Drawing Ability Research Articles

Formation Mechanism of CaO-SiO2-Al2O3-(MgO) Inclusions in Si-Mn-Killed Steel with Limited Aluminum Content During the Low Basicity Slag Refining

Pilot trails were carried out to study the formation mechanism of CaO-SiO2-Al2O3-(MgO) inclusions in tire cord steel. 48 samples were taken from 8 heats of liquid steel during secondary refining, which were subsequently examined by an automatic scanning electron microscope with energy dispersive spectrometer (SEM–EDS). Characteristics of thousands of oxide inclusions at different refining stages were obtained, including their compositions, sizes, morphologies, etc. Based on the obtained information of inclusions, details during formation of CaO-SiO2-Al2O3-(MgO) inclusions were revealed and a new mechanism was proposed, including their origin, formation, and evolution during the refining process. It was found that CaO-SiO2-Al2O3-(MgO) inclusions were initially originated from the CaO-SiO2-MnO-(MgO) inclusions, which were formed during BOF tapping by the coalescence between MnO-SiO2 deoxidation products and the emulsified slag particles because of violent flow of steel. This can be well confirmed by the evaluation of the formation thermodynamics of CaO-SiO2-MnO-(MgO) inclusions, which was proved very difficult to be produced by intrinsic reactions inside liquid steel. Because of chemical reactions between CaO-SiO2-MnO-(MgO) inclusions and molten steel, they were mainly changed into CaO-SiO2-MnO-Al2O3-(MgO) and partially into CaO-SiO2-Al2O3-(MgO), which may be detrimental to the cold drawing ability of coils. Based on this finding, improvements were made in industrial production during BOF tapping and secondary refining. The results indicated that such (CaO-SiO2)-based inclusions existed in conventional process were effectively decreased after the improvements.

Scratching the surface: Practice, personality, approaches to learning, and the acquisition of high-level representational drawing ability.

Research suggests that expertise typically is acquired as a result of deliberate practice and a flexible approach to strategies for learning. Representational drawing is a complex skill which underpins performance in many branches of the visual arts and has the characteristics of other domains of expertise. It is therefore likely that approaches to learning and certain types of practice characterize the development of expertise in this domain. The current study aimed to investigate how differences in the acquisition of representational drawing skill could be explained by individual differences in personality, approaches to learning, and practice. A cohort of art students (n 682) completed questionnaires about their artistic ability, personality, and approaches to learning. A subset completed tasks of drawing ability (n 301), the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure test (ROCFT), and an IQ test (Raven’s Advanced Progressive Matrices). Drawing ability related to time spent drawing and use of drawing techniques, with additional independent effects of the copying and recalling a complex geometric figure. Personality predicted approaches to learning, which in turn predicted differences in the outcome variables: practice, use of techniques, and drawing ability. Personality did not directly predict drawing ability when approaches to learning were taken into account. Surface learners spent more time drawing, learned fewer techniques, and acquired a lower level of skill and strategic learners acquired a higher level of drawing skill. The resulting model of drawing ability development can be applied to expertise in a range of creative and noncreative domains

Brief Report: Imaginative Drawing in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Learning Disabilities.

Here we examine imaginative drawing abilities in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and learning disabilities (LD) under several conditions: spontaneous production, with use of a template, and combining two real entities to form an 'unreal' entity. Sixteen children in each group, matched on mental and chronological age, were asked to draw a number of 'impossible' pictures of humans and dogs. Children with ASD were impaired in spontaneous drawings and included fewer impossible features than children with LD, but there was no difference when a template was provided. An autism-specific deficit was revealed in the task involving combining entities. Results suggest that children with ASD do not have a general imaginative deficit; impairment is instead related to planning demands.

