The analytical determination of friction for flow through conical converging dies

The effects of friction upon the intermediate and final distorted grids for wire drawing and/or extrusion were analytically studied for an assumed triangular velocity field. An upper-bound solution for the process was used. This solution predicted that the shape of the final and intermediate distorted grids were functions of the process geometry and of friction. Initially, combinations of reduction and semi-cone angle (α) were found for which the triangular velocity field was energetically preferred over an existing spherical velocity field. The analytical final distorted grids were then compared to experimentally obtained final distorted grids to determine the experimental friction. This was done by plotting calibration curves for distortion where friction served as the parameter and by comparing the actual distortion with the family of calibration curves.     

One's reborn every minute: Carter's religious appeal in 1976

An analysis of Jimmy Carter's handling of religion in the 1976 presidential campaign demonstrates that Carter was aware of the potential advantage of emphasizing his religion. In fact, once he became aware of the advantage, he escalated his references to his religion while also attempting to mollify those turned off by his religiosity. The author concludes that Carter's decision to stress his religion was a conscious political decision and that that decision helped Carter win the presidency.     

A computational method for analysis of underwater dolphin kick hydrodynamics in human swimming

We present a new method that combines the use of laser body scans, underwater video footage, software-based animation, and a fully unsteady computational fluid dynamics technique to simulate and examine the hydrodynamics of the dolphin kick. The focus of the current work is to model this particular stroke in all its complexity with minimal ad-hoc assumptions or simplifications. Simulations of one female and one male swimmer (both at about 1.7 m beneath the water surface) at velocities of 0.95 and 1.31 m/s and Strouhal numbers of 1.21 and 1.06 respectively are presented. Vorticity and fluid velocity profiles in the wake are examined in detail for both swimmers. A three-dimensional vortex ring is clearly identified in the wake for one of the cases and a two-dimensional slice through the ring corroborates previous experiments of Miwa et al. (2006). We also find that most of the thrust is produced by the feet and in both cases the down-kick produces much larger thrust than the up-kick.     

Physiological characteristics of successful mountain bikers and professional road cyclists

The aims of this study were to compare the physiological and anthropometric characteristics of successful mountain bikers and professional road cyclists and to re-examine the power-to-weight characteristics of internationally competitive mountain bikers. Internationally competitive cyclists (seven mountain bikers and seven road cyclists) completed the following tests: anthropometric measurements, an incremental cycle ergometer test and a 30 min laboratory time-trial. The mountain bikers were lighter (65.3 - 6.5 vs 74.7 - 3.8 kg, P = 0.01; mean - s ) and leaner than the road cyclists (sum of seven skinfolds: 33.9 - 5.7 vs 44.5 - 10.8 mm, P = 0.04). The mountain bikers produced higher power outputs relative to body mass at maximal exercise (6.3 - 0.5 vs 5.8 - 0.3 W·kg -1 , P = 0.03), at the lactate threshold (5.2 - 0.6 vs 4.7 - 0.3 W·kg -1 , P = 0.048) and during the 30 min time-trial (5.5 - 0.5 vs 4.9 - 0.3 W·kg -1 , P = 0.02). Similarly, peak oxygen uptake relative to body mass was higher in the mountain bikers (78.3 - 4.4 vs 73.0 - 3.4 ml·kg -1 ·min -1 , P = 0.03). The results indicate that high power-to-weight characteristics are important for success in mountain biking. The mountain bikers possessed similar anthropometric and physiological characteristics to previously studied road cycling uphill specialists.     

Is three-dimensional anthropometric analysis as good as traditional anthropometric analysis in predicting junior rowing performance?

Abstract With the use of three-dimensional whole body scanning technology, this study compared the 'traditional' anthropometric model [one-dimensional (1D) measurements] to a 'new' model [1D, two-dimensional (2D), and three-dimensional (3D) measurements] to determine: (1) which model predicted more of the variance in self-reported best 2000-m ergometry rowing performance; and (2) what were the best anthropometric predictors of ergometry performance, for junior rowers competing at the 2007 and 2008 Australian Rowing Championships. Each rower (257 females, 16.3?±?1.4 years and 243 males, 16.6?±?1.5 years) completed a performance and demographic questionnaire, had their mass, standing and sitting height physically measured and were landmarked and scanned using the Vitus Smart? 3D whole body scanner. Absolute and proportional anthropometric measurements were extracted from the scan files. Partial least squares regression analysis, with anthropometric measurements and age as predictor variables and self-reported best 2000-m ergometer time as the response variable, was used to first compare the two models and then to determine the best performance predictors. The variance explained by each model was similar for both male [76.1% (new) vs. 73.5% (traditional)] and female [72.3% (new) vs. 68.6% (traditional)] rowers. Overall, absolute rather than proportional measurements, and 2D and 3D rather than 1D measurements, were the best predictors of rowing ergometry performance, with whole body volume and surface area, standing height, mass and leg length the strongest individual predictors.     

The Impact of Terrorist Attack News on Moral Intuitions and Outgroup Prejudice

Using logic suggested by the model of intuitive morality and exemplars, we examined the impact of exposure to terrorist attack news coverage on the salience of moral intuitions and prosocial behavioral intentions toward outgroup members. In an experiment, participants were randomly assigned to watch news of the 2015 Paris terrorist attacks or a control news story. Afterward, we measured the salience of five moral intuitions (sensitivity to care, fairness, loyalty, authority, and purity) and the participants’ prejudice (i.e., the lack of intentions to help outgroup members). Results showed that exposure to terrorist attack news (a) increased the salience of respect for authority and subsequently (b) reduced prosocial behavioral intentions toward outgroup members. Closer inspection revealed that authority salience mediated the effect of terrorist news exposure on these behavioral intentions toward outgroup members. In a second study using the same design as in the first study, we ensured that the ingroup and the outgroup addressed in the first study were indeed perceived differently on dimensions of ingroup membership.     

Gender and the pipeline metaphor in computing

Using the pipeline metaphor as the conceptual framework, the current paper presents gender differences in computer science (CS) and computer engineering (CE) students’ study aspirations in elementary and high schools, the extent to which they hold a study-related job while in college and their career aspirations after graduating from college. It highlights some of the weak joints of the pipeline and suggests a number of implications to improve representation of women in computing field. It is based on 150 interviews with undergraduate male and female students belonging to five major ethnic/racial categories (White, African-American, Hispanic, Asian American, Native American) from seven institutions in the USA.