Systematic development of a high bitumen content emulsion : a thesis presented in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Technology in Product Development at Massey University

A product development approach appropriate to a medium sized civil engineering company was developed in this study. The approach was practically demonstrated to the company through the development of a high bitumen content emulsion. Product development processes were reviewed and related to the specific company environment to develop an appropriate six stage process consisting of: Project Start. Pre-development, Laboratory Development, Mid-scale Development, Full-scale Development and Commercialisation. The high bitumen content emulsion product was taken from the Project Start stage through to the Full-scale Development stage. During each of the stages, suitable product development systems were generated to practically implement the process. During the Project Start stage, idea capture systems were created and scoring models were developed to initiate development projects. Avenues to allow greater information collection were demonstrated to the company and a cataloguing tool was developed to assist in the organisation of a technical library useful for product development. During the Pre-development stage, marketing and technical specifications were produced to guide later development. The Laboratory Development stage had three phases: initial design, detailed design and optimisation. Experimental design was demonstrated to the company as an appropriate technique to conduct detailed design for formulated and processed products. A full factorial experimental design with four factors at two levels identified an optimum area which was further explored to produce an optimised high bitumen content emulsion at the Laboratory Development stage. A lack of Mid-scale equipment meant scale-up was conducted on a full-scale level in this study. Two full-scale trials were run; both emulsions were stable when exiting the production mill however the emulsion was unable to tolerate conditions it encountered upon entering the spray tanker. Possible causes as to the observed instability were rapid cooling of emulsion, dilution with water, excessive shearing during circulation, incompatibility with bitumen or the formulation. All of these factors were investigated with no conclusive results. It is recommended to further investigate the composition of bitumen used by Higgins as to its suitability for high bitumen content emulsions. A means to test emulsion application variables on a laboratory or mid-scale level are also recommended in order to investigate and solve the problems. The tailored product development approach and supporting systems developed in this study can be used by the company in future to carry out systematic product development

Armor during WWII: The defeat of the superior Panther

It is the popular opinion among the masses that the Soviet Union\u27s T-34/76 battle tank was the superior weapons platform during World War II when compared to the United States M-4 Sherman and Germany\u27s Mk V Panther tanks. Through a combination of research and personal military knowledge and experience, I will demonstrate that the German Panther was indeed the superior battle tank in mobility, firepower, armor, and could, on a individual level (one on one), defeat not only the Soviet Union\u27s T-34 tank, but all allied armor employed against it. I will further demonstrate that the economic stress placed on Germany\u27s war producing capabilities led to her massive defeat, despite the Panther\u27s impressive characteristics and competency in battle. Although the Panther did in fact reign supreme on the battle field against over whelming odds, the definition of the tank throughout World War II also grew and expanded from its basic characteristics of mobility, armor and firepower. The superior design and performance of the Panther will also be pointed out as one of Germany\u27s weaknesses since it could not be produced in equitable numbers with its enemies. This thesis shows a point by point comparison of the German Panther and its main adversaries, the T-34 and M-4 Sherman using factual data, logical reasoning, and cannot be negated with opinion and emotion

Service-Learning Education in Community-Academic Partnerships: Implications for Interdisciplinary Geriatric Training in the Health Professions

Major changes are tailing place within the health care system, that have important implications for health professions education in geriatrics. The forces driving these changes are also affecting academic settings, where trends supporting the development of community-academic partnerships, service-learning models, and interdisciplinary education are all evident. These trends have major implications for health professions educators working to develop academic programs to prepare students for future practice with older adults. This article explores the impacts of these changes, in particular, on the design of interdisciplinary or collaborative education programming, including the following dimensions: assessment and definition of the problem, emphasis on functioning and quality of life, professional identity, changing roles of faculty and students, and institutional-organizational implications. General recommendations on how to respond to the challenges represented in these trends are also explored

Heart failure nursing in Australia: Challenges, strengths, and opportunities

Australia has a land mass similar to the United States of America, supporting a population of just over 20 million, which is distributed predominantly across the coastal perimeter. The Australian society is rich in cultural diversity fostered by decades of migration. Both these factors present challenges for health care. First, because resources are scare in rural and remote regions, health outcomes are poorer in these regions, especially among indigenous populations. Second, the cultural diversity of Australians is a challenge to providing evidence-based treatment recommendations. In Australia, in parallel with international trends, there is a strong association between socioeconomic status, chronic conditions, and health outcomes

High-resolution lidar analysis of the Fisi Tea defensive earthwork at Lapaha, Kingdom of Tonga

