Open/closed window research: sound insulation through ventilated domestic windows.

Planning guidance is required to advise on appropriate standards against which the suitability of development can be assessed. Consideration is needed of the locale, itsexisting character and of future residential amenity. In the noise context, advice is primarily required to define threshold exposure levels relative to extraneous sources of environmental noise. A thorough knowledge of the acoustic transmission characteristics afforded by the building envelope is therefore desirable to assist in the setting of threshold levels and to aid in the design and verification of developmentproposals.The insulation of an open window has been generally accepted as being 10-15 dBA although its precision and affect on opening style, open area and window size, arenot readily available. A programme of laboratory measurements have been undertaken by the Building Performance Centre at Napier University on behalf of theDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, in order to quantify the sound insulation provided by a variety of window types, opening styles, areas of openingand ventilator devices.Open Windows: The test regime measured the sound insulation provided by seven separate windows, with a combination of twelve different opening styles. Thevariation in weighted level difference, Dw, across the different opening styles for approximately equivalent area openings has been consistently measured as between 4 and 6 dB.The range of measured insulation ratings, for window with a free open area of 0.05 m2, is Dw 14 – 20 dB. This translates to the following dBA level differences, due to variations in the source noise characteristics:• Road Traffic Noise 12 –18 dBA• Railway Noise 12 –18 dBA• Aircraft Noise 14 – 19 dBA• Amplified Music 15 –20 dBAThe window results do not show any one opening style which provides significantly better insulating characteristics. In general the set of windows with an outward opening light performed well. The windows with no extending opening lights, namely the internal turn and tilt and the sliding sash, were also among the best performing open units; particularly when the source of noise was neither random nor normal incidence. Variations in the window size, frame material and glazing type have little significance on the insulating performance of an open window.Closed Window. The introduction of a ‘closed’ 4000 mm2 slot ventilator within the window frame reduced the overall weighted insulation performance of the window by 6 dB. This reduction increased to 11 dB when the vent was in its ‘open’ condition.Proprietary over frame vents gave a marked improvement in the high frequency acoustic performance; however the weighted insulation rating is generally dominated by low-frequency transmission which is not substantially improved over that of a slot vent.Sound Directivity: Rotation of source incidence away from the normal, within a nondiffuse acoustic environment, is found to consistently improve the resulting open window façade insulation

Open/closed window research: sound insulation through ventilated domestic windows.

Planning guidance is required to advise on appropriate standards against which the suitability of development can be assessed. Consideration is needed of the locale, itsexisting character and of future residential amenity. In the noise context, advice is primarily required to define threshold exposure levels relative to extraneous sources of environmental noise. A thorough knowledge of the acoustic transmission characteristics afforded by the building envelope is therefore desirable to assist in the setting of threshold levels and to aid in the design and verification of developmentproposals.The insulation of an open window has been generally accepted as being 10-15 dBA although its precision and affect on opening style, open area and window size, arenot readily available. A programme of laboratory measurements have been undertaken by the Building Performance Centre at Napier University on behalf of theDepartment for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, in order to quantify the sound insulation provided by a variety of window types, opening styles, areas of openingand ventilator devices.Open Windows: The test regime measured the sound insulation provided by seven separate windows, with a combination of twelve different opening styles. Thevariation in weighted level difference, Dw, across the different opening styles for approximately equivalent area openings has been consistently measured as between 4 and 6 dB.The range of measured insulation ratings, for window with a free open area of 0.05 m2, is Dw 14 – 20 dB. This translates to the following dBA level differences, due to variations in the source noise characteristics:• Road Traffic Noise 12 –18 dBA• Railway Noise 12 –18 dBA• Aircraft Noise 14 – 19 dBA• Amplified Music 15 –20 dBAThe window results do not show any one opening style which provides significantly better insulating characteristics. In general the set of windows with an outward opening light performed well. The windows with no extending opening lights, namely the internal turn and tilt and the sliding sash, were also among the best performing open units; particularly when the source of noise was neither random nor normal incidence. Variations in the window size, frame material and glazing type have little significance on the insulating performance of an open window.Closed Window. The introduction of a ‘closed’ 4000 mm2 slot ventilator within the window frame reduced the overall weighted insulation performance of the window by 6 dB. This reduction increased to 11 dB when the vent was in its ‘open’ condition.Proprietary over frame vents gave a marked improvement in the high frequency acoustic performance; however the weighted insulation rating is generally dominated by low-frequency transmission which is not substantially improved over that of a slot vent.Sound Directivity: Rotation of source incidence away from the normal, within a nondiffuse acoustic environment, is found to consistently improve the resulting open window façade insulation

Have whales returned to a historical hotspot of industrial whaling? The pattern of southern right whale Eubalaena australis recovery at South Georgia

