‘Cool’ fuel cell cuts heat and drives down cost

A New York nanomaterials company has announced a breakthrough in the development of intermediate-temperature solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC). A new processing technique will allow an SOFC to produce electrical power at temperatures significantly below the operating temperatures normally associated with conventional solid oxide fuel cell systems.This is a short news story only. Visit www.metal-powder.net for the latest metallurgy industry news     

Two distinct regions of the CD28 intracytoplasmic domain are involved in the tyrosine phosphorylation of Vav and GTPase activating protein-associated p62 protein

We surveyed 868 community-dwelling older adults about their (a) utilization of media news, (b) opinion of news media coverage of older people, and (c) preferences among terms used by news media to refer to senior citizens. Those with more than high school education read more newspaper news than those with less education. All groups watched TV news more frequently than they read the newspaper. Respondents had reservations about the news media's accuracy in, attitude toward, and interest in stories regarding seniors. Clear education and gender-related patterns emerged, whereas age proved nonsignificant in many analyses. Respondents' preferred reference terms were: (nouns) senior citizen, retiree, senior, and older adult; (adjectives) retired, senior, and mature. Respondents disliked: (nouns) old man/woman, old person, oldster, old timer, and geezer; (adjectives) old, aged, gray, and geriatric.     

APA report from the Central Office, Washington.

Document highlights American Psychological Association news forwarded through the Central Office. Items include: news on the Community Mental Health Centers programs from the Professional Practice and the Public Interest; the publishing of a casebook by the Committee on Scientific and Professional Ethics and Conduct; news on a recent study that includes projected Changes from the Labor Department and Office of Education; new laws applicable to psychology; The APA Program of Visiting Psychologists in Field (Service) Settings; as well as correspondence forwarded to the Association. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Chinese aerospace titanium melt contract for PSI

A specialist UK atomisation company has won major equipment contract to provide the Beijing Institute of Aeronautical Materials (BIAM) with a cold-crucible inert gas atomisation system.This is a short news story only. Visit www.metal-powder.net for the latest powder metallurgy industry news.     

Lovejoy invests against economic trends to offer greater accuracy and green density

An Illinois powder metal manufacturer has installed a new manufacturing system it claims to be a ”world-beater” — and set up a new division to take advantage of its capabilities.This is a short news story only. Visit www.metal-powder.net for the latest powder metallurgy industry news.     

More black stuff

Timcal Graphite and Carbon has completed the acquisition of the Belgian carbon black unit of Erachem Comilog, a subsidiary of the Eramet Group. It has sales of €15m a year in the the battery and conductive polymer markets.This is a short news story only. Visit www.metal-powder.net for the latest powder metallurgy industry news.     

ASL builds service with new atomisers

Two years after their move from Sheffield Science Park to an industrial unit, Atomising Systems Limited (ASL) has expanded their range of atomising equipment to improve service flexibility.This is a short news story only. Visit www.metal-powder.net for the latest metallurgy industry news     

Being the best bearer of bad tidings.

Giving bad news is an unpleasant task, and the medical literature provides numerous guidelines for giving bad news well. However, what people mean by "giving bad news well" is less clear. What should be the goal when communicating bad news? The authors suggest that the goal of news-givers should be to guide recipients toward a desired response and the authors propose a theoretical framework, the Bad News Response Model, for delivering bad news that draws from research in health and social psychology. The model is applicable to all forms of bad news and specifies that three characteristics of the news (controllability, likelihood, and severity) influence which response (Watchful Waiting, Active Change, or Acceptance) will most often lead to the best quality of life for the recipient. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Bad news transmission as a function of the definitiveness of consequences and the relationship between communicator and recipient.

There is ample evidence suggesting (e.g., A. Tesser & S. Rosen, 1975) that people are reluctant to transmit bad news. Research on rumors, on the other hand, suggests that people sometimes are less reluctant to transmit bad news. It is argued that differences between the 2 lines of research include the definitiveness of the consequences of the news and the relationship between communicator and recipient. The influence of these 2 factors on news transmission was investigated in 3 experiments. Results showed that bad news with indefinite consequences was transmitted more often than bad news with definite consequences and that both kinds of bad news were transmitted more often if the recipient was a friend rather than a stranger. Differences in feelings of moral responsibility to transmit the news largely accounted for both effects. The 2 factors did not affect the likelihood of good news transmission. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Are you happy for me? How sharing positive events with others provides personal and interpersonal benefits.