A Study of Ability of a Rectangular Shell Deep Drawing by Finite Element Program

Abstract This study was the use of the finite element method in the deep drawing process of a rectangular shell cup. The aim was to analyse the equivalent strain in the workpiece and to find out what happened to the disc blank sheet before the forming by stamping. The rectangular shell cup was 24x30x20 mm. and made of 2mm.thick SUS 403 and SUS 304 stainless steel. There were 3 types of blank sheets: 1) square sheet 2) 45 degree angled edge cutting sheet 3) circular sheet. It was found out that the drawing up with the use of 3 types of blank sheet made of SUS 304 stainless steel had no risk in the workpiece. For the stamping of the rectangular shell that used a square sheet made of SUS 403 stainless steel, it was found out that there was no risk in the work piece, but with the use of 45 degree angled edge cutting sheet or round sheet, the work piece had a risk to be damaged. Keywords: rectangular shell, Finite element 1. INTRODUCTION Deep drawing is very important to component manufacturing of parts of a product in industries. The problem of the rectangular shell cup deep drawing process was the equal amount of flow in each side, resulting in making mould in an actual production process. Therefore, finite element process plays a role in analyzing the ability of a rectangular shell deep drawing process and it well known that using steel sheet in deep drawing process requires an awareness of the factors that have an effect with finished workpieces to prevent the damage that may happen with workpieces during the deep drawing process There are the factors or variable that have an influence on ability in drawing. During the deep drawing, the punch will be stamped on the blank sheet through the die opening. This process will make the bending and unbending in the die. The metal between the punch will have tensile stress along the line of the punch and the hoop compression stress. The metal on the shell wall will receive axial tension. At the bottom of the shell the metal will have tensile stress on both axial lines. This stress has an effect to the force in drawing and damage that will be

Mechanical and barrier properties of ternary nanocomposite films based on polycarbonate/amorphous polyamide blends modified with a nanoclay

Ternary polycarbonate (PC)/amorphous polyamide–nanoclay (naPA) nanocomposite (PC/naPA) films were obtained by melt mixing and drawing, and the effects of the naPA content and the draw ratio (DR) on the structure, morphology and mechanical and barrier properties were studied. Despite the presence of nanoclay, the films exhibited a negligible roughness and the excellent optical properties of PC and amorphous polyamide (aPA). The dispersed naPA phase was pure and small, indicating compatibility. The naPA did not hinder the drawing ability of PC. At low DRs the dispersed phase was elongated and oriented along the machine direction (extrusion flow direction), but at high DRs, it fibrillated due to the higher non‐isothermal elongational flow induced by drawing. The laminar structure of the nanoclay allowed the films to be reinforced both in the machine and the transverse directions. The oxygen permeability of PC was reduced by 42% in the nanocomposite with 25% of naPA, and dropped further with the DR, which is attributed to the increased tortuosity of the oxygen path induced by fibrillation. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

High open-circuit voltage solution-processed organic solar cells based on a star-shaped small molecule end-capped with a new rhodanine derivative

A new star-shaped small molecule named TCNR3TTPA, with a triphenylamine (TPA) unit as the central building block and 2-(1,1-dicyanomethylene)-3-octyl rhodanine (CNR) as the end-capped group, has been designed and synthesized. TCNR3TTPA showed a deep highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) energy level (−5.60 eV) and broad absorption. The solution-processed bulk heterojunction (BHJ) solar cells based on TCNR3TTPA:PC61BM (1:1, w/w) exhibited a high open-circuit voltage (V oc) of 0.99 V, a short-circuit current density (J sc) of 5.76 mA/cm2, and a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 2.50% under the illumination of AM 1.5 G, 100 mW/cm2. The high V oc is ascribed to the strong electron-with- drawing ability of the end-capped 2-(1,1-dicyanomethylene)-3-octyl rhodanine group. These results demonstrated that the V oc of small-molecule organic solar cells could be increased by introducing a strong electron-withdrawing end-capped block, and that this is an effective strategy to design high-performance small molecules for organic solar cells.

