Elegant degradation

Elegant degradation is a term used in engineering to describe what occurs to machines which are subject to constant, repetitive stress.

Externally, such a machine maintains the same appearance to the user, appearing to function properly. Internally, the machine slowly weakens over time. Unable to withstand the stress, it eventually breaks down.{{Cite book|title=Brill's Companion to the Reception of Euripides|last1=Lauriola|first1=Rosanna|last2=Demetriou|first2=Kyriakos|publisher=BRILL|year=2015|isbn=9789004249370|location=Leiden|pages=253}} Compared to graceful degradation, the operational quality does not decrease at all, but the breakdown may be just as sudden.{{Cite web|url=http://www.assetinsights.net/Glossary/G_Elegant_Degradation.html|title = Elegant Degradation}}

This term's meaning varies depending on context and field, and may not be strictly considered exclusive to engineering. For instance, this is used as a mechanism in the food industry as applied in the degradation of lignin, cellulose, pentosan, and polymers, among others.{{Cite book|title=Advances in Smoking of Foods|last=Rutkowski|first=A.|publisher=Pergamon Press|year=1978|isbn=0080220029|location=Oxford|pages=1643}} The concept is also used to extract chemicals such as the elegant degradation of Paederus fuscipes to obtain pederin and hemiacetal pseuodopederin.{{Cite book|title=Strategies and Tactics in Organic Synthesis, Volume 3|last=Lindberg|first=Thomas|publisher=Academic Press|year=1991|isbn=0124502822|location=San Diego, CA|pages=201}} In this process degradation is induced by heat. A play with the same name also used it as a metaphor for the current state of the world.{{Cite web|url=https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/872325094/elegant-degradation-an-adaptation-of-orestes-20|title=Elegant Degradation: An Adaptation of Orestes 2.0|website=Kickstarter|language=en|access-date=2019-01-04}}

See also

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