A specimen and method for evaluating the effect of cladding on the behavior of subclad flaws

A specimen that reveals important fracture-related properties of cladding in the presence of a subclad flaw is under development at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). Information developed from testing these specimens, referred to as Jo-Blocks, is being used by the Heavy-Section Steel Technology (HSST) Program in evaluating the behavior of subclad flaws in Pressurized Water Reactors (PWR) pressure vessels during pressurized-thermal-shock (PTS) loading conditions. The cladding can be idealized as a force that holds an otherwise surface flaw closed'' at the surface, reducing the stress intensity factor along the portion of the crack front in the base material. This closing force is approximately equal to the average stress in the cladding, which for postulated severe PTS transients is at yield, multiplied by the cladding thickness. There is a critical amount of stretching of the cladding that results in through-clad flaw propagation, i.e., cladding failure, thus converting the subclad flaw to a surface flaw. The Jo-Block specimen consists of two steel (base metal) blocks with ends butted together to form a crack'' and with opposite edges clad so that the crack terminates at the two fusion zones. Testing of Jo-Block specimens reveals as a minimum the effective yield point'' of the cladding, in the presence of a subclad crack, and the critical value of clad stretching (crack opening displacement). 15 refs., 10 figs

Valor prognóstico do quimerismo após transplante de progenitores hematopoéticos Prognostic value of chimerism after hematopoietic progenitors transplantation

IT portfolio management and the related planning decisions for IT-dependent initiatives are critical to organizational performance. Building on the logic of appropriateness theoretical framework, we define an important characteristic of decision rules used during IT portfolio planning; rule appropriateness with regards to the risk-taking criterion. We propose that rule appropriateness will be an important factor explaining the evolution of rules over time. Using an inductive learning methodology, we analyze a unique dataset of actual IT portfolio planning decisions spanning two consecutive years within one organization. We present systematic comparative analysis of the evolution of rules used in planning over two years to validate our research proposition. We find that rules that were inappropriate in the first year are being redefined to design appropriate rules for use in the second year. Our work provides empirical evidence demonstrating organizational learning and improvements in IT portfolio planning capabilities. © 2009 Springer Berlin Heidelberg.Link_to_subscribed_fulltex

A critical analysis of decision support systems research revisited: the rise of design science

In 2005 the Journal of Information Technology article ‘A critical analysis of decision support systems research’ analyzed 1020 decision support systems (DSS) articles from 1990 to 2003. Since 2003 business intelligence (BI) and business analytics have gained popularity in practice. In theory and research the period since 2003 has seen a change in the decision-making theory orthodoxy and the codification and acceptance of design science. To investigate the changes in the DSS field, a number of expectations were derived from previous literature analyses. These expectations were assessed using bibliometric content analysis. The article sample to 2010 now includes 1466 articles from 16 journals. The analysis of the expectations yields mixed results for the DSS field. On the negative side, there has been an overall decline in DSS publishing, the relevance of DSS research published in journals to IT professionals has declined, and the rigor of DSS research designs has not improved. On the positive side, there has been improvement in relevance to managers, grant funding of DSS research has increased, there has been a positive shift in judgment and decision-making foundations, BI publishing has increased, and group support systems publishing has reduced to a more balanced level. An important result from the analysis of the last 7 years of DSS research is the significant increase in DSS design-science research (DSR) to almost half of published articles. It is clear from the analysis that DSS is undergoing a transition from a field based on statistical hypothesis testing and conceptual studies to one where DSR is the most popular method