Effect of Specimen Length on Longitudinal Gas Permeability in Hardwoods

A study was carried out to determine whether the longitudinal gas permeability of hardwoods is affected by specimen length. The results indicate that in most woods tested, the permeability remains constant as length is reduced, except for lengths below 0.75 inch. Thereafter, with decreasing specimen length, permeability increases drastically. The large differences in permeability of samples of different length are attributed to random blockages in the capillary structure of the wood

Effect of Cultural Treatment and Wood-type On Some Physical Properties of Longleaf and Slash Pine Wood

Wood was studied from relatively mature longleaf and slash pine trees that had been growing under experimental treatments including cultivation, two levels of thinning, and four levels of fertilization in various combinations. From discs taken at five heights and separated into three wood-types, green moisture content, radial shrinkage, tangential shrinkage, volumetric shrinkage, latewood percentage, number of rings per inch, and specific gravity were determined. In longleaf pine, there were indications of treatment effect on latewood percentage and the number of rings per inch, with the more intensive treatments generally leading to fewer rings and higher amounts of latewood. In slash pine, a similar trend was found with these two variables. The species exhibited an almost identical trend in the interrelationships among properties. Green moisture content was negatively correlated with specific gravity and moisture content of the innerwood and middlewood increased with height. Shrinkage was found to be negatively correlated with height and positively correlated with specific gravity, except in the innerwood. Latewood percentage accounted for much of the variation in specific gravity in all wood-types. In the outerwood only, there was a positive but weak correlation of number of rings with specific gravity

Variation in Shrinkage Properties of Second-Growth Baldcypress and Tupelo-Gum

Trees of baldcypress and tupelo-gum aged from 55 to 75 years, growing in a naturally regenerated stand in the Atchafalaya Basin in south Louisiana, were felled to provide samples for determination of shrinkage, specific gravity, and extractive content. Samples were taken from six heights and from three radial positions (=wood-types) along three radii. Differences among trees and among plots (which had different basal areas) were found for all measured variables. There were also variations in unextracted specific gravity with height in the tree and wood-type in baldcypress, and, except for specific gravity, with wood-type in tupelo-gum. After extraction, shrinkage effects of height and wood-type were reduced or disappeared. Specific gravity was generally lowest in the lower portion of the stem and in the outerwood. Correlation of shrinkage with specific gravity was highest in the outerwood, and extractive content was correlated with shrinkage in tupelo-gum but not in baldcypress

Catalysis-free transformation of non-graphitising carbons into highly crystalline graphite

High-purity graphite is a sought-after material for lithium-ion batteries and graphene production. Most organic materials do not graphitise upon heating unless a metal catalyst is present. The catalyst becomes embedded in the graphite and is difficult to remove. Here, we present a catalysis-free technique capable of producing highly crystalline graphite from materials generally considered incapable of this transformation. Using the furnace inside an Atomic Absorption Spectrometer, we perform repeated high-temperature pulsing of polyvinylidene chloride followed by analysis with Raman, X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy. Unexpectedly, ~90% of the sample transforms into highly ordered graphite with very few defects. A combustion route is proposed in which oxygen attacks the structural units that inhibit graphitisation. We apply the same approach to cellulose and obtain ten times more ordered material than conventional furnaces, confirming that polyvinylidene chloride is not an isolated case. Potentially, this method could be used to synthesise graphite from any organic material, including waste sources such as biomass

Assessing the effectiveness of a three-stage on-farm biobed in treating pesticide contaminated wastewater

Agricultural point source pesticide pollution arising from contaminated machinery washings and accidental spillages pose a significant threat to river water and groundwater quality. In this study, we assess the effectiveness of a three-stage on-farm biobed for treating pesticide contaminated waste water from a large (20 km2) commercial arable estate. The facility consisted of an enclosed machinery wash-down unit (stage 1), a 49 m2 lined compost-straw-topsoil biobed (stage 2), and a 200 m2 drainage field with a trickle irrigation system (stage 3). Pesticide concentrations were analysed in water samples collected fortnightly between November 2013 and November 2015 from the biobed input and output sumps and from 20 porous pots buried at 45 cm and 90 cm depth within the drainage field. The results revealed that the biobed removed 68–98% of individual pesticides within the contaminated washings, with mean total pesticide concentrations reducing by 91.6% between the biobed input and output sumps. Drainage field irrigation removed a further 68–99% of individual pesticides, with total mean pesticide concentrations reducing by 98.4% and 97.2% in the 45 cm and 90 cm depth porous pots, respectively. The average total pesticide concentration at 45 cm depth in the drainage field (57 µg L-1) was 760 times lower than the mean concentration recorded in the input sump (43,334 µg L-1). There was no evidence of seasonality in the efficiency of biobed pesticide removal, nor was there evidence of a decline in removal efficiency over the two-year monitoring period. However, higher mean total pesticide concentrations at 90 cm (102 µg L-1) relative to 45 cm (57 µg L-1) depth indicated an accumulation of pesticide residues deeper within the soil profile. Overall, the results presented here demonstrate that a three-stage biobed can successfully reduce pesticide pollution risk from contaminated machinery washings on a commercial farm

Nothing Is True? The Credibility of News and Conflicting Narratives during “Information War” in Ukraine

