Significant advances in mechanical testing for hard materials are discussed in this paper. There are three specific areas that are covered. In the measurement of fracture toughness factors such as the control of slow crack growth to produce strating cracks, and evaluating reproducibility and repeatability of tests have been recently examined. The miniaturization of tests reduces the amount of material that is used in testing, improves the throughput of tests, and also improves cost effectiveness. New techniques such as stepwise testing and micro scratch testing have contributed to significant additions to the knowledge of the wear mechanisms that operate in these materials.

PMDSPH is a combined 3D particle-mesh and SPH code aimed to simulate the self-consistent dynamical evolution of spiral galaxies including live stellar and collisionless dark matter components, as well as an isothermal gas component. This paper describes some aspects of this code and shows how its application to the Milky Way helps to recover the gas flow within the Galactic bar region from the observed HI and CO longitude-velocity distributions.

The identification of quantitative trait loci (QTL) has the potential to enhance the efficiency of im- proving food processing traits of soybean. In this study, 92 restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) loci and two morphological markers (W1 and T) were used to identify QTL associated with food processing traits of soybean for sprout in 83 F2 -derived lines from a cross of ＇Pureun＇ x ＇Jinpum 2＇. The genetic map consisted of 76 loci which covered about 760 cM and converged into 20 linkage groups. Eighteen markers remained unlinked. Phenotypic data were collected for hypocotyl length, abnormal seedling rate, and sprout yield seven days after seed germination at 20~circC . Based on the single-factor analysis of variance, eight independent markers were associated with hypocotyl length. Four of seven markers associated with abnormal seedling rate were identified as independent. Seven loci were associated with sprout yield. For three different traits, much of genetic variation was explained by the identified QTL in this population. Several RFLP markers in linkage group (LG) Bl were detected as being associated with three traits, providing a genetic explanation for the biological correlation of sprout yield with hypocotyl length (r=OA07＊＊＊) and with abnormal seedling rate (r=-406＊＊＊).