Metal tube reducer is inexpensive and simple to operate

Low-cost metal tube reducer accepts tubing up to 1 inch outer diameter and can reduce this diameter to less than 1/2 inch with controlled wall thickness. This device can reduce all of the tube without waste. It produces extremely good surface finishes

Hydraulic fluid serves as mandrel for small diameter refractory tube drawing

Sealing hydraulic fluid within a tube and passing the tube through a reducing die produces high quality small diameter refractory metal tubing. The encased fluid eliminates the need for mandrel or ductile core removal and drawing can proceed with less handling operations

Improving the Curriculum in M. R. Wood Negro School in Sugar Land, Texas

There is a division of opinion as to merits and the purposes of the village school of the present. Many persons who attended one and two-teacher schools at the beginning of the century are of the opinion that the modern village school is inferior to the village school of thirty years ago. Some think that the curriculum of the small school is inadequate in that it attempts to teach subject matter drawn largely from an urban situation. In many respects the present-day rural school is better than the rural school before 1900.1 The physical plants are better equipped; the teachers are younger and better educated. Dilapidated shacks and unsightly log houses have given way in large measure to well constructed, painted and attractive buildings. Instead of the uncomfortable benches, often without backs, are convenient desks. Instead of the ancient school master, one finds a young person, generally a woman, who has completed on the average two years of work above the high school. There is almost universal effort to adapt the curriculum to the needs and interest of the child in the small town situation. But although rural schools have improved greatly there is a general feeling that this improvement has not been proportionately as great as has been improvement in city schools. Contrasts can easily be drawn in the matter of grounds, sanitary toilets, drinking fountains, heating, and even teachers. The small community will more readily accept services of a teacher who has had no experience whereas the city generally demands experience. Because of these contrasts rural people are beginning to demand for their schools, (1) a better and more efficient organization, (2) closer and more effective supervision, and (3) more competent and better trained teachers. The problem may be stated in terms of the following questions: 1. To what extent can the curriculum of M. R. Wood School be improved? 2. How can we measure the improvement of the community in terms of the school curriculum? 1 Sorokin and Zimmerman, Principles of Rural-Urban Sociology, pages 487 - 490

Synthesis and Behavior Characterization of Multi-Scale Hierarchical Structured Composites

The purpose of the synthesis of a multi-scale hierarchical composite material was to create a material with a high specific strength, a low mass, and high strength material. To achieve this the material categorization of the Formlabs Tough V2 resin was conducted. The resin was used in the construction of a bio-mimicry diamond lattice structure. The structure was subjected to compression testing to characterize the material properties. The Tough V2 resin structure combined with cellulose created a multi-scaled material on Macro and Micro levels to show the bio-inspired design to increase the material properties in a favorable manor. The Tough V2 material degrades by time and accounts for the irregularities in this research, and this was overcame using a control sample with the final product. A control and final product were tested producing results that proved the final product had an overall increase in materials properties. An increase in specific strength of 1.75 times with average control value of 0.0495 MPa*m^3/kg to final product value of 0.0750 MPa*m^3/kg. An increase in ultimate strength and young’s modulus also occurred. Ultimate strength increased 1.75 times from 7.849MPa to 14.375MPa and Young’s modulus almost doubled at 1.8 times increase from 156.66MPa to 284.12MPa respectively

Ductile mandrel and parting compound facilitate tube drawing

Refractory tubing is warm drawn over a solid ductile mandrel with a powder parting compound packed between mandrel and the tubes inner surface. This method applies also to the coextrusion of a billet and a ductile mandrel

Urban and Rural—Population and Energy Consumption Dynamics in Local Authorities within England and Wales

The formulation of feasible and pragmatic policies that mitigate climate change would require a thorough understanding of the interconnectivity that exists between environment, energy, and the composition of our settlements both urban and rural. This study explores the patterns of energy consumption in England and Wales by investigating consumption behavior within domestic and transport sectors as a function of city characteristics, such as population, density, and density distribution for 346 Local Authority Units (LAU). Patterns observed linking energetic behavior of these LAUs to their respective population and area characteristics highlight some distinctly contrasting consumption behaviors within urban and rural zones. This provides an overview of the correlation between urban/rural status, population, and energy consumption and highlights points of interest for further research and policy intervention. The findings show that energy consumption across cities follows common power law scaling increasing sub-linearly with their population regardless of their urban/rural classification. However, when considering per capita and sector specific consumptions, decreasing per capita consumption patterns are observed for growing population densities within more uniformly populated urban LAUs. This is while rural and sparsely populated LAUs exhibit sharply different patterns for gas, electricity, and transport per capita consumption

Countryside biogeography of neotropical herbaceous and shrubby plants

As human impacts on the environment intensify, the future of plant and animal biodiversity will depend increasingly on the floras surviving in human-dominated "countryside" habitats. To begin to characterize these floras for the Neotropics, we investigated the richness and composition of herbaceous and shrubby plant communities in six forested and deforested habitats, in three replicated study areas (7.5-km in diameter), of southern Costa Rica. We chose habitat types that are common throughout the tropics, to begin building a general understanding of both the habitats of origin and the diversity of countryside floras. Focal forest habitats were understory, 1- to 2-year-old tree-fall gaps, and riverbanks, all in primary forest. Focal deforested habitats were ungrazed road verges, grazed pasture, and riverbanks in grazed pasture. Non-riverbank habitats were sampled both near and far from. forest edge. In total, we sampled 772 species from 79 families, similar to 40% of the non-tree plant diversity of the region. Only 6% of identified species are known to be exotic. In each study area, understory and pasture plots were consistently species poor, while tree-fall gaps and road verges near forest were consistently the most species-rich habitats. In each study area, we found the same proportion of species restricted to forested habitats (similar to 45%) and deforested habitats (similar to 37%), and the same proportion of "countryside-habitat generalists" ( similar to 18%) occurring in both forested and deforested habitats. However, different forested habitats supported different proportions of country side-habitat generalists in each study area, although understory plots consistently 'supported the fewest generalists. Among forested habitats, riverbanks were the most similar floristically to deforested habitats. Pasture riverbanks and road verges near forest supported plant communities most similar to those in forested habitats. The uniqueness and richness of each habitat suggests that countrysides with diverse land uses can support many native herbaceous and shrubby plant species. As it becomes increasingly difficult to protect large tracts of undisturbed tropical forest, we suggest that conservation goals expand to encompass maintenance of heterogeneity in countryside landscapes