Around 176500 whales were killed in the sub-Antarctic waters off South Georgia (South Atlantic) between 1904 and 1965. In recent decades, whales have once again become summer visitors, with the southern right whale (SRW) the most commonly reported species until 2011. Here, we assess the distribution, temporal pattern, health status and likely prey of SRWs in these waters, combining observations from a summertime vessel-based expedition to South Georgia, stable isotope data collected from SRWs and putative prey and sightings reports collated by the South Georgia Museum. The expedition used directional acoustics and visual surveys to localise whales and collected skin biopsies and photo-IDs. During 76 h of visual observation effort over 19 expedition days, SRWs were encountered 15 times (~31 individuals). Photo-IDs, combined with publicly contributed images from commercial vessels, were reconciled and quality-controlled to form a catalogue of 6 fully (i.e. both sides) identified SRWs and 26 SRWs identified by either left or right sides. No photo-ID matches were found with lower-latitude calving grounds, but 3 whales had gull lesions supporting a direct link with Península Valdés, Argentina. The isotopic position of SRWs in the South Georgia food web suggests feeding on a combination of copepod and krill species. Opportunistic reports of SRW sightings and associated group sizes remain steady over time, while humpback whales provide a strong contrast, with increased sighting rates and group sizes seen since 2013. These data suggest a plateau in SRWs and an increasing humpback whale presence in South Georgia waters following the cessation of whaling

Giant rafted pumice blocks from the most recent eruption of Taupo volcano, New Zealand: Insights from palaeomagnetic and textural data

Giant blocks of pumice lie strewn along a former shoreline of intracaldera Lake Taupo, New Zealand, and are the sole subaerial evidence of the most recent volcanism at the Taupo supervolcano. Geochemically they are identical to material erupted during the complex and multiphase 1.8 ka Taupo eruption, which they post-date by one to two decades. The blocks, some of which are >10 m long, show complex jointing patterns indicative of both surface chilling and continued interior expansion, as well as heterogeneous vesicularity, with dense rims (mean density 917 kg/m3) grading via an intervening transition zone (mean density 844 kg/m3) into a more highly vesicular interior (mean density 815 kg/m3). Analysis of thermal demagnetisation data indicates significant reorientation of the blocks as they cooled through a series of blocking temperatures. Some parts of block rims cooled to below 580 °C well before emplacement on the shore, whereas other parts in the interior and transition zones, which cooled more slowly, acquired different orientations before stranding. Some block interiors cooled after blocks were finally deposited, and record the direction of the 1.8 ka field. The blocks are believed to be derived from one or both of a pair of rhyolitic lava domes that developed on the bed of Lake Taupo several decades after the climactic Taupo eruption over the inferred vent area.These, and similar giant rafted pumice blocks in other marine and lacustrine settings raise a number of questions about how volatile-rich felsic magma can be erupted underwater with only limited thermal fragmentation. Furthermore, the prolonged flotation of out-sized fragments of vesiculated magma formed during subaqueous dome-growth contrasts with the rapid sinking of smaller pieces of hot plinian pumice under laboratory conditions. The genesis of pumice forming the blocks is not entirely clear. Most simply the blocks may represent part of a vesiculated carapace of a growing lava dome, broken loose as the dome grew and deformed then rising buoyantly to the surface. Parts of the carapace could also be released by local magma-water explosions. Some textures of the pumice, however, suggest fresher magma released from beneath the carapace. This may suggest that silicic dikes and pillows/pods intruded into a growing mound of silicic hyaloclastite, itself formed by quench fragmentation and thermal granulation of the dike margins. This fragmental cover would have inhibited cooling of a still-hot and actively vesiculating interior, which was then released to float to the surface by gravitational destabilisation and collapse of the growing pile. Following their formation, the large fragments of pumice floated to the lake's surface, where they were blown ashore to become embedded in accumulating transgressive shoreface sediments and continue cooling

First Precambrian palaeomagnetic data from the Mawson Craton (East Antarctica) and tectonic implications

A pilot palaeomagnetic study was conducted on the recently dated with in situ SHRIMP U-Pb method at 1134 ± 9 Ma (U-Pb, zircon and baddeleyite) Bunger Hills dykes of the Mawson Craton (East Antarctica). Of the six dykes sampled, three revealed meaningful results providing the first well-dated Mesoproterozoic palaeopole at 40.5°S, 150.1°E (A95 = 20°) for the Mawson Craton. Discordance between this new pole and two roughly coeval poles from Dronning Maud Land and Coats Land (East Antarctica) demonstrates that these two terranes were not rigidly connected to the Mawson Craton ca. 1134 Ma. Comparison between the new pole and that of the broadly coeval Lakeview dolerite from the North Australian Craton supports the putative ~40° late Neoproterozoic relative rotation between the North Australian Craton and the combined South and West Australian cratons. A mean ca. 1134 Ma pole for the Proto-Australia Craton is calculated by combining our new pole and that of the Lakeview dolerite after restoring the 40° intracontinental rotation. A comparison of this mean pole with the roughly coeval Abitibi dykes pole from Laurentia confirms that the SWEAT reconstruction of Australia and Laurentia was not viable for ca. 1134 Ma