Review: Edward Durell Stone: Modernism’s Populist Architect by Mary Anne Hunting

Mary Anne Hunting Edward Durell Stone: Modernism’s Populist Architect New York: W. W. Norton, 2012, 176 pp., 200 b/w illus. $55 (cloth), ISBN 9780393733013 Although Edward Durell Stone’s work is highly visible, he remains relatively unknown to both general and architectural audiences. Mary Anne Hunting’s Edward Durell Stone: Modernism’s Populist Architect is an attempt fill that gap. To start, she reminds us that this lack of recognition was not always the case. During his career he was very well known as the designer of the original Museum of Modern Art building, the “lollipop” building on Columbus Circle, both in New York City, and the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Along with Eero Saarinen, Paul Rudolph, Philip Johnson, and Minoru Yamasaki, he was considered to be part of the much-maligned “ballet school” of architecture, whose members challenged modernist orthodoxy by championing expressive and ornamented forms.1 His late work, such as the American Embassy in India, incorporated highly patterned ornamental screens, a motif that was much copied. In Hunting’s chronological narrative we also learn that Stone’s career was fueled by personal connections and media exposure. He grew up well-to-do in Fayetteville, Arkansas. He was a lifelong friend of J. William Fulbright, who, as a US senator, helped Stone secure a number of key government commissions. By all accounts, he was an affable and gifted colleague, “able to ‘draw anything except a sober breath,’ ” that is, until he quit drinking in the late 1950s. As a twenty-year-old he moved to Boston, where his brother was a practicing architect. His drawing ability landed him a job at Coolidge, Shepley, Bulfinch and Abbott, where Henry Richardson Shepley took him under his wing. In Boston he attended—but did not graduate from—Harvard and MIT, where he received a Beaux-Arts education. In both places he was a nonmatriculated special student. (As he admitted himself, he was never much of an academic.) It was Shepley who aided his admission to Harvard, and …

드로잉 교육의 뇌과학적 기제 연구 - 애니메이션 드로잉을 중심으로

본 연구는 애니메이션의 전문적인 특성을 고려한 드로잉 교수법을 연구하기위한 문헌분석 과정으로 뇌의 기능과 학습, 창작 기제를 고려한 교수법을 적용하면 애니메이션 드로잉능력이 효율적으로 신장될 것이라는 관점의 연구를 위한 원리분석 과정이다. 최근 들어 각 분야의 교육방법에 대한 대안적인 논의로 뇌기반 학습원리가 적용된 연구결과들이 발표되고 있다. 이는 미술과 드로잉 교육 뿐만 아니라, 예술전반적인 교육적 대안으로 적용 실시되고 있다. 반면, 애니메이션 드로잉은 미술적 소양을 필요로 함과 동시에 움직임에 대한 구조적 지식과 인지적 감각, 소통방식을 숙련할 수 있는 종합적인 교수법을 요하는 것에 비해 전문적인 교수법 개발 연구는 미진하다. 이에 효과적인 교육의 원리를 뇌의 기제로 바라보고 뇌가 학습하고 창의성을 발휘하게 되는 원리를 분석하여 본다. 또한 그림그리기와 뇌의 기능에 대한 원리관계를 통해 드로잉과 뇌의 관계를 알아본다. 그 결과 구조와 형태를 그릴 수 있는 인지적 정보를 관할하는 좌뇌 뿐만 아니라, 그리기와 직접적 관련이 있는 우뇌를 통합 발달시켜야 하며, 창의성이 발현되기 위해서는 물리적, 심리적 요소가 발현되는 통합적 뇌의 기제를 이해한 교수법이 개발되어야함이 드러났다. 애니메이션드로잉교육은 드로잉 능력에 필요한 예술적 창의 속성을 발휘하는 방법을 교육하는 것이기 때문이다. 이 과정은 기존의 애니메이션드로잉 교수법과의 차별성을 찾아내는 토대가 될 뿐만 아니라, 뇌기반-원리는 이후 교육의 전략과 방법 모형을 설계하는데 핵심적인 전략적 정의로 선정될 것이다. This study is a literature analytical process for studying the drawing teaching methods considering the professional characteristics of animation and a principle analytical process for studying the perspective that when teaching methods that consider the function, learning and creative mechanisms of the brain are applied, the animation drawing ability will be effectively increased. In recent years, as an alternative discussion on the educational method of each field, study results applied with brain-based learning principles are being presented. This is not only being applied and implemented for art and drawing education but as overall educational alternatives. On the other hand, animation drawing requires artistic literacy and at the same time requires comprehensive teaching methods that can train the structural knowledge, cognitive sensation and communication method but such professional teaching methods are insufficient. Therefore, the principle of effective education is seen through the brain mechanism and the principle of demonstrating the creativity and learning by the brain is analyzed. In addition, through the fundamental relationship on the picture drawing and the function of the brain, the relationship of the drawing and the brain is identified. As a result, not only for the left brain that observes the cognitive information which can draw the structure and shapes but the right brain which is directly related to the drawing should be developed, but in order to express the creativity, teaching methods that can understand the mechanism of comprehensive brain where physical and psychological factors are expressed should be also developed. It is because the animation drawing education is teaching the methods for demonstrating the characteristics of artistic creativity required for the drawing ability. This process will not only be a foundation for identifying the difference against the previous animation drawing teaching methods, and the brain-based principles will be selected as the core strategic definition for designing the strategy and methodological model of future education.

