Mica platelet-reinforced, geopolymer composites

The mica flakes were obtained from the Cogebi Company as phlogopite mica paper type Cobebi P160 containing no organic or inorganic binder. Mica can withstand temperatures in excess of 1000°C. Phlogopite, of composition (KMg3(AlSi3O10)(OH)2 is flame-retardant, non-flammable, does not give off fumes. It conducts very little heat, especially perpendicular to its strata. Natural mica has a dielectric strength greater than 25 kV/mm (625 V/mil), has good resistance to arcing and electrical erosion, and is permeable to microwaves. Mica has good compressive strength. It behaves well in the presence of tensile and bending stresses. It has a high modulus of elasticity. Geopolymer composites based on Na or K where fabricated having a matrix composition M2O•Al2O3•4SiO2 where M = Na or K. Increasing amounts of mica were dispersed in the geopolymer matrix under vibration, and the composites were set under ambient conditions. The mechanical properties were measured in 4-point flexure as a function of in situ and post mortem temperature to 1,000 °C and their Weibull moduli were analyzed from the statistical data. The microstructure was examined by SEM/EDS

Making the Void Fruitful

Shedding fresh light on the life and work of William Butler Yeats—widely acclaimed as the major English-language poet of the twentieth century—this new study by leading scholar Patrick J. Keane questions established understandings of the Irish poet’s long fascination with the occult: a fixation that repelled literary contemporaries T.S. Eliot and W.H. Auden, but which enhanced Yeats’s vision of life and death. Through close reading of selected poems, the first section of Making the Void Fruitful assesses Yeats’s spiritualised treatment of corporeal themes, exploring sex and eroticism as the expression of a duality inherent to his ontological and supernatural convictions. The power-producing tension in Yeats’s work is not only intellectual but emotional. At its vital centre is his Muse: the beautiful political firebrand, Maud Gonne, whose activist Republican politics he considered his one real rival. Through close engagement with the poems and plays she inspired, the second section explores Yeats’s complex relationship with Maud, an obsessive and unrequited love which he sublimated and transformed into the greatest body of Muse poetry since Petrarch, in whose tradition of spiritualized eroticism Yeats, perhaps the last of the great Romantics, was consciously writing. Shaped by the conviction that no modern poet exceeded Yeats in animating the enduring themes of love and spirituality through poetry, this book emphasises the influence, of Blake, Nietzsche, and John Donne, on what Yeats called ‘the thinking of the body’. Grounded firmly in the textual materiality of Yeats’s oeuvre, this book will be of interest to researchers and students of W.B. Yeats, as well as to those in the fields of Anglophone literatures and cultures, and philosophy

A wild civility : interactions in the poetry and thought of Robert Graves

Includes bibliographical references (pages 200-211) and index.Keane explores the interaction of emotion and artistry within the poetry and personality of Robert Graves, while analyzing Graves' allusion to earlier English poetry.Digitized at the University of Missouri--Columbia MU Libraries Digitization Lab in 2012. Digitized at 600 dpi with Zeutschel, OS 15000 scanner. Access copy, available in MOspace, is 400 dpi, grayscale

A computer-aided systematic approach to time delay analysis for extension of time claims on construction projects

A review of existing literature and research findings indicated that whilst the incidence of time extension claims is increasing, Contractors are failing to gather, analyse and present data as evidence to such an extent that there is a high rejection rate of claims made, and a consequent significant dissatisfaction rate amongst Contractors with awards being made. The current difficulties experienced by Contractors in managing information on site locations, combined with the low investment in, and usage of Information Technology, forms a major contribution to the problems arising in the preparation and presentation of time extension claims. This research work identified from empirical evidence, together with construction technical, professional and academic literature, the essential criteria and features of an efficient and effective time delay analysis approach for preparing time extension claims in connection with construction projects. The evidence from these sources led to the formulation of an alternative approach based on an integrated computer-aided systematic technique which relies upon analysis of project-specific performance data. The current practice of time delay analysis as currently executed by Contractors was formulated as a problem whose solution is implemented by the use of the disciplined capture of factual job data, systematic analysis including a computer modelled simulation exercise and logical compilation of results in report format. This allows full cross-checking and source identification of data used in the approach, and resultant computations. The proposed approach employs an improved method of data capture, computer aided delay impact simulation and presentation of results. The proposed approach abbreviated to CoSTAR requires the use of spreadsheet database, word processing and project planning software, all of which are currently industry standard, readily available and consequently do not require to be specifically written. The approach is designed to work on industry standard computing "PC" hardware of a specification suitable to run a full range of business software. The proposed approach (CoSTAR) was tested and validated with performance data from a multi million pound, major fast track building refurbishment project and used Lotus 123 version 2.4, WordPerfect version 5.1, and Pertmaster Advance software. The approach was also subject to separate validation by a panel of experts. The testing process showed the approach to be feasible, and capable of identifying and quantifying the critical delay activities which caused the time overnin to the project's fixed contract period