In many prehistoric societies, earthwork defences were among the costliest and largest built structures and required a significant investment in resources, particularly labour, land and materials. Consequently, the construction of major defences was not undertaken lightly and they were frequently built in response to an imminent threat of intense violence (Keeley 1996). Earthwork defences often enclosed residential communities and elite centres, whereas others were larger and included hinterlands and appear to have defended a regional area (Connah 2000; Fox 1976; Scherer and Golden 2006; Webster et al. 2007). In both cases, defences protected the areas most important to the community and represent emic statements of group territory (Webster et al. 2008:349). Long defensive systems and ‘great walls’ that protect settlements and their hinterlands have been something of a puzzle to archaeologists (Arkush and Stanish 2005:10). While the perceived logistical challenge of occupying long defensive systems may be the primary source of confusion, traditional archaeological and survey methodologies often limit the amount of spatial data that can be gathered. Long defensive systems require considerable resources to map and to record in detail the various defensive elaborations, in addition to the regional geography of the areas on both side of the defences

Cultural Resources Surveys Conducted during August 2015 South Eagle Ford Zone Atascosa, La Salle, and McMullen Counties

During the month of August 2015, Goshawk Environmental Consulting, Inc. (Goshawk) conducted one cultural resources survey within the Eagle Ford Play, South Eagle Ford Zone, at the request of EOG Resources, Inc. (EOG). The project area, the proposed Cuellar Unit Waterline, was subjected to cultural resources investigations. The Area of Potential Effect (APE) was a 75-foot (23-meter [m]) wide Right-of-Way (ROW) consisting of a 50-foot (15-m) wide permanent easement and a 25-foot (8-m) wide temporary construction easement. Investigations were conducted by Goshawk staff archeologist Phil Schoch with Bear Aspra. Phil Schoch served as primary author and Reign Clark served as contributing author for this report of investigations. The cultural resources survey was performed according to Council of Texas Archeologists survey standards, in compliance with the Texas Historical Commission’s (THC) Rules of Practice and Procedure, Chapter 26, Section 27, and under the general guidelines of the Register of Professional Archaeologists. Site files on the THC’s Archeological Sites Atlas (Atlas) website database were consulted prior to the commencement of the field effort for previously recorded site locations, references to previous archeological surveys undertaken, and place names of interest in the vicinity of the proposed projects. Streams potentially under United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) jurisdiction which cross the APE were assessed by an ecologist via desktop and field reviews prior to commencement of the cultural resources survey. As per the established procedure of due diligence, any segment of an APE that falls within an area potentially under federal jurisdiction or any portion of an APE that falls within a 328-foot (100-m) radius of a known cultural site would be subjected to a cultural resources survey. Any segment of an APE to be surveyed under this protocol was labeled as a “review area” and was subjected to cultural resources survey. During the survey of the project, four shovel tests were placed within one review area. Shovel testing and surface inspection yielded no significant cultural deposits within the survey area. Based on these results, it is Goshawk’s opinion that no significant cultural resources will be impacted by construction within the surveyed portion of the proposed ROW. Goshawk recommends that the project be allowed to proceed as planned with the caveat that construction be limited to the surveyed ROW. In the unlikely event that cultural resources (including human remains) are discovered, all construction or maintenance activities should be immediately halted and both the USACE and an archeologist should be notified

Tectono-stratigraphic terranes in Archaean gneiss complexes as evidence for plate tectonics: The Nuuk region, southern West Greenland

Prior to 1970 grey gneiss complexes were interpreted as partially-melted sedimentary sequences. Once it was recognised from the Nuuk region that they comprised calc-alkaline igneous complexes, it was understood that such complexes world-wide were dominated by TTG (trondhjemite-tonalite-granodiorite) initially found to have juvenile Sr, Nd and, subsequently, Hf isotopic signatures. Between 1970 and 1985 the Nuuk region gneiss complex was interpreted by the non-uniformitarian \u27super-event\u27 model of crust formation which proposed occasional but extensive crust formation, with craton-wide correlation of granulite facies metamorphism and deformational phases. The igneous rocks formed in a late- Meso- to early Neoarchaean super-event engulfed crust formed in an Eoarchaean super-event. Mapping and reinterpretation at Færingehavn showed there are three TTG gneiss domains, each with different early accretionary, metamorphic and tectonic histories, separated by folded meta-mylonites. This established the key feature of the tectono-stratigraphic terrane model; that each terrane has an early intra-terrane history of crust formation, deformation and metamorphism, upon which is superimposed a later deformation and metamorphic history common to several terranes after they were juxtaposed. Remapping and \u3e250 U-Pb zircon age determinations have refined the geological evolution of the entire Nuuk region, and has confirmed at least four main crust formation events and two collisional orogenies with associated transient high pressure metamorphism within clockwise P-T-t loops. Via independent corroborative studies the tectono-stratigraphic terrane model has been accepted for the Nuuk region and, through the discovery of similar relations across other gneiss complexes, its mode of evolution is found to be applicable to Archaean high-grade gneiss complexes worldwide. The TTG and mafic components that dominate each terrane have geochemistry interpreted to indicate subduction-related magmatism at convergent plate boundaries. Each terrane is thus dominated by juvenile additions to the crust. Intra-terrane sedimentary rocks show near unimodal age distributions in contrast to those near the boundaries which are more diverse and complex. The combined geochronological, metamorphic and structural evidence of convergence of these terranes leading to collisional orogeny, this indicates that plate tectonic processes operated throughout the Archaean