Urban history and modernity in Central Europe

This historiographical review discusses recent literature on cities in modern Central Europe – mainly on Berlin and Vienna – which reflects the great variety of approaches to urban history and underlines the importance of urban history for the study of modernity. The history of urbanisation was a central event in the history of modernity. Especially in the Central European capitals of Berlin and Vienna, where modernisation and urban growth started later and then advanced quicker than in West European cities, all aspects of social, political, economic, and cultural modernity and its consequences can be observed in detail

Worm eggs: Cost you money

Contents One Million Eggs Daily.......... 3 Damaging Trip......... 4 Worm Remedies......... 5 Modern Worm Remedies......... 6 A Control Program..........

Intra-Row Weed Control by use of Band Steaming

Soil disinfection by steam is a well-known technique used within horticulture and market gardening. The most common steam application technique is sheet steaming, where the soil is covered with a thermo resistant sheet, which is sealed at the edges and then blowing steam under the sheet so that the steam penetrates through the soil. The method is effective for control of weed, plant pathogens and nematodes. However, high fuel consumption and low capacity are serious disadvantages. Moreover all living organisms, harmful and useful, in the treated soil are killed, and therefore the method is not in line with the basis ideas of organic farming. A new concept and technique for performing band heating has been developed. By heating only a narrow band of 6–8 cm around the rows to a depth of 5 cm, energy savings of more than 90% can be obtained. In practice, the system may be combined with a computer-controlled sowing machine for the subsequent sowing of plants in the centre of the treated bands. The system will result in the crop growing in rows free of plant competition. It was seen that soil temperatures of 80-90°C, were needed to achieve god effect in the field

Worm eggs: Cost you money

Contents One Million Eggs Daily.......... 3 Damaging Trip......... 4 Worm Remedies......... 5 Modern Worm Remedies......... 6 A Control Program..........

Comment on "Magnetic field effects on neutron diffraction in the antiferromagnetic phase of UPt3"

Moreno and Sauls [Phys. Rev. B 63, 024419 (2000)] have recently tried to reanalyze earlier neutron scattering studies of the antiferromagnetic order in UPt3 with a magnetic field applied in the basal plane. In their calculation of the magnetic Bragg peak intensities, they perform an average over different magnetic structures belonging to distinct symmetry representations. This is incorrect. In addition, they have mistaken the magnetic field direction in one of the experiments, hence invalidating their conclusions concerning the experimental results.Comment: Revised 5 June 2001: Added group theory analysis and modified discussion of S and K domain

Platinum(II), palladium(II) and gold(III) complexes containing 1,1,4-trisubstituted thiosemicarbazide dianion ligands

Reactions of cis-[PtCl₂(PPh₃)₂] or [PdCl₂(PPh₃)₂] with Ph₂N---NHC(S)NHPh and excess triethylamine, in refluxing methanol gave the complexes [M{SC(=NPh)NNPh₂}(PPh₃)₂] containing thiosemicarbazide dianion ligands. An analogous gold(III) complex containing the cyclo-aurated anilinopyridine ligand was also synthesised. A single crystal X-ray diffraction study was carried out on the complex [Pt{SC(=NPh)NNPh₂}(PPh₃)₂] which confirmed the bonding of the thiosemicarbazide dianion ligand via sulfur and the nitrogen bearing the NPh₂ substituent. In contrast, reaction of Ph₂N---NHC(S)NHMe with cis-[PtCl₂(PPh₃)₂] and excess triethylamine gave the complex [Pt{SC(=NNPh₂)NMe}(PPh₃)₂], containing a Pt---NMe group, characterized spectroscopically

On the Renormalization of Hamiltonians

We introduce a novel method for the renormalization of the Hamiltonian operator in Quantum Field Theory in the spirit of the Wilson renormalization group. By a series of unitary transformations that successively decouples the high-frequency degrees of freedom and partially diagonalizes the high-energy part, we obtain the effective Hamiltonian for the low energy degrees of freedom. We successfully apply this technique to compute the 2-loop renormalized Hamiltonian in scalar $\lambda \phi^4$ theory.Comment: 12 pages, LaTe

Effect of crude oil and some petroleum products on Clarias Gariepinus fingerlings (Catfish: Claridae)

Ninety (90) hatchery bred fingerlings of Clarias gariepinus (mean weight: 0.96 ± 0.1g) were randomly placed in 15 plastic baths (25 litres each) at the Research laboratory and were exposed to different concentrations of oil products to determine their effects on the fish, to facilitate inferential deductions that will enhance effective aquatic environmental management. Three (3) replicate basins of 5 experimental treatments (crude oil, petrol oil, kerosene oil, engine oil and control) were used at a concentration of 1.25ml. L-1. The control experiment was devoid of oil treatment. Six (6) fingerlings were placed in each replicate basin, flooded with 20 litres of clean tap water and fed with nutrafin cichilid food, 2 times daily at 3% body weight. The results showed that the feeding behaviour and swimming performances of fish were reduced after 24 hours of the addition of the various oil pollutants. Mortality of fingerlings in the oiled basins increased as the hours of exposure increased (i.e. 24, 48, 72 and 96 hours). Recovery was not immediate in the treated basin while surviving fingerlings in the control basins grew up to post-fingerlings after 90 days (3 months). There were significant differences (P<0.01 and P<0.05) in the effect of crude oil and the petroleum products on the mortality rate of C. gariepinus when exposed to oil pollutants at 1.25ml. L-1 concentratio

Thermal Band Heating for Intra-Row Weed Control

Surface steaming of soil is a very energy-intensive process, and consequently, efforts have been made to develop a machine for narrow-band steaming of the soil under and around rows of cultivated plants prior to seeding. The use of this machine may achieve up to 90% energy savings, and will also reduce the amount of damage to the flora and fauna. A special test rig has been developed with the objective of obtaining new information about narrow-band soil steaming. For a detailed analysis of the temperature profile in a cross-section of the processed band, an apparatus has been developed especially to record the temperatures obtained at 63 locations and at seven levels across the ditch. On the basis of the results from the test rig, a prototype band-steamer for field use has been developed. Tests have shown that soil temperatures exceeding 70C will be needed to protect against germination of weed seeds. For band heating such a treatment in 50 cm rows requires about 5.8 GJ/ha

Interaction of an Eulerian flue gas plume with wind turbines

The reduced availability of sites with the requisite wind resource, planning permission and public acceptance for the placement of wind turbines poses a significant challenge to future expansion of the wind energy industry. Developers increasingly wish to site large turbines in close proximity to industrial plants, but there is uncertainty amongst environmental protection agencies on how best to measure and regulate the impact that wind turbines may have on the dispersion of the gases that are often emitted into the atmosphere from such plants. Several simplified wind turbine-flue stack configurations have been simulated using the Vorticity Transport Model. This model provides a high-fidelity representation of the vortical flow structure within both the wind turbine wake and the plume, and is able to capture the re-direction and dispersion of the plume that occurs due to interaction with the wind turbine. The impingement of the plume on the wind turbine is shown to disrupt the wake structure downwind of the wind turbine, and may induce additional unsteady loading on the turbine rotor. The velocity deficit downwind of the wind turbine influences the rate at which the plume propagates downwind, and results in an increase in the concentration of plume material (which may include pollutant gas and particulates) around the wind turbine. This localized increase in plume concentration is shown to be sensitive to the thrust coefficient at which the wind turbine is operated. The results presented in this paper show that environmental protection agencies are justified in their concerns regarding the placement of wind turbines near to industrial plants, and suggests strongly that the interaction between wind turbines and gas plumes should be investigated further