and their analyses. A variety of (real) contracts can be expressed in such a fashion as to support their integration, management and analysis in an operational environment that registers events. The language design is driven by both domain considerations and semantic language design methods: a contract denotes a set of traces of events, each of which is an alternative way of concluding the contract successfully, which gives rise to a CSP-style (Brooker et al. in J.ACM 31(3), 560–599, 1984; Hoare in Communicating Sequential Processes, 1985) denotational semantics. The denotational semantics drives the development of a sound and complete small-step operational semantics, where a partially executed contract is represented as a (full) contract that represents the remaining contractual commitments. This operational semantics is then systematically refined in two stages to an instrumented operational semantics that reflects the bookkeeping practice of identifying the specific contractual commitment a particular event matches at the time the event occurs, as opposed to delaying this matching until the contract is concluded.     

Quantification of haemodynamic response to auditory stimulus in intensive care

Measuring effects of sensory stimuli on haemodynamics could provide information about the interplay between central and autonomous nervous system (ANS). However, ANS response to sensory stimulus has received little attention. In this paper we present a signal processing scheme to extract the responses of heart rate and systemic arterial pressure on auditory stimulus in intensive care patients (N=5). In short, the effect of mechanical ventilation is rejected by optimal linear modelling. Other disturbances are attenuated by filtering and efficient rejection of outlying sweeps of data. The results show identifiable responses on three out of five cases. The response characteristics may be explained by synchronisation of spontaneous variability in systemic arterial pressure to auditory stimulus.     

Relationship formation and relational control as correlates of psychotherapy quality and outcome.

This study examined the nature of therapist–client interactions within and across seven psychotherapy cases (a) to test whether therapeutic outcome is a function of a transition from relational incongruence to relational congruence (S. Strong, 1982), and (b) to investigate the relation of relational congruence and control to qualitative aspects of the therapy relationship and to therapy outcome. Measures of therapist and client response patterning served as indices of relational congruence and of relational control. Relationship quality was assessed in terms of therapist and client ratings of their working alliance and of therapy session depth and smoothness. Outcome was operationalized in terms of symptom reduction. Results showed limited support for a relationship between relational congruence and therapy outcome and suggested that relational control is not a significant factor in client or therapist evaluations of relationship quality or therapy outcome. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)