Failure analysis of three reconditioned rail car couplers

Three reconditioned rail car couplers, arbitrarily identified as couplers, failed during service due to cracking of the front face. The three couplers were reportedly upgraded by quenching and tempering to enhance strength and toughness. The objective of this investigation was to determine the mode of crack propagation and the root cause of the observed failures. Verl E. (Bud) Kahle, P.E., was a professional failure analyst for more than forty years. After receiving his Bachelor of Science degree in physical metallurgy from Washington State University 1957, Bud was employed by the General Electric Company at a facility in Hanford, Washington. He later was employed by the Aerojet General Corporation and eventually was head of the Southern Pacific Materials Science Laboratory in Sacramento. After retirement from Southern Pacific he owned and operated his own firm, Kahle Metallurgical Consulting Services, for fifteen years. He came to be known as “the man with the answers” to clients in a variety of industries. Bud was a Life Member of ASM International. Many of Bud’s clients remarked on the high quality of his failure analysis case histories and encouraged him to have them published. After Bud passed away in 1999, his wife, Suzanne, approached ASM International to see if the society would be interested in publishing any of his work. Mrs. Kahle was able to supply a large number of reports, which Bud had carefully archived over the years. Journal of Failure Analysis and Prevention Associate Editor Michael Stevenson read through the collected case histories, selected the ones to be included in this issue, and edited them for journal publication. ASM International wishes to thank Mrs. Kahle for providing these case histories for publication.     

Evaluating reactivity to ecological momentary assessment during smoking cessation.

Ecological momentary assessment (EMA) consists of assessing phenomena in real time in the natural environment. EMA allows for more fine-grained analyses of addictive behavior and minimizes threats to internal validity, such as recall biases and errors. However, because of the intensive monitoring involved in EMA, measurement reactivity is a concern. To test whether EMA with palmtop personal computers induces reactivity, the authors compared smoking-related outcomes between smokers using EMA and those not using EMA during a quit attempt. The use of no-EMA control groups has been rare in reactivity investigations to date. The EMA protocol included event-contingent assessments (smoking episodes, urge episodes) and random assessments. Outcomes included biologically confirmed abstinence and self-report measures of withdrawal, self-efficacy, motivation, affect, and temptations. Participants were smokers motivated to quit (N = 96). They were randomized to 1 of 3 groups: EMA for the week preceding a planned quit date, EMA for the week following the quit date, and no EMA. Abstinence rates did not differ between the groups at Day 7 or at Day 28 postcessation. For the 20 subscales assessed at each of 3 assessment times, there were significant differences between participants with and without EMA experience for 3 subscales at the 1st of 3 assessment times, and significant differences for 3 different subscales at the 3rd assessment time. These differences suggest some reactivity to EMA, although the inconsistent pattern across time indicates that further research is needed to definitively conclude that EMA induces reactivity. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Relational-Interdependent Self-Construal, Self-Concept Consistency, and Well-Being.

Examination of the assumptions underlying consistency perspectives in social and personality psychology reveals that they are based on an independent, individualistic view of the self. If the self is constructed as relational or interdependent with others, consistency may be less important in social behavior and well-being. Using a variety of measures of well-being, the studies showed that there is a weaker relation between consistency and well-being for individuals with a highly relational self-construal than for those with a low relational self-construal. Study 3 examined the association between the self-construal, consistency, authenticity, and well-being. These findings reveal the importance of a cultural analysis of theories of the self, personality, and well-being for further theory development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

钻井井架力学性能分析

钻井井架作为钻机系统设备中的关键部分,其力学性能直接关系到整套钻机系统的安全生产。文章推导了常用于分析钻井井架力学性能的理论,即线性屈曲、几何非线性和双重非线性理论。提出同时用这三种理论对钻井井架进行综合比较分析,从而合理地预见井架力学性能的方法。以A形钻井井架为例,进行了详细的分析,得到了井架的失稳形式、极限承载、破坏特征及薄弱部位,为钻井井架的设计、优化与评定提供了参考。     

十二烷硫基硼酸铈的合成及摩擦学行为研究

合成了油溶性化合物十二烷硫基硼酸铈(简称CeDMB)，并用作润滑油添加剂。采用四球摩擦试验机和环—块试验机评价了其抗磨减摩性能。结果表明，十二烷硫基硼酸铈使HVI500基础油的抗磨性能得到明显改善，承载能力明显提高，摩擦系数明显降低。扫描电子显微镜(SEM)观察证实磨斑表面含有沉积物膜，结合X—射线光电子能谱(XPS)分析，可以推断添加剂在摩擦过程中发生摩擦化学反应，生成的Ce2O3、CeO2和B2O3沉积在摩擦副表面，形成润滑膜，从而改善其抗磨减摩性能。     

A connectionist implementation of the theory of planned behavior: Association of beliefs with exercise intention.

The theory of planned behavior suggests attitudes are a product of salient beliefs. This study examined whether aggregating salient beliefs was plausible within a more biologically centered information-processing environment. A neural network was used to examine associations among beliefs relating to exercise intention. Data on intentions and behavioral, normative, and control beliefs from 114 respondents were used to train (by error backpropagation) a neural network to associate beliefs with intention. The R2 between the network's estimated and self-reported intention was .66. The network's representation comprised 6 belief profiles associated with high, moderate, or low behavioral intention. The neural network accommodated complex relationships among beliefs and belief-intention associations and indicated how high-level constructs such as attitudes may be viewed as the best fit (compromise state) between aroused beliefs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Fictions and Facts About Evolutionary Approaches to Human Behavior: Comment on Lickliter and Honeycutt (2003).

Six misconceptions about evolutionary approaches to human behavior are exposed. Evidence is adduced to support the assertions that evolutionary approaches do not (a) adopt a reductionistic "gene-centered" level of analysis, (b) assume that natural selection is the only process that creates and designs ontogenetic processes and phenotypic outcomes, (c) assume that genes are the only agents responsible for the transgenerational inheritance of phenotypic traits and characteristics, (d) assume that genes are self-contained and impervious to extragenetic influences, (e) posit a strong form of genetic determinism, or (f) pay lip service to the role of the environment. Building straw men and knocking them down is an inherently destructive enterprise; integrating different approaches is a more constructive way of contributing to the growth of knowledge. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

技术创新中介组织的政府行为刍议

在世界经济竞争日趋激烈和科技发展突飞猛进的今天,技术创新中介组织将拥有巨大的发展空间。必须针对我国技术创新中介组织的发展现状,规范政府和中介组织的行为。     

The silence of the library: Environment, situational norm, and social behavior.

On the basis of the idea that situational norms are mentally represented as associations between environments and normative behavior, it was proposed that an environment can automatically direct normative behavior. More specifically, when situational norms are well-established (e.g., when entering the library, one should be silent), an environment is capable of automatically activating mental representations of normative behavior and the behavior itself. In these experiments, participants were exposed to pictures of environments, and effects on accessibility of representations of normative behavior and on actual behavior were assessed. Results indicated that representations of behavior and actual behavior itself are activated automatically when (a) goals to visit the environment are active and (b) strong associations between environment and normative behavior are established. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

双机械臂协调：以运动学为基础的模型分析与动态补偿控制方法

本文建立了双机械臂协调系统的主从式控制的非结构模型，并针对两臂具有相同特性和不同特性这两种情形作了稳定性分析，提出特性校正的方法，本文还利用内模原理设计出动态补偿器来克服标定约束的不确定性对系统控制品质的影响，最后给出了实验结果。