A Study in the Use of Elastic Materials in Expandable Containment Units

The rigidity of materials in conjunction with the aspect of elasticity has been a concern of modern technologies and construction in recent centuries because of the advantages that expandable storage would bring to the fields of containment units with respect to population growth and space exploration. The world population is currently growing at an exponential rate, and as our population grows, the more important it will become to have containment units that can both contain large volumes of material as well as minuscule amounts of material without wasting space. In order accomplish this, we will need a new type of storage container that utilizes the inherent strengths of both flexibility and rigidity to find a unique balance between the two. The purpose of this study is not to necessarily find the final answer to the question of expandable storage, but to narrow the range of questions that later research will use to finally answer the question, “How will we do it?” In order to research the utility of elastic material in creating storage devices in the same manner as has have described, this study would create an expandable backpack as a scaled-down case study. The backpack utilizes grooved panels made of lightweight, rigid material such as PVC-plastic in conjunction with elastic cloth, made of a mix of nylon and spandex, to create a container that will stand rigid on its own, but also expand in horizontal directions so that it can hold objects larger than its original volume. By creating male and female connectors in the individual panels, the container will be able to stand rigid, but also expand using elastic cloth sandwiched between the halves of each panel. The front and back of the container will be made of two panels, but the sides will be made up of 4 panels, so that expansion is more likely to occur in those directions, as well as lessen the stress on the fabric. In order to create the container, the team sampled multiple ratios of nylon-to-spandex, as well as tested the rigidity of different woods and plastics. Upon deciding on a material, PVC, a prototype was built and tested. The testing process involved filling the container to with varying amounts of weight, such as textbooks and laptops, and having a test subject walk around carrying the objects for varying amounts of time. The study also tested the amount of volume the backpack is able to expand, aiming for between five and ten percent increased volume. While the purpose of this study is not to solve the problem of expandable storage definitively, the concept of elastic cloth between interlocking panels has a high likelihood of being a step in the right direction

Spartan Daily, April 15, 2005

Volume 124, Issue 49https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/spartandaily/10121/thumbnail.jp

Torso sizing ring construction for hard space suit

A hard suit for use in space or diving applications having an adjustable length torso covering that will fit a large variety of wearers is described. The torso covering comprises an upper section and a lower section which interconnect so that the covering will fit wearers with short torsos. One or more sizing rings may be inserted between the upper and lower sections to accommodate larger torso sizes as required. Since access of the astronaut to the torso covering is preferably through an opening in the back of the upper section (which is closed off by the backpack), the rings slant upward-forward from the lower edge of the opening. The lower edge of the upper covering section has a coupler which slants upward-forward from the lower edge of the back opening. The lower torso section has a similarly slanted coupler which may interfit with the upper section coupler to accommodate the smallest torso size. One or more sizing rings may be inserted between the coupler sections of the upper and lower torso sections to accommodate larger torsos. Each ring has an upper coupler which may interfit with the upper section coupler and a lower coupler which may interfit with the lower section coupler

Orbital extravehicular mockup design

Principal design features of extravehicular work platfor

Comparison of the CDC Backpack aspirator and the Prokopack aspirator for sampling indoor- and outdoor-resting mosquitoes in southern Tanzania.

BACKGROUND\ud \ud Resting mosquitoes can easily be collected using an aspirating device. The most commonly used mechanical aspirator is the CDC Backpack aspirator. Recently, a simple, and low-cost aspirator called the Prokopack has been devised and proved to have comparable performance. The following study evaluates the Prokopack aspirator compared to the CDC backpack aspirator when sampling resting mosquitoes in rural Tanzania.\ud \ud METHODS\ud \ud Mosquitoes were sampled in- and outdoors of 48 typical rural African households using both aspirators. The aspirators were rotated between collectors and households in a randomized, Latin Square design. Outdoor collections were performed using artificial resting places (large barrel and car tyre), underneath the outdoor kitchen (kibanda) roof and from a drop-net. Data were analysed with generalized linear models.\ud \ud RESULTS\ud \ud The number of mosquitoes collected using the CDC Backpack and the Prokopack aspirator were not significantly different both in- and outdoors (indoors p = 0.735; large barrel p = 0.867; car tyre p = 0.418; kibanda p = 0.519). The Prokopack was superior for sampling of drop-nets due to its smaller size. The number mosquitoes collected per technician was more consistent when using the Prokopack aspirator. The Prokopack was more user-friendly: technicians preferred using the it over the CDC backpack aspirator as it weighs considerably less, retains its charge for longer and is easier to manoeuvre.\ud \ud CONCLUSIONS\ud \ud The Prokopack proved in the field to be more advantageous than the CDC Backpack aspirator. It can be self assembled using simple, low-cost and easily attainable materials. This device is a useful tool for researchers or vector-control surveillance programs operating in rural Africa, as it is far simpler and quicker than traditional means of sampling resting mosquitoes. Further longitudinal evaluations of the Prokopack aspirator versus the gold standard pyrethrum spray catch for indoor resting catches are recommended

The View from the Front

A creative piece detailing the personal and public history of a small Pennsylvania town, specifically dealing with its crimes and their effect on the collective memory and atmosphere of the area

Beyond ‘Interaction’: How to Understand Social Effects on Social Cognition

In recent years, a number of philosophers and cognitive scientists have advocated for an ‘interactive turn’ in the methodology of social-cognition research: to become more ecologically valid, we must design experiments that are interactive, rather than merely observational. While the practical aim of improving ecological validity in the study of social cognition is laudable, we think that the notion of ‘interaction’ is not suitable for this task: as it is currently deployed in the social cognition literature, this notion leads to serious conceptual and methodological confusion. In this paper, we tackle this confusion on three fronts: 1) we revise the ‘interactionist’ definition of interaction; 2) we demonstrate a number of potential methodological confounds that arise in interactive experimental designs; and 3) we show that ersatz interactivity works just as well as the real thing. We conclude that the notion of ‘interaction’, as it is currently being deployed in this literature, obscures an accurate understanding of human social cognition

Square bananas, blue horses: the relative weight of shape and color in concept recognition and representation

The present study investigates the role that shape and color play in the representation of animate (i.e., animals) and inanimate manipulable entities (i.e., fruits), and how the importance of these features is modulated by different tasks. Across three experiments participants were shown either images of entities (e.g., a sheep or a pineapple) or images of the same entities modified in color (e.g., a blue pineapple) or in shape (e.g., an elongated pineapple). In Experiment 1 we asked participants to categorize the entities as fruit or animal. Results showed that with animals color does not matter, while shape modifications determined a deterioration of the performance - stronger for fruit than for animals. To better understand our findings, in Experiments 2 we asked participants to judge if entities were graspable (manipulation evaluation task). Participants were faster with manipulable entities (fruit) than with animals; moreover alterations in shape affected the response latencies more for animals than for fruit. In Experiment 3 (motion evaluation task), we replicated the disadvantage for shape-altered animals, while with fruits shape and color modifications produced no effect. By contrasting shape- and color- alterations the present findings provide information on shape/color relative weight, suggesting that the action based property of shape is more crucial than color for fruit categorization, while with animals it is critical for both manipulation and motion tasks. This contextual dependency is further revealed by explicit judgments on similarity - between the altered entities and the prototypical ones - provided after the different tasks. These results extend current literature on affordances and biofunctionally embodied understanding, revealing the relative robustness of biofunctional activity compared to intellectual one

Study of an attitude control system for the astronaut maneuvering unit final report, dec. 1963 - jul. 1964

Attitude control system for astronaut maneuvering unit