Timing a fake punch: Inhibitory effects in a boxing-specific spatial attention task.

The ability to respond quickly and accurately to spatial cues is of great importance to performance on any task where quick decision-making is required. The two main effects of spatial attention are priming, when a response to a target is facilitated after being cued at the same location, and inhibition of return (IOR), when the response to the target is slower to the cued area. Whether priming or IOR occurs is largely dependent on the length of the interval between the cue and the target. To determine whether these effects are relevant to dueling sports with deceptive actions we created a boxing-specific task that mimicked combinations of feints and punches. Altogether, we recruited 20 boxers and 20 non-boxers and found significantly longer reaction times to a punch thrown on the same side as a fake punch after a 600 ms interval, consistent with the IOR effect. We also found a moderate positive correlation between years of training and the magnitude of the IOR effect. This latter finding indicates that even athletes trained to avoid deception can be as susceptible as novices if the timing of the feint is right. Finally, our approach highlights the benefits of studying IOR using more sport specific settings, broadening the scope of the field.

Recent advances in vegetable oil-based polyurethanes.

Polyurethanes are among the most versatile polymers because of the wide range of monomers, particularly diols or polyols, that can be utilized in their synthesis. This Review focuses on the most recent advances made in the production of polyurethane materials from vegetable oils. Over the past several years, increasing attention has been given to the use of vegetable oils as feedstocks for polymeric materials, because they tend to be very inexpensive and available in large quantities. Using various procedures, a very broad range of polyols or diols and in some cases, poly- or diisocyanates, can be obtained from vegetable oils. The wide range of vegetable oil-based monomers leads to a wide variety of polyurethane materials, from flexible foams to ductile and rigid plastics. The thermal and mechanical properties of these vegetable oil-based polyurethanes are often comparable to or even better than those prepared from petroleum and are suitable for applications in various industries.

Thermophysical properties of conjugated soybean oil/corn stover biocomposites.

Novel "green composites" have been prepared using a conjugated soybean oil-based resin and corn stover as a natural fiber. Corn stover is the residue remaining after grain harvest and it is estimated that approximately 75 million tons are available annually in the United States. The effect of the amount of filler, the length of the fiber, and the amount of the crosslinker on the structure and thermal and mechanical properties of the composites has been determined using Soxhlet extraction analysis, thermogravimetric analysis, dynamic mechanical analysis, and tensile testing. Increasing the amount of corn stover and decreasing the length of the fiber results in significant improvements in the mechanical properties of the composites. The Young's moduli and tensile strengths of the composites prepared range from 291 to 1398 MPa and 2.7 to 7.4 MPa, respectively. Water uptake data indicate that increasing the amount and fiber length of the corn stover results in significant increases in the absorption of water by the composites. The composites, containing 20 to 80 wt.% corn stover and a resin composed of 50 wt.% natural oil, contain 60 to 90 wt.% renewable materials and should find applications in the construction, automotive, and furniture industries.