Constructing Heroic Ideologies: Mao and Reagan

The political hero cult of Mao Zedong is archetypal in terms of the development of a modern cult of personality. It was centrally planned and used by the Chinese Communist Party as a political weapon. Its development is well-documented, but this paper describes an element of it that has not been discussed, which is the fact that the true object of veneration in the Mao cult was actually his ideology as a distinct entity from the man himself. This ideology\u27s creation was the original purpose of the CCP\u27s participation in his cult because it was a source of political legitimacy. The ideology could also be appropriated by others as a means of attaining power after Mao had shown himself to be out of touch with it and publicly lost face. This is the true objective of political hero cults: a means of perpetuating power and legitimacy for the ruling party by means of its ideology that can be passed from leader to leader. The cult of Reagan was set up as an attempt to fulfill this role, as well

Species Selection in Secondary Wood Products: Implications for Product Design and Promotion

This study investigated the perceptions that people have of several commercially important wood species and determined if word-based and specimen-based evaluations differed. Such knowledge can help secondary wood manufacturers better understand their products and develop more effective design concepts and promotional messages. A sample of more than 250 undergraduate students at a major midwestern university was split into two groups and asked to rate six wood species on several semantic-differential items, based either on word association or physical wood samples. The two methods of evaluation often produced different results that were more pronounced for certain species, especially oak. Some gender-based differences were also observed. Respondents generally had difficulty identifying the species that they were observing, particularly mahogany and maple, yet maintained definite perceptual images of these same species. It is suggested that species perception is an important and lasting component of the total product concept for secondary wood products, and can moderate appearance-based evaluations

Life Cycle Inventory of Manufacturing Prefinished Engineered Wood Flooring in Eastern us with Comparsion to Solid Strip Wood Flooring

Building products have come under increased scrutiny because of environmental impacts from their manufacture. Our study followed the life cycle inventory approach for prefinished engineered wood flooring in the eastern US and compared the results with those of solid strip wood flooring. Our study surveyed five engineered wood flooring manufacturers in the eastern US. These production facilities represented 18.7% of total annual production in 2007. Primary data collected for 2007 included annual production, energy consumption and type, material inputs, emission data, product outputs, and other coproducts. Modeling data estimated biogenic and fossil CO2 emissions at 623 and 1050 kg/m3, respectively, and volatile organic compounds at 1.04 kg/m3. Cumulative allocated energy consumption for prefinished engineered wood flooring was 23.0 GJ/m3 with 40% coming from coal. Unfinished solid strip flooring cumulative energy consumption was only 6.50 GJ/m3 with 65% from biomass, roughly half that of unfinished engineered wood flooring. However, after converting to an area (in-use) basis, unfinished engineered wood flooring consumed 136 MJ/m2 compared with 123 MJ/m2 for unfinished solid strip flooring. After changing to an in-use parameter, the two wood flooring products were similar in energy consumption during manufacturing, but engineered wood flooring still consumed significantly more fossil fuel

Environmental Impact of Producing Hardwood Lumber Using Life-Cycle Inventory

Using sustainable building materials is gaining a significant presence in the US. This study examined hardwood lumber manufacturing using life-cycle inventory methodology. Material flow and energy use were identified for hardwood sawmills in northeastern US. A hardwood log volume conversion of 43.7% to planed dry lumber was found. Values of 608 MJ/m3 of electrical and 5800 MJ/m3 of thermal energy were determined for the manufacturing of planed dry hardwood lumber where mostly green wood residues were burned on-site for energy. Emission data produced from modeling estimated biomass and fossil CO2 production of 428 and 139 kg/m3, respectively. Increasing wood fuel use, a carbon-neutral process, would lower the environmental impact of hardwood lumber manufacturing and increase its use as a green building material

Species Selection in Secondary Wood Products: Perspectives From Different Consumers

This study investigated adult consumer perceptions of several wood species to determine if word-based and appearance-based evaluations differed. The research replicated a 2001 study by the authors, which used undergraduate college students as a proxy for older and more experienced adult furniture consumers. The literature is somewhat inconclusive concerning the extent to which student samples represent "real" consumers. Using the mall intercept survey procedure at several furniture stores and trade shows in two Midwestern cites, participants were split into two groups and asked to rate six commercially important wood species on several semantic-differential items, based either on word association (word-based perception) or physical wood specimens (appearance-based perception). Results from the replicated adult consumer study were very similar to the student study suggesting that college students provide a reasonable picture of adult consumers' perceptions of wood species. The study confirmed that the word-based and appearance-based methods of evaluation sometimes produce different results. In general, the appearance-based respondents had difficulty identifying the species they were observing; however, the adult consumers were better at species identification than were the college students. This study provides further evidence that preconceived species perceptions play an important role in influencing the consumer's ultimate evaluation of wood. The research results can help secondary wood manufacturers better understand the implications of species on design and communication decisions

