Micromechanically Based Constitutive Relations for Polycrystalline Solids

A basic method to estimate the overall mechanical response of solids which contain periodically distributed defects is presented. The method estimates the shape and growth pattern of voids periodically distributed over the grain boundaries in a viscous matrix. The relaxed moduli are obtained for a polycrytalline solid that undergoes relaxation by grain boundary sliding which accounts for the interaction effects. The overall inelastic nonlinear response at elevated temperatures in terms of a model which considers nonlinear power law creep within the grains, and linear viscous flow in the grain boundaries is discussed

Disability in the Far East: Japan’s Social Transformation in Perceptions of People with Disabilities

The phenomenon of disability is socially constructed; therefore, it is not free from norms, rules, shared understandings or value systems—in short, culture. This paper examines the universal presence of disability in the Japanese context, which is affected by a myriad of ever-changing influences, including political, cultural, and social forces