Assessing the significance of Heidegger's Black Notebooks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J. Malpas

2018-03-01

Full Text Available The publication of Heidegger's Black Notebooks (Schwarze Hefte has provoked a storm of controversy. Much of this has centred on the pro-Nazi and anti-Semitic comments the volumes contain. But these aspects of the Notebooks are perhaps the least surprising and important. This essay offers a summary overview of the issues to which the Notebooks give rise, at the same time as it also aims to provide a preliminary assessment of their overall significance, especially in relation to what they show about the nature and development of Heidegger's thinking from the early 1930s to the late 1940s.

Notebooks as didactic tool in design education

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Van den Toorn, M.W.M.; Have, R.

2012-01-01

Notebooks are an important didactic tool both for students and teaching staff. The idea of notebooks is that the daily work and thinking is reflected in notes, drawings, sketches, diagrams. Keeping track of the content of daily work can give an idea of the evolution and development of ideas.

SoS Notebook: An Interactive Multi-Language Data Analysis Environment.

Science.gov (United States)

Peng, Bo; Wang, Gao; Ma, Jun; Leong, Man Chong; Wakefield, Chris; Melott, James; Chiu, Yulun; Du, Di; Weinstein, John N

2018-05-22

Complex bioinformatic data analysis workflows involving multiple scripts in different languages can be difficult to consolidate, share, and reproduce. An environment that streamlines the entire processes of data collection, analysis, visualization and reporting of such multi-language analyses is currently lacking. We developed Script of Scripts (SoS) Notebook, a web-based notebook environment that allows the use of multiple scripting language in a single notebook, with data flowing freely within and across languages. SoS Notebook enables researchers to perform sophisticated bioinformatic analysis using the most suitable tools for different parts of the workflow, without the limitations of a particular language or complications of cross-language communications. SoS Notebook is hosted at http://vatlab.github.io/SoS/ and is distributed under a BSD license. bpeng@mdanderson.org.

Electronic Laboratory Notebook on Web2py Framework

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

2010-09-01

Full Text Available Proper experimental record-keeping is an important cornerstone in research and development for the purpose of auditing. The gold standard of record-keeping is based on the judicious use of physical, permanent notebooks. However, advances in technology had resulted in large amounts of electronic records making it virtually impossible to maintain a full set of records in physical notebooks. Electronic laboratory notebook systems aim to meet the stringency for keeping records electronically. This manuscript describes CyNote which is an electronic laboratory notebook system that is compliant with 21 CFP Part 11 controls on electronic records, requirements set by USA Food and Drug Administration for electronic records. CyNote is implemented on web2py framework and is adhering to the architectural paradigm of model-view-controller (MVC, allowing for extension modules to be built for CyNote. CyNote is available at http://cynote.sf.net.

Smart Electronic Laboratory Notebooks for the NIST Research Environment.

Science.gov (United States)

Gates, Richard S; McLean, Mark J; Osborn, William A

2015-01-01

Laboratory notebooks have been a staple of scientific research for centuries for organizing and documenting ideas and experiments. Modern laboratories are increasingly reliant on electronic data collection and analysis, so it seems inevitable that the digital revolution should come to the ordinary laboratory notebook. The most important aspect of this transition is to make the shift as comfortable and intuitive as possible, so that the creative process that is the hallmark of scientific investigation and engineering achievement is maintained, and ideally enhanced. The smart electronic laboratory notebooks described in this paper represent a paradigm shift from the old pen and paper style notebooks and provide a host of powerful operational and documentation capabilities in an intuitive format that is available anywhere at any time.

Keeping a Laboratory Notebook.

Science.gov (United States)

Eisenberg, Anne

1982-01-01

Since the keeping of good records is essential in the chemistry laboratory, general guidelines for maintaining a laboratory notebook are provided. Includes rationale for having entries documented or witnessed. (Author/JN)

Jupyter Notebooks for Earth Sciences: An Interactive Training Platform for Seismology

Science.gov (United States)

Igel, H.; Chow, B.; Donner, S.; Krischer, L.; van Driel, M.; Tape, C.

2017-12-01

We have initiated a community platform (http://www.seismo-live.org) where Python-based Jupyter notebooks (https://jupyter.org) can be accessed and run without necessary downloads or local software installations. The increasingly popular Jupyter notebooks allow the combination of markup language, graphics, and equations with interactive, executable Python code examples. Jupyter notebooks are a powerful and easy-to-grasp tool for students to develop entire projects, scientists to collaborate and efficiently interchange evolving workflows, and trainers to develop efficient practical material. Utilizing the tmpnb project (https://github.com/jupyter/tmpnb), we link the power of Jupyter notebooks with an underlying server, such that notebooks can be run from anywhere, even on smart phones. We demonstrate the potential with notebooks for 1) learning the programming language Python, 2) basic signal processing, 3) an introduction to the ObsPy library (https://obspy.org) for seismology, 4) seismic noise analysis, 5) an entire suite of notebooks for computational seismology (the finite-difference method, pseudospectral methods, finite/spectral element methods, the finite-volume and the discontinuous Galerkin methods, Instaseis), 6) rotational seismology, 7) making results in papers fully reproducible, 8) a rate-and-state friction toolkit, 9) glacial seismology. The platform is run as a community project using Github. Submission of complementary Jupyter notebooks is encouraged. Extension in the near future include linear(-ized) and nonlinear inverse problems.

SCHOOL NOTEBOOK, A TOOL FOR SUPERVISION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Karmele Totoricagüena Barandica

2016-12-01

Full Text Available When we first decided to do a presentation of a paper about the School Notebook, a digital tool created to register the inspection interventions in education centers, we were encouraged by the rising interest and awareness over this tool that has been implemented by the Inspectorates of Education of the Basque Country. Our main goal is to present the school notebook in the current context, considering its origins and understanding that due to the continuous teamwork to be carried out by the future inspectors, the actual notebook will continue evolving to a more complex and advanced scenario. In conclusion, the present paper´s aim is to reflect on and analyze certain elements to open new doors to the inspectorate. Therefore, we are presenting a model we have created to work within our Autonomous Community considering its virtues and potentialities. We are also pointing out some key elements we should improve towards excellence and efficiency within our professional careers.

