Scientific rigor, scientific integrity: A comment on Sommer and Sommer.

Examines ethical issues raised in an article by R. Sommer and B. A. Sommer (see record 1984-10654-001) that questioned the validity of results reported by H. Barber and R. Heber (1973). Among these issues are criteria for establishing whether a particular study is sufficiently rigorous to be the basis of valid conclusions, the determination of whether or not reported data are truthful, and appropriate means of making such a determination. It is argued that optimum assessments of these questions involve the separation of questions of rigor from questions of integrity. (3 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A case history demonstrating the complementary use of psychodynamic and behavioral techniques in psychotherapy.

Presents a case history that demonstrates a successful combination of psychodynamic and behavioral techniques in the treatment of a married graduate student in his mid-30's who presented with a dysfunctional anxiety about studying, fear of criticism, and feeling uncomfortable in groups. S was first treated behaviorally, using systematic desensitization, to decrease study anxiety and then psychodynamically to assist in the understanding and working through of underlying fears of failure. Theoretical formulations and objections related to the approach are discussed. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Microstructural trapping effects on hydrogen induced cracking of a microalloyed steel

The susceptibility of a Ti microalloyed HSLA steel to internal hydrogen induced cracking has been correlated with the hydrogen trapping character of the microstructure. Both of these properties are influenced by aging reactions which determine the type and extent of carbide precipitation as well as metalloid segregation to grain boundarie. In turn, crack path susceptibility and total trapping character determine in large part the threshold and steady-state cracking propensities. Thus, metalloid segregation concurrent with potent irreversible trap (TiC) precipitation results in low inherent toughness, but no appreciables drop in threshold stress intensity. Conversely, cementite precipitates formed at lower aging temperatures provide potent crack initiation sites in the absence of deep trapping, resulting in a lower threshold for cracking.     

Ethics in our industry—Problem definition

From someone with the capability to someone with the human need     

Dumping following partial gastrectomy

The incidence of dumping has varied from 1 to 75% in a number of reported series. The discrepancy probably depends mainly on different definitions of the dumping syndrome. In the present work, the clinical diagnostic index (CDI) first proposed by Sigstad in 1968, has been used in a follow-up study of 241 patients after gastric resection for ulcer disease. 86% of the patients were satisfied with the result of the operation. Dumping occurred daily in 14.1% and 19.5% had the symptoms occasionally. The differences in the frequency of dumping after BI and BII resection were not statistically significant, gastro-jejunal fixation (GJF) and the position of the anastomosis had no influence on the prognosis.     

Parameter-dependent Lyapunov functions and the Popov criterion inrobust analysis and synthesis

Many practical applications of robust feedback control involve constant real parameter uncertainty, whereas small gain or norm-bounding techniques guarantee robust stability against complex, frequency-dependent uncertainty, thus entailing undue conservatism. Since conventional Lyapunov bounding techniques guarantee stability with respect to time-varying perturbations, they possess a similar drawback. In this paper we develop a framework for parameter-dependent Lyapunov functions, a less conservative refinement of “fixed” Lyapunov functions. An immediate application of this framework is a reinterpretation of the classical Popov criterion as a parameter-dependent Lyapunov function. This result is then used for robust controller synthesis with full-order and reduced-order controllers     

A model for the oxide growth stress and its effect on the creep of metals

Metallurgical and Materials Transactions A - A mathematical model is developed for the effect of the oxide growth stress upon the high temperature deformation of metal. The growth stress is modeled...     

Global stabilization of the spinning top with mass imbalance

We consider the stabilization of a top with known imbalance to the sleeping motion. We first define the sleeping motion and show that it is a solution of the equations of motion of a balanced top. In the general case where the top is unbalanced, we derive two families of control laws that globally asymptotically stabilize a top with known imbalance to the sleeping motion using torque actuators. The input torque is produced by two body-fixed torque actuators in one case, and is confined to the inertial "XY-plane in the other. The control-design strategy is based on Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman theory with zero dynamics. The result is global in the sense that the spinning top can be stabilized to the sleeping motion regardless of spin rate, and from an arbitrary initial motion that has a coning angle of up to 90^°