From Isolation to Organization: Structural Barriers to Client-Induced Accountability in the Human Services

Human service organizations form an environment which is both difficult for an individual to transverse and antagonistic to the organizing of clients. The structure of these organizational environments is not conducive to the emergence of client organizations. This issue forms the focus of this paper: the interaction between the structural dimensions of human service, organizational environments and the potential for human service clients to form organizations geared to obtaining accountability from human service agencies. The basic argument is that the structural dimensions of these organizational environments (i.e., the characteristics which affect the basic interrelationships among component parts) have a depressing effect upon the potential for isolated clients to come together in client organizations

Sapstain Development On Jack Pine Logs In Eastern Canada

During 1998-1999, a study was initiated to investigate the influence of seasons, log types, and storage time on the sapstain development of jack pine logs at three sites in Eastern Canada. Jack pine trees (Pinus banksiana) were harvested into full-length and cut-to-length logs in spring and in autumn. Sapstain development was examined in these logs at intervals of 2 to 4 weeks after felling. The mean stain coverage and mean maximal radial penetration of stain in wood were measured from the discs of the sampled logs. The spring trial showed that sapstain did not develop significantly on jack pine logs within 4 weeks after trees were felled; however, the severity of stain increased proportionally with storage time. The full-length logs were more stained than the cut-to-length logs in the spring felling. All logs were seriously stained after the 3 months of summer storage. The autumn trial showed that logs felled after September were stored in the sawmills over winter without significant stain, but stain development was rapid after April of the following year. Debarking logs did not reduce stain development on wood. In fact, the growth of stain was more rapid on debarked logs than on logs with the bark. The main fungus isolated from stained wood was Ceratocystis coerulescens. Bark beetle attack was found in logs within 4 weeks of the spring harvest. The species of bark beetle was Ips pint. After 3 months of summer storage, decay started to develop in these logs. The main causal species was Schizophyllum commune

Within-Tree Variability of Wood Color in Paper Birch in Québec

Color variations in paper birch wood were examined in boards sawn from sawlogs from 168 trees harvested from two different stands. Approximately 2250 boards were sawn from the logs. The within-tree variability was considered by looking at the effect of log quality and log height class on board color. Results show that neither the log quality nor the log height class had a significant effect on the proportion of discolored wood on the surface of the board. However, these log parameters had an effect on the wood colorimetric variables. Log position in the tree was found to significantly influence sapwood yellowness as well as discolored wood luminosity and redness. Log quality on the other hand significantly influenced only one colorimetric factor, sapwood redness

The environmental footprint of interior wood doors in non-residential buildings. part 1, Life cycle assessment

Integrating environmental aspects into industrial practices has become a necessity. In fact, climate change and resource depletion have been established scientifically and can no more be neglected. Life Cycle Assessment is acknowledged to be an efficient tool to establish a product environmental profile and can be useful to businesses wishing to analyze their environmental record. Decreasing a building environmental footprint implies, among other considerations, a proper choice of building materials, both structural and architectural. A good avenue would be to select low environmental impact materials from cradle-to-grave. Architectural wooden doors are often specified in non-residential buildings in North America. However, only one Life Cycle Assessment has been carried out on wooden doors. This study explores the cradle-to-grave environmental profile of an interior wood door in a North American context. According to the results, the main contributor to the product impacts is the production of raw materials, especially the particleboard component, and their transportation to the manufacturing plant. The urea formaldehyde production is the main reason for particleboard impacts among the three damage categories, human health, climate change and resources, of IMPACT 2002þ. The other life cycle stages that have a noticeable influence on the door environmental impacts are shipping and end-of-life. Transportation as a whole affected the system total environmental score. The current results could serve as a basis for ecodesign implementation

Variability of Wood Color in Paper Birch in Québec

Color variability of paper birch (Betula papyrifera Marsh.) wood at the tree level was examined in this article. Tree age, dimension, and vigor were expected to influence the proportion of discolored wood in paper birch boards; older, larger, and less vigorous trees were assumed to produce boards with higher proportions of discolored wood. The color analysis was performed on approximately 2250 boards produced from 168 paper birch trees harvested in two different stands from which only logs of sawing quality were used. An industrial scanner was used to digitize the boards and obtain colorimetric information. Results show that tree diameter and vigor significantly influenced the proportion of discolored wood in boards, whereas the effect of tree age did not have a significant influence in the model. An average area of 32.4% of discolored wood was obtained when considering all boards. Less vigorous trees showed a mean area of 45.32%, whereas middle-vigor and most-vigorous trees had mean areas of 30.78 and 15.47%, respectively. The colorimetric values were mainly affected by tree age and diameter, but these effects were variable for every colorimetric parameter. The analysis of the random effects demonstrated that most of the total random variance of the dependent factors came from the between-board, between-tree, and, to a lesser extent, between-log variation. These findings suggest that favoring shorter rotations would help produce trees with lower proportions of discolored wood

Reducing the environmental footprint of interior wood doors in non-residential buildings - part 2 : ecodesign

