Species Selection in Secondary Wood Products: Implications for Product Design and Promotion

This study investigated the perceptions that people have of several commercially important wood species and determined if word-based and specimen-based evaluations differed. Such knowledge can help secondary wood manufacturers better understand their products and develop more effective design concepts and promotional messages. A sample of more than 250 undergraduate students at a major midwestern university was split into two groups and asked to rate six wood species on several semantic-differential items, based either on word association or physical wood samples. The two methods of evaluation often produced different results that were more pronounced for certain species, especially oak. Some gender-based differences were also observed. Respondents generally had difficulty identifying the species that they were observing, particularly mahogany and maple, yet maintained definite perceptual images of these same species. It is suggested that species perception is an important and lasting component of the total product concept for secondary wood products, and can moderate appearance-based evaluations

Life Cycle Inventory of Manufacturing Prefinished Engineered Wood Flooring in Eastern us with Comparsion to Solid Strip Wood Flooring

Building products have come under increased scrutiny because of environmental impacts from their manufacture. Our study followed the life cycle inventory approach for prefinished engineered wood flooring in the eastern US and compared the results with those of solid strip wood flooring. Our study surveyed five engineered wood flooring manufacturers in the eastern US. These production facilities represented 18.7% of total annual production in 2007. Primary data collected for 2007 included annual production, energy consumption and type, material inputs, emission data, product outputs, and other coproducts. Modeling data estimated biogenic and fossil CO2 emissions at 623 and 1050 kg/m3, respectively, and volatile organic compounds at 1.04 kg/m3. Cumulative allocated energy consumption for prefinished engineered wood flooring was 23.0 GJ/m3 with 40% coming from coal. Unfinished solid strip flooring cumulative energy consumption was only 6.50 GJ/m3 with 65% from biomass, roughly half that of unfinished engineered wood flooring. However, after converting to an area (in-use) basis, unfinished engineered wood flooring consumed 136 MJ/m2 compared with 123 MJ/m2 for unfinished solid strip flooring. After changing to an in-use parameter, the two wood flooring products were similar in energy consumption during manufacturing, but engineered wood flooring still consumed significantly more fossil fuel

Environmental Impact of Producing Hardwood Lumber Using Life-Cycle Inventory

Using sustainable building materials is gaining a significant presence in the US. This study examined hardwood lumber manufacturing using life-cycle inventory methodology. Material flow and energy use were identified for hardwood sawmills in northeastern US. A hardwood log volume conversion of 43.7% to planed dry lumber was found. Values of 608 MJ/m3 of electrical and 5800 MJ/m3 of thermal energy were determined for the manufacturing of planed dry hardwood lumber where mostly green wood residues were burned on-site for energy. Emission data produced from modeling estimated biomass and fossil CO2 production of 428 and 139 kg/m3, respectively. Increasing wood fuel use, a carbon-neutral process, would lower the environmental impact of hardwood lumber manufacturing and increase its use as a green building material

Species Selection in Secondary Wood Products: Perspectives From Different Consumers

This study investigated adult consumer perceptions of several wood species to determine if word-based and appearance-based evaluations differed. The research replicated a 2001 study by the authors, which used undergraduate college students as a proxy for older and more experienced adult furniture consumers. The literature is somewhat inconclusive concerning the extent to which student samples represent "real" consumers. Using the mall intercept survey procedure at several furniture stores and trade shows in two Midwestern cites, participants were split into two groups and asked to rate six commercially important wood species on several semantic-differential items, based either on word association (word-based perception) or physical wood specimens (appearance-based perception). Results from the replicated adult consumer study were very similar to the student study suggesting that college students provide a reasonable picture of adult consumers' perceptions of wood species. The study confirmed that the word-based and appearance-based methods of evaluation sometimes produce different results. In general, the appearance-based respondents had difficulty identifying the species they were observing; however, the adult consumers were better at species identification than were the college students. This study provides further evidence that preconceived species perceptions play an important role in influencing the consumer's ultimate evaluation of wood. The research results can help secondary wood manufacturers better understand the implications of species on design and communication decisions

Life-Cycle Inventory of Manufacturing Hardwood Lumber in Southeastern US

Environmental impacts associated with the building industry have become of increasing importance. Materials and energy consumed during manufacture of building materials such as lumber affect a building's environmental performance. This study determined environmental impacts of manufacturing hardwood lumber in the southeastern US using the life-cycle inventory method. Primary data were collected and then weight-averaged on a per-unit basis of 1.0 m3 of planed dry lumber (600 oven-dry kg/m3) to find material flows and energy use. Cumulative allocated energy consumption for manufacturing 1.0 m3 planed dry lumber from 2.44 m3 of incoming logs was 5.86 GJ/m3 with 66% from wood fuel. Emission data produced through modeling estimated total biomass and fossil carbon dioxide production of 424 and 131 kg/m3, respectively, considering all impacts. A cubic meter of planed dry hardwood lumber stores 1.17 Mg CO2 equivalents as a final product. The amount of carbon stored in hardwood lumber exceeds fossil carbon emissions by a factor of nine. Therefore, as long as hardwood lumber and its carbon stay in products held in end uses, carbon stored will exceed fossil carbon emitted in manufacturing

