Develop a safer ground piercing method/process for fiber to the home installation

Cable strike is one of the safety challenges that construction industry’s utilities sector is facing. Such incidents can cause injury and death for operators, as well as costly repairs and compensations. Fiber4all, a Dutch company which is responsible for Fiber-to-the-Home (FttH) connection is suffering from the same problem. Despite specialized equipment, work preparation and process organization cable strikes still occur. Even though the number of such incidents in comparison to the total number of the connections is very low, stakeholders want to avoid such incidents as much as possible. An exploratory study was carried out based on the incidents’ reports from January 2013 till March 2015. Our findings in this study indicate that the majority of cable strikes are associated with human errors and incorrect information in FttH installation. Apart from exploratory study, an investigation was accomplished through six interviews with operators within the FttH work environments. From operators' perspective and their experiences of incident occurrence a taxonomy of the causal factors of cable strikes was constructed. This study suggests to investigate and invest more attention into the human aspect of the system despite the initial understanding, which was more focusing on technology improvements

Ascorbic Acid as Corrosion Inhibitor for Steel in Alkaline Media Containing Chloride Ions

The investigation of nature-designed molecules and blends of naturally synthesized chemical compounds as possible inhibitor candidates for reinforcing steel in concrete is of raising interest due to the health and environmental hazards involved in the use of most inorganic corrosion inhibitors. In the alkaline media of concrete pore solution, the oxide film is present on the surface of the reinforcing steel. The ingress of chloride ions and/or carbon dioxide into the concrete destabilizes the passive film leading to a higher rate of metal dissolution through the appearance of localized forms of corrosion. This study investigates pitting inhibition with ascorbic acid (AA), by analyzing the polarization curves in the presence and absence of the inhibitor. Inhibition action was evaluated from its ability to suppress the cathodic reaction of oxygen reduction as well as from its ability to suppress the onset of pitting. The mechanism of the inhibitor action was deduced by comparative interpretation of the inhibitor’s molecular properties and the data obtained from electrochemical experiments

Risk Assessment Of Climate Change Impacts On Railway Infrastructure

Although it has been known for a while that climate-related factors account for the performance development of infrastructure, it remains difficult for infrastructure manager to estimate the effect of the anticipated climate change. The impact of climate factors differs very much between geographical locations and therefore a climate change assessment requires a more detailed analysis of the particular network. In this paper data about actual infrastructure performance of two railway tracks in the mostly populated area of the Netherlands are correlated with regional climate data in order to model future performance and apply appropriate interventions to cope with climate change effects. After establishing the correlation between weather conditions and failure modes, threshold values for probabilities of occurrence of certain failures are determined. This is enabling then the development of risk matrix based on the likelihood and risk impact, which would support an effective maintenance plan and adaptation strategies in the long term sense to mitigate or reduce likelihood of failures caused by climate change

Increased Terpenoid Accumulation in Cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) Foliage is a General Wound Response

The subepidermal pigment glands of cotton accumulate a variety of terpenoid products, including monoterpenes, sesquiterpenes, and terpenoid aldehydes that can act as feeding deterrents against a number of insect herbivore species. We compared the effect of herbivory by Spodoptera littoralis caterpillars, mechanical damage by a fabric pattern wheel, and the application of jasmonic acid on levels of the major representatives of the three structural classes of terpenoids in the leaf foliage of 4-week-old Gossypium hirsutum plants. Terpenoid levels increased successively from control to mechanical damage, herbivory, and jasmonic acid treatments, with E-β-ocimene and heliocide H1 and H4 showing the highest increases, up to 15-fold. Herbivory or mechanical damage to older leaves led to terpenoid increases in younger leaves. Leaf-by-leaf analysis of terpenes and gland density revealed that higher levels of terpenoids were achieved by two mechanisms: (1) increased filling of existing glands with terpenoids and (2) the production of additional glands, which were found to be dependent on damage intensity. As the relative response of individual terpenoids did not differ substantially among herbivore, mechanical damage, and jasmonic acid treatments, the induction of terpenoids in cotton foliage appears to represent a non-specific wound response mediated by jasmonic acid

Suppression of Jasmonic Acid-Dependent Defense in Cotton Plant by the Mealybug Phenacoccus solenopsis

The solenopsis mealybug, Phenacoccus solenopsis, has been recently recognized as an aggressively invasive pest in China, and is now becoming a serious threat to the cotton industry in the country. Thus, it is necessary to investigate the molecular mechanisms employed by cotton for defending against P. solenopsis before the pest populations reach epidemic levels. Here, we examined the effects of exogenous jasmonic acid (JA), salicylic acid (SA), and herbivory treatments on feeding behavior and on development of female P. solenopsis. Further, we compared the volatile emissions of cotton plants upon JA, SA, and herbivory treatments, as well as the time-related changes in gossypol production and defense-related genes. Female adult P. solenopsis were repelled by leaves from JA-treated plant, but were not repelled by leaves from SA-treated plants. In contrast, females were attracted by leaves from plants pre-infested by P. solenopsis. The diverse feeding responses by P. solenopsis were due to the difference in volatile emission of plants from different treatments. Furthermore, we show that JA-treated plants slowed P. solenopsis development, but plants pre-infested by P. solenopsis accelerated its development. We also show that P. solenopsis feeding inhibited the JA-regulated gossypol production, and prevented the induction of JA-related genes. We conclude that P. solenopsis is able to prevent the activation of JA-dependent defenses associated with basal resistance to mealybugs