Determining temperature control of wash water in a laundry environment

Fisher and Paykel (F&P) are developing a new model of washing machine. One of its key features will be that it uses less water. It is important to regulate the operating temperature of washing machines since if they operate hotter than the user-selected temperature there is a risk of damage to clothes and if they operate below the user-selected temperature there is a risk of incompletely dissolved detergent being sprayed onto clothes, which is also undesirable. F&P seek to improve their temperature regulation strategies from the current state-of-the-art. Further, since the new machine will have a smaller mass of water relative to clothes load, the impact of abnormal clothes loads and of start-up disturbances in water supply temperatures (e.g. cold slugs in hot water supply) on the bulk temperature is greater. Thus a thorough review of temperature regulation strategies is well motivated

Biodiversity and Ecosystem Processes In the Strandline: The Role of Species Identity, Diversity, Interactions and Body Size

In the current climate of biodiversity loss how species diversity and ecosystem process are linked is, arguably, one of the most pressing issues and greatest challenges currently facing the scientific community. Previous studies suggest that there is no universal trajectory for the relationship between diversity and ecosystem processes, the pattern depends largely on species identity and their interactions. Furthermore, the effect of reduced diversity on ecosystem process in multi-trophic assemblages is both understudied and poorly understood. Consequently, the overall aim of the present study was to investigate the role of species identity, diversity and interactions in determining ecosystem processes using the strandline as a model system. Appropriate strandline species, three species of kelp fly larvae, an amphipod and four rove beetles were selected for use in laboratory manipulative experiments that measured decomposition as an ecosystem process. This study is one of the few to consider the affect of species interactions on ecosystem processes. The use of metabolic theory to make predictions of trophic interactions and ecosystem processes, using tractable surrogate measures of interaction strength, was also investigated. Finally, the importance of trophic interactions in affecting the connection between ecosystem processes and consumer species identity, diversity and interactions was examined. Species identity combination explained the variability in decomposition when strandline decomposer diversity and identity were manipulated. Positive and negative interactions were identified, and the effect of diversity on decomposition was dependent on the balance of these negative and positive species interactions. A mechanism of microbial facilitation and inhibition was proposed to explain the outcome as no previously proposed single mechanism adequately described the observed effect of species identity, diversity and interactions on ecosystem process found in this study. It was not possible to accurately predict observed predator-prey interaction strengths and ecosystem processes between strandline predators and prey and decomposition using body size as a surrogate measure of interaction strength and ecosystem processes. Although body size was an important factor explaining the variability in predator-prey interactions and decomposition, so too was species identity. The absence of a consistent relationship between size and interaction strength and decomposition was attributed to species-specific differences. The presence of trophic interactions subtly affected decomposition of wrack by strandline detritivores. However, in the presence and absence of a predator the overall effect of detritivore diversity and interactions on decomposition remained constant. The results of this study have implications for the fields of biodiversity ecology, metabolic theory of ecology and food web ecology. Firstly, the identification of positive detritivore-resource interactions adds to a growing body of evidence that some detritivore species may interact positively, with respect to ecosystem processes. The loss of species within a trophic group may result in a greater reduction in ecosystem processes than previously thought. If positive species interactions are prevalent, ecosystem process will decrease to a greater extent as species are lost, than that predicted from single species processing rates. By considering species interactions, future biodiversity ecosystem processing studies may better understand the effects of species diversity and identity on ecosystem process. It is also suggested that patterns and relationships uncovered in previous studies investigating the effects of species from a single trophic level on ecosystem process may still be valid in more realistic multi-trophic systems. If future biodiversity-ecosystem process studies are to make predictions concerning actual species-ecosystem process interactions in real assemblages the size of constituent species should be considered, as predator and prey size was shown to effect predator-prey interactions and ecosystem processes. The results of this study also suggest that allometry and metabolic theory have limited capacity for making predictions of predator-prey interactions and ecosystem processes, at least at the scale investigated here. Species specific factors are more likely to explain the patterns of predator-prey interactions and ecosystem processes at smaller scales. Unless food web models consider, or allocate, non-trophic interactions correctly, erroneous predictions of energy How and ecosystem process may result. Finally, the use of body size and allometric scaling laws to quantify food web models and energy fiow through an assemblage must be treated with caution if these models are used to make predictions on interactions between species and ecosystem processes occurring at the scale investigated in this study.Plymouth Marine Laborator

