Consumer context-specific sensory acceptance tests: Effects of a cognitive warm-up on affective product discrimination

For simple hedonic ratings, product range effects often limit the reliability and accuracy of consumer affective discriminations among multiple products. In the present study, a cognitive warm-up (CWU) procedure was applied to consumer acceptance tests in order to stabilize consumers’ evaluative criteria by evoking their personal evaluation context. The effects of such procedure on the robustness of the affective product discriminations were investigated using two sets of comparison experiments, each using a related samples design. Consumers with equivalent sensory preference profile for skin lotions were screened and divided into High Reflection Thinkers (HRT) and Low Reflection Thinkers (LRT) using the Cognitive Reflection Test. They were then randomly, but evenly assigned to either a treatment (Group I) or a control (Group II) group, in which hedonic rating was performed either with or without the preceding CWU procedure, thus forming four sub-groups (treatment group-HRT, treatment group-LRT, control group-HRT, and control group-LRT subjects). For each sub-group, discriminability between the two chosen products in terms of d′ value was compared across the two experimental conditions consisting of different product ranges. The results indicated that only in the control group-LRT subjects, the two conditions displayed different product discrimination. It suggests that for LRT subjects who are assumed to be more intuitive and thus might be more vulnerable to such product range effects, the CWU had a stabilizing effect on the evaluative criteria, resulting in more robust product discrimination.     

Design of a field programmable gate array based test launch and control system for hybrid vehicle

In order to satisfy the throttling and multiple restart characteristics of the hybrid rocket engine and guarantee the controllability and security of hybrid rocket, the test launch and control system for hybrid vehicle needs to achieve ground power control, serial communication with the flight control computer and the telemetry system, onboard thermal battery activation, battery voltage acquisition, power conversion, pressure monitoring, valve control, booster ignition, power-off and remote pressure relief in emergency. Considering the complexity of the test launch and control system for hybrid system and the advantages of Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), such as, a large number of I/O ports, ability to efficiently implement large-scale systems and programmability, a FPGA based test launch and control system for a type of hybrid vehicle was designed. Many conducted ground and flight experiments have proved that the system has superior performance in integration, universalization, miniaturization, automation and can perfectly meet the needs of the hybrid vehicle.     

Behavior of a mechanically anchored waterproofing membrane system under wind suction and uniform Pressure

A pressure and wind tunnel test was conducted to obtain the basic data for wind resistance design of a mechanically anchored waterproofing membrane system. The test specimen was a flat roof with the following dimensions: 2.4 m in width, 3 m in length and 0.29 m in height. The waterproofing material was polyvinyl chloride sheet reinforced with polyester fiber (PVC sheets). In the pressure test, because the applied pressure was equivalent to the pressure on the entire surface area of the roof, the billowing heights of the PVC sheet around the fastener had almost the same maximum values; therefore, the axial force at the fastener was also similar to the pressure induced by a compressor, and no lateral forces were measured. On the other hand, in the wind tunnel test, the strain of the PVC sheet around the fastener at windward side was larger than that of the leeward side. The lateral force was 70% of the axial force at a mean wind speed of 38.6 m/s. Therefore, it was clear that the characteristics of the mechanically anchored waterproofing membrane system in the pressure test and the wind tunnel test were different.     

Comparison of CTOD standards: BS 7448-Part 1 and revised ASTM E1290

Crack tip opening displacement (CTOD) has been calculated using the plastic hinge model with an assumed rotational center since the British Standards Institution (BS) standardized BS5762 in 1979. The American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) accepted the plastic hinge model and standardized E1290 in 1989. However, ASTM revised E1290 in 2002, and has proposed a conversion from J to CTOD. CTOD-based fracture toughness evaluation has been widely used for the defect assessment of many welded structural components, and two different CTOD calculations could lead to confusion for Fitness-for-Service. In this study, the effects of CTOD testing methodologies on CTOD values were investigated according to round robin tests conducted by the Japan Welding Engineering Society (WES), and the concept of CTOD as a fracture parameter is discussed.     

Fast phase switching within the bunch train of the PHIN photo-injector at CERN using fiber-optic modulators on the drive laser

The future Compact Linear Collider (CLIC) e⁻/e⁺ collider is based on the two-beam acceleration concept, whereby interleaving electron bunches of the drive beam through a delay loop and combiner rings as well as high peak RF power at 12 GHz are created locally to accelerate a second beam, the main beam. One of the main objectives of the currently operational CLIC Test Facility (CTF3) is to demonstrate beam combination from 1.5 GHz to 12 GHz, which requires satellite-free fast phase-switching of the drive beam with sub-ns speed. The PHIN photo-injector, with the photo-injector laser, provides flexibility in the time structure of the electron bunches produced, by direct manipulation of the laser pulses. A novel fiber modulator-based phase-switching technique allows clean and fast phase-switch at 1.5 GHz. This paper describes the switching system based on fiber-optic modulators, and the measurements carried out on both the laser and the electron beam to verify the scheme.     