A Gate-To-Gate Life-Cycle Inventory of Solid Hardwood Flooring in the Eastern US

Environmental impacts associated with building materials are under increasing scrutiny in the US. A gate-to-gate life-cycle inventory (LCI) of solid strip and solid plank hardwood flooring production was conducted in the eastern US for the reporting year 2006. Survey responses from hardwood flooring manufacturing facilities in this region accounted for nearly 28% of total US solid hardwood flooring production for that year. This study examined the materials, fuels, and energy required to produce solid hardwood flooring, coproducts, and the emissions to air, land, and water. SimaPro software was used to quantify the environmental impacts associated with the reported materials use and emissions. Impact data were allocated on their mass contribution to all product and coproduct production of 1.0 m3 (oven-dry mass basis) of solid hardwood flooring. Carbon flow and transportation data are provided in addition to the LCI data. Results of this study are useful for creating a cradle-to-gate inventory when linked to LCIs for the hardwood forest resource and the production of solid hardwood lumber in the same region

A Perceptional Investigation into the Adoption of Timber Bridges: A National Comparative Study

This study follows a 1993 study by the authors that investigated the perceptions of rural bridge materials in twenty-eight states. This current research evaluates the perceptions in twenty continental states not included in the first study. These results are then compared directly with the 1993 research. Perceptions of major rural bridge materials by three distinct groups of decision-makers were investigated within four geographic regions of the United States. Timber, when compared to prestressed concrete, steel, and reinforced concrete was rated lowest in perceived performance within each group and region. Timber was also compared to prestressed concrete, steel, and reinforced concrete on eight preselected attributes. Timber was rated lowest on seven of the eight attributes including low maintenance, pleasing aesthetics, environmentally safe, low cost, easy to design, long life, and high strength. Only on the attribute of Easy to construct did timber rate above reinforced concrete, and timber never rated higher than prestressed concrete on any attribute

Regional Dependence and Location of the Wood Products Sector in the Northeastern United States: Unique Attributes of an Export-Based Industry

Natural resources have long been a source of both raw material supply and value added manufacturing in many rural regions across North America. Contemporary resource management and rural development planning increasingly emphasize the integration of raw material production with forward-linked processing activities. Empirical studies suggest that wood processors locate proximate to raw material supplies. Assessing the regional firm location decisions of wood processors, however, raises important and complex issues of sectoral heterogeneity. In this paper, we initiate analysis of firm location in three wood processing sub-sectors through descriptive location quotients of primary, secondary, and reconstituted wood products manufacturing sectors. Explanatory variables that support these sectoral specific location quotients include proxies for raw material inputs and output markets. Results suggest that important differences exist in locational dependency attributes between wood products sub-sectors

Whatever happened to curriculum theory? Critical realism and curriculum change

In the face of what has been characterised as a ‘crisis’ in curriculum – an apparent decline of some aspects of curriculum studies combined with the emergence of new types of national curriculum which downgrade knowledge – some writers have been arguing for the use of realist theory to address these issues. This paper offers a contribution to this debate, drawing upon critical realism, and especially upon the social theory of Margaret Archer. The paper first outlines the supposed crisis in curriculum, before providing an overview of some of the key tenets of critical realism. The paper concludes by speculating on how critical realism may offer new ways of thinking to inform policy and practice in a key curricular problematic. This is the issue of curriculum change

Dynamic Models of Language Evolution: The Linguistic Perspective

Language is probably the key defining characteristic of humanity, an immensely powerful tool which provides its users with an infinitely expressive means of representing their complex thoughts and reflections, and of successfully communicating them to others. It is the foundation on which human societies have been built and the means through which humanity’s unparalleled intellectual and technological achievements have been realized. Although we have a natural intuitive understanding of what a language is, the specification of a particular language is nevertheless remarkably difficult, if not impossible, to pin down precisely. All languages contain many separate yet integral systems which work interdependently to allow the expression of our thoughts and the interpretation of others’ expressions: each has, for instance, a set of basic meaningless sounds (e.g. [e], [l], [s]) which can be combined to make different meaningful words and parts of words (e.g. else, less, sell, -less ); these meaningful units can be combined to make complex words (e.g. spinelessness, selling ), and the words themselves can then be combined in very many complex ways into phrases, clauses and an infinite number of meaningful sentences; finally each of these sentences can be interpreted in dramatically different ways, depending on the contexts in which it is uttered and on who is doing the interpretation. Languages can be analysed at any of these different levels, which make up many of the sub-fields of linguistics, and the primary job of linguistic theorists is to try to explain the rules which best explain these complex combinations