We sketch some reasons for thinking that modern formulations of mechanics might shed some light on old questions about human nature, in particular the malleability of human nature and the character of limits on cognition and volition. We illustrate the approach by showing how to regard certain forces that depend on mental states or the states of artificial controllers as interaction forces betw...

We demonstrate the use of a structural and statistical characterisation method on two types of planar disc packs. One is a very dense pack of mean coordination number 5.20 and the other of mean coordination number 4.0. Except for constraining the mean coordination number in the latter one, the different pack types were constructed by the same deposition process and had the same disc size distri...

The engineering properties of the lunar regolith reflect aspects of the original parent rock and the consequences of hypervelocity meteor bombardment. Compared to the Earth the geologic nature of the lunar regolith is quite distinct. On scales relevant to machinery, heterogeneity with respect to size and composition is much higher. But the total range in composition is much more restricted. Bot...

In this contribution, we present a constitutive model to describe the mechanical behaviour of microbial biofilms based on classical approaches in the continuum theory of polymer networks. Although the model is particularly developed for the well-studied biofilms formed by mucoid Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains, it could easily be adapted to other biofilms. The basic assumption behind the model i...

The remotor muscle of the second antenna of the American lobster is functionally divided into two parts. One part produces slow, powerful contractions and is used for postural control. The other part produces very brief twitches, can follow frequencies over 100/sec without fusion and is probably used for sound production. This great speed is due, in part, to synchronous arrival of nerve impulse...

AIM To report the main differences seen by direct visual inspection between original and counterfeit Reciproc instruments, together with an evaluation of instrument bending resistance, cyclic fatigue, surface finish, Vickers microhardness and chemical composition. METHODOLOGY The visual aspects of original Reciproc R25 (VDW, Munich, Germany) and counterfeit Reciproc R25 instruments (claimed t...

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between tendon micro-morphology quantified from a sonogram and tendon mechanical characteristics measured in vivo. Nineteen adults (nine with unilateral Achilles tendinosis) participated. A commercial ultrasound scanner was used to capture longitudinal B-mode ultrasound images from the mid-portion of bilateral Achilles tendons and a cust...

Dense Silicon nitride was investigated to determine the effect of its microstructural parameters and densification on thermo-mechanical properties and thermal stress resistance to fracture initiation during a hot or cold mechanical and thermal shock testing. The different materials and microstructures were obtained by changing the parameters such as the type of the powder, additive, forming p...

This work focused on the influence of processing conditions on the mechanical properties of polypropylene (PP) and PP/mesoporous silica-hydroxyapatite (PP/MCM-41-HA) hybrid nanocomposites. The mechanical properties of PP were enhanced by adding MCM-41-HA nanoparticles. Neat PP and hybrid nanocomposites based on PP, containing maleic anhydride-grafted polypropylene (PP-g-MA) and MCM-41-HA, were ...