Wear behavior of HPPMS deposited (Ti,Al,Si)N coating under impact loading

Over the last decade the interest in High Power Pulse Magnetron Sputtering (HPPMS) and High impulse Magnetron Sputtering (HiPIMS) has undergone a considerable increase. This is mainly due to the fact that several researchers have shown that in these processes a distinct increase of the ionization of deposition species is observable. However, there is only little known about the performance of these films with regard to applications. Recently Hovsepian et al. [1] and Bobzin et al. [2] presented cutting results of different films. Both authors show that films deposited using HPPMS or HiPIMS outperform state‐of‐the‐art coatings. Depending on the cutting process, besides hardness and adhesion also excellent impact behavior is required. Therefore this work deals with the impact behavior of (Ti,Al,Si)N which was deposited using HPPMS for the application in interrupted cutting process. The impact behavior of HPPMS coating under normal and tangential loads is analyzed. During impact tests number of impacts, loads and inclination angle of the samples with regard to the load direction are varied. (Ti,Al,Si)N shows an excellent endurance even at very high loads causing Hertzian stresses in the range of 10–13 GPa. At an inclination angle of 10° and an impact load of 100 N, which corresponds to app. 10 GPa initial Hertzian stress, no damage was observed after 800×10³ impacts.     

Puncture resistance of polyester (PET) and polypropylene (PP) needle-punched nonwoven geotextiles

It is common practice to use needle-punched nonwoven geotextiles as puncture protection for geomembranes against sharp objects like gravel or stones in either the soil above or the underlying soil/rock below. There are several design and experimental methods available for geotextile selection in this regard. None, however, directly address the type of resin or fiber from which the geotextile is made. This paper does exactly that insofar as a direct comparison of similar mass per unit area polyester (PET) versus polypropylene (PP) geotextiles are concerned. Furthermore, two types of PP geotextiles are evaluated; one made from continuous filaments and the other from staple fibers. Three different size and shaped puncture probes are used in the testing program. All three are ASTM Standards, i.e., D4833, D5495 and D6241.The test results clearly indicate that geotextiles made from PP fibers outperform those made from PET fibers at all masses evaluated. Clearly, the present trend of using PP resin for heavy nonwoven protection geotextiles seems justified on the basis of these test results. In addition, the continuous filament PP and staple fiber PP geotextiles performed equivalently over all mass ranges for the three different types of puncture tests.     

工程机械多功能试验合控制系统剖析

工程机械多功能试验台用于工程机械的牵引及加载试验.该试验台可悬挂工程机械的多种工作装置,以研究工程机械工作装置的作业机理和性能参数选择.试验台主要由机械结构系统、液压系统、控制系统、测试系统和电力系统等组成.介绍试验台控制系统的结构组成、控制原理和技术特点.     

冷轧硅钢片磁性能测量因素的分析

采用硅钢片磁性能测试系统,分析了测试环境温度(10～30℃)、试样质量(642～667 g)和剪切应力(剪切1～5次)对国内外不同牌号0.27～0.50 mm取向和无取向冷轧硅钢片磁性能的影响.结果表明,随环境温度升高,冷轧硅钢片的铁损和磁感降低;随试样质量增加,铁损增加,磁感降低;随剪切次数增加铁损递增,磁感递减.文中归纳出磁性能测量的适合条件和注意事项.     

Mental state decoding abilities in young adults with borderline personality disorder traits.

Previous studies have demonstrated that patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD) tend to misattribute malevolence to benign social stimuli, including facial expressions. Yet, facial emotion recognition studies examining those with BPD have yielded mixed results, with some studies showing impaired accuracy and others demonstrating enhanced accuracy in the recognition of emotions or mental states. The current study examined the ability to decode mental states from photographs of just the eye region of faces in a nonclinical sample of young adults who exhibited BPD traits (high BPD) compared with those who did not (low BPD). Group differences in mental state decoding ability depended on the valence of the stimuli. The high-BPD group performed better for negative stimuli compared with the low-BPD group, but did not perform significantly different from the low-BPD group for stimuli of neutral or positive valence. The high-BPD group also demonstrated a response bias for attributing negative mental states to facial stimuli. In addition, findings suggested that the group difference in accuracy for negative stimuli could not be explained by response bias, because the group difference in response bias for negative stimuli did not reach significance. These findings suggest that BPD traits may be associated with enhanced ability to detect negative emotions and a bias for attributing negative emotions to nonnegative social stimuli. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)