An anisotropic theory of elasticity for continuum damage mechanics

This paper presents the development of an anisotropic elastic damage theory. This is achieved by deriving a modified damage effect tensor M(D) for the effective stress equations capable of including the effect of anisotropic material damage. The modified tensor removes the restriction of a priori knowledge of the directions of principal stresses imposed by a damage effect tensor developed earlier and can now be made for general practical engineering applications of failure analysis. Reduction of the proposed tensor to a scalar for isotropic damage is shown to be possible when it is expressed not only in the principal directions but also in any arbitrary coordinate system, a necessary condition to verify the validity of the proposed tensor. Uniaxial tension and pure torsion are chosen to illustrate the application of the theory as well as associated damage variables that may be experimentally determined using laboratory size specimens. The measured damage variables confirm the presence of anisotropic damage from an initially isotropic material specimen and the magnitude is more pronounced at higher stresses and strains.

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Résumé On présente un développement d'une théorie sur l'endommagement élastique anisotrope en déduisant un tenseur modifié décrivant l'effet de l'endommagement pour un système d'équations de contraintes effectives susceptible d'inclure l'effet d'un endommagement dans un matériau anisotrope. Le tenseur modifié supprime la restriction de la connaissance a priori des directions des contraintes principales imposées par un tenseur d'effet d'endommagement développé précédemment; il peut à présent entrer dans les applications pratiques en construction de l'analyse des ruptures.On montre qu'il est possible de réduire le tenseur proposé à une valeur scalaire dans le cas d'un dommage isotrope, dès lors qu'il est exprimé non seulement suivant les directions principales, mais dans un système de coordonnées arbitraires, ce qui est une condition nécessaire pour en vérifier la validité.On choisit une traction multiaxiale et une torsion pure pour illustrer l'application de la théorie ainsi que des variables d'endommagement associées, susceptibles d'être déterminées expérimentalement à l'aide d'éprouvettes de laboratoire.Les variables d'endommagement mesurées confirment la présence d'un dommage anisotrope dans le cas d'une éprouvette d'un matériau initialement isotrope; son amplitude est plus prononcée à des contraintes ou des déformations plus importantes.

     

Development of a thermal hydraulic analysis code for gas-cooled reactors with annular fuels

Gas-cooled reactors have been highlighted as a promising option for next generation reactor technology. A thermal hydraulic analysis code for gas-cooled reactors has been developed with a heat transfer model of a block element, which is solved implicitly with the helium energy equation. Validation was carried out through comparison with both experimental and analytical results. A computation module for annular fuel rods has been coupled to the code for comparative analyses of an annular fuel-based block element. At normal operation, the annular fuel shows 80 °C lower peak temperature than the solid fuel for the same power in Japan's high temperature engineering test reactor (HTTR), even though the pressure drop is higher in the annular fuel.     

The study of sexual behavior in relation to the transmission of human immunodeficiency virus: Caveats and recommendations.

To create the behavior-change programs essential for limiting the acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) epidemic, we must obtain a precise understanding of the sexual behavior, knowledge, and attitudes of our nation's various ethnic, racial, social, age, regional, and sexual orientation groups. Such information is necessary for developing the precisely targeted educational programs that currently are our most effective means of reducing risk behaviors and halting the spread of the disease in the United States. These behavioral data are also crucial to biomedical investigations, making possible the identification of appropriate subjects for programs ranging from the testing of vaccines to the evaluation of the threat to pregnant women and their offspring. In this article, we summarize data on sexual behaviors associated with the transmission of the AIDS virus (i.e., human immunodeficiency virus [HIV]) and discuss selected issues relevant to the conduct of research on human sexuality. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Decision-directed maximum-likelihood estimation of OFDM framesynchronisation offset

The authors propose a method to estimate the synchronisation offset for orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) frame alignment without resort to pilot tones. A decision-directed maximum-likelihood estimation of frame synchronisation offset is derived, and the performance of the proposed scheme is confirmed by computer simulation for QAM systems     

Classification of pixels in a noisy grayscale image of polar ice

Often, in synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images of polar ice, one encounters shadow-like features across the images. Such features make it difficult to classify pixels into ice and water. Accordingly, it becomes a challenge to determine the true size and boundaries of ice floes in an SAR image of polar ice. We develop a simple statistical procedure which classifies pixels of an image by eliminating the effects of shadow-like features. Methodology developed in this paper is illustrated using some noisy SAR images of ice floes in the Arctic sea.     

