The Israeli-Palestinian peace process and its vicissitudes: Insights from attitude theory.

The vicissitudes of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process since 1967 are analyzed using attitudes and related concepts where relevant. The 1967 war returned the two peoples' zero-sum conflict around national identity to its origin as a conflict within the land both peoples claim. Gradually, new attitudes evolved regarding the necessity and possibility of negotiations toward a two-state solution based on mutual recognition, which became the building stones of the 1993 Oslo agreement. Lacking a commitment to a final outcome, the Oslo-based peace process was hampered by reserve options, which increased avoidance at the expense of approach tendencies as the parties moved toward a final agreement. The resulting breakdown of the process in 2000 produced clashing narratives, reflecting different anchors for judgment and classical mirror images. Public support for violence increased, even as public opinion continued to favor a negotiated two-state solution. Reviving the peace process requires mutual reassurance about the availability of a partner for negotiating a principled peace based on a historic compromise that meets the basic needs and validates the identities of both peoples. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

User Interfaces for Complex Engineering Software: Application of Virtual Reality

IT systems for engineers are becoming more numerous and complex and will further proliferate in the future. It is infeasible to expect users to be trained to work with a plethora of systems, especially as many of them will only see occasional use. Therefore, in the near future, systems will need user interfaces that allow intuitive access and usage. This paper examines a new style of user interface based on virtual reality.     

Reliability Analysis of Single-Degree-of-Freedom Elastoplastic Systems. II: Suboptimal Excitations

A method for constructing an approximation of the critical excitation that drives an elastoplastic system from rest to a target threshold at a specified time instant, referred to as the “suboptimal excitation,” is presented in this paper. It is based on the observations gained from study of the critical excitations in the companion paper. Essentially, for the usual case of interest where the failure time is not small compared to the natural period, the duration of the positive and negative pulses of the critical excitation are roughly equal to half of the natural period. This consideration allows for a simple intuitive approximation of the critical excitation. The amplitudes of the positive and negative pulses are obtained in closed forms using energy balance. Numerical investigations show that the critical excitations are well approximated by the suboptimal excitations.     

Enhancement of Flexural Design of Horizontally Curved Prestressed Bridges

In this paper, flexural behavior of horizontally curved prestressed (posttensioned) box bridges is studied by using three-dimensional and refined finite-element modeling and analysis. Bridge length, section geometry, and material properties are the same in all the models, while angle of curvature varies from 0 to 90°. The results of analysis show that in curved bridges, stress distribution is significantly different in comparison to straight bridges. Also, the level of stresses at some locations of section width is considerably high. It is proposed to vary the distribution of the prestressing tendons across section width in order to optimize the bridge capacity. Results show that by proper redistribution of prestressing in section width, significant reduction in resultant stress is possible.     

Applications of the discrete element method in mechanical engineering

Compared to other fields of engineering, in mechanical engineering, the Discrete Element Method (DEM) is not yet a well known method. Nevertheless, there is a variety of simulation problems where the method has obvious advantages due to its meshless nature. For problems where several free bodies can collide and break after having been largely deformed, the DEM is the method of choice. Neighborhood search and collision detection between bodies as well as the separation of large solids into smaller particles are naturally incorporated in the method. The main DEM algorithm consists of a relatively simple loop that basically contains the three substeps contact detection, force computation and integration. However, there exists a large variety of different algorithms to choose the substeps to compose the optimal method for a given problem. In this contribution, we describe the dynamics of particle systems together with appropriate numerical integration schemes and give an overview over different types of particle interactions that can be composed to adapt the method to fit to a given simulation problem. Surface triangulations are used to model complicated, non-convex bodies in contact with particle systems. The capabilities of the method are finally demonstrated by means of application examples. Commemorative Contribution.     

基于Delphi的报童模型的实现与动态仿真

已往库存论中的决策模型,它是把现实过程用数学的方法进行分析,得到决策值,但不能看到决策的过程,不能反映出现实生活中的不确定性、动态性。运用Delphi 7.0和SQL server 2000对销售过程进行了动态仿真,利用Newsboy模型的推广(S,s)订购策略来监控库存并做出决策,这样就体现出此过程的不确定性、动态性;且举出了一个仿真商品销售的实例,对其中的一些关键技术,如何仿真、算法的实现等进行了阐述。     

喷射沉积SiCP/Al复合材料及6066铝合金热挤压工艺的研究

作者应用喷射共沉积工艺制备 6 0 6 6 / Si Cp复合材料和 6 0 6 6铝合金锭坯 ,在不同的挤压比、挤压温度下挤压成　　型 ,用金相显微镜观察材料的显微组织 ,并测试了材料的力学性能。结果表明 :Si C/ Al复合材料喷射沉积状态的组织很疏松 ,存在许多的间隙 ,其密度约为理论密度的 86 % ,Si C颗粒在复合材料中分布不均匀 ,喷射沉积铝合金基体的致密度可达 90 % ;挤压过程使 Al/ Si Cp复合材料的大多数空隙消失 ,致密程度随挤压比的增大而增大 ,挤压比超过 14 .7后不会明显变化 ,而铝合金基体的致密程度与挤压比的变化关系不明显 ;挤压温度对材料的致密程度影响不大 ;Al/ Si Cp复合材料性能在挤压比超过 14 .7后变化不大 ;铝合金的性能不受挤压比变化的影响 ;而挤压温度过高使材料性能下降     

中子寿命测井在评价管外窜槽中的应用

管外窜槽已成为制约中原油田注水开发的障碍，并造成了严重的经济损失。文中分析了管外窜槽的形成机理，重点介绍了注硼中子寿命测井技术用于管外窜槽监测的原理、工艺及解释方法。结合中原油田的应用实例，论证了中子寿命测井评价管外窜槽的有效性，为油藏动态监测提供了有效手段。     

油气集输系统新增产能建设拓扑优化方法研究

在油气集输新增产能建设中,为充分利用已建管网系统的处理能力,达到降低投资,提高经济效益的目的,进行了油气集输新增产能建设布局优化方法的研究。针对新建集输管网为树状结构的情况,建立了油气集输系统新增产能建设拓扑优化的数学模型,讨论了计算复杂性问题。根据模型的特点,将问题分解为拓扑级优化和几何级优化两个子问题,并通过它们之间的迭代进行求解。实例计算表明,所建立的数学模型正确,求解方法可行,能用于工程实际设计。     

Extension of a combined analytical/numerical initial value problem solver for turbulent mixing with combustion

Here, we describe the development of a reacting flow multi-species/combustion methodology, implemented as an extension to the differential reduced ejector analysis (DREA) computer program [Mathematical and computer modeling, vol. 31, 2000, p. 21; Appl. Math. Model. 25 (2001) 427; Comput. Math. Appl. 43(10–11); NASA Contractor Report, 1998]. Use of the single fluid IVP solver framework that was developed for the original DREA model has been directly coupled into the combustion formulation. With these modifications, the analysis has an elementary single step reaction Fuel+Oxidizer→Product combustion capability. Though approximate in nature, the simplicity and efficiency of the DREA formulation make it suitable for its original niche, namely design and preliminary design environments where more complex and expensive models may be inappropriate.