Proceedings of the ISPRA Course held at Ispra, Italy, October 22-26, 1979

There is today a wide range of pubLications avaiLabLe on the theory of reLiabiLity and the technique of ProbabiListic Safety AnaLysis (PSA). To pLace this work properLy in this context, we must recaLL a basic concept underLying both theory and technique, that of redundancy. ReLiabiLity is something which can be designed into a system, by the introduction of redundancy at appropriate points. John Von Neumann's historic paper of 1952 'ProbabiListic Logics and the Synthesis of ReLiabLe Organisms from UnreLiabLe Components" has served as inspiration for aLL subsequent work on systems reLiabiLity....

Solar cell~ and solar cell module~ have to be tested for their performance, i.e. their ability to produce electrical power under well-defined conditions of illumination and temperature. The need for performance measurements arises at various stages of development, design and production from different requirement~: at the development level, the main objective is to as~ess the performance of a new concept in comparison with state-of-the-art competitors; at the design level, performance data are required as input for the ~izing and dimensions of photovoltaic ~y~tem~ operating under certain...

Most computer users are familiar with the problems of sharing software with others, and the transfer of programs from one computing environment to another. Software represents an ever-increasing proportion of the cost of computing and these costs tend to nullify all the economic advantages flowing from the wider availability of cheap hardware. Years ago it was hoped that the widespread use of high-level programming languages would help in alleviating the problems of software production, by increasing productivity and by making it simpler for users with similar problems to be able to use the...

This book presents models and methods for systems reliability assessment, human reliability analysis and uncertainty management. It includes fourteen contributions which are grouped into three sections. Section 1 deals with basic reliability methods and applications. The papers by Saiz de Bustamante and Perlado introduce the stochastic processes and the Monte Carlo method, respectively. Sanz Fermandez de Cordoba and Gonzales discuss important practical implications of the use of reliability methods. The former refers to the aerospace industry. The latter considers nuclear power plants....

I am very pleased to write these few brief paragraphs introducing this book, and would like to take this opportunity to attempt to set the Toolpack project in an appropriate historical context. The Toolpack project must be considered to have actually began in the Fall of 1978, when Prof. Webb C. Miller, at a meeting at Jet Propulsion Laboratories in Pasadena, California, suggested that there be a large-scale project, called Toolpack, aimed at pulling together a comprehensive collection of mathematical software development tools. It was suggested that the project follow the pattern of other...

Within the framework of Ispra Courses, a course on "Applications of Remote Sensing to Agrometeorology" was held from April 6th to 10th, 1987 at the Joint Research Centre of the European Communities, Ispra Italy. The purpose of the course was to familiarize scientists, active in Agrometeorology and related fields, with remote sensing techniques and their potential applications in their respective disciplines. Conventional ground investigations in various fields of natural sciences such as hydrology, pedology and agrometeorology can be supple mented by a range of instruments carried by airborne...

L. H. Larsson Introduction to the Advanced Seminar ASF114 on Elastic-Plastic Fracture Nechanics Ad Bakker The J-concept: Theoretical Basis and its Use in EPFM 13 Ad Bakker Case Studies on the Determination of Applied J-values 55 S. J. Garwood The Measurement of Critical Values of Crack Tip Opening Displacement (CTOD) and J on Parent Steels and "leldments ~or Use in Fracture Assessments 85 J. G. Blauel Ductile Fracture Material Characterization by J-R Curves 117 J. Bernard and G. Verzeletti Experimental Determination of Fracture Nechanics Parameters of Irradiated Materials 145 D. 1-1unz...