Evaluation of nonmetallic thermal protection materials for the manned space shuttle. Volume 1, task 1: Assessment of technical risks associated with utilization of nonmetallic thermal protection system

Technical problems of design and flight qualification of the proposed classes of surface insulation materials and leading edge materials were reviewed. A screening test plan, a preliminary design data test plan and a design data test plan were outlined. This program defined the apparent critical differences between the surface insulators and the leading edge materials, structuring specialized screening test plans for each of these two classes of materials. Unique testing techniques were shown to be important in evaluating the structural interaction aspects of the surface insulators and a separate task was defined to validate the test plan. In addition, a compilation was made of available information on proposed material (including metallic TPS), previous shuttle programs, pertinent test procedures, and other national programs of merit. This material was collected and summarized in an informally structured workbook

Formation of a Double Diamond Cubic Phase by Thermotropic Liquid Crystalline Self-Assembly of Bundled Bolaamphiphiles

A quaternary amphiphile with swallow-tail side groups displays a new bicontinuous thermotropic cubic phase with symmetry Pn3‾ m and formed by two interpenetrating networks where cylindrical segments are linked by H bonds at tetrahedral junctions. Each network segment contains two bundles, each containing 12 rod-like mesogens, lying along the segment axis. This assembly leads to the first thermotropic structure of the "double diamond" type. A quantitative geometric model is proposed to explain the occurrence of this rare phase

Technical note: dental microwear textures of Phase I and Phase II facets

The power stroke of mastication has been traditionally divided into two parts, one which precedes centric occlusion, and the other which follows it- Phase I and Phase II, respectively. Recent studies of primate mastication have called into question the role of Phase II in food processing, as they have found little muscle activity or accompanying bone strain following centric occlusion. That said, many researchers today look to Phase II facets to relate diet to patterns of dental microwear. This suggests the need to reevaluate microwear patterns on Phase I facets. Here we use texture analysis to compare and contrast microwear on facets representing both phases in three primate species with differing diets (Alouatta palliata, Cebus apella, and Lophocebus albigena). Results reaffirm that microwear patterns on Phase II facets better distinguish taxa with differing diets than do those on Phase I facets. Further, differences in microwear textures between facet types for a given taxon may themselves reflect diet. Some possible explanations for differences in microwear textures between facet types are proposed

Dental Topography and Microwear Texture in Sapajus Apella

Dental microwear texture pattern has been associated with aspects of diet for a broad range of mammalian taxa. The basic idea is that soft, tough foods are sheared with a steeper angle of approach between opposing occlusal surfaces, whereas hard, brittle items are crushed with forces perpendicular to those surfaces; and this difference is manifested in anisotropic, striated microwear textures for tough foods, and complex, pitted ones for hard objects. Other factors may, however, influence microwear texture pattern and confound diet signals. For example, if tooth surface slope influences angle of approach between opposing teeth, then perhaps wear-related changes in tooth shape could affect microwear pattern. This study evaluates the effects of occlusal topography on microwear texture for a series of variably worn upper second molars of one primate species, Sapajus apella. Results indicate no significant covariation between any measured topographic attribute (average slope, angularity, relief) and microwear texture variable (complexity, anisotropy, textural fill volume). This suggests that, for this taxon at least, wear-related changes in tooth form do not affect microwear pattern in a consistent manner. This implies that variably worn teeth can be included in samples for comparisons aimed at distinguishing groups by diet

Direct AFM observation of individual micelles, tile decorations and tiling rules of a dodecagonal liquid quasicrystal.

We performed an atomic force microscopy study of the dendron-based dodecagonal quasicrystal, the material that had been reported in 2004 as the first soft quasicrystal. We succeeded in orienting the 12-fold axis perpendicular to the substrate, which allowed imaging of the quasiperiodic xy plane. Thus for the first time we could obtain direct real-space information not only on the arrangement of the tiles, but also on their "decorations" by the individual spherical micelles or "nanoatoms". The high-resolution patterns recorded confirm the square-triangle tiling, but the abundance of the different nodes corresponds closely to random tiling rather than to any inflation rule. The previously proposed model of three types of decorated tiles, two triangular and one square, has been confirmed, and the basic Frank-Kasper mode of alternating dense-sparse-dense-sparse layer stacking along z is confirmed too, each of the four sublayers being 2 nm thick. The consecutive dense layers are seen to be rotated by 90°, as expected. The 2 nm steps on the surface correspond to one layer of spheres, however with a dense layer always remaining on top, which implies a layer slip underneath and possibly the existence of screw dislocations

A multi-sensory interactive reading experience for visually impaired children; a user evaluation

© 2018 Springer-Verlag London Ltd., part of Springer Nature The children’s experience of reading is enhanced by visual displays, and through picture book experiences, young children expose themselves to develop socially, personally, intellectually, and culturally. While a sighted person’s mental imagining is constructed mostly through visual experiences, a visually impaired person’s mental images are a product of haptic, taste, smell, and sounds. In this paper, we are introducing a picture book with multi-sensory interactions for the visually impaired children. The key novelty in our concept is the integration of multi-sensory interactions (touch, sound, and smell) to create a new reading experience for visually impaired. Also, this concept is highlighting the lack of appropriately designed sensory reading experiences for visually impaired children. We have conducted a user study with 10 educators, and 25 children from a special school for visually impaired in Malaysia, and our evaluation revealed that this book is engaging and a novel experience of multi-sensory interactions to both children and educators