Scorch marks from the sky

Daily sunshine duration is commonly reported at weather stations. Beyond the basic duration report, more information is available from scorched cards of Campbell-Stokes sunshine recorders, such as the estimation of direct-beam solar irradiance. Sunshine cards therefore potentially provide information on sky state, as inferred from solar-radiation data. Some sites have been operational since the late 19th century, hence sunshine cards potentially provide underexploited historical data on sky state. Sunshine cards provide an example of an archive source yielding data beyond the measurements originally sought

The process of civilization (and its discontents): violence, narrative and history

Historical violence studies are being increasingly influenced by theoretical approaches which focus on the development of ‘cultures of violence’. However, this growing interest in the interconnections between violence and culture faces a number of significant challenges posed by the influence of disciplines other than history as well as by internal difficulties in (and disagreements over) identifying the precise role of discourse in shaping (and changing) cultures of violence. In dealing with these issues, historians are becoming increasingly interested in Norbert Elias’s theory of the ‘civilising process’. This perspective has proven to be very fruitful; nonetheless, there are problematic issues raised by Elias’s approach. In particular, the relationship between 'culture' (and thus 'discourse') and the social forces which, according to Elias, have driven a historical decline in violent behaviour – interdependence, class differentiation and the state monopolisation of legitimate physical force – remains unsettled. In this essay, I contribute to the theoretical discussion of discourses of violence from a historical perspective marked by a critical engagement with the notion of a ‘civilising process’ and incorporating conceptual tools from the fields of discourse analysis, social geography and anthropology. My conclusions, though focused on the past, are nevertheless relevant to current issues in violence and the ways that it is understood

Conceptualizing cultures of violence and cultural change

The historiography of violence has undergone a distinct cultural turn as attention has shifted from examining violence as a clearly defined (and countable) social problem to analysing its historically defined 'social meaning'. Nevertheless, the precise nature of the relationship between 'violence' and 'culture' is still being established. How are 'cultures of violence' formed? What impact do they have on violent behaviour? How do they change? This essay examines some of the conceptual aspects of the relationship between culture and violence. It brings together empirical research into nineteenth-century England with recent research results from other European contexts to examine three aspects of the relationship between culture and violence. These are organised under the labels 'seeing violence', 'identifying the violent' and 'changing violence'. Within a particular society, narratives regarding particular kinds of behaviour shape cultural attitudes. The notion 'violence' is thus defined in relation to physically aggressive acts as well as by being connected to other kinds of attitudes and contexts. As a result, the boundaries between physical aggression which is legitimate and that which is illegitimate (and thus 'violence') are set. Once 'violence' is defined, particular cultures form ideas about who is responsible for it: reactions to violence become associated with social arrangements such as class and gender as well as to attitudes toward the self. Finally, cultures of violence make efforts to tame or eradicate illegitimate forms of physical aggression. This process is not only connected to the development of new forms of power (e.g., new policing or punishment strategies) but also to less tangible cultural influences which aim at changing the behaviour defined as violence (in particular among the social groups identified as violent). Even if successful, this three-tiered process of seeing violence, identifying the violent and changing violence continues anew, emphasising the ways that cultures of violence develop through a continuous process of reevaluation and reinvention

Swelling of acetylated wood in organic liquids

To investigate the affinity of acetylated wood for organic liquids, Yezo spruce wood specimens were acetylated with acetic anhydride, and their swelling in various liquids were compared to those of untreated specimens. The acetylated wood was rapidly and remarkably swollen in aprotic organic liquids such as benzene and toluene in which the untreated wood was swollen only slightly and/or very slowly. On the other hand, the swelling of wood in water, ethylene glycol and alcohols remained unchanged or decreased by the acetylation. Consequently the maximum volume of wood swollen in organic liquids was always larger than that in water. The effect of acetylation on the maximum swollen volume of wood was greater in liquids having smaller solubility parameters. The easier penetration of aprotic organic liquids into the acetylated wood was considered to be due to the scission of hydrogen bonds among the amorphous wood constituents by the substitution of hydroxyl groups with hydrophobic acetyl groups.Comment: to be published in J Wood Science (Japanese wood research society

Green public procurement of certified wood : impact on international trade and global welfare