TECHNICAL BASIS DOCUMENT FOR AT-POWER SIGNIFICANCE DETERMINATION PROCESS (SDP) NOTEBOOKS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

AZARM, M.A.; SMANTA, P.K.; MARTINEZ-GURIDI, G.; HIGGINS, J.

2004-01-01

To support the assessment of inspection findings as part of the risk-informed inspection in the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (USNRC's) Reactor Oversight Process (ROP), risk inspection notebooks, also called significance determination process (SDP) notebooks, have been developed for each of the operating plants in the United States. These notebooks serve as a tool for assessing risk significance of inspection findings along with providing an engineering understanding of the significance. Plant-specific notebooks are developed to capture plant-specific features, characteristics, and analyses that influence the risk profile of the plant. At the same time, the notebooks follow a consistent set of assumptions and guidelines to assure consistent treatment of inspection findings across the plants. To achieve these objectives, notebooks are designed to provide specific information that are unique both in the manner in which the information is provided and in the way the screening risk assessment is carried out using the information provided. The unique features of the SDP notebooks, the approaches used to present the information for assessment of inspection findings, the assumptions used in consistent modeling across different plants with due credit to plant-specific features and analyses form the technical basis of the SDP notebooks. In this document, the unique features and the technical basis for the notebooks are presented. The types of information that are included and the reasoning/basis for including that information are discussed. The rules and basis for developing the worksheets that are used by the inspectors in the assessment of inspection findings are presented. The approach to modeling plants' responses to different initiating events and specific assumptions/considerations used for each of the reactor types are also discussed

Proper laboratory notebook practices: protecting your intellectual property.

Science.gov (United States)

Nickla, Jason T; Boehm, Matthew B

2011-03-01

A laboratory notebook contains a wealth of knowledge that can be critical for establishing evidence in support of intellectual property rights and for refuting claims of research misconduct. The proper type, organization, use, maintenance, and storage of laboratory notebooks should be a priority for everyone at research institutions. Failure to properly document research activities can lead to serious problems, including the loss of valuable patent rights. Consequences of improper laboratory notebook practices can be harsh; numerous examples are described in court cases and journal articles, indicating a need for research institutions to develop strict policies on the proper use and storage of research documentation.

IPython notebook essentials

CERN Document Server

Martins, L Felipe

2014-01-01

If you are a professional, student, or educator who wants to learn to use IPython Notebook as a tool for technical and scientific computing, visualization, and data analysis, this is the book for you. This book will prove valuable for anyone that needs to do computations in an agile environment.

Methods and Strategies: Digital Notebooks for Digital Natives

Science.gov (United States)

Miller, Bridget; Martin, Christie

2016-01-01

The idea of notebooking is not new in the science classroom. Since the mid-1970s, writing has been found to facilitate students' critical thinking and learning across a variety of content areas. For science educators, notebooks have become an essential tool for supporting students' scientific inquiry in and across concepts. Scientific notebooks…

Indexing Laboratory Notebooks in a Chemical R&D Environment

Science.gov (United States)

Mendenhall, Donna M.

1978-01-01

A method of preparing computerized subject and author indexes for research and development laboratory notebooks is described. Wiswesser Line Notation is used as the subject entry capable of listing specifically and unambiguously the compounds described in the notebooks. (Author)

A virtual laboratory notebook for simulation models.

Science.gov (United States)

Winfield, A J

1998-01-01

In this paper we describe how we have adopted the laboratory notebook as a metaphor for interacting with computer simulation models. This 'virtual' notebook stores the simulation output and meta-data (which is used to record the scientist's interactions with the simulation). The meta-data stored consists of annotations (equivalent to marginal notes in a laboratory notebook), a history tree and a log of user interactions. The history tree structure records when in 'simulation' time, and from what starting point in the tree changes are made to the parameters by the user. Typically these changes define a new run of the simulation model (which is represented as a new branch of the history tree). The tree shows the structure of the changes made to the simulation and the log is required to keep the order in which the changes occurred. Together they form a record which you would normally find in a laboratory notebook. The history tree is plotted in simulation parameter space. This shows the scientist's interactions with the simulation visually and allows direct manipulation of the parameter information presented, which in turn is used to control directly the state of the simulation. The interactions with the system are graphical and usually involve directly selecting or dragging data markers and other graphical control devices around in parameter space. If the graphical manipulators do not provide precise enough control then textual manipulation is still available which allows numerical values to be entered by hand. The Virtual Laboratory Notebook, by providing interesting interactions with the visual view of the history tree, provides a mechanism for giving the user complex and novel ways of interacting with biological computer simulation models.

Electronic lab notebooks: can they replace paper?

Science.gov (United States)

Kanza, Samantha; Willoughby, Cerys; Gibbins, Nicholas; Whitby, Richard; Frey, Jeremy Graham; Erjavec, Jana; Zupančič, Klemen; Hren, Matjaž; Kovač, Katarina

2017-05-24

Despite the increasingly digital nature of society there are some areas of research that remain firmly rooted in the past; in this case the laboratory notebook, the last remaining paper component of an experiment. Countless electronic laboratory notebooks (ELNs) have been created in an attempt to digitise record keeping processes in the lab, but none of them have become a 'key player' in the ELN market, due to the many adoption barriers that have been identified in previous research and further explored in the user studies presented here. The main issues identified are the cost of the current available ELNs, their ease of use (or lack of it) and their accessibility issues across different devices and operating systems. Evidence suggests that whilst scientists willingly make use of generic notebooking software, spreadsheets and other general office and scientific tools to aid their work, current ELNs are lacking in the required functionality to meet the needs of the researchers. In this paper we present our extensive research and user study results to propose an ELN built upon a pre-existing cloud notebook platform that makes use of accessible popular scientific software and semantic web technologies to help overcome the identified barriers to adoption.