Visual C++ Call MATLAB Multi-Scale Edge Detection

This article describes the Visual C++ call MATLAB engine detailed steps to achieve the VC-based interface to call MATLAB field geological position of multi-scale edge detection algorithm. The results show that, the development cycle of program and the workload is reduced, but also has a good Visual C++design of MATLAB user interface and convenient calculation and drawing ability. The program for the development of geophysical analysis software provides an effective way of high reliability, low development cycle.

Drawing ability in typical and atypical development; colour cues and the effect of oblique lines.

Individuals with Williams syndrome (WS) have poor drawing ability. Here, we investigated whether colour could be used as a facilitation cue during a drawing task. Participants with WS and non-verbal ability matched typically developing (TD) children were shown line figures presented on a 3 by 3 dot matrix, and asked to replicate the figures by drawing on an empty dot matrix. The dots of the matrix were either all black (control condition), or nine different coloured dots (colour condition). In a third condition, which also used coloured dots, participants were additionally asked to verbalise the colours of the dots prior to replicating the line drawings (colour-verbal condition). Performance was stronger in both WS and TD groups on the two coloured conditions, compared with the control condition. However, the facilitation effect of colour was significantly weaker in the WS group than in the TD group. Replication of oblique line segments was less successful than replication of non-oblique line segments for both groups; this effect was reduced by colour facilitation in the TD group only. Verbalising the colours had no additional impact on performance in either group. We suggest that colour acted as a cue to individuate the dots, thus enabling participants to better ascertain the spatial relationships between the parts of each figure, to determine the start and end points of component lines, and to determine the correspondence between the model and their replication. The reduced facilitation in the WS group is discussed in relation to the effect of oblique versus non-oblique lines, the use of atypical drawing strategies, and reduced attention to the model when drawing the replication.

애니메이션 교육을 위한 모션드로잉 범주화 -뇌과학 원리를 적용한 교육모형 개발 기초연구

본 연구는 대안적인 교육모형을 연구하는 과정으로 뇌의 기능과 학습, 창작 기제를 고려한 교수법을 적용하면 애니메이션 드로잉능력이 효율적으로 신장될 것이라는 관점으로 이어지기 위한 연구의 선행분석 과정이다. 근래에 각 분야의 학문 연구들은 단순히 한 전공에 국한되는 것이 아니라 타 분야와의 융합적인 연구 활동을 통해 세분화 된 융합적 교육 콘텐츠를 생산해 내는 시도들을 하고 있다. 어떠한 분야 던지 복합적인 인문학적 경험 구조를 가지고 있기 때문이며 예술분야 또한 그러하다. 특히나 영상콘텐츠인 애니메이션 분야는 전문화된 영역이 세분화 되어 있기 때문에 드로잉 관련 교육만 보더라도 전문성에 필요한 항목을 명확히 하고 체계적인 교육방법을 개발할 필요성이 요구된다. 이에 본 연구는 애니메이션 교육방법의 전문적인 특성에 적합한 교육모형을 설계하기 위한 문헌 연구결과를 제시한다. 이에 애니메이션 분야의 교육에 가장 기초적인 능력을 연마할 수 있는 드로잉의 의미를 전공분야의 특성에 맞게 개념화하고 범주화하였다. 이후 재정립 된 드로잉의 개념과 범주를 통해 구성요소가 돌출되며 이는 후속 작업인 학습목표를 구체화하는 과정의 토대가 된다. 그에 대한 결과로 애니메이션 분야의 특성이 반영된 드로잉의 의미를 모션드로잉으로 정의하고 구성요소를 살펴보며, 뇌과학적 창의-학습 원리를 적용한 교육모형을 계획하기 위한 근거로 삼는다. This study is a process of studying an alternative educational model and a preceding analysis process of the study where a teaching method considering the brain function, learning and creative mechanism is applied with a perspective of effectively increasing the animation drawing ability. Recently, studies in each field of study is not simply limited to one major but are attempting to produce subdivided integrated educational contents through integrated study activities with other fields. It is because for any field, it has a complex structure of humanistic experience and this is the same for artistic fields. Especially, in the field of animation, a specialized area is subdivided so when looking only at the education related to the drawing, the items required for expertise should be clarified and the development of a systematic educational method is required. Therefore in this study, a literature study result to design the educational model suitable for professional characteristics of animation education method is proposed. The study aims to conceptualize and categorize the meaning of drawing that can refine the basic ability for education of animation field to suit the characteristics of majoring field. Afterwards, the components are derived through re-established concept of drawing and categories, and this becomes the basis for the process of materializing the study goal which is the follow-up work. As a result, the components are examined by defining the meaning of drawing as the motion drawing due to the characteristics of the picture contents field, and used as a basis for planning the educational model applied with brain scientific creative-learning principles.

