Back calculation of parent austenite orientation using a clustering approach

A new approach is presented for calculating the parent orientation from sets of variants of orientations produced by phase transformation. The parent austenite orientation is determined using the orientations of bainite variants that transformed from a single parent austenite grain. In this approach, the five known orientation relationships are used to back transform each observed bainite variant to all their potential face-centered-cubic (f.c.c.) parent orientations. A set of potential f.c.c. orientations has one representative from each bainite variant, and each set is assembled on the basis of minimum mutual misorientation. The set of back-transformed orientations with the minimum summation of mutual misorientation angle (SMMA) is selected as the most probable parent (austenite) orientation. The availability of multiple sets permits a confidence index to be calculated from the best and next best fits to a parent orientation. The results show good agreement between the measured parent austenite orientation and the calculated parent orientation having minimum SMMA.

Cross-cultural adaption of the Health Educaiton Impact Questionnaire: experimental study showed expert committee, not back-translation, added value

Objectives
To assess the contribution of back-translation and expert committee to the content and psychometric properties of a translated multidimensional questionnaire.

Study Design and Setting
Recommendations for questionnaire translation include back-translation and expert committee, but their contribution to measurement properties is unknown. Four English to French translations of the Health Education Impact Questionnaire were generated with and without committee or back-translation. Face validity, acceptability, and structural properties were compared after random assignment to people with rheumatoid arthritis (N = 1,168), chronic renal failure (N = 2,368), and diabetes (N = 538). For face validity, 15 bilingual people compared translations quality with the original. Psychometric properties were examined using confirmatory factor analysis (metric and scalar invariance) and item response theory.

Results
Qualitatively, there were five types of translation errors: style, intensity, frequency/time frame, breadth, and meaning. Bilingual assessors ranked best the translations with committee (P = 0.0026). All translations had good structural properties (root mean square error of approximation <0.05; comparative fit index [CFI], ≥0.899; and Tucker–Lewis index, ≥0.889). Full measurement invariance was observed between translations (ΔCFI ≤ 0.01) with metric invariance between translations and original (lowest ΔCFI = 0.022 between fully constrained models and models with free intercepts). Item characteristic curve analyses revealed no significant differences.

Conclusion
This is the first experimental evidence that back-translation has moderate impact, whereas expert committee helps to ensure accurate content.

A mathematical model of neuromuscular adaptation to resistance training and its application in a computer simulation of accommodating loads

A large corpus of data obtained by means of empirical study of neuromuscular adaptation is currently of limited use to athletes and their coaches. One of the reasons lies in the unclear direct practical utility of many individual trials. This paper introduces a mathematical model of adaptation to resistance training, which derives its elements from physiological fundamentals on the one side, and empirical findings on the other. The key element of the proposed model is what is here termed the athlete’s capability profile. This is a generalization of length and velocity dependent force production characteristics of individual muscles, to an exercise with arbitrary biomechanics. The capability profile, a two-dimensional function over the capability plane, plays the central role in the proposed model of the training-adaptation feedback loop. Together with a dynamic model of resistance the capability profile is used in the model’s predictive stage when exercise performance is simulated using a numerical approximation of differential equations of motion. Simulation results are used to infer the adaptational stimulus, which manifests itself through a fed back modification of the capability profile. It is shown how empirical evidence of exercise specificity can be formulated mathematically and integrated in this framework. A detailed description of the proposed model is followed by examples of its application—new insights into the effects of accommodating loading for powerlifting are demonstrated. This is followed by a discussion of the limitations of the proposed model and an overview of avenues for future work.

Artificial Muscles Based on Polypyrrole/Carbon Nanotube Laminates

A novel method for the periodical assembly of laminates of forest-drawn carbon nanotube (CNT) sheets and polypyrrole (PPy) is described. The method produces composite films in which the volume fraction and orientation of CNTs can be controlled. Actuator stroke and strength is increased and work capacity per cycle doubled when nanotube orientation is perpendicular to the actuation direction. Most importantly, these PPy/CNT laminates have dramatically decreased creep during actuation, which has been a major barrier for the application of PPy actuators.

Two trees: Australian artists' books to Afghanistan and back

Two Trees documents an artists' books collaboration between 14 Australian women artists and women in Afghanistan who were learning literacy. The collaboration resulted in 36 concertina books of images, withDari and Pashto hand written texts.The books are held in the State Library of Queensland's artists' books collection. Two Trees includes includes an introduction by Barbara Kameniar, and texts by Malalai Joya, Gali Weiss, Matthias Thomczak and Latifa Ahmady.