The Impact of Notebooking on Teacher Candidates’ Construction of Knowledge

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jennifer A. MOHR

2014-07-01

Full Text Available Teacher education preparation programs must adapt to changing science education reform movements that identify notebooking as an effective means to increase children’s’ science process skills and content knowledge. This study addresses the question, “What are the structures and thinking processes that teacher candidates utilize when writing in notebooks?” Specifically, how do they express their thoughts during an observational-based prompt writing experience in an undergraduate, integrated science and mathematics methods course? Sixteen teacher candidates at a Midwestern university in the United States completed an eight-week assignment during the spring 2012 semester using notebooks. Results indicate the participants could be placed into three distinct categories of processing and formatting the notebooks which are described in detail with supporting examples.

The effect of vocabulary notebooks on vocabulary acquisition

OpenAIRE

Bozkurt, Neval

2007-01-01

Ankara : The Department of Teaching English as a Foreign Language, Bilkent University, 2007. Thesis (Master's) -- Bilkent University, 2007. Includes bibliographical references leaves 82-87 This study investigated the effectiveness of vocabulary notebooks on vocabulary acquisition, and the attitudes of teachers and learners towards keeping vocabulary notebooks. The study was conducted with the participation of 60 pre-intermediate level students, divided into one treatment ...

seismo-live: Training in Seismology using Jupyter Notebooks

Science.gov (United States)

Igel, Heiner; Krischer, Lion; van Driel, Martin; Tape, Carl

2017-04-01

Practical training in computational methodologies is still underrepresented in Earth science curriculae despite the increasing use of sometimes highly sophisticated simulation and data processing technologies in research projects. At the same time well-engineered community codes make it easy to return results yet with the danger that the inherent traps of black-box solutions are not well understood. For this purpose we have initiated a community platform (www.seismo-live.org) where Python-based Jupyter notebooks can be accessed and run without necessary downloads or local software installations. The increasingly popular Jupyter notebooks allow combining markup language, graphics, equations, with interactive, executable python codes. The platform already includes general Python training, introduction to the ObsPy library for seismology as well as seismic data processing, noise analysis, and a variety of forward solvers for seismic wave propagation. In addition, an example is shown how Jupyter notebooks can be used to increase reproducibility of published results. Submission of Jupyter notebooks for general seismology are encouraged. The platform can be used for complementary teaching in Earth Science courses on compute-intensive research areas. We present recent developments and new features.

Writing Material in Chemical Physics Research: The Laboratory Notebook as Locus of Technical and Textual Integration

Science.gov (United States)

Wickman, Chad

2010-01-01

This article, drawing on ethnographic study in a chemical physics research facility, explores how notebooks are used and produced in the conduct of laboratory science. Data include written field notes of laboratory activity; visual documentation of "in situ" writing processes; analysis of inscriptions, texts, and material artifacts produced in the…

A universal open-source Electronic Laboratory Notebook.

Science.gov (United States)

Voegele, Catherine; Bouchereau, Baptiste; Robinot, Nivonirina; McKay, James; Damiecki, Philippe; Alteyrac, Lucile

2013-07-01

Laboratory notebooks remain crucial to the activities of research communities. With the increase in generation of electronic data within both wet and dry analytical laboratories and new technologies providing more efficient means of communication, Electronic Laboratory Notebooks (ELN) offer equivalent record keeping to paper-based laboratory notebooks (PLN). They additionally allow more efficient mechanisms for data sharing and retrieval, which explains the growing number of commercial ELNs available varying in size and scope but all are increasingly accepted and used by the scientific community. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) having already an LIMS and a Biobank Management System for respectively laboratory workflows and sample management, we have developed a free multidisciplinary ELN specifically dedicated to work notes that will be flexible enough to accommodate different types of data. Information for installation of our freeware ELN with source codes customizations are detailed in supplementary data. Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

Validation of practical notebook Morphophysiology IV

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rafael Capote Martínez

2012-03-01

Full Text Available Since the implementation of the Morphophysiology, 2007-2008 academic year, has shown a low achievement and motivation of students in individual and independent study. Most of them do not possess the skills or general intellectual development freelancing enough to assimilate the great independence required by this new learning model. Therefore, it was decided to introduce a new medium of instruction notebook handy morphophysiology IV which is an orientation guide for individual and independent study of students at the same time improves the management process of the educational process, whose usefulness is intended to validate. They surveyed 345 (94.8% who choose different specialties including Physical Culture. It was used in the survey, the questionnaire technique questions and answers, the closed first, and combining the direct and indirect, with some filter. This study was conducted through the comparison test of proportions between independent samples, using the Microstat statistical system, with a significance level of α = 0.05 (P <0.05. The 97.33% and 95.6% of students classified as necessary and useful respectively, the Practical Notebook, based on teaching assignments. The 67.84% of students suggests that the effectiveness of Practical Notebook is achieved when it is developed in a coordinated manner from staff student effort, reflections set out in groups or teams of study and the guiding role and facilitator professor, where it appears that forces develop participatory techniques. It is concluded that the Practical Notebook, acts as a methodological guide guiding, and developed through teaching assignments by students during individual and independent study, represents an effective tool for the learning process, contributing significantly to the improvement morphophysiology the curricular discipline.

Electronic laboratory notebook: the academic point of view.

Science.gov (United States)

Rudolphi, Felix; Goossen, Lukas J

2012-02-27

Based on a requirement analysis and alternative design considerations, a platform-independent electronic laboratory notebook (ELN) has been developed that specifically targets academic users. Its intuitive design and numerous productivity features motivate chemical researchers and students to record their data electronically. The data are stored in a highly structured form that offers substantial benefits over laboratory notebooks written on paper with regard to data retrieval, data mining, and exchange of results.

Understanding NASA surface missions with the PDS Analyst's Notebook

Science.gov (United States)

Stein, T.

2011-10-01

Planetary data archives of surface missions contain data from numerous hosted instruments. Because of the nondeterministic nature of surface missions, it is not possible to assess the data without understanding the context in which they were collected. The PDS Analyst's Notebook (http://an.rsl.wustl.edu) provides access to Mars Exploration Rover (MER) [1] and Mars Phoenix Lander [2] data archives by integrating sequence information, engineering and science data, observation planning and targeting, and documentation into web-accessible pages to facilitate "mission replay." In addition, Lunar Apollo surface mission data archives and LCROSS mission data are available in the Analyst's Notebook concept, and a Notebook is planned for Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission.

A pocket guide to electronic laboratory notebooks in the academic life sciences.