애니메이션을 위한 모션드로잉 교육의 현황과 과제

본 연구는 대안적인 교육모형을 연구하는 과정으로 애니메이션의 전문성을 고려한 교수법을 적용하면 애니메이션 드로잉능력이 효율적으로 신장될 것이라는 관점으로 이어지기 위한 연구의 선행분석 과정이다. 애니메이션 분야는 대상의 움직임을 통해 스토리를 전달하는 영상예술이기 때문에 드로잉 관련 교육만 보더라도 전문성에 필요한 항목을 명확히 하고 체계적인 커리큘럼과 교수법을 적용할 필요성이 요구된다. 이에 본 연구는 애니메이션의 전문성이 고려된 모션드로잉의 범주화 내용에 해당되는 교육적 과제를 분석하고, 국,내외 커리큘럼과 교육내용을 분석하여 현재의 상황을 살펴봄과 동시에 교육모형 개발의 필요성을 점검해보고자 한다. 그에 대한 결과로 모션드로잉 영역에 있는 교과목의 교육모형을 계획하기 위한 근거로 한다. 이 과정은 ADDIE교육모형 개발의 분석단계에 해당되며 추후, 융합적 연구의 시도로써 뇌의 기능과 창작기제를 바탕으로 한 교육모형을 개발하고 적용하는 연구로 이어진다. This study is a process of studying an alternative educational model and a preceding analysis process of the study where a teaching method considering the expertise of animation is applied with a perspective of effectively increasing the animation drawing ability. The animation field which is the image contents is a visual art that delivers the story through the movement of the subject, and when looking only at the education related to the drawing, the items required for expertise should be clarified and the development of a systematic curriculum and teaching method is required. Therefore in this study, it aims to review the necessity of education model development by analyzing the educational contents and domestic and foreign curriculums that corresponds to the categorization of motion drawing considered with expertise of animation. As a result, it will be used as a basis for planning the educational model of a subject in the category of motion drawing. This process corresponds to the analysis phase of ADDIE educational model development and in the future, as an attempt for integrated studies, will lead to a study of developing and applying the educational model based on the functions of brain and creative mechanism.

Pendidikan Anak Usia Dini di Awal Sekolah Dasar Melalui Joyfull Learning: Catatan Kritis Terhadap Pembelajaran Menggambar Anak

One of the urgent aspects which has to be provided by adults in a child’s potency is the ability of drawing. Furthermore, the importance of drawing has a relevancy with the motoric trait development in children. Besides, drawing is able to enhance the ability of right brain as a visualization. This brain, moreover, has an essential part to strengthen all of intellectual activities. Nevertheless, it is slightly hard to expect that drawing will maximally contribute in children especially in an elementary school. Drawing which has been done in the elementary school is unfortunately accomplished without a construction concept by the teacher. This writing is a critical annotation to a drawing lessonat school, especially in early childhood education programs.