In international politics, the strategic narratives of different governments compete for public attention and support. The Russian government’s narrative has prompted western concern due to fears that it exerts a destabilizing effect on societies in Eastern Europe and elsewhere. However, the behavior and thought processes of news consumers targeted by contradictory strategic narratives are rarely subjected to analysis. This paper examines how Ukrainian news consumers decide where to get their news and what to believe in a media environment where “propaganda” and “disinformation” are regarded as major threats to national security. Evidence comes from thirty audio-diaries and in-depth interviews conducted in 2016 among adult residents of Odesa Region. Through qualitative analysis of the diary and interview transcripts, the paper reveals how participants judged the credibility of news and narratives based on their priorities (what they considered important), not just “facts” (what they believed had happened). The attribution of importance to different foreign policy issues was associated, in turn, with varying personal experiences, memories, and individual cross-border relationships

Temperature-controlled laminar airflow in severe asthma for exacerbation reduction (The LASER Trial):study protocol for a randomised controlled trial

Background: Asthma affects more than 5 million patients in the United Kingdom. Nearly 500,000 of these patients have severe asthma with severe symptoms and frequent exacerbations that are inadequately controlled with available treatments. The burden of severe asthma on the NHS is enormous, accounting for 80 % of the total asthma cost (£1 billion), with frequent exacerbations and expensive medications generating much of this cost.Of those patients with severe asthma, 70 % are sensitised to indoor aeroallergens, and the level of exposure to allergens determines the symptoms; patients exposed to high levels are therefore most at risk of exacerbations and hospital admissions.The LASER trial aims to assess whether a new treatment, temperature controlled laminar airflow (TLA) delivered by the Airsonett™ device, can reduce the frequency of exacerbations in patients with severe allergic asthma by reducing exposure to aeroallergens overnight.Methods: This multicentre study is a placebo-controlled, blinded, randomised controlled, parallel group trial. A total of 222 patients with a new or current diagnosis of severe allergic asthma will be assigned with a random element in a 1:1 ratio to receive either an active device for one year or a placebo device. The primary outcome is the frequency of severe asthma exacerbations occurring over a 12-month period, defined in accordance with the American Thoracic Society/European Respiratory Society (ATS/ERS) guidelines. Secondary outcomes include changes in asthma control, lung function, asthma-specific and global quality of life for participants and their carers, adherence to intervention, healthcare resource use and costs, and cost-effectiveness. Qualitative interviews will be conducted to elicit participant’s and their partner’s perceptions of the treatment.Discussion: Effective measures of allergen avoidance have, to date, proved elusive. The LASER trial aims to address this. The study will ascertain whether home-based nocturnal TLA usage over a 12-month period can reduce the frequency of exacerbations and improve asthma control and quality of life as compared to placebo, whilst being cost-effective and acceptable to adults with poorly controlled, severe allergic asthma. The results of this study will be widely applicable to the many patients with allergic asthma both in the UK and internationally.Trial registration: Current controlled trials ISRCTN46346208 (Date assigned 22 January 2014).<br/

Tune in to your emotions: a robust personalized affective music player

The emotional power of music is exploited in a personalized affective music player (AMP) that selects music for mood enhancement. A biosignal approach is used to measure listeners’ personal emotional reactions to their own music as input for affective user models. Regression and kernel density estimation are applied to model the physiological changes the music elicits. Using these models, personalized music selections based on an affective goal state can be made. The AMP was validated in real-world trials over the course of several weeks. Results show that our models can cope with noisy situations and handle large inter-individual differences in the music domain. The AMP augments music listening where its techniques enable automated affect guidance. Our approach provides valuable insights for affective computing and user modeling, for which the AMP is a suitable carrier application

Geostatistical analysis of centimeter-scale hydraulic conductivity variations at the MADE site

This is the published version. Copyright American Geophysical Union[1] Spatial variations in hydraulic conductivity (K) provide critical controls on solute transport in the subsurface. Recently, new direct-push tools were developed for high-resolution characterization of K variations in unconsolidated settings. These tools were applied to obtain 58 profiles (vertical resolution of 1.5 cm) from the heavily studied macrodispersion experiment (MADE) site. We compare the data from these 58 profiles with those from the 67 flowmeter profiles that have served as the primary basis for characterizing the heterogeneous aquifer at the site. Overall, the patterns of variation displayed by the two data sets are quite similar, in terms of both large-scale structure and autocorrelation characteristics. The direct-push K values are, on average, roughly a factor of 5 lower than the flowmeter values. This discrepancy appears to be attributable, at least in part, to opposite biases between the two methods, with the current versions of the direct-push tools underestimating K in the highly permeable upper portions of the aquifer and the flowmeter overestimating K in the less permeable lower portions. The vertically averaged K values from a series of direct-push profiles in the vicinity of two pumping tests at the site are consistent with the K estimates from those tests, providing evidence that the direct-push estimates are of a reasonable magnitude. The results of this field demonstration show that direct-push profiling has the potential to characterize highly heterogeneous aquifers with a speed and resolution that has not previously been possible

Ambient Intelligence and Persuasive Technology: The Blurring Boundaries Between Human and Technology

The currently developing fields of Ambient Intelligence and Persuasive Technology bring about a convergence of information technology and cognitive science. Smart environments that are able to respond intelligently to what we do and that even aim to influence our behaviour challenge the basic frameworks we commonly use for understanding the relations and role divisions between human beings and technological artifacts. After discussing the promises and threats of these technologies, this article develops alternative conceptions of agency, freedom, and responsibility that make it possible to better understand and assess the social roles of Ambient Intelligence and Persuasive Technology. The central claim of the article is that these new technologies urge us to blur the boundaries between humans and technologies also at the level of our conceptual and moral frameworks