Science.gov (United States)

Dirnagl, Ulrich; Przesdzing, Ingo

2016-01-01

Every professional doing active research in the life sciences is required to keep a laboratory notebook. However, while science has changed dramatically over the last centuries, laboratory notebooks have remained essentially unchanged since pre-modern science. We argue that the implementation of electronic laboratory notebooks (eLN) in academic research is overdue, and we provide researchers and their institutions with the background and practical knowledge to select and initiate the implementation of an eLN in their laboratories. In addition, we present data from surveying biomedical researchers and technicians regarding which hypothetical features and functionalities they hope to see implemented in an eLN, and which ones they regard as less important. We also present data on acceptance and satisfaction of those who have recently switched from paper laboratory notebook to an eLN.  We thus provide answers to the following questions: What does an electronic laboratory notebook afford a biomedical researcher, what does it require, and how should one go about implementing it?

Users' Manual for Research: Translating Head Start Findings Into Action (Expanded Notebook Version).

Science.gov (United States)

Grotberg, Edith H.; Fowler, Austine

This users' manual, intended for use with a Project Head Start teacher training notebook, describes the purpose, development and field testing of the training materials and suggests procedures for using the notebook as a resource in teacher training sessions. The training notebook to which the users' manual refers is based on 11 questions in the…

Writing the Laboratory Notebook.

Science.gov (United States)

Kanare, Howard M.

The purpose of this book is to teach the principles of proper scientific notekeeping. The principles presented in this book are goals for which working scientists must strive. Chapter 1, "The Reasons for Notekeeping," is an overview of the process of keeping a laboratory notebook. Chapter 2, "The Hardware of Notekeeping," is intended especially…

Using Evernote as an electronic lab notebook in a translational science laboratory.

Science.gov (United States)

Walsh, Emily; Cho, Ilseung

2013-06-01

Electronic laboratory notebooks (ELNs) offer significant advantages over traditional paper laboratory notebooks (PLNs), yet most research labs today continue to use paper documentation. While biopharmaceutical companies represent the largest portion of ELN users, government and academic labs trail far behind in their usage. Our lab, a translational science laboratory at New York University School of Medicine (NYUSoM), wanted to determine if an ELN could effectively replace PLNs in an academic research setting. Over 6 months, we used the program Evernote to record all routine experimental information. We also surveyed students working in research laboratories at NYUSoM on the relative advantages and limitations of ELNs and PLNs and discovered that electronic and paper notebook users alike reported the inability to freehand into a notebook as a limitation when using electronic methods. Using Evernote, we found that the numerous advantages of ELNs greatly outweighed the inability to freehand directly into a notebook. We also used imported snapshots and drawing program add-ons to obviate the need for freehanding. Thus, we found that using Evernote as an ELN not only effectively replaces PLNs in an academic research setting but also provides users with a wealth of other advantages over traditional paper notebooks.

Seismo-Live: Training in Seismology with Jupyter Notebooks

Science.gov (United States)

Krischer, Lion; Tape, Carl; Igel, Heiner

2016-04-01

Seismological training tends to occur within the isolation of a particular institution with a limited set of tools (codes, libraries) that are often not transferrable outside. Here, we propose to overcome these limitations with a community-driven library of Jupyter notebooks dedicated to training on any aspect of seismology for purposes of education and outreach, on-site or archived tutorials for codes, classroom instruction, and research. A Jupyter notebook (jupyter.org) is an open-source interactive computational environment that allows combining code execution, rich text, mathematics, and plotting. It can be considered a platform that supports reproducible research, as all inputs and outputs may be stored. Text, external graphics, equations can be handled using Markdown (incl. LaTeX) format. Jupyter notebooks are driven by standard web browsers, can be easily exchanged in text format, or converted to other documents (e.g. PDF, slide shows). They provide an ideal format for practical training in seismology. A pilot-platform was setup with a dedicated server such that the Jupyter notebooks can be run in any browser (PC, notepad, smartphone). We show the functionalities of the Seismo-Live platform with examples from computational seismology, seismic data access and processing using the ObsPy library, seismic inverse problems, and others. The current examples are all using the Python programming language but any free language can be used. Potentially, such community platforms could be integrated with the EPOS-IT infrastructure and extended to other fields of Earth sciences.

seismo-live: Training in Computational Seismology using Jupyter Notebooks

Science.gov (United States)

Igel, H.; Krischer, L.; van Driel, M.; Tape, C.

2016-12-01

Practical training in computational methodologies is still underrepresented in Earth science curriculae despite the increasing use of sometimes highly sophisticated simulation technologies in research projects. At the same time well-engineered community codes make it easy to return simulation-based results yet with the danger that the inherent traps of numerical solutions are not well understood. It is our belief that training with highly simplified numerical solutions (here to the equations describing elastic wave propagation) with carefully chosen elementary ingredients of simulation technologies (e.g., finite-differencing, function interpolation, spectral derivatives, numerical integration) could substantially improve this situation. For this purpose we have initiated a community platform (www.seismo-live.org) where Python-based Jupyter notebooks can be accessed and run without and necessary downloads or local software installations. The increasingly popular Jupyter notebooks allow combining markup language, graphics, equations with interactive, executable python codes. We demonstrate the potential with training notebooks for the finite-difference method, pseudospectral methods, finite/spectral element methods, the finite-volume and the discontinuous Galerkin method. The platform already includes general Python training, introduction to the ObsPy library for seismology as well as seismic data processing and noise analysis. Submission of Jupyter notebooks for general seismology are encouraged. The platform can be used for complementary teaching in Earth Science courses on compute-intensive research areas.