Knowing how to look predicts the ability to draw realistically.

Some young children are able to create stunningly realistic drawings resembling those of adult artists. What perceptual abilities underlie this talent? This study examined two candidate skills on which adult artists excel: the ability to segment a complex form mentally (measured by the Block Design Task) and the ability to see hidden forms (measured by the Group Embedded Figures Test). Sixty-seven 6- to 13-year-olds with a wide range of drawing abilities completed these tasks as well as an IQ test and an observational drawing task. While children who scored high on drawing realism outperformed those who scored low in drawing realism on both perceptual tasks, only detection of embedded figures predicted drawing realism. This occurred independently of age, gender, years of training, and verbal and non-verbal IQ. There are certainly many contributors to this complex ability, but one component appears to be the tendency to see things more as they really are and thereby recognize the continuous contour of an object despite interference from other overlapping objects.

A mass-production-ready anti-wear probe for scanning probe microscopy lithography

In this paper, a mass-production-ready anti-wear probe that has a much higher drawing stability than a conventional probe with a needle-shape tip while keeping the same drawing ability of arbitrary patterns has been proposed. The probe tip with a uniform cuboid-shape consisted of a microscale mechanical contact (width of the cantilever), two nanoscale electrical contacts (thickness of tungsten film) formed on the sidewalls of the mechanical contact, and an eave formed at the end. The microscale mechanical contact reduced tip wear by dispersing the force, while the nanoscale electrical contact enabled the drawing of nanoscale patterns. The uniform shape of the probe tip enabled the probe to maintain its stable performance, even when it had been mechanically worn. The eave played an essential role for mass production during simultaneous metallization of probes; it prevented tungsten film from being deposited on the mechanical contact by creating a shadow during the sputtering process. The results of the local anodic oxidation (LAO) lithography showed that the proposed probe was able to draw arbitrary patterns while maintaining stable performance over a long drawing distance.

Cain’s house task revisited and revived: Extending theory and methodology for quantifying drawing accuracy.

In 1943 Theron Cain studied art students’ ability to draw a series of simple two-dimensional shapes, and found this ability to be correlated with formal drawing assessments at art school. This provided evidence that some aspects of drawing ability could be quantified, and that performance on simple drawing tasks could predict higher level attainment. The current study sought to validate Cain’s findings by exploring the validity of shape analysis techniques for measuring drawing accuracy and by measuring reproduction of angles and proportions in a rendering and nonrendering task. Drawing accuracy derived from shape analysis methods was found to be correlated with subjective rating scores of accuracy. Subjective ratings were based upon holistic shape attributes for organic stimuli, and local shape attributes for geometric stimuli. The ability to represent simple angular and proportional relationships also related to higher level drawing ability in both rendering and nonrendering scenarios. These findings provide support for both the methodological approach and the theoretical implications of Cain’s early empirical study into observa- tional drawing accuracy

Drawing on the right side of the brain: A voxel-based morphometry analysis of observational drawing

Structural brain differences in relation to expertise have been demonstrated in a number of domains including visual perception, spatial navigation, complex motor skills and musical ability. However no studies have assessed the structural differences associated with representational skills in visual art. As training artists are inclined to be a heterogeneous group in terms of their subject matter and chosen media, it was of interest to investigate whether there would be any consistent changes in neural structure in response to increasing representational drawing skill. In the current study a cohort of 44 graduate and post-graduate art students and non-art students completed drawing tasks. Scores on these tasks were then correlated with the regional grey and white matter volume in cortical and subcortical structures. An increase in grey matter density in the left anterior cerebellum and the right medial frontal gyrus was observed in relation to observational drawing ability, whereas artistic training (art students vs. non-art students) was correlated with increased grey matter density in the right precuneus. This suggests that observational drawing ability relates to changes in structures pertaining to fine motor control and procedural memory, and that artistic training in addition is associated with enhancement of structures pertaining to visual imagery. The findings corroborate the findings of small-scale fMRI studies and provide insights into the properties of the developing artistic brain.