Ecodesign is a concept that emerged few decades ago as a response to the larger concept of sustainable development. Multiple tools exist to address ecodesign. Life Cycle Assessment, a comprehensive, robust and recognized evaluation tool, enables to identify the product environmental profile. Based on previous LCA results on interior wood doors, this paper aims at proposing an ecodesign strategy based on the generation and evaluation of alternative scenarios. The three selected targets for environmental improvement are particleboard components, transportation and end-of-life. For the particleboard manufacturing, the use of adhesives based on bio-sourced resources was not very conclusive, except for the use of pine tannins in panel manufacture that showed promising results. Concerning transportation issues, switching from road to rail transportation, as well as having a local supplier, decreased the overall environmental impact of the door. The most notable alternative was the end-of-life recycling scenario. The reutilization of the door core in the door manufacturing process proved a great benefit due to the avoidance of new raw materials production. Developing services around door recovery and remanufacturing seems promising in reducing doors environmental impacts. This scenario would be readily viable and realistic

Activity-Based Life-Cycle Costing applied to an innovative forestry company product portfolio

An accounting system helps to provide information for planning and control of production. This article presents a Life Cycle Costing by using an Activity Based Costing approach of an innovative forestry company. In order to perform a cradle-to-gate assessment the study covers the forest and industrial activities of the forest product processing. The costs of each product in the portfolio are determined by the treatment activities they undergo. The inventory covers several years of activity of the company, which makes it possible to calculate the uncertainty of the average results with Monte Carlo simulation presented in the result section. Based on the results a products portfolio analysis was performed to identify the development progress phases of the mains products to support the product rollover strategy decision

Influence of Machining Parameters on the Tensile Strength of Finger-Jointed High-Density Black Spruce Lumber

Finger-jointed softwood lumber is widely used in manufacturing of structural or nonstructural applications such as glued laminated lumber and prefabricated wood I-joists. Black spruce is the most frequently used species for finger-jointed engineered wood products in eastern Canada. However, some key machining parameters must be adjusted according to the properties of the wood to obtain a surface quality suitable for the finger-jointing process. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of cutting speed and chip load on the ultimate tensile strength (UTS) of finger-jointed high-density black spruce. The variables were four cutting speeds and three chip loads. A feather profile was selected with an isocyanate adhesive and an end-pressure of 3.45 MPa. A factorial analysis showed a statistically significant interaction between cutting speed and chip load on UTS and cutting speed was the most significant variable. The influence of chip load on UTS was lower, apparent only at 3260 m/min cutting speed. Suitable finger-jointing could be achieved at 1860-3960 m/min cutting speed with a chip-load of 0.51-1.27 mm. However, the best result was obtained at 3260 m/min cutting speed and 0.89 mm chip load. These results need to be validated in industrial mills to verify tool wear behavior

Determination of Physical and Mechanical Properties of Finishing Papers Used for Wood-Based Composite Products

There has been a noticeable trend in the furniture and flooring industries in using finishing products (decorative paper, foil, wood veneer, and so on) of different quality on both surfaces of raw engineered wood-based panels. Under variable temperature and RH conditions, this practice can result in dimensional instability. The objective of this study was to determine the key properties of five finishing papers affecting the hygromechanical behavior of wood-based composite panels. The diffusion coefficients, swelling properties, and tensile modulus of elasticity (MOE) of the finishing papers were determined. The results show that the finishing papers studied are anisotropic in terms of their physicomechanical properties. For papers impregnated with melamine-formaldehyde resin, the tensile MOE decreases with an increase in resin content. Swelling is the most significant dimensional change. The range of variation of the linear expansion coefficients is between 0.03 and 0.17 in the fiber direction and between 0.08 and 0.28 in the transverse direction for raw papers. The linear contraction coefficients vary between 0.05 and 0.31 in the fiber direction and between 0.07 and 0.28 in the transverse direction. The behavior is different during adsorption and desorption. Effective diffusion coefficients of the papers tested vary between 4.5 × 10-12 and 8 × 10-11 m2s-1

Finite Element Modeling Of The Hygroscopic Warping Of Medium Density Fiberboard

The objective of this study was to develop a three-dimensional finite element model of the hygromechanical deformation of medium density fiberboard (MDF) panels with various vertical density profiles subjected to moisture adsorption on one face. The theoretical model was based on three sets of equations: 1) three-dimensional equations of unsteady-state moisture diffusion, 2) three-dimensional equations of mechanical equilibrium, and 3) Hooke's law for plane isotropy, which takes into account shrinkage and swelling through the panel thickness. The finite element model was applied to six panels with various density profiles. For both the simulations and the experiments, the warping was caused by moisture adsorption from one of the faces of 560-mm x 560-mm x 12-mm MDF panels while the other surface and the edges were sealed. Physical and mechanical characteristics defined as a function of density and moisture content were used as model inputs. The model made it possible to capture the rapid initial development of maximum warp and its following decrease as moisture content equalized through panel thickness; the effect of the density profile on the level of warp caused by moisture adsorption; and warp fluctuations resulting from changes in the ambient relative humidity, and from the hysteresis in the expansion coefficient between adsorption and desorption. To validate the model, the warp development of laboratory MDF panels was compared to simulation results. The agreement between calculated and actual panel warping confirmed that the model could successfully be used to simulate moisture movement in MDF and the resulting warp, and to help in the optimization of panel vertical density profiles aiming at better stability of form in MDF panels. For the typical experimental cases, it was observed that there was a strong effect of panel density profile on the levels of warp and its dynamics. The levels of warp increased with average panel density. The panels with sharper density profile developed stronger warp compared to panels with an even profile. When the density profile was skewed towards one of the surfaces, the panel developed positive or negative warp and did not return to the original flat form