Fabrication of collimating grids for an x-ray solar telescope using LIGA methods

 We are fabricating sub-collimating X-ray grids that are to be used in an orbiting solar X-ray telescope. The telescope optics consist of twelve rotating pairs of high aspect ratio grids. The pitch for the grids ranges from 34 μm to 317 μm. The grid thickness-to-grid-slit ratio must be approximately 50:1, resulting in grid thicknesses of 1 to 10 millimeters. We are implementing a design in which a 34 μm pitch, free-standing PMMA grid is fabricated with 20 μm wide slits through a 800 μm thickness. After exposure and developing, metal is electrodeposited into the slits in the PMMA grid and the PMMA is left in place to hold the individual metal pieces. For optimum imaging performance, the root-mean-square pitch of the two grids of each pair must match to within 1 part in 10000 and simultaneous exposures of stacked sheets of PMMA have insured that this requirement is met. Received: 30 October 1995 / Accepted: 25 January 1996     

Concept-Driven Interaction Design Research

In this article, we explore a concept-driven approach to interaction design research with a specific focus on theoretical advancements. We introduce this approach as a complementary approach to more traditional, and well-known, user-centered interaction design approaches. A concept-driven approach aims at manifesting theoretical concepts in concrete designs. A good concept design is both conceptually and historically grounded, bearing signs of the intended theoretical considerations. In the area of human–computer interaction and interaction design research, this approach has been quite popular but not necessarily explicitly recognized and developed as a proper research methodology. In this article, we demonstrate how a concept-driven approach can coexist, and be integrated with, common user-centered approaches to interaction design through the development of a model that makes explicit the existing cycle of prototyping, theory development, and user studies. We also present a set of basic principles that could constitute a foundation for concept driven interaction research, and we have considered and described the methodological implications given these principles. For the field of interaction design research we find this as an important point of departure for taking the next step toward the construction and verification of theoretical constructs that can help inform and guide future design research projects on novel interaction technologies.     

Investigation of ‘ageing’ of pressure vessel steel during the growth of a fatigue crack

The study of cyclic strain embrittlement during the growth of fatigue cracks in a pressure vessel steel used in Swedish boiling water reactors, A533B, emanated from observations made in Germany of stepwise crack growth during fatigue. It was demonstrated that stepwise crack growth does not occur in the investigated batch of A533B. No indication of embrittlement was found.     

A study of the efficiency of iterative methods for linear problems in structural mechanics

The efficiency of iterative methods in linear structural mechanics is studied. The efficiency concerns the calculation time, the numerical accuracy and the core storage needed. We state that iterative methods are effective in connection with hierarchical improvement of a primary approximation. Three iterative methods are studied: the conjugate gradient method preconditioned by a modified incomplete factorization matrix, the same method preconditioned by a matrix obtained from natural factors on elemental level, and a Jacobi integration preconditioned by viscous relaxation split in an element-by-element way. We make comparisons with direct methods, Gaussian elimination and factorization by use of natural factors.     

Life cycle emissions analysis of two nZEB concepts

The net-zero emissions building (nZEB) performance is investigated for building operation (EO) and embodied emissions in materials (EE) for Norway's cold climate. nZEB concepts for new residential and office buildings are conceived in order to understand the balance and implications between operational and embodied emissions over the building's life. The main drivers for the CO₂ equivalent (CO₂e) emissions are revealed for both building concepts through a detailed emissions calculation. The influence of the CO₂e factor for electricity is emphasized and it is shown to have significant impact on the temporal evolution of the overall CO₂e emissions balance. The results show that the criterion for zero emissions in operation is easily reached for both nZEB concepts (independent of the CO₂e factor considered). Embodied emissions are significant compared to operational emissions. It was found that an overall emissions balance including both operational and embodied energy is difficult to reach and would be unobtainable in a scenario of low carbon electricity from the grid. In this particular scenario, the net balance of emissions alone is nonetheless not a sufficient performance indicator for nZEB.     

