• Conditions for the acceptance of deontic conditionals.

      Over, D.E.; Manktelow, Ken I.; Hadjichristidis, C. (American Psychological Association, 2004)
      Recent psychological research has investigated how people assess the probability of an indicative conditional. Most people give the conditional probability of q given p as the probability of if p then q. Asking about the probability of an indicative conditional, one is in effect asking about its acceptability. But on what basis are deontic conditionals judged to be acceptable or unacceptable? Using a decision theoretic analysis, we argue that a deontic conditional, of the form if p then must q or if p then may q, will be judged acceptable to the extent that the p & q possibility is preferred to the p & not-q possibility. Two experiments are reported in which this prediction was upheld. There was also evidence that the pragmatic suitability of permission rules is partly determined by evaluations of the not-p & q possibility. Implications of these results for theories of deontic reasoning are discussed.
    • Determination of the Relationship between Strength and Test Method for Glass Fibre Epoxy Composite Coupons using Weibull analysis

      Cattell, M. K.; Kibble, Kevin A. (Amsterdam: Elsevier, 2001)
      Glass fibre epoxy composite test coupons exhibit variability in their tensile strength data dependent on the test method used. The three common test standards are for tensile, three-point flexure and four-point flexure and it is accepted that flexure tests yield higher strengths than tensile tests. Tests were carried out on coupons of a woven E-glass epoxy composite for each type of test. The data for each test was found to fit a two-parameter Weibull distribution. The Weibull moduli for each of the test methods were approximately the same. This Weibull modulus is used to relate the strengths for different test methods using an equivalent volume method. It was found that the strength variability is dependent only on the equivalent volumes of test coupons and thus, a method is proposed for the prediction of tensile strengths from flexural strength tests and vice versa.