Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) sheets show promise for application in origami-based engineering design. Origami-based engineering provides advantages that are not readily available in traditional engineering design methods. Several processing methods were examined to identify trends and determine the effect of processing of PET sheets on the crease properties of origami mechanisms in PET. Various annealing times, temperatures, and cooling rates were evaluated and data collected for over 1000 samples. It was determined that annealing temperature plays the largest role in crease response. An increase in the crystallinity of a PET sheet while in the folded state likely increases the force response of the crease in PET sheets. An annealing time of at least 60 min at 160 °C-180 °C with a quick cooling results in a high force response in the crease. The effectiveness of the processing methods was demonstrated in several origami patterns of various complexities.

Recent research has investigated the relationship between personality and social support in predicting various forms of adjustment. This study explores this relationship in a sample of 137 human service professionals engaged in post-degree clinical skills training at the Christian Counselling Centre in Vellore, India. The impact of certain forms of social support on burnout was examined, after controlling for the effect of the personality trait of anxiety. As hypothesized, perceived social support was negatively associated with burnout, even after controlling for the effects of anxiety. This pattern was strongest for the males in this sample. Emotional exhaustion and depersonalization were the components of burnout most strongly related to perceived support. The perception of support received from 'work-related' and 'other' relationships made a stronger contribution than did 'family' or 'social' ties with respect to burnout. Implications for future cross-cultural investigation of the relationships among personality, social support and adjustment are discussed.

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We present new families of thick origami mechanisms that achieve rigid foldability and parallel stacking of panels in the flat-folded state using linkages for some or all of the hinges between panels. A degree-four vertex results in a multiloop eight-bar spatial mechanism that can be analyzed as separate linkages. The individual linkages are designed so that they introduce offsets perpendicular to the panels that are mutually compatible around each vertex. This family of mechanisms offers the unique combination of planar unfolded state, parallel-stacked panels in the flat-folded state and kinematic single-degree-of-freedom motion from the flat-unfolded to the flat-folded state. The paper develops the mathematics defining the necessary offsets, beginning with a symmetric bird’s-foot vertex, and then shows that the joints can be developed for asymmetric flat-foldable systems. Although in the general case there is no guarantee of achieving perfect kinematic motion, we show that for many cases of interest, the deviation is a tiny fraction of the plate thickness. Mechanical realizations of several examples are presented.