Lab notebooks as scientific communication: Investigating development from undergraduate courses to graduate research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jacob T. Stanley

2016-09-01

Full Text Available In experimental physics, lab notebooks play an essential role in the research process. For all of the ubiquity of lab notebooks, little formal attention has been paid to addressing what is considered “best practice” for scientific documentation and how researchers come to learn these practices in experimental physics. Using interviews with practicing researchers, namely, physics graduate students, we explore the different experiences researchers had in learning how to effectively use a notebook for scientific documentation. We find that very few of those interviewed thought that their undergraduate lab classes successfully taught them the benefit of maintaining a lab notebook. Most described training in lab notebook use as either ineffective or outright missing from their undergraduate lab course experience. Furthermore, a large majority of those interviewed explained that they did not receive any formal training in maintaining a lab notebook during their graduate school experience and received little to no feedback from their advisors on these records. Many of the interviewees describe learning the purpose of, and how to maintain, these kinds of lab records only after having a period of trial and error, having already started doing research in their graduate program. Despite the central role of scientific documentation in the research enterprise, these physics graduate students did not gain skills in documentation through formal instruction, but rather through informal hands-on practice.

Teaching numerical methods with IPython notebooks and inquiry-based learning

KAUST Repository

Ketcheson, David I.

2014-01-01

A course in numerical methods should teach both the mathematical theory of numerical analysis and the craft of implementing numerical algorithms. The IPython notebook provides a single medium in which mathematics, explanations, executable code, and visualizations can be combined, and with which the student can interact in order to learn both the theory and the craft of numerical methods. The use of notebooks also lends itself naturally to inquiry-based learning methods. I discuss the motivation and practice of teaching a course based on the use of IPython notebooks and inquiry-based learning, including some specific practical aspects. The discussion is based on my experience teaching a Masters-level course in numerical analysis at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), but is intended to be useful for those who teach at other levels or in industry.

A Performance Evaluation of a Notebook PC under a High Dose-Rate Gamma Ray Irradiation Test

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jai Wan Cho

2014-01-01

Full Text Available We describe the performance of a notebook PC under a high dose-rate gamma ray irradiation test. A notebook PC, which is small and light weight, is generally used as the control unit of a robot system and loaded onto the robot body. Using TEPCO’s CAMS (containment atmospheric monitoring system data, the gamma ray dose rate before and after a hydrogen explosion in reactor units 1–3 of the Fukushima nuclear power plant was more than 150 Gy/h. To use a notebook PC as the control unit of a robot system entering a reactor building to mitigate the severe accident situation of a nuclear power plant, the performance of the notebook PC under such intense gamma-irradiation fields should be evaluated. Under a similar dose-rate (150 Gy/h gamma ray environment, the performances of different notebook PCs were evaluated. In addition, a simple method for a performance evaluation of a notebook PC under a high dose-rate gamma ray irradiation test is proposed. Three notebook PCs were tested to verify the method proposed in this paper.

NeuroScholar's electronic laboratory notebook and its application to neuroendocrinology.

Science.gov (United States)

Khan, Arshad M; Hahn, Joel D; Cheng, Wei-Cheng; Watts, Alan G; Burns, Gully A P C

2006-01-01

Scientists continually relate information from the published literature to their current research. The challenge of this essential and time-consuming activity increases as the body of scientific literature continues to grow. In an attempt to lessen the challenge, we have developed an Electronic Laboratory Notebook (ELN) application. Our ELN functions as a component of another application we have developed, an open-source knowledge management system for the neuroscientific literature called NeuroScholar (http://www. neuroscholar. org/). Scanned notebook pages, images, and data files are entered into the ELN, where they can be annotated, organized, and linked to similarly annotated excerpts from the published literature within Neuroscholar. Associations between these knowledge constructs are created within a dynamic node-and-edge user interface. To produce an interactive, adaptable knowledge base. We demonstrate the ELN's utility by using it to organize data and literature related to our studies of the neuroendocrine hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus (PVH). We also discuss how the ELN could be applied to model other neuroendocrine systems; as an example we look at the role of PVH stressor-responsive neurons in the context of their involvement in the suppression of reproductive function. We present this application to the community as open-source software and invite contributions to its development.

Digitizing and Securing Archived Laboratory Notebooks

Science.gov (United States)

Caporizzo, Marilyn

2008-01-01

The Information Group at Millipore has been successfully using a digital rights management tool to secure the email distribution of archived laboratory notebooks. Millipore is a life science leader providing cutting-edge technologies, tools, and services for bioscience research and biopharmaceutical manufacturing. Consisting of four full-time…

Making sense of monitoring data using Jupyter Notebooks: a case study of dissolved oxygen dynamics across a fresh-estuarine gradient

Science.gov (United States)

Nelson, N.; Munoz-Carpena, R.

2016-12-01

In the presented exercise, students (advanced undergraduate-graduate) explore dissolved oxygen (DO) dynamics at three locations along a fresh-estuarine gradient of the Lower St. Johns River, FL (USA). Spatiotemporal DO trends along this gradient vary as a function of (1) tidal influence, and (2) biotic productivity (phytoplankton photosynthesis and community respiration). This combination of influences produces distinct DO behavior across each of the three hydrologically-connected sites. Through analysis of high frequency monitoring data, students are encouraged to think critically about the roles of physical and biological drivers of DO, and how the relative importance of these factors can vary among different locations within a single tidal waterbody. Data from each of the three locations along the river are downloaded with CUAHSI HydroClient, and analysis is performed with a Python-enabled Jupyter Notebook that has been specifically created for this assignment. Jupyter Notebooks include annotated code organized into blocks that are executed one-at-a-time; this format is amenable to classroom teaching, and provides an approachable introduction to Python for inexperienced coders. The outputs from each code block (i.e. graphs, tables) are produced within the Jupyter Notebook, thus allowing students to directly interact with the code. Expected student learning outcomes include increased spatial reasoning, as well as greater understanding of DO cycling, spatiotemporal variability in tidal systems, and challenges associated with collecting and evaluating large data sets. Specific technical learning outcomes include coding in Python for data management and analysis using Jupyter notebooks. This assignment and associated materials are open-access and available on the Science Education Resource Center website.

Process notebook for aquatic ecosystem simulation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Swartzman, G.; Smith, E.; McKenzie, D.; Haar, B.; Fickeisen, D.