Sharing good news with others is one way that people can savor those experiences while building personal and interpersonal resources. Although prior research has established the benefits of this process, called capitalization, there has been little research and no experiments to examine the underlying mechanisms. In this article, we report results from 4 experiments and 1 daily diary study conducted to examine 2 mechanisms relevant to capitalization: that sharing good news with others increases the perceived value of those events, especially when others respond enthusiastically, and that enthusiastic responses to shared good news promote the development of trust and a prosocial orientation toward the other. These studies found consistent support for these effects across both interactions with strangers and in everyday close relationships. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Design competition opens

The Metal Powder Industries Federation (MPIF) has opened the 2004 International PM Design Competition. Entries must be received by 27 February. The competition recognises outstanding achievements in the commercial production of PM components.This is a short news story only. Visit www.metal-powder.net for the latest powder metallurgy industry news.     

Sieve maker solves powder problems

Sieve maker Russell Finex ∼has introduced a further development to its range of industrial powder screening devices which, it says, eliminates mesh blinding for a whole range of difficult-to-screen materials including light and sticky powders.This is a short news story only. Visit www.metal-powder.net for the latest powder metallurgy industry news.     

Job swap

Hans Soderhjelm has taken over as sales and marketing director at Höganäs North America, from Ralf Carlström who assumes the same role at the parent company, Höganäs AB in Sweden.This is a short news story only. Visit www.metal-powder.net for the latest powder metallurgy industry news.     

News and notes.

Provides news and notes for APA members. Specifically: books published; conference information and news on various APA divisions and members. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children's recall of television and print news: A media comparison study.

An experiment was conducted (a) to compare children's recall of news information presented either audiovisually or in print, and (b) to establish whether the relative effectiveness of both media in conveying the news is dependent on children's reading proficiency and expectation of a memory test. A sample of 152 4th and 6th graders was presented with a sequence of 5 children's news stories, either in their original televised form or in a printed version. In each condition, half of the children were led to expect a memory test, whereas the other children were not. The results of a cued-recall test indicated that children who had watched the news on television remembered more than those who had received the same news in print, regardless of their reading proficiency or expectation of a memory test. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reading achievement and diminishing returns to time.

Investigated the association of reading achievement with factors in learning by regressing the scores of 2,890 13-yr-old students from a National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) sample on 24 indexes of the factors, singly and as a set. The productivity factors most closely connected with learning can be divided into 9 categories: student age, ability, and motivation; amount and quality of instruction; the psychological environments of the home and the school; and exposure to mass media, particularly TV. Results of analysis indicate that the achievement correlations with the factors are close to the averages revealed by recent quantitative syntheses of bivariate studies. A considerable amount of the reliable variance in achievement, 40%, is accounted for by the factors, although they are colinear or correlated with one another. Achievement shows diminishing or eventually negative rather than linear marginal returns to 8 time variables: homework last night, read for enjoyment, spare-time reading last night, TV watched yesterday, news source—TV, news source—radio, news source—magazines, and news source—newspapers. (18 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

New VP at UltraFine Powder Technologies

Philip H Booker has joined UltraFine Powder Technologies as Vice President, Business Development. Dr Booker has extensive experience in materials science and is an acknowledged expert in metal injection moulding (MIM). He has worked for several leading MIM players, including Parmatech, AFT and Smith Metal Products.This is a short news story only. Visit www.metal-powder.net for the latest powder metallurgy industry news.     

Visual advantage from Leco

Hardness testing has taken a step forward with the introduction of Leco Corp's AMH₄₃ system. The semi — or fully automatic system features a “visual method” that allows users to position indents and patterns directly on an overview image of the sample material as a single “panoptic view”. The series supports all standards loads for micro indentation and Macro-Vickers hardness testing.This is a short news story only. Visit www.metal-powder.net for the latest metallurgy industry news     

SMC Quality rating

SMC Powder Metallurgy of Galeton, Pennsylvania, has passed the tough qualification tests to win accreditation to ISO/TS16949, a quality management system that satisfies the international auto business. Peter Lake, President of the SRI Quality System Register, said: ”SMC has demonstrated effective implementation of a quality management system that satisfies the tough new auto standard for the manufacture of powder metal gears, sprockets, bearings and structural parts.This is a short news story only. Visit www.metal-powder.net for the latest powder metallurgy industry news.     

New polish for Institute of Corrosion

The UK's Institute of Corrosion is (IC) launching a ”new look” in a bid to encourage new members. The IC will be seeking to promote sound corrosion management practice, the advancement of cost-effective corrosion control measures, and a sustained effort to raise awareness at all stages of design and manufacture. It estimates that corrosion costs the UK 4 per cent of GNP every year.This is a short news story only. Visit www.metal-powder.net for the latest powder metallurgy industry news.