Understanding Consumer Behaviour Regarding the Sustainable Consumption of Clothing

In response to the rapidly growing consumption of clothing, environmental sustainability concerns have increasingly been expressed. While designers and industry have worked on responses, little is known about how ordinary consumers understand sustainability with regarding to clothing. A study by Defra in 2008 revealed a low awareness of sustainability and proposed sustainable fashion goals for consumers. Research on consumer clothing purchase tends to be from a marketing perspective with the ultimate aim of increasing consumer sales. Much of the literature on clothing sustainability has focused on the buying of ethical/environmentally-friendly clothing and on younger consumers. By contrast, this thesis has focused on an in-depth study of ten mothers aged between 25 and 60 in and around Leicester. The women’s clothing consumption was investigated through shopping trips, wardrobe sampling and a semi-structured interview about their shopping and ownership behaviour. Only at the end of the data gathering were the participants asked about sustainability in general before exploring their understanding of sustainability in clothing. The research revealed that while the participants were concerned about environmental issues, their awareness of sustainability in clothing was low, even though their clothes buying and use behaviour was relatively sustainable. They bought a limited number of garments and wore them for many years, bought second hand clothes and passed their own unwanted clothes to charity shops. However, their clothes buying and use behaviours were shaped by their life circumstances and their personality. The participants had a strong sense of their own personal styles and selected clothes they know would suit them from a limited number of brands and locations. They showed little interest in fast changing fashion trends, but they were influenced by their peer group. Any environmentally-beneficial behaviours were mainly a by-product of these core determining factors. A key contribution of this research is to show how more sustainable behaviour emerges when there is a good match to factors already embedded in people’s daily consumption practices. Building on these core factors, and on how knowledge develops around them, might be an important part of promoting clothing sustainability

Physical Linkage of the Vibrio Cholerae Mannose-Sensitive Hemagglutinin Secretory and Structural Subunit Gene Loci: Identification of the Mshg Coding Sequence.

Vibrio cholerae O1 expresses a variety of cell surface factors which mediate bacterial adherence and colonization at the intestinal epithelium. The mannose-sensitive hemagglutinin (MSHA), a type IV pilus, is a potential attachment factor of the V. cholerae El Tor biotype. We describe a TnphoA mutant that is defective in its ability to hemagglutinate mouse erythrocytes. The TnphoA insertion maps to a recently identified genetic locus that encodes products that are predicted to be essential for assembly and export of the MSHA pilus. Insertional disruption at this locus in a mshA-phoA reporter strain provides evidence for a role of this locus in the latter stages of pilus assembly and/or export. These constructs have provided physical markers by which we have established close physical linkage of this secretion locus to a set of genes that includes the mshA structural gene. Sequence analysis of the intervening region between these two loci has revealed the presence of an open reading frame with homology to pilus biogenesis genes of several gram-negative bacteria. This genetic organization suggests an entire operon encoding the MSHA pilus and the components necessary for its assembly and secretion to the bacterial cell surface. The nomenclature of the MSHA structural and secretory locus has been redefined accordingly

Men in question: rethinking white masculinity after the sixties

Due to the character of the original source materials and the nature of batch digitization, quality control issues may be present in this document. Please report any quality issues you encounter to [email protected], referencing the URI of the item.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 52-54).The social and political movements of the 1960s created a contemporary crisis in white masculinity. The civil rights, women's liberation, and counterculture movements all challenged traditional notions of white masculinity by shattering conventional paternal authority, creating men as violators and no longer protectors, and causing deep personal insecurities in men's lives. Creators of both literary and cinematic representations before 1980 recognized the destruction of traditional white masculinity and the crisis therein, and their works suggest a need for men to rethink masculinity in order to reform it. Later, authors and directors reflect the 1980s ideas of white masculinity, white rewriting the history of the crisis as a way to reconstruct a more traditional ideology of white masculinity for a new society. By examining the representations of paternal authority and the issues that accompany it, such as responsibility and honesty, the image of men as violator and later the return to the protector rote, and individual versus collective disorientation, changes within the depictions of the contemporary crisis in white masculinity emerge in novels and films

