Culture, gender, and self: A perspective from individualism-collectivism research.

Individualism and collectivism are often equated with independent vs. interdependent, agentic vs. communal, and separate vs. relational self-construals. Although these same concepts have been used to characterize both cultural and gender differences, a perspective of cultural evolution suggests it is unlikely. A division of labor within society may produce gender differences, but this cannot explain cultural differences. A study of self-construal involving 5 cultures (Australia, the United States, Hawaii, Japan, and Korea) shows that differences between these cultures are captured mostly by the extent to which people see themselves as acting as independent agents, whereas gender differences are best summarized by the extent to which people regard themselves as emotionally related to others. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Aliphatic poly(amido acids) and polyimides with cyclobutane ring in the main chain

New aliphatic polyimides with cyclobutane ring in the main chain have been synthesized successfully from cyclobutane tetracarboxylic dianhydride and diamine. In order to establish the reaction path poly(amido acids), intermediates to polyimides, were isolated and characterized. All poly(amido acids) are hygroscopic and were found to be converted into polymides through dicarboacetoxy intermediate by heating in dimethylformamide at 100°C in the presence of acetic anhydride. Thermal study by means of thermal gravimetric analysis and differential scanning calorimetry revealed that conversion of poly(amido acid) to polyimide also occurred by thermal cyclocondensation reaction at around 180°C. These reactions were confirmed by parallel reaction of the model compounds. Properties of polyimides thus obtained were characterized and are discussed in comparison with known polymers with polyimide or cyclobutane ring structures.     

Factors influencing aerobic deterioration of silages and changes in chemical composition after opening silos

In five separate experiments, silages made from Italian ryegrass by eight treatments were transferred into expanded polystyrene containers and the occurrence of deterioration was observed at 25–30 °C and 10–15 °C or 5–10 °C by measuring changes in temperature during 7 days. The treatments were: heavily wilted, slightly wilted, unwilted, and 2% glucose added to unwilted grass—all carried out with and without addition of 0.5% sodium propionate (in one experiment a mixture of 0.08% sodium nitrite and 0.04% hexamethylenetetramine was used instead). Silages tended to be less stable at 25–30 °C than at 10–15 °C ambient temperature, although some were stable even at the higher temperature. At 5–10 °C, no deterioration occurred. No definite relationship was found between occurrence of deterioration and the contents of dry matter or WSC in silage or density in the container. Although deterioration took place more often at pH lower than 4.0, no relationship between pH and deterioration was recognised in the range 4.0–7.0. Silages tended to be more stable when contents of total or lactic acid in fresh matter were high. Silages with no added propionic acid were more susceptible to deterioration but some were unstable even at high propionic acid levels. No aerobic deterioration took place with silages containing more than 0.5% butyric acid. With the deteriorated silages, rises in pH value (except for those with originally high pH), marked decreases in lactic acid and/or WSC were observed. Propionic acid content tended to remain constant in the stable silages but there were a few exceptions. Losses of WSC plus organic acids during deterioration were found to be higher with the silages of high WSC contents. Although changes with the stable silages were generally small, a few of them showed some decrease in WSC and/or organic acids.     

Internal stress of epoxide resin modified with spiro ortho-ester type resin

Bisphenol-A type epoxide resin modified with various amounts of spiro ortho-ester (SOE) resin was cured with an imidazole. Internal stress of the modified systems decreased with increasing fraction of SOE resin in the cured resins. In particular, a drastic reduction of the internal stress was observed in the systems modified with more than 33 mol% SOE resin. In addition, heterogeneous structure was observed with modifier content over 33 mol%, and the elastic modulus of these systems decreased step-wise with increasing ambient temperature. On the other hand, the systems in which the modifier content was less than 20 mol% had homogeneous structure and thus the modulus was considerably higher than that of the former systems. Consequently, it was concluded that the drastic reduction of the internal stress in the systems modified with more than 33 mol% SOE resin depends on the low elastic modulus caused by the formation of heterogeneous structure.     