Physical model of drain conductance, gd, degradation ofNMOSFET's due to interface state generation by hot carrierinjection

Degradation of analog device parameters such as drain conductance, g_d, due to hot carrier injection has been modeled for NMOSFET's. In this modeling, mobility reduction caused by interface state generation by hot carrier injection and the gradual channel approximation were employed. It has been found that g_d degradation can be calculated from linear region transconductance, g_m, degradation which is usually monitored for hot carrier degradation of MOSFET's. The values of g_d degradation calculated from g_m degradation fit well to the measured values of g_d degradation The dependence of the g_d degradation lifetime on L_eff has been also studied, this model also provides an explanation of the dependence on L_eff. The model is then useful for lifetime predictions of analog circuits in which g_d degradation is usually more important than g_m degradation     

Effect of lanthanide ions on the phase behavior of dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine multilamellar liposomes

The effect of lanthanide ions (Ln3+) and their coordination compounds of diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid (DTPA) on the phase behavior of dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC) multi-lamellar liposomes has been studied by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), Raman spectroscopy, and freeze-fracture electron microscopic techniques. The displacement of Ca2+ binding on DPPC liposomes by lanthanide ions was also studied. The results show that the binding degree of four kinds of chloride salts with DPPC liposomes is: YbCl3 > GdCl3 > LaCl3 > CaCl2. Lanthanide ions increase the phase transition temperature of DPPC liposomes and decrease the membrane fluidity. Freeze-fracture electron microscopic results show that La3+ enhances the order of DPPC membrane. The effect of coordination compounds of lanthanides with DTPA on the phase behavior of DPPC liposomes is smaller than that of their chlorides. La3+, Gd3+, and Yb3+, can displace Ca2+ binding on DPPC liposomes, but there coordination compounds of DTPA can hardly displace Ca2+. Raman spectroscopic results show that a very slight effect in lateral packing order of DPPC liposomes was observed at various concentrations of lanthanides.     

A new MMIC broadside coupler using an array of air-bridges for directivity enhancement

A new quadrature broadside coupler is proposed, which employs an array of air-bridges to enhance directivity via its phase-equalization effect on the c-mode and /spl pi/-modes. The realization of air-bridges follows a standard MMIC fabrication process. An experimental chip fabricated on the 75-/spl mu/m GaAs substrate verifies the air-bridge effect and shows wideband characteristics of the coupling of 3.2/spl plusmn/0.4 dB, the insertion loss of 3.9/spl plusmn/0.4 dB, the output phase deviation from quadrature less than 6/spl deg/, and the isolation greater than 18 dB from 20 to 40 GHz.     

Test data compression and test time reduction using an embedded microprocessor

Systems-on-a-chip (SOCs) with many complex intellectual property cores require a large volume of data for manufacturing test. The computing power of the embedded processor in a SOC can be used to test the cores within the chip boundary, reducing the test time and memory requirements. This paper discusses techniques that use the computing power of the embedded processor in a more sophisticated way. The processor can generate and reuse random numbers to construct test patterns and selectively apply only those patterns that contribute to the fault coverage, significantly reducing the pattern generation time, the total number of test applications and, hence, the test time. It can also apply deterministic test patterns that have been compressed using the characteristics of the random patterns as well as those of the deterministic patterns themselves, which leads to high compression of test data. We compare three fast run-length coding schemes which are easily implemented and effective for test-data compression. We also demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach by applying it to some benchmark circuits and by comparing it with other available techniques.     

A graphic approach to performance analysis of multistage linear interference canceller in long-code CDMA systems

The signal-to-interference-plus-noise-ratio performance of the multistage linear parallel and successive interference cancellers (LPIC and LSIC) in a long-code code-division multiple-access system is analyzed using a graphical approach. The decision statistic is modeled as a Gaussian random variable, whose mean and variance can be expressed as functions of moments of R for the LPIC and L for the LSIC, respectively, where R is the correlation matrix of signature sequences and L is the strict lower triangular part of R. Since the complexity of calculating these moments increases rapidly with the growth of the stage index, a graphical representation of moments is developed to facilitate the computation. Propositions are presented to relate the moment calculation problem to several well-known problems in graph theory, i.e., the coloring, the graph decomposition, the biconnected component finding, and the Euler tour problems. It is shown that the derived analytic results match well with simulation results.