1980-01-01

This notebook contains a detailed comparison of 14 models of fish growth, energetics, population dynamics, and feeding. It is a basic document for the evaluation of thes models' usefulness for impact assessment. Model equations are categorized into 18 subprocesses comprising the major processes of consumption, predation, metabolic processes, growth, fecundity, and mortality. The model equations are compared in a standard notation and the equation rationales are considered and put into a historical framework with historical precedence charts. Model parameters are computed in standard units and data sources and techniques used for parameter estimation are identified. A translator compares standard notation with the notation used in the models. The major contribution of this work is that, for the first time, fish models are arrayed with their assumptions laid bare and their parameter values compared, allowing elucidation of model differeances and evaluaton of model behavior and data needs by using the process notebook as a base for further simulation comparison

Developing and Validating a Science Notebook Rubric for Fifth-Grade Non-Mainstream Students

Science.gov (United States)

Huerta, Margarita; Lara-Alecio, Rafael; Tong, Fuhui; Irby, Beverly J.

2014-07-01

We present the development and validation of a science notebook rubric intended to measure the academic language and conceptual understanding of non-mainstream students, specifically fifth-grade male and female economically disadvantaged Hispanic English language learner (ELL) and African-American or Hispanic native English-speaking students. The science notebook rubric is based on two main constructs: academic language and conceptual understanding. The constructs are grounded in second-language acquisition theory and theories of writing and conceptual understanding. We established content validity and calculated reliability measures using G theory and percent agreement (for comparison) with a sample of approximately 144 unique science notebook entries and 432 data points. Results reveal sufficient reliability estimates, indicating that the instrument is promising for use in future research studies including science notebooks in classrooms with populations of economically disadvantaged Hispanic ELL and African-American or Hispanic native English-speaking students.

Doing physics with scientific notebook a problem solving approach

CERN Document Server

Gallant, Joseph

2012-01-01

The goal of this book is to teach undergraduate students how to use Scientific Notebook (SNB) to solve physics problems. SNB software combines word processing and mathematics in standard notation with the power of symbolic computation. As its name implies, SNB can be used as a notebook in which students set up a math or science problem, write and solve equations, and analyze and discuss their results. Written by a physics teacher with over 20 years experience, this text includes topics that have educational value, fit within the typical physics curriculum, and show the benefits of using SNB.

Jupyter Notebooks as tools for interactive learning of Concepts in Structural Geology and efficient grading of exercises.

Science.gov (United States)

Niederau, Jan; Wellmann, Florian; Maersch, Jannik; Urai, Janos

2017-04-01

Programming is increasingly recognised an important skill for geoscientists - however, the hurdle to jump into programming for students with little or no experience can be high. We present here teaching concepts on the basis of Jupyter notebooks that combine, in an intuitive way, formatted instruction text with code cells in a single environment. This integration allows for an exposure to programming on several levels: from a complete interactive presentation of content, where students require no or very limited programming experience, to highly complex geoscientific computations. We consider these notebooks therefore as an ideal medium to present computational content to students in the field of geosciences. We show here how we use these notebooks to develop digital documents in Python for undergrad-students, who can then learn about basic concepts in structural geology via self-assessment. Such notebooks comprise concepts such as: stress tensor, strain ellipse, or the mohr circle. Students can interactively change parameters, e.g. by using sliders and immediately see the results. They can further experiment and extend the notebook by writing their own code within the notebook. Jupyter Notebooks for teaching purposes can be provided ready-to-use via online services. That is, students do not need to install additional software on their devices in order to work with the notebooks. We also use Jupyter Notebooks for automatic grading of programming assignments in multiple lectures. An implemented workflow facilitates the generation, distribution of assignments, as well as the final grading. Compared to previous grading methods with a high percentage of repetitive manual grading, the implemented workflow proves to be much more time efficient.

DEVOTION IN NICHOLAS SPARKS’ THE NOTEBOOK (1996: AN INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGICAL APPROACH

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yuli Andria Fajarini

2017-08-01

Full Text Available The study described the devotion of Noah Calhoun, the main character in Nicholas Sparks’ The Notebook. It focused on its structural elements and the devotion of Noah to deal with inferiority feeling and compensation, striving for superiority, fictional finalism, style of life, social interest, and creative self that were explored through an individual psychological approach. This research was qualitative research with the primary data source of the novel entitled The Notebook written by Nicholas Sparks in 1996. While the secondary data were other related sources. The data were collected through library research. The results showed that based on individual psychology analysis the major character, Noah Calhoun is psychologically affected. Noah fights hard to get his true love and shows her his devotion. He dedicates all of his life for Allie.     Keywords: Devotion, The Notebook, Individual Psychological Approach.

Application of miniature heat pipe for notebook PC cooling

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Moon, S.H.; Hwang, G.; Choy, T.G. [Electronics and Telecommunications research Institute, Taejeon (Korea)

2001-06-01

Miniature heat pipe(MHP) with woven-wired wick was used to cool the CPU of a notebook PC. The pipe with circular cross-section was pressed and bent for packaging the MHP into a notebook PC with very limited compact packaging space. A cross-sectional area of the pipe is reduced about 30% as the MHP with 4 mm diameter is pressed to 2 mm thickness. In the present study a performance test has been performed in order to review varying of operating performance according to pressed thickness variation and heat dissipation capacity of MHP cooling module that is packaged on a notebook PC. New wick type was considered for overcoming low heat transfer limit when MHP is pressed to thin-plate. The limiting thickness of pressing is shown to be within the range of 2 mm {approx} 2.5 mm through the performance test with varying the pressing thickness. When the wall thickness of 0.4 mm is reduced to 0.25 mm for minimizing conductive thermal resistance through the wall of heat pipe, heat transfer limit and thermal resistance of MHP were improved about 10%. In the meantime, it is shown that the thermal resistance and heat transfer limit for the MHP with central wick type are higher than those of MHP with existing wick types. The results of performance test for MHP cooling modules with woven-wired wick to cool notebook PC shows the stability as cooling system since T{sub j}(Temperature of Processor Junction) satisfy a demand condition of 0 {approx} 100 deg.C under 11.5 W of CPU heat. (author). 6 refs., 7 figs.

NeuroScholar’s Electronic Laboratory Notebook and Its Application to Neuroendocrinology

Science.gov (United States)

Khan, Arshad M.; Hahn, Joel D.; Cheng, Wei-Cheng; Watts, Alan G.; Burns, Gully A. P. C.