Thermal conductivities of irradiated UO2 and (U, Gd)O2 pellets

Thermal diffusivities of UO₂ and (U, Gd)O₂ pellets irradiated in a commercial reactor (maximum burnups: 60 GWd/t for UO₂ and 50 GWd/t for (U, Gd)O₂) were measured up to about 2000 K by using a laser flash method. The thermal diffusivities of irradiated UO₂ and (U, Gd)O₂ pellets showed hysteresis phenomena: the thermal diffusivities of irradiated pellets began to recover above 750 K and almost completely recovered after annealing above 1400 K. The thermal diffusivities after recovery were close to those of simulated soluble fission products (FPs)-doped UO₂ and (U, Gd)O₂ pellets, which corresponded with the recovery behaviors of irradiation defects for UO₂ and (U, Gd)O₂ pellets. The thermal conductivities for irradiated UO₂ and (U, Gd)O₂ pellets were evaluated from measured thermal diffusivities, specific heat capacities of unirradiated UO₂ pellets and measured sample densities. The difference in relative thermal conductivities between irradiated UO₂ and (U, Gd)O₂ pellets tended to become insignificant with increasing burnups of samples.     

Multi-Component Self-Consistent Nuclear Energy System for sustainable growth

Environmental harmonization of nuclear energy technology is considered as an absolutely necessary condition in its future successful development for peaceful use. Establishment of Self-Consistent Nuclear Energy System, that simultaneously meets four requirements — energy production, fuel production, burning of radionuclides and safety, strongly relies on the neutron excess generation. Implementation of external non-fission based neutron sources into fission energy system would open the possibility of approaching the Multi-Component Self-Consistent Nuclear Energy System (MC-SCNES) with unlimited fuel resources and zero radioactivity release. This provides strong evidence that nuclear energy could be considered as a base for the future sustainable growth in long perspective.     

Estimation of orthotropic thermal conductivity of honeycomb material

An experimental–computational hybrid system for measurement of thermal conductivity of orthotropic materials is developed. The system consists of two experimental parts and a finite element analysis part. First, the temperature distribution generated by uniform heating is measured with a thermal video system, and the thermal conductivity of Z direction is calculated. Second, the temperature distribution generated by small area heating is measured with the system. In the final step, thermal transfer analyses simulating the experiment support efficient data, and thermal conductivity of in‐plane directions is estimated by comparison between experimental and analytical temperature distributions. The orthotropic equivalent thermal conductivity of honeycomb materials obtained by this system agreed with the theoretical values. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Heat Trans Asian Res, 31(8): 617–625, 2002; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/htj.10063     

Buckling characteristics and layup optimization of long laminated composite cylindrical shells subjected to combined loads using lamination parameters

The buckling characteristics and layup optimization of long laminated composite cylindrical shells subjected to combined loads of axial compression and torsion are examined on the basis of Flügge’s theory. In the buckling analysis of long laminated composite cylindrical shells, 12 lamination parameters are introduced and used as design variables for layup optimization. Applying a variational approach, the feasible region in the design space of the 12 lamination parameters is numerically obtained. The buckling characteristics are discussed in the design space of the 12 lamination parameters. In the layup optimization, the optimum lamination parameters for maximizing the buckling loads and the laminate configurations for realizing the optimum lamination parameters are determined by mathematical programming methods. It is found that in case of combined loads of axial compression and torsion, the optimum laminate configurations are unsymmetric.     

Stress distribution in discontinuous fibres in a model composite

In order to calculate stress distribution in unidirectional discontinuous fibres embedded in a metal matrix, a method based on the shear-lag analysis was proposed. Using this method, the influence of fibre length, interfacial bonding strength, distance between fibre ends in the longitudinal direction, and applied strain to composite on both stress distribution and average stress of fibres was estimated for a number of examples.     

Ozonolysis of 1-phenylazo-2-naphthol

The ozonolysis of 1-phenylazo-2-naphthol was studied using ozone in an oxygen stream. 1-Phenylazo-2-naphthol reacts with ozone to give benzene, chlorobenzene, phenol, o-naphthoquinone, phthalide and phthalic anhydride. The mechanism of the reaction is explained as an electrophilic attack of ozone with the hydrazone tautomer of 1-phenylazo-2-naphthol.