Domestic ivory trade: the supply chain for raw ivory in Thailand is driven by the financial needs of elephant owners and market factors

The ivory trade is of global interest due to its impacts on elephant conservation. Thailand permits the domestic trade of ivory from domesticated elephants. Knowledge of the supply chain is important for managing this market in order to achieve sustainable benefits for both wildlife conservation and human livelihoods. We interviewed elephant owners and ivory manufacturers to conduct an analysis of the Thai ivory supply chain. Five key actor groups operate in this supply chain: elephant owners, intermediaries, manufacturers, retailers, and ivory consumers. Factors influencing the supply of raw ivory vary with harvesting, use, and sale destination but the financial needs of elephant owners and market factors are particularly influential. Elephant owner decisions also depend on elephant management, sentimental values, ivory beliefs, tusk forms, and legal awareness. These findings have the potential to inform the design of monitoring the Thai ivory market

Developing teaching for mathematical resilience in further education

The construct ‘Mathematical Resilience’ [1] has been developed to describe a positive stance towards mathematics; resilient learners develop approaches to mathematical learning which help them to overcome the affective barriers and setbacks that can be part of learning mathematics for many people. A resilient stance towards mathematics can be engineered by a strategic and explicit focus on the culture of learning mathematics within both formal and informal learning environments. As part of that engineering, we have developed the notion of ‘Teaching for Mathematical Resilience’. The work described here is focused on developing teachers who know how explicitly to develop resilient learners of mathematics. Teachers for Mathematical Resilience develop a group culture of ‘can do’ mathematics which works to counter the prevalent culture of mathematics helplessness and mathematics anxiety in the general population when faced with mathematical ideas. This paper discusses the changes in awareness brought about by a one-day course designed to develop ‘teaching for mathematical resilience’. The course presentations ran between November 2015 and July 2016 and recruited participants who work as teachers of numeracy or mathematics in Further Education (FE) institutions in England – predominantly in the Midlands. Many of these teachers were being required to teach beyond their own level of mathematical confidence. The data shows that it is possible within a one day course to increase teachers’ awareness of negative past experiences as a possible cause of difficulty with mathematics; teachers become aware of how patterns of behaviour such as avoidance and disruption may have developed as safe-preservation habits and how mathematics anxiety can be transmitted from teacher to student in a vicious cycle. Teachers are supported to work through personal anxieties towards mathematics in a safe and collaborative environment and to develop elements of personal mathematical resilience and awareness of the affective domain. Thus we have sought to break the cycle of mathematics anxiety by educating teacher awareness. However, we have also found that many UK FE teachers request and would likely benefit from further courses

Deconstructing active region AR10961 using STEREO, HINODE, TRACE and SOHO

Active region 10961 was observed over a five day period (2007 July 2-6) by instrumentation on-board STEREO, Hinode, TRACE and SOHO. As it progressed from Sun centre to the solar limb a comprehensive analysis of the EUV, X-ray and magnetic field data reveals clearly observable changes in the global nature of the region. Temperature analyses undertaken using STEREO EUVI double filter ratios and XRT single and combined filter ratios demonstrate an overall cooling of the region from between 1.6 - 3.0 MK to 1.0 - 2.0 MK over the five days. Similarly, Hinode EIS density measurements show a corresponding increase in density of 27%. Moss, cool (1 MK) outer loop areas and hotter core loop regions were examined and compared with potential magnetic field extrapolations from SOHO MDI magnetogram data. In particular it was found that the potential field model was able to predict the structure of the hotter X-ray loops and that the larger cool loops seen in 171 Angstrom images appeared to follow the separatrix surfaces. The reasons behind the high density moss regions only observed on one side of the active region are examined further