Promise is Debt, Threat Another Matter: The Effect of Credibility on the Interpretation of Conditional Promises and Threats.

Evidence from reasoning tasks shows that promises and threats both tend to receive biconditional interpretations. They also both display high speaker control. On the face of it, the only difference seems to be the positive or negative signing of the consequent. In a promise, the speaker tries to persuade the hearer to do something by holding out the prospect of a particular reward; in a threat, the speaker tries to refrain the hearer from doing something by holding out the prospect of a particular punishment. This paper investigates the respects in which conditional promises and threats differ further by means of an inference task. The credibility of the consequent was manipulated in order to examine whether the acceptability ratings of inferences based on promises and on threats would be equally affected. The results of the inference task and an analysis of the reasons people give for their answers suggest that the credibility of promises is less affected by the use of excessive consequents than the credibility of threats. In other words, promise remains debt, whereas threat is another matter. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Analysis of radiation-grafted membranes for fuel cell electrolytes

One of the primary obstacles to be overcome for the development of economical fuel cells is the high cost of the membrane electrolyte. The currently favoured polymer electrolytes consist of poly(tetrafluoroethylene) backbone structures and poly(perfluorosulphonic acid) side chains. In an effort to find lower cost membranes, some radiation-grafted copolymer membranes were investigated. All the membranes contained poly(styrenesulphonic acid) side chains. Three different backbone polymer structures were studied: low-density poly(styrene), poly(tetrafluoroethylene)/poly(perfluoropropylene), and poly(tetrafluoroethylene). The results indicate that the membrane consisting of a poly(tetrafluoroethylene)/poly(styrenesulphonic acid) copolymer is a promising candidate as a fuel-cell electrolyte.     

Production and Electrostatic Precipitation of Combustion Nuclei by an Electrified Propane?Air Flame

The results are given of an investigation into the production and electrostatic precipitation of combustion nuclei by an electrified propane-air flame. The apparatus consisted of a burner with a dc potential applied which was supported inside a grounded metal combustion chamber where the generation and removal of particles could be studied. A mathematical and experimental analysis of transient combustion nuclei concentrations inside the combustion chamber was carried out to evaluate the nuclei precipitation and production rates as a function of flame potentials and air flow rates. Two new theoretical equations containing production, precipitation, and flow parameters are derived to describe these transient concentrations. The constants of the equations were determined by experiment. These lead directly to the important parameters of nuclei production and precipitation rates, which are difficult to assess individually using previously known techniques. The experiments show that the concentration of combustion nuclei in the exhaust gas can be significantly decreased by the simple electrification of the flame. For combustion processes that generate aerosols, the method has the advantage of using the flame itself to affect the removal of the particles from the exhaust gases. Since combustion nuclei are receiving increased attention as air pollutants, this study could have important practical applications.     

Influence of GMPLS on network providers' operational expenditures: a quantitative study

GMPLS is promoted as a major technology for the automation of network operations. It is often claimed to allow the reduction of operational expenses. However, detailed analysis and quantitative evaluation of the changes induced by such technologies is very rare. In this article we quantify the cost reduction potential of GMPLS. We present a detailed analysis and modeling of traditional operator processes. We also develop a model for the expected changed processes when using GMPLS and identify the differences quantitatively. A survey with major telecom operators has been done, and the process models have been verified and parameterized. This allowed quantitative evaluations of the OPEX changes with GMPLS. The results show that, depending on the network operator's processes, different impacts can be expected. As an overall result we could verify that a reduction on the order of 50 percent of OPEX can be expected for most operational models.     

Adoption and Pricing: The Underestimated Elements of a Realistic IPTV Business Case

The adoption of IPTV increases competition for telecom operators. Especially video on demand and the move to HDTV push the bandwidth requirements to the limits. It is very challenging for an operator to construct a successful and sustainable introduction of IPTV over the existing infrastructure. This article gives an overview of a typical business case followed by a detailed discussion of the adoption and evaluation of the outcome. The results of this article indicate the importance of a correct choice of adoption model and related parameters. It illustrates how different IPTV-specific effects on adoption (i.e., competition and analog switchoff) might have a considerable impact on the outcome. After adoption, the article shows how the outcome of the business case can be used within pricing decisions by setting sustainable and competitive boundaries on the tariff. Finally, as pricing will also have an important impact on adoption (e.g., a price reduction could lead to increased adoption), the possible impact of this feedback loop is indicated. In this sense the approach discussed in the article could easily be extended with a highly detailed cost model of the network architecture and technology, leading to a full business case for IPTV introduction by a telecom operator.     

Poroelastic behaviour of a water-saturated limestone

This paper presents the results of an experimental study carried out on a porous, water-saturated limestone. First, a set of poroelastic parameters is obtained from a wide range of experiments (drained, undrained, pore pressure loading and unjacketed tests) conducted on the same sample at the same stress state. A “null” test, inspired from unsaturated soil testing, is added to confirm the previous results, in particular the value of the Biot coefficient. Then, the variation of the measured parameters between samples is investigated. Finally, the influence of the stress state is studied in the framework of semilinear poroelasticity. Several expressions are compared to model the evolution of the drained bulk modulus as a function of Terzaghi's effective stress.     

Magnesium global development: Outcomes from the TMS 2007 annual meeting

The magnesium industry is experiencing dramatic growth, due in part to the demands of the automotive industry to improve fuel economy and emissions. As a result, the TMS annual magnesium symposium is one of the fastest-growing subject areas at TMS. In addition, TMS is recognized as the global light metals community’s preeminent forum for the presentation of magnesium science and technological issues. As a focal point of the 2007 TMS Annual Meeting in Orlando, Florida, the TMS Magnesium Committee held its first plenary session with expert representatives from around the world. In order to address the surge in magnesium technology in recent years, the TMS Magnesium Globalization plenary session included a variety of subjects that ranged from economic to technical.     

Municipalities as a Driver for Wireless Broadband Access

Municipalities can form a driving force behind the deployment of new telecom infrastructure. While a telecom operator focuses on direct (financial) profits, a municipality is mainly interested in the social benefits for its inhabitants. In this paper, we evaluate a wireless municipality network from both a technical and an economic point of view. WiFi and WiMAX are considered as the most suited technologies for this purpose. A detailed techno-economic study has been performed including forecasting of the user adoption, dimensioning of the wireless network and modelling the related costs and revenues. The trade-off between installing a high number of relatively cheap WiFi access points, and a smaller number of more expensive WiMAX base stations for delivering full coverage is investigated in several scenarios.