Alanine scanning mutagenesis of insulin

Alanine scanning mutagenesis has been used to identify specific side chains of insulin which strongly influence binding to the insulin receptor. A total of 21 new insulin analog constructs were made, and in addition 7 high pressure liquid chromatography-purified analogs were tested, covering alanine substitutions in positions B1, B2, B3, B4, B8, B9, B10, B11, B12, B13, B16, B17, B18, B20, B21, B22, B26, A4, A8, A9, A12, A13, A14, A15, A16, A17, A19, and A21. Binding data on the analogs revealed that the alanine mutations that were most disruptive for binding were at positions TyrA19, GlyB8, LeuB11, and GluB13, resulting in decreases in affinity of 1,000-, 33-, 14-, and 8-fold, respectively, relative to wild-type insulin. In contrast, alanine substitutions at positions GlyB20, ArgB22, and SerA9 resulted in an increase in affinity for the insulin receptor. The most striking finding is that B20Ala insulin retains high affinity binding to the receptor. GlyB20 is conserved in insulins from different species, and in the structure of the B-chain it appears to be essential for the shift from the alpha-helix B8-B19 to the beta-turn B20-B22. Thus, replacing GlyB20 with alanine most likely modifies the structure of the B-chain in this region, but this structural change appears to enhance binding to the insulin receptor.     

Moisture distribution changes during drying

Subject  Changes of the moisture profiles were determined during drying by measurements of board density using a CT-scanner.     

Dynamics of Gaseous Uptake in the Lungs: The Concentration and Second Gas Effects

A one-compartment, continuous-time model is proposed for the investigation of dynamic gas exchange in the lungs. The dynamics of the alveolar gas concentrations (state variables, xi) are demonstrated to be critically determined by, among other things, the blood-gas partition coefficients and the inspired concentrations (inputs, ui) of the component gases. The model has a bilinear structure which, when sibjected to a step input, can be exactly linearized. It is shown that the eigenvalues of the system are all real and negative, and can be simultaneously maximized if the most soluble gas of the inspirate alone is inhaled (i. e., the system becoming minimally stable). The normalized state response (xg/uj) corresponding to this input exhibits the greatest steady-state excursion, albeit with the slowest kinetics, so that the response xi/Ui rises most rapidly. Furthermore, this input-dependent effect extends also to the uptake kinetics of all other gases in the inspirate. Our investigations suggest that it can be ascribed primarily to an increase in the ratio of inspired-to-expired ventilation. These analytical predictions are further supported by simulation studies, and correspond closely with independent experimental observations. These results are consistent with, and provide a quantitative account for, the experimental observations generally known as the concentration and second gas effects.     

A convergent approximation of the continuous-time optimal parameterestimator

Continuous-time linear stochastic systems that are bilinear in the state and parameters are considered. A specific approximation to the optimal nonlinear filter used as a recursive parameter estimator is derived by retaining third-order moments and using a Gaussian approximation for higher order moments. With probability one, the specific approximation is proved to converge to a minimum of the likelihood function. The proof uses the ordinary differential equation technique and requires that the trajectories of the slow system be bounded on finite time intervals and that the fixed parameter fast system by asymptotically stable. The fixed parameter fast system is proved to be asymptotically stable if the parameter update gain is small enough. Essentially, the specific approximation is asympotically equivalent to the recursive prediction error method, thus inheriting its asymptotic rate of convergence. A numerical simulation for a simple example indicates that the specific approximation has better transient response than other commonly used convergent parameter estimators     

Enhanced superconvergent patch recovery incorporating equilibrium and boundary conditions

Patch recovery based on superconvergent derivatives and equilibrium (SPRE), an enhancement of the Superconvergent Patch Recovery (SPR), is studied for linear elasticity problems. The paper also presents a further improvement for recovery of derivatives near boundaries, SPREB, where either tractions or displacements are prescribed. This is made by inclusion of weighted residual errors at boundary points in the patch recovery. A pronounced improvement in the post processed gradients of the finite element solution is observed by this method.