Life-Cycle Inventory of Manufacturing Hardwood Lumber in Southeastern US

Environmental impacts associated with the building industry have become of increasing importance. Materials and energy consumed during manufacture of building materials such as lumber affect a building's environmental performance. This study determined environmental impacts of manufacturing hardwood lumber in the southeastern US using the life-cycle inventory method. Primary data were collected and then weight-averaged on a per-unit basis of 1.0 m3 of planed dry lumber (600 oven-dry kg/m3) to find material flows and energy use. Cumulative allocated energy consumption for manufacturing 1.0 m3 planed dry lumber from 2.44 m3 of incoming logs was 5.86 GJ/m3 with 66% from wood fuel. Emission data produced through modeling estimated total biomass and fossil carbon dioxide production of 424 and 131 kg/m3, respectively, considering all impacts. A cubic meter of planed dry hardwood lumber stores 1.17 Mg CO2 equivalents as a final product. The amount of carbon stored in hardwood lumber exceeds fossil carbon emissions by a factor of nine. Therefore, as long as hardwood lumber and its carbon stay in products held in end uses, carbon stored will exceed fossil carbon emitted in manufacturing

A Gate-To-Gate Life-Cycle Inventory of Solid Hardwood Flooring in the Eastern US

Environmental impacts associated with building materials are under increasing scrutiny in the US. A gate-to-gate life-cycle inventory (LCI) of solid strip and solid plank hardwood flooring production was conducted in the eastern US for the reporting year 2006. Survey responses from hardwood flooring manufacturing facilities in this region accounted for nearly 28% of total US solid hardwood flooring production for that year. This study examined the materials, fuels, and energy required to produce solid hardwood flooring, coproducts, and the emissions to air, land, and water. SimaPro software was used to quantify the environmental impacts associated with the reported materials use and emissions. Impact data were allocated on their mass contribution to all product and coproduct production of 1.0 m3 (oven-dry mass basis) of solid hardwood flooring. Carbon flow and transportation data are provided in addition to the LCI data. Results of this study are useful for creating a cradle-to-gate inventory when linked to LCIs for the hardwood forest resource and the production of solid hardwood lumber in the same region

An Investigation of the Role of Spatial Ability in Representing and Solving Word Problems Among Engineering Students

Background Spatial ability is significantly related to performance in engineering education. Problem solving, an activity that is highly relevant to engineering education, has been linked to spatial ability. Purpose/Hypothesis To what extent is spatial ability related to problem solving among engineering students and how do approaches to problem representation and solution vary with spatial ability level? Design/Method Three instruments – a spatial ability test, word math problems and accompanying core math competency questions – were administered to two samples of first year engineering students in two different countries. Data were analyzed at the test level to evaluate the relationship of spatial ability to problem representation and solution. A detailed item level analysis was conducted to compare approach to problem solving with spatial ability level. Results Spatial ability was found to be significantly related to problem solving but not to the core competency questions indicating the relationship was limited to the problem representation phase and not the solution phase. Key aspects of representation were identified for each problem to reveal a more pronounced relationship between representation and spatial ability than between problem solving (representation and solution) and spatial ability. Conclusions Problem solving can be considered to consist of two cognitively distinct phases: spatial ability is significantly related to problem representation but not to problem solution. Hence, this study shows that spatial ability plays a key role in engineering education that is not limited to visualization of imagery but extends to thinking during problem solving, a non-routine activity that requires mental representation

A Faster Implementation of Online Run-Length Burrows-Wheeler Transform

Run-length encoding Burrows-Wheeler Transformed strings, resulting in Run-Length BWT (RLBWT), is a powerful tool for processing highly repetitive strings. We propose a new algorithm for online RLBWT working in run-compressed space, which runs in $O(n\lg r)$ time and $O(r\lg n)$ bits of space, where $n$ is the length of input string $S$ received so far and $r$ is the number of runs in the BWT of the reversed $S$. We improve the state-of-the-art algorithm for online RLBWT in terms of empirical construction time. Adopting the dynamic list for maintaining a total order, we can replace rank queries in a dynamic wavelet tree on a run-length compressed string by the direct comparison of labels in a dynamic list. The empirical result for various benchmarks show the efficiency of our algorithm, especially for highly repetitive strings.Comment: In Proc. IWOCA201

A Perceptional Investigation into the Adoption of Timber Bridges: A National Comparative Study

This study follows a 1993 study by the authors that investigated the perceptions of rural bridge materials in twenty-eight states. This current research evaluates the perceptions in twenty continental states not included in the first study. These results are then compared directly with the 1993 research. Perceptions of major rural bridge materials by three distinct groups of decision-makers were investigated within four geographic regions of the United States. Timber, when compared to prestressed concrete, steel, and reinforced concrete was rated lowest in perceived performance within each group and region. Timber was also compared to prestressed concrete, steel, and reinforced concrete on eight preselected attributes. Timber was rated lowest on seven of the eight attributes including low maintenance, pleasing aesthetics, environmentally safe, low cost, easy to design, long life, and high strength. Only on the attribute of Easy to construct did timber rate above reinforced concrete, and timber never rated higher than prestressed concrete on any attribute