This paper investigates the impact of green public procurement (governments’ purchases) of certified wood in the EU. A spatial partial price equilibrium model is developed to analyse whether this policy impacts interregional trade flows of wood and other regions’ economic welfare. The model contains an innovative feature which allows the introduction of consumers’ willingness to pay for certified wood, and producers’ willingness to accept certified wood production in order to determine the share of certified wood in consumption and demand. The outcome of the analysis demonstrates that green public procurement of certified wood in one region can create a trade barrier for other regions and decrease other regions’ economic welfare. In the worst case scenario, other regions’ production of non-certified wood even increases. This endangers forest conservation. Cost reductions and adequate financial compensation for certified wood producers can tackle these problems

Co-firing of biomass with coals Part 1. Thermogravimetric kinetic analysis of combustion of fir (abies bornmulleriana) wood

The chemical composition and reactivity of fir (Abies bornmulleriana) wood under non-isothermal thermogravimetric (TG) conditions were studied. Oxidation of the wood sample at temperatures near 600 A degrees C caused the loss of aliphatics from the structure of the wood and created a char heavily containing C-O functionalities and of highly aromatic character. On-line FTIR recordings of the combustion of wood indicated the oxidation of carbonaceous and hydrogen content of the wood and release of some hydrocarbons due to pyrolysis reactions that occurred during combustion of the wood. TG analysis was used to study combustion of fir wood. Non-isothermal TG data were used to evaluate the kinetics of the combustion of this carbonaceous material. The article reports application of Ozawa-Flynn-Wall model to deal with non-isothermal TG data for the evaluation of the activation energy corresponding to the combustion of the fir wood. The average activation energy related to fir wood combustion was 128.9 kJ/mol, and the average reaction order for the combustion of wood was calculated as 0.30

The Use of Demolition Wood in Papermaking

The reason for this study came from three factors affecting the paper industry as well as society as a whole. These factors are decreasing landfill space, increasing tipping fees, and increasing demands for alternative fiber sources. In the United States, approximately 9.8 million tons of demolition wood waste is landfilled per year. Increasing governmental regulations which require greater amounts of secondary fiber to be used in papermaking are forcing the industry to consider alternative fiber options. The seven steps in the procedure include: rough wood, wood chips, kraft pulping, fiber refining, screening, handsheets, and testing. The four types of wood involved are a 50 year old house wood, a 100 year old barn wood, a kiln-dried wood, and a red pine green wood. All wood types are pine. The strength test (tensile, burst, tear) revealed that demolition wood fiber is strong enough to be considered as a secondary fiber source. The average value obtained for tear from the demolition wood is 13.7 (mN m2/g). The average values for burst and tensile are 20.3 psi and 4.18 km, respectively. In fact, the values obtained from the old wood are comparable to those obtained by Kleppe for a green wood pine(4). Drawbacks to its use include containment removal, probable bleaching limitations, obtaining the wood, and labor/energy requirements. The resource may best be utilized by having a demolition company deliver the wood, pulp, screen, and refine the wood separately, and have the fibers metered in at know quantities at the blend chest within the paper mill. Ultimately the use of this source becomes a function of society\u27s focus on the green movement and regulations imposed on the industry by the government

Penetration and effectiveness of micronized copper in refractory wood species

The North American wood decking market mostly relies on easily treatable Southern yellow pine (SYP), which is being impregnated with micronized copper (MC) wood preservatives since 2006. These formulations are composed of copper (Cu) carbonate particles (CuCO3 center dot Cu(OH)(2)), with sizes ranging from 1 nm to 250 mu m, according to manufacturers. MC-treated SYP wood is protected against decay by solubilized Cu2+ ions and unreacted CuCO3 center dot Cu(OH)(2) particles that successively release Cu2+ ions (reservoir effect). The wood species used for the European wood decking market differ from the North American SYP. One of the most common species is Norway spruce wood, which is poorly treatable i.e. refractory due to the anatomical properties, like pore size and structure, and chemical composition, like pit membrane components or presence of wood extractives. Therefore, MC formulations may not suitable for refractory wood species common in the European market, despite their good performance in SYP. We evaluated the penetration effectiveness of MC azole (MCA) in easily treatable Scots pine and in refractory Norway spruce wood. We assessed the effectiveness against the Cu-tolerant wood-destroying fungus Rhodonia placenta. Our findings show that MCA cannot easily penetrate refractory wood species and could not confirm the presence of a reservoir effect