Critical theories of biography in England 1800 - 1831

An examination, taken from published biographies and periodic reviews, such as the Quarterly, of the emerging consensus of what should be contained in a biography, and how it should be presented. The years 1800 - 1851 mark the period when ideas about biography were first widely discussed. The critical principles are described as they evolved against the background of the huge proliferation of biography which accompanied the "Age of Personality." The past and present were generously documented with biographies long and short, although reviewers grew increasingly hostile to redundant and extended works. The emergence and acceptance of autobiography and literary biography were the most important innovations. The complex task of framing an aesthetic for biography is then described. The major findings are the importance and place given to detail, the rejection of lifeâand-times and the welcoming of life-and-letters forms of biography. The argument that biographers should incorporate abundant original materials is then detailed, as it affected the use of letters, diaries, autobiography, anecdotes, and conversation. The discrediting of these original materials by over-use is traced. Lastly, two moralistic issues are considered; how a biographer might be truthful and yet conform to powerful demands not to speak unduly ill of the dead or to touch on taboo subjects, and the writing of biography for utilitarian purposes. During the period biography was reviewed extensively for the first time, and reviews and independent assessments provide a large amount of material. Although the findings interestingly reflect the age at many points, nothing like a Romantic theory of biography emerges. Rather, the period established the major areas of biographical discussion, which are little altered 150 years later. The thesis deals also with unfamiliar areas of the work of many of the best known writers of the generation.<p

Palaeomagnetism of Palaeogene strata from southern Zealandia: Implications for ice in the greenhouse

When did the first ice form on Antarctica? Large, stable ice sheets started to appear in the Oligocene, but there may have been earlier, transient Palaeocene glaciations which left only brief traces in the sedimentary record. Correlation of such traces across the New Zealand region requires the accuracy provided by magnetostratigraphic dating. However, the sediments that may contain these traces have extremely weak magnetizations, high glaucony concentrations, and other characteristics which complicate magnetic measurement. To address these problems, I developed measurement techniques for weakly magnetized samples and wrote a software package called PuffinPlot to process the measurements efficiently. (PuffinPlot is a fully-featured palaeomagnetic data plotting and analysis program also intended for use outside the scope of the thesis.) I also conducted an in-depth rock magnetic study to identify the remanence-bearing minerals and determine the effects of glaucony on magnetic behaviour. The rock magnetic results indicated that the remanence in the glauconitic sediments was carried by single-domain magnetite at extremely low concentrations, and the model I developed for remanence acquisition showed that this magnetite was capable of carrying a stable primary remanence. Using PuffinPlot and the results from the rock magnetic experiments, I conducted palaeomagnetic studies of early Palaeogene sections at the mid-Waipara River in Canterbury, Fairfield Quarry in eastern Otago, and Campbell Island, 700 km south of New Zealand. At each site I also measured the anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS) to determine variations in palaeocurrent. The wide spacing of the sites allows regional effects to be distinguished from local ones. The sections had several features in common: very weak magnetization, necessitating special measurement and analysis protocols; poor response to alternating-field demagnetization, necessitating thermal demagnetization; and thermal alteration at relatively low temperatures, necessitating great-circle remagnetization analysis to infer primary remanences. At Fairfield Quarry, I sampled a 25-metre composite section; 31 of the 58 sites sampled yielded usable data, all of them with reversed polarity. In conjunction with the known location of the K-Pg boundary within the section, this constrained the entire section to the C29r chron. At the mid-Waipara River, 9 sites (of 21 originally sampled) gave reliable directions, all reversed, constraining a 16-metre continuous section to the C26r chron. At Campbell Island, I sampled two sections in different parts of the island and constructed an integrated stratigraphy from a total of 38 site directions, which expanded the known duration of a major unconformity from around 9.5 Ma to 13.4 Ma. The improved age constraints on the Campbell Island section allowed the unconformity there to be correlated with a change in palaeocurrent at the mid-Waipara River, with a previously reported Palaeocene horizon of ice-rafted debris from eastern New Zealand, and with known fluctuations in oxygen isotopes during the Palaeocene, implying an extensive glaciation. Some of the glauconitic horizons at Fairfield Quarry may also be linked to earlier transient glaciations. Since Antarctica was still attached to Australia and South America during the Palaeocene, these results imply that circum-Antarctic ocean gateways are unnecessary for Antarctic glaciation

Techniques for utterance disambiguation in a human-computer dialogue system

Disambiguating an utterance occurring in a dialogue context is a complex task, which requires input from many different sources of information -- some syntactic, some semantic, and some pragmatic. The central question addressed by this thesis is how to integrate data sources for utterance disambiguation within a bilingual human-computer dialogue system. First, a simple scheme is proposed for classifying disambiguation data sources; then this scheme is used to develop a method for combining data sources in a principled manner. Next, several actual sources of disambiguation data are explored; each is fitted into the previously described implementation framework. In particular, a probabilistic grammar is developed and augmented using novel techniques to increase its performance with respect to the local dialogue context. In a dialogue system, ambiguities which cannot be resolved automatically can be clarified by asking the user what was meant. This thesis also presents a model of clarification subdialogues which is integrated within the utterance disambiguation framework. This is followed by a brief treatment of how user errors may be accommodated, and how this process can also be fitted -- conceptually and in implementation -- into the previously described disambiguation framework. Finally, I describe the details of implementing these techniques within an existing dialogue system, and give examples demonstrating their effectiveness