Making the Void Fruitful

Shedding fresh light on the life and work of William Butler Yeats—widely acclaimed as the major English-language poet of the twentieth century—this new study by leading scholar Patrick J. Keane questions established understandings of the Irish poet’s long fascination with the occult: a fixation that repelled literary contemporaries T.S. Eliot and W.H. Auden, but which enhanced Yeats’s vision of life and death. Through close reading of selected poems, the first section of Making the Void Fruitful assesses Yeats’s spiritualised treatment of corporeal themes, exploring sex and eroticism as the expression of a duality inherent to his ontological and supernatural convictions. The power-producing tension in Yeats’s work is not only intellectual but emotional. At its vital centre is his Muse: the beautiful political firebrand, Maud Gonne, whose activist Republican politics he considered his one real rival. Through close engagement with the poems and plays she inspired, the second section explores Yeats’s complex relationship with Maud, an obsessive and unrequited love which he sublimated and transformed into the greatest body of Muse poetry since Petrarch, in whose tradition of spiritualized eroticism Yeats, perhaps the last of the great Romantics, was consciously writing. Shaped by the conviction that no modern poet exceeded Yeats in animating the enduring themes of love and spirituality through poetry, this book emphasises the influence, of Blake, Nietzsche, and John Donne, on what Yeats called ‘the thinking of the body’. Grounded firmly in the textual materiality of Yeats’s oeuvre, this book will be of interest to researchers and students of W.B. Yeats, as well as to those in the fields of Anglophone literatures and cultures, and philosophy

Production and carcass traits of high dairy genetic merit Holstein, standard dairy genetic merit Friesian and Charolais × Holstein-Friesian male cattle

peer-reviewedThe increased proportion of Holstein genetic material in the dairy herd has consequences for beef production in Ireland. A total of 72 spring-born male calves (24 Holsteins (HO), 24 Friesian (FR) and 24 Charolais × Holstein-Friesians (CH)) were reared from calfhood to slaughter. Calves were artificially reared indoors and spent their first summer at pasture following which they were assigned, on a breed basis, to a factorial combination of two production systems (intensive 19-month bull beef and extensive 25-month steer beef) and two slaughter weights (560 and 650 kg). After slaughter the pistola hind quarter was separated into fat, bone and muscle. Live-weight gain, carcass gain, kill-out proportion, carcass conformation and carcass fat scores were 830, 811 and 859 (s.e. 14.9) g/day, 540, 533, 585 (s.e. 7.7) g/day, 526, 538 and 561 (s.e. 3.0) g/kg, 1.51, 2.18 and 2.96 (s.e. 0.085), and 3.40, 4.25 and 4.06 (s.e. 0.104) for HO, FR and CH, respectively. Corresponding values for pistola weight as a proportion of carcass weight, pistola muscle proportion and pistola fat proportion were 458, 459 and 461 (s.e. 2.6) g/kg, 657, 645 and 667 (s.e. 3.7) g/kg, and 132, 161 and 145 (s.e. 4.1) g/kg. Compared with the intensive system, animals on the extensive system had a lower (P < 0.001) daily live-weight gain, kill-out proportion and a lower muscle proportion in the pistola. Increasing slaughter weight increased (P < 0.001) carcass weight and carcass fat score and reduced the proportion of muscle in the pistola. Allometric regression coefficients for pistola weight on side weight, and total bone, muscle and fat weights on pistola weight were 0.898, 0.755, 0.900 and 1.910 respectively. It is concluded that HO grew at least as fast as FR but had a lower killout proportion. Carcass conformation and fat scores were greater for FR than for HO and muscle proportion in the pistola was lower and total fat proportion was higher. Compared with FR, CH had heavier carcasses, a higher kill-out proportion and less fat and more muscle in the pistola

Body and carcass measurements, carcass conformation and tissue distribution of high dairy genetic merit Holstein, standard dairy genetic merit Friesian and Charolais x Holstein-Friesian male cattle

peer-reviewedThe increased proportion of Holstein genes in the dairy herd may have undesirable consequences for beef production in Ireland. A total of 72 spring-born calves, (24 Holstein (HO), 24 Friesian (FR) and 24 Charolais X Holstein-Friesian (CH)) were reared from calfhood to slaughter. Calves were artificially reared indoors and spent their first summer at pasture following which they were assigned to a 3 breeds (HO, FR and CH) 2 production systems (intensive 19-month bull beef and extensive 25-month steer beef) 2 slaughter weights (560 and 650 kg) factorial experiment. Body measurements of all animals were recorded at the same time before the earliest slaughter date. After slaughter, carcasses were graded and measured and the pistola hind-quarter was separated into fat, bone and muscle. HO had significantly higher values for withers height, pelvic height and chest depth than FR, which in turn had higher values than CH. HO had a longer back and a narrower chest than either FR or CH, which were not significantly different. Carcass length and depth, pistola length, and leg length were 139.2, 134.4 and 132.0 (s.e. 0.81), 52.1, 51.3 and 47.7 (s.e. 0.38), 114.4, 109.0 and 107.0 (s.e. 0.65) and 76.7, 71.9 and 71.4 (s.e. 0.44) cm for HO, FR and CH, respectively. Breed differences in pistola tissue distribution between the joints were small and confined to the distal pelvic limb and ribs. There were relatively small breed differences in the distribution of pistola muscle weight between individual muscles. Body measurements were significantly greater for animals on the intensive system (bulls) than the extensive system (steers) in absolute terms, but the opposite was so when they were expressed relative to live weight. The only significant difference in relative carcass measurements between the production systems was for carcass depth, which was lower for the intensive compared with the extensive system. Increasing slaughter weight significantly increased all carcass measurements in absolute terms but reduced them relative to weight. It is concluded that there were large differences between the breed types in body and carcass measurements, and hence in carcass shape and compactness but differences in tissue distribution were small