Florida DOT Project-Level Bridge Management Models

The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) is in the process of implementing Pontis, a Bridge Management System, to provide decision support to engineers in the headquarters and district offices as they make routine policy, programming, and budgeting decisions regarding the preservation and improvement of the state’s bridges. As part of this effort, an ongoing research program is underway to adapt the system to FDOT needs as well as to advance the state of the art in several areas important to the Department. Most of the research results are organized around a new project-level decision support framework that complements and builds on Pontis’ existing network-level analysis. Specific new models include accident risk and user cost due to roadway width and alignment deficiencies; user cost of load capacity and vertical clearance restrictions, and moveable bridge openings; project-level prediction models for bridge element condition and costs; and prediction of economics of scale and scoping possibilities. The new models are built into a highly graphical spreadsheet model for decision support use.     

Age and gender differences in cardiac reactivity and subjective emotion responses to emotional autobiographical memories.

This research reports age and gender differences in cardiac reactivity and subjective responses to the induction of autobiographical memories related to anger, fear, sadness, and happiness. Heart rate (HR) and subjective state were assessed at baseline and after the induction of each emotion in 113 individuals (61 men, 52 women; 66% European American, 34% African American) ranging in age from 15 to 88 years (M = 50.0; SD = 20.2). Cardiac reactivity was lower in older individuals; however, for anger and fear, these age effects were significantly more pronounced for the women than the men. There were no gender differences in subjective responses, however, suggesting that the lower cardiac reactivity found among older people is dependent on gender and the specific emotion assessed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

俄罗斯减速器涡轮钻具驱动PDC钻头在西西伯利亚油田的成功应用

涡轮钻具由前苏联研制出来以后，得到了迅速发展，目前已发展到减速器涡轮钻具阶段。现在，俄罗斯西西伯利亚地区普遍使用减速器涡轮钻具钻井，而减速器涡轮钻具驱动PDC钻头的使用还是空白。采用俄罗斯生产的几种不同型号的减速器涡轮钻具，在西西伯利亚进行了驱动PDC钻头钻井的阶段性试验。试验结果表明，在优选PDC钻头结构的情况下，用减速器涡轮钻具驱动PDC钻头，钻头进尺和机械钻速都较牙轮钻头有显著的提高，经济和社会效益显著。介绍了试验中使用的3种俄罗斯减速器涡轮钻具(TPM-195，TPⅢ-195和TPO3—195)的结构特点和主要技术参数。     

User interfaces for communication bridges across the digital divide

Connecting people across the “digital divide” is as much a social effort as a technological one. We are developing a community-centred approach to learn how interaction techniques can compensate for poor communication across the digital divide. We have incorporated the lessons learned regarding social intelligence design in an abstraction and in a device called the SoftBridge. The SoftBridge allows communication to flow from endpoints through adapters, getting converted if necessary, and out to destination endpoints. Field trials are underway with two communities in South Africa: disadvantaged Deaf users and an isolated rural community. Initial lessons learned show that we have to design user interfaces that allow users to understand and cope with delay. We also learned that social concerns are often more important than the technical issues in designing such systems.     

新型刮刀钻头的设计及现场试验研究

在理论分析的基础上，综合PDC钻头和刮刀钻头的优点，设计了一种新型的刮刀钻头，并进行了现场试验。现场试验结果表明，该钻头运转平稳，采用低钻压、高转速，钻进速度快，井眼规则通畅，有较明显的防斜作用，该种钻头的推广应用对提高钻井工程的整体效益具有十分重要的意义。     

An Experimental Investigation into the Feed Rate Capacity of Rotary Valve and Blow Tank Feeders

Industry widely uses rotary valves and blow tanks for the pneumatic conveying of products, each having their pros and cons depending on the specific application. This article shows the differing results obtained when low-velocity conveying a product through a common pipeline using both a drop-through rotary valve and a bottom-discharge blow tank feeder. A number of issues arise in the rotary valve system, the main one being rotary valve air leakage. A blow tank system, on the other hand, does not leak, as it is an enclosed system. The experimental results show dramatic differences in product throughput. Further exploration leads to a novel modification being made to the rotary valve system in an attempt to increase its capacity. The result of this modification shows a slight increase in output tonnage, but still significantly less than that obtained from the blow tank.     

Progress in the development of polymer cholesteric liquid crystal flakes for display applications

Polymer cholesteric liquid crystal (PCLC) flake technology is being developed as an alternative display technology for flexible, reflective particle displays. The motion of PCLC flakes suspended in a host fluid can be controlled with an electric field, creating a way to electrically control the flakes' ability to brightly reflect light that is circularly polarized. The PCLC flake/host fluid dispersion has been successfully microencapsulated both in a polymer matrix and in gelatin micro-capsules. Microencapsulation will not only expand the applications scope of the technology, but also may aid in addressing some potential problem areas that are inherent to many forms of particle display technology. A second important development in PCLC flake technology involves the manufacture of shaped flakes based on soft lithography techniques. The size and shape of a flake impact its reorientation, and uniformly shaped flakes respond in a similar manner. The unique reflective properties of PCLC flakes also provide possible applications in areas such as optics and photonics, switchable ‘smart windows’ or conformal coatings, and information displays such as ‘electronic paper.’     

降低气体悬浮焙烧炉焙烧过程中Al_2O_3粒度破损的措施

为了降低气体悬浮焙烧炉焙烧过程中Al_2O_3粒度的破损,对气体悬浮焙烧炉焙烧过程中氧化铝粒度的影响因素进行了分析,提出了降低粒度破损的一些措施。     

Effect of gas mixing ratio on gas-phase composition and etch rate in an inductively coupled CF4/Ar plasma

In this work, we carried out investigations aimed at understanding the effect of gas mixing ratio on plasma parameters, gas phase composition and etch rate in CF₄/Ar inductively coupled plasma. For this purpose, a combination of experimental methods and modelling was used. Experiments showed that electron temperature and electron density are not very sensitive to variations of Ar content in CF₄/Ar plasma. From a zero-dimensional plasma model, the densities of both neutral and charged particles change monotonically. The analysis of surface kinetics based on an ion-assisted etching mechanism showed the possibility of non-monotonic etch rate behaviour due to a concurrence of chemical and physical etching pathways.     

Filtration of Non-Newtonian Hydrocarbon Fluid in a High-Frequency Electromagnetic Field

The paper gives the results of experimental investigations of the initial pressure gradient of bituminous oil and the time dependences of variation of the temperature in a formation model and of the well production rate in a microwave-frequency electromagnetic field. The effect of strong decay of the non-Newtonian properties of bituminous oil is revealed. The nonuniformity of temperature distribution over the formation thickness is demonstrated, which depends on the initial production rate of the well and on the duration of stimulation of the bottom-hole zone of formation.