Superconductive magnetic-field-trapping device

An apparatus which enables the establishment of a magnetic field in air that has the same intensity as the ones in ferromagnetic materials is described. The apparatus is comprised of a core of ferromagnetic material and is surrounded by a cylinder made of a material that has superconducting properties when cooled below a critical temperature. A method is provided for producing a magnetic field through the ferromagnetic core. The core can also be split and pulled apart when it is required that the center of the cavity be left empty

Magnetic-flux pump

A magnetic flux pump is described for increasing the intensity of a magnetic field by transferring flux from one location to the magnetic field. The device includes a pair of communicating cavities formed in a block of superconducting material, and a piston for displacing the trapped magnetic flux into the secondary cavity producing a field having an intense flux density

Resilience markers for safer systems and organisations

If computer systems are to be designed to foster resilient performance it is important to be able to identify contributors to resilience. The emerging practice of Resilience Engineering has identified that people are still a primary source of resilience, and that the design of distributed systems should provide ways of helping people and organisations to cope with complexity. Although resilience has been identified as a desired property, researchers and practitioners do not have a clear understanding of what manifestations of resilience look like. This paper discusses some examples of strategies that people can adopt that improve the resilience of a system. Critically, analysis reveals that the generation of these strategies is only possible if the system facilitates them. As an example, this paper discusses practices, such as reflection, that are known to encourage resilient behavior in people. Reflection allows systems to better prepare for oncoming demands. We show that contributors to the practice of reflection manifest themselves at different levels of abstraction: from individual strategies to practices in, for example, control room environments. The analysis of interaction at these levels enables resilient properties of a system to be ‘seen’, so that systems can be designed to explicitly support them. We then present an analysis of resilience at an organisational level within the nuclear domain. This highlights some of the challenges facing the Resilience Engineering approach and the need for using a collective language to articulate knowledge of resilient practices across domains

Modeling and Simulation of Temperature Profiles in a Reactive Distillation System for Esterification of Acetic Anhydride with Methanol

This paper pertains to an experimental and theoretical study of simulation of temperature profiles in a one- stage adiabatic batch distillation/reactor for the production of methyl acetate and acetic acid from the esterification of acetic anhydride with methanol. Basically it deals with the development of a mathematical model for temperature predictions in the reactor. The reaction kinetics of the process was modeled using information obtained from experimental temperature –time data during the esterification processes. The simulation results were then compared with the experimental data. The maximum deviation of the model –predicted temperature form the corresponding experimentally measured temperature was less than 4% which is quite within the acceptable deviation range of experimental results.. Keywords: Modeling, Simulation, Reactive distillation, Temperature, Esterification, Acetic anhydride, Methano

Monte Carlo simulations of fluid vesicles with in plane orientational ordering

We present a method for simulating fluid vesicles with in-plane orientational ordering. The method involves computation of local curvature tensor and parallel transport of the orientational field on a randomly triangulated surface. It is shown that the model reproduces the known equilibrium conformation of fluid membranes and work well for a large range of bending rigidities. Introduction of nematic ordering leads to stiffening of the membrane. Nematic ordering can also result in anisotropic rigidity on the surface leading to formation of membrane tubes.Comment: 11 Pages, 12 Figures, To appear in Phys. Rev.

The Pollyanna Hypothesis in Business Writing: Initial Results, Suggestions for Research

This paper looks at three hypotheses: that regardless of the financially good or bad years of a corporation, the communication in the annual let ters to the stockholders will be predominantly positive; that negative words are less frequent in a financially good year than a bad year; and that German readers also tend to accept the same preferred, positive words as Americans. All hypotheses were sustained after viewing 12 annual letters to stockholders in 1975 and 12 letters in 1977. The Pollyanna Hypothesis provides a fertile area for further research: into business letters, business speeches, or other areas which fall into the genre of written or oral business communication.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/68397/2/10.1177_002194368101800102.pd