2015-01-01

Scientists continually relate information from the published literature to their current research. The challenge of this essential and time-consuming activity increases as the body of scientific literature continues to grow. In an attempt to lessen the challenge, we have developed an Electronic Laboratory Notebook (ELN) application. Our ELN functions as a component of another application we have developed, an open-source knowledge management system for the neuroscientific literature called NeuroScholar (http://www.neuroscholar.org/). Scanned notebook pages, images, and data files are entered into the ELN, where they can be annotated, organized, and linked to similarly annotated excerpts from the published literature within Neuroscholar. Associations between these knowledge constructs are created within a dynamic node-and-edge user interface. To produce an interactive, adaptable knowledge base. We demonstrate the ELN’s utility by using it to organize data and literature related to our studies of the neuroendocrine hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus (PVH). We also discuss how the ELN could be applied to model other neuroendocrine systems; as an example we look at the role of PVH stressor-responsive neurons in the context of their involvement in the suppression of reproductive function. We present this application to the community as open-source software and invite contributions to its development. PMID:16845166

Neurophysiological analytics for all! Free open-source software tools for documenting, analyzing, visualizing, and sharing using electronic notebooks.

Science.gov (United States)

Rosenberg, David M; Horn, Charles C

2016-08-01

Neurophysiology requires an extensive workflow of information analysis routines, which often includes incompatible proprietary software, introducing limitations based on financial costs, transfer of data between platforms, and the ability to share. An ecosystem of free open-source software exists to fill these gaps, including thousands of analysis and plotting packages written in Python and R, which can be implemented in a sharable and reproducible format, such as the Jupyter electronic notebook. This tool chain can largely replace current routines by importing data, producing analyses, and generating publication-quality graphics. An electronic notebook like Jupyter allows these analyses, along with documentation of procedures, to display locally or remotely in an internet browser, which can be saved as an HTML, PDF, or other file format for sharing with team members and the scientific community. The present report illustrates these methods using data from electrophysiological recordings of the musk shrew vagus-a model system to investigate gut-brain communication, for example, in cancer chemotherapy-induced emesis. We show methods for spike sorting (including statistical validation), spike train analysis, and analysis of compound action potentials in notebooks. Raw data and code are available from notebooks in data supplements or from an executable online version, which replicates all analyses without installing software-an implementation of reproducible research. This demonstrates the promise of combining disparate analyses into one platform, along with the ease of sharing this work. In an age of diverse, high-throughput computational workflows, this methodology can increase efficiency, transparency, and the collaborative potential of neurophysiological research. Copyright © 2016 the American Physiological Society.

An Alternative Approach to Assessing Laboratory and Field Notebooks: The Data Retrieval Test

Science.gov (United States)

Bedford, Hilary; Bedford, Alan; Thomas, Judith; Ashton, Paul

2010-01-01

Marking field and laboratory notebooks can be a time consuming and tedious task. This article describes a system whereby the contents of student's notebooks are assessed by testing the students on what they have included and their understanding of what has been done. It also tests the quality of the student's notes--detailed, organised notes…

Logs, blogs and pods: smart electronic laboratory notebooks

OpenAIRE

Frey, Jeremy G.

2009-01-01

The Southampton experiences in developing a semantic electronic laboratory notebook for synthetic organic chemistry and a web 2.0 style laboratory Blog Book are introduced and discussed in the context of the Smart Laboratory.

PDS MSL Analyst's Notebook: Supporting Active Rover Missions and Adding Value to Planetary Data Archives

Science.gov (United States)

Stein, Thomas

Planetary data archives of surface missions contain data from numerous hosted instruments. Because of the nondeterministic nature of surface missions, it is not possible to assess the data without understanding the context in which they were collected. The PDS Analyst’s Notebook (http://an.rsl.wustl.edu) provides access to Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) data archives by integrating sequence information, engineering and science data, observation planning and targeting, and documentation into web-accessible pages to facilitate “mission replay.” In addition, Mars Exploration Rover (MER), Mars Phoenix Lander, Lunar Apollo surface mission, and LCROSS mission data are available in the Analyst’s Notebook concept, and a Notebook is planned for the Insight mission. The MSL Analyst’s Notebook contains data, documentation, and support files for the Curiosity rovers. The inputs are incorporated on a daily basis into a science team version of the Notebook. The public version of the Analyst’s Notebook is comprised of peer-reviewed, released data and is updated coincident with PDS data releases as defined in mission archive plans. The data are provided by the instrument teams and are supported by documentation describing data format, content, and calibration. Both operations and science data products are included. The operations versions are generated to support mission planning and operations on a daily basis. They are geared toward researchers working on machine vision and engineering operations. Science versions of observations from some instruments are provided for those interested in radiometric and photometric analyses. Both data set documentation and sol (i.e., Mars day) documents are included in the Notebook. The sol documents are the mission manager and documentarian reports that provide a view into science operations—insight into why and how particular observations were made. Data set documents contain detailed information regarding the mission, spacecraft

The Computerized Laboratory Notebook concept for genetic toxicology experimentation and testing.

Science.gov (United States)

Strauss, G H; Stanford, W L; Berkowitz, S J

1989-03-01

We describe a microcomputer system utilizing the Computerized Laboratory Notebook (CLN) concept developed in our laboratory for the purpose of automating the Battery of Leukocyte Tests (BLT). The BLT was designed to evaluate blood specimens for toxic, immunotoxic, and genotoxic effects after in vivo exposure to putative mutagens. A system was developed with the advantages of low cost, limited spatial requirements, ease of use for personnel inexperienced with computers, and applicability to specific testing yet flexibility for experimentation. This system eliminates cumbersome record keeping and repetitive analysis inherent in genetic toxicology bioassays. Statistical analysis of the vast quantity of data produced by the BLT would not be feasible without a central database. Our central database is maintained by an integrated package which we have adapted to develop the CLN. The clonal assay of lymphocyte mutagenesis (CALM) section of the CLN is demonstrated. PC-Slaves expand the microcomputer to multiple workstations so that our computerized notebook can be used next to a hood while other work is done in an office and instrument room simultaneously. Communication with peripheral instruments is an indispensable part of many laboratory operations, and we present a representative program, written to acquire and analyze CALM data, for communicating with both a liquid scintillation counter and an ELISA plate reader. In conclusion we discuss how our computer system could easily be adapted to the needs of other laboratories.

