Biomimetics: its practice and theory.

Biomimetics, a name coined by Otto Schmitt in the 1950s for the transfer of ideas and analogues from biology to technology, has produced some significant and successful devices and concepts in the past 50 years, but is still empirical. We show that TRIZ, the Russian system of problem solving, can be adapted to illuminate and manipulate this process of transfer. Analysis using TRIZ shows that there is only 12% similarity between biology and technology in the principles which solutions to problems illustrate, and while technology solves problems largely by manipulating usage of energy, biology uses information and structure, two factors largely ignored by technology.     

Xeroradiographic tomography of the larynx

Adequate assessment of disease extent is vital for tumour control in the larynx. Xeroradiography using a tomographic technique was investigated. A preliminary study was carried out to assess the optimum technique and exposure. It was also found that the radiation dose to the skin, although just over twice that for film, could be halved by the removal of the secondary radiation grid. Images of 24 patients treated were assessed for soft tissue and bony detail, and it was found that the xerotomograms were beneficial to the radiotherapy planning of the treatment volume of laryngeal and related neck carcinomas.     

Selective recall for personally relevant communications.

Used 2 experiments to test whether people display a recall bias for supportive over refutive information. While previous work has used broad social attitudes, the present research investigated recall for communications relevant to Ss' behavior. In Exp I, 15 smokers, 36 nonsmokers, and 24 ex-smokers read and recalled information related to smoking. In Exp II, 28 seatbelt wearers, 18 occasional wearers, and 15 nonwearers read and recalled pro-seatbelt material. As predicted, in both experiments Ss' behavior significantly affected their recall of information: Nonsmokers recalled more anti-smoking material than smokers, and seatbelt wearers recalled more pro-seatbelt information than nonwearers. There were no significant effects on any measures when Ss in Exp I were divided into seatbelt wearers and nonwearers and when Ss in Exp II were divided into smokers and nonsmokers. Thus, Ss were selective only on the communication relative to their own behavior. (French abstract) (10 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Pleasant events, activity schedules, and depressions.

Instructed 3 groups of 10 undergraduates each (depressed, psychiatric controls, and normal controls) to rate their moods and indicate the number of pleasant activities engaged in each day for 30 days. A significant association between mood and pleasant activities was found. There were large individual differences in regard to the magnitude of the correlation between mood and activity, but differences between groups failed to attain statistical significance. Results are interpreted as consistent with the major tenet of the behavioral theory of depression, i.e., that there is an association between rate of positive reinforcement and intensity of depression. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personal self-disclosure: Expectancy and situational effects.

96 male undergraduates, selected from a pool of 169 because of their high or low scores on the Jourard Self-Disclosure Questionnaire (JSDQ), were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 conditions of specific expectancy, in which they were told that they would find it either easy or difficult to self-disclose to a stranger interviewer, and 1 of 3 conditions of interviewers' behavior (personal, impersonal, or no disclosure). The JSDQ, scored for anticipated self-disclosure but not for recalled self-disclosure, predicted observed performance. The specific expectancy manipulation and the intimacy level of topics also had significant effects on self-disclosure. A 3-way interaction between generalized and specific expectancy and topic intimacy was also found. (28 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Short-term memory: A comparison between frontal and nonfrontal right- and left-hemisphere brain-damaged patients.

Tested 2 groups of brain-damaged patients (n = 60 and 17) and 2 groups of controls (n = 28 and 7) on 4 different short-term memory tasks, each designed to measure the amount of information registered (0-sec delay recall) and retained after a delay of 10 sec. in 1 of 3 (visual, auditory, and kinesthetic) sensory modalities, using a variety of stimulus materials. Differences between the brain-damaged and control groups were largely due to the reduced capacity of the brain damaged to register information. Ss with anterior cerebral damage did more poorly than Ss with posterior damage on both visual and auditory short-term memory tasks. No significant differences were found between right- and left-hemisphere-damaged Ss. (26 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Quadratic behavior of fiber Bragg grating temperature coefficients

We describe the characterization of the temperature and strain responses of fiber Bragg grating sensors by use of an interferometric interrogation technique to provide an absolute measurement of the grating wavelength. The fiber Bragg grating temperature response was found to be nonlinear over the temperature range -70 degrees C to 80 degrees C. The nonlinearity was observed to be a quadratic function of temperature, arising from the linear dependence on temperature of the thermo-optic coefficient of silica glass over this range, and is in good agreement with a theoretical model.     

Predicting the structure of screw dislocations in nanoporous materials

Extended microscale crystal defects, including dislocations and stacking faults, can radically alter the properties of technologically important materials. Determining the atomic structure and the influence of defects on properties remains a major experimental and computational challenge. Using a newly developed simulation technique, the structure of the 1/2a <100> screw dislocation in nanoporous zeolite A has been modelled. The predicted channel structure has a spiral form that resembles a nanoscale corkscrew. Our findings suggest that the dislocation will enhance the transport of molecules from the surface to the interior of the crystal while retarding transport parallel to the surface. Crucially, the dislocation creates an activated, locally chiral environment that may have enantioselective applications. These predictions highlight the influence that microscale defects have on the properties of structurally complex materials, in addition to their pivotal role in crystal growth.