Intersecting pentagon copying and clock drawing test in mild and moderate Alzheimer's disease

BackgroundIn Alzheimer's disease (AD) drawing and constructional abilities are impaired and worsen as the disease progresses. PurposeTo examine the feasibility of and develop a method for screening, diagnosis, and staging of dementia that can be quickly administered and interpreted in the clinical setting. MethodsThe study aims to describe a scoring mechanism of the intersecting pentagon copying (IPC) task based on the degree of drawing failure and pitted against the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and the clock drawing test (CDT), which is probably its most likely competitor for a small measure. This is a prospective cohort study of 91 probable dementia patients of the Alzheimer type referred to the geriatrician over a period of 3 years where the suitability of prescribing acetyl cholinesterase inhibitor is investigated. The patients were categorized as follows: 18 (20%) normal, 31 (34%) mild dementia, and 42 (46%) moderate dementia. The copying of the pentagon was part of the MMSE and these drawings were further scrutinized and a 10-point scoring method developed. Each IPC and CDT was blindly and independently rated by two geriatricians. ResultsThe MMSE and Clinical Dementia Rating were found to have very similar staging results. The IPC had some commonality with these measures for patients defined as normal in that most score 10/10 for the IPC. However, both mild and moderate dementia patients according to other measures have an overlapping range of scores on the IPC scoring method developed. The highest association for the IPC with the CDT was 0.68. IPC had a stronger correlation with the total MMSE than with the two shorter versions. ConclusionThe IPC seems to operate more as a screening tool rather than a dementia staging instrument and assists in identifying normal patients.

Characteristics of polyacrylonitrile solutions and fibers varied with the dissolution process in ionic liquid

The concentrated polyacrylonitrile (PAN) solutions were prepared with 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride ([BMIM]Cl) as solvent by static state, stirring, and kneading. The steady and oscillatory shear tests were carried out to investigate the viscoelastic behaviors of the PAN/[BMIM]Cl solutions by rotational rheometer. It was found that the zero shear-rate viscosity and relaxation time of the solution prepared by kneading were lowest and the non-Newtonian index was largest among the solution. During kneading, the gelation temperature of the viscous and homogenous solution was at the lowest temperature 22.7°C among the all three solutions. Only the solutions prepared by stirring and kneading could be spun by dry-jet wet spinning technology. The fiber processed with the solution prepared by kneading could be drawn with a higher draw ratio, showing the larger draw ability. The supramolecular structure and properties of the fibers were studied by synchrotron wide-angle X-ray diffraction (WAXD) technologies, dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA), and mechanical tests. All the results showed that the kneading is an efficient method for PAN fiber spinning with [BMIM]Cl as solvent. It lead to the investigation of the methods of preparation of PAN solution in [BMIM]Cl, which affect the homogeneity of the solutions and hence the resulting characteristics of PAN fibers. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 55:558–564, 2015. © 2014 Society of Plastics Engineers

Self- and family-conceptions of Turkish migrant, native German, and native Turkish children: A comparison of children's drawings

The aim of the present study was to investigate the cultural conception of self and family held by Turkish migrant preschool children in comparison with native German and native Turkish children by the assessment of self- and family-drawings. The final sample consisted of 40 Turkish migrant children, 56 German urban middle-class children, 47 German rural children, 61 Turkish urban middle-class children, and 21 Turkish rural children. The children of the five cultural milieus did not differ in age, gender distribution, or human figure drawing ability. Besides the drawings, the mothers’ sociocultural orientation was assessed, as well as migrant mothers’ involvement in the German and Turkish cultures. The results revealed similarities between Turkish migrant children's self- and family-depictions with those of children from their culture of origin, particularly in some categorical features such as gender-specific characteristics, torso type, and neighbors. On the other hand, however, the drawings differed from those of Turkish rural children in the size of the depicted self. These findings are in line with the specific ecocultural context and the cultural orientation of Turkish migrant families toward psychological autonomy and hierarchical relatedness. It can therefore be concluded that Turkish migrant children's drawings are influenced by both their culture of origin, probably mediated by their familial socialization, and their social experiences in Germany.