Implementation of an electronic laboratory notebook to accelerate data review in bioanalysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Shoup, Ronald E; Beato, Brian D; Pisek, April; White, Jessica; Branstrator, Laurel; Bousum, Abby; Roach, Jasmine; Grever, Tim

2013-07-01

Electronic laboratory notebooks increase opportunities for collaboration and information exchange when compared with paper records. Depending on the degree of implementation, a laboratory- or enterprise-wide system can unify the collection, review and dissemination of data to improve laboratory efficiency and productivity. The advantages of an electronic laboratory notebook for speeding data review in bioanalysis are discussed, through the use of validated templates and organizational constructs to block errors in real-time and reduce manual audit tasks.

IntuiScript a new digital notebook for learning writing in elementary schools: 1st observations

OpenAIRE

Girard , Nathalie; Simonnet , Damien; Anquetil , Eric

2017-01-01

International audience; IntuiScript is an innovative project that aims for designing a digital notebook dedicated to handwriting learning at primary schools. One of the main goals is to provide children real-time feedback to make them more autonomous. These feedbacks are produced by automatically analysing their drawing, and this online analysis makes possible an adaptation of the pedagogical scenario to each child according to his own difficulties. The IntruiScript project complies with a us...

MARTIN HEIDEGGER’S BLACK NOTEBOOKS AND POLITICAL ECONOMY OF CONTEMPORARY PHILOSOPHICAL CRITIQUE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. O. Karpenko

2016-06-01

Full Text Available The purpose of the study is to determine the key strategies of philosophical criticism of Heidegger’s Black Notebooks, whose achievement is realized in the following tasks: 1 to identify the body of texts that represent the discourse of philosophical criticism of Heidegger notes; 2 to reveal the typological features of the different strategies of interpreting Black Notebooks; 3 to reconstruct a thematic horizon of Heidegger studies, opened up by discussion on published notes. The methodology combines elements of discourse analysis with traditional methods of historical and philosophical criticism. Scientific novelty is expressed in the following: 1 philosophical discourse of the Notebooks’ reception includes texts of narrowly specialized character (Gatherings collection of articles, as well as reflections of key philosophers (A. Badiou, J.-L. Nancy 2 basic strategies in philosophical critique of Black Notebooks convey the overall structure of the discourse of interpretation of Heidegger’s legacy, distributed between apologetics and ideological criticism; 3 Black Notebooks have exacerbated the problem of architectonics of Gesammtausgabe and formed the textual basis for the study of "silence" period in philosophical life of Heidegger. Conclusions. The discourse of philosophical critique of Heidegger’s notes proves evidence for ideological charge of philosophizing and justifies socially oriented approaches of historical and philosophical studies examining philosophizing as a special cultural practice, not as a form of sublime creativity.

More than Data: Using Interactive Science Notebooks to Engage Students in Science and Engineering

Science.gov (United States)

Mason, Kevin; Bohl, Heather

2017-01-01

A traditional science notebook is an official record of a scientist's research. Even in today's digital world, it is still common practice for scientists to record their experimental procedures, data, analysis, results, notes, and other thoughts on the right pages of a bound notebook in permanent ink with nothing written on the left side or back…

Laboratory Activity on Sample Handling and Maintaining a Laboratory Notebook through Simple pH Measurements

Science.gov (United States)

Erdmann, Mitzy A.; March, Joe L.

2016-01-01

Sample handling and laboratory notebook maintenance are necessary skills but can seem abstract if not presented to students in context. An introductory exercise focusing on proper sample handling, data collection and laboratory notebook keeping for the general chemistry laboratory was developed to emphasize the importance of keeping an accurate…

Electronic Engineering Notebook: A software environment for research execution, documentation and dissemination

Science.gov (United States)

Moerder, Dan

1994-01-01

The electronic engineering notebook (EEN) consists of a free form research notebook, implemented in a commercial package for distributed hypermedia, which includes utilities for graphics capture, formatting and display of LaTex constructs, and interfaces to the host operating system. The latter capability consists of an information computer-aided software engineering (CASE) tool and a means to associate executable scripts with source objects. The EEN runs on Sun and HP workstations. The EEN, in day-to-day use can be used in much the same manner as the sort of research notes most researchers keep during development of projects. Graphics can be pasted in, equations can be entered via LaTex, etc. In addition, the fact that the EEN is hypermedia permits easy management of 'context', e.g., derivations and data can contain easily formed links to other supporting derivations and data. The CASE tool also permits development and maintenance of source code directly in the notebook, with access to its derivations and data.

A pocket guide to electronic laboratory notebooks in the academic life sciences [version 1; referees: 3 approved

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ulrich Dirnagl

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Every professional doing active research in the life sciences is required to keep a laboratory notebook. However, while science has changed dramatically over the last centuries, laboratory notebooks have remained essentially unchanged since pre-modern science. We argue that the implementation of electronic laboratory notebooks (eLN in academic research is overdue, and we provide researchers and their institutions with the background and practical knowledge to select and initiate the implementation of an eLN in their laboratories. In addition, we present data from surveying biomedical researchers and technicians regarding which hypothetical features and functionalities they hope to see implemented in an eLN, and which ones they regard as less important. We also present data on acceptance and satisfaction of those who have recently switched from paper laboratory notebook to an eLN.  We thus provide answers to the following questions: What does an electronic laboratory notebook afford a biomedical researcher, what does it require, and how should one go about implementing it?

Laboratory E-Notebooks: A Learning Object-Based Repository

Science.gov (United States)

Abari, Ilior; Pierre, Samuel; Saliah-Hassane, Hamadou

2006-01-01

During distributed virtual laboratory experiment sessions, a major problem is to be able to collect, store, manage and share heterogeneous data (intermediate results, analysis, annotations, etc) manipulated simultaneously by geographically distributed teammates composing a virtual team. The electronic notebook is a possible response to this…

Impact of the implementation of a well-designed electronic laboratory notebook on bioanalytical laboratory function.

Science.gov (United States)

Zeng, Jianing; Hillman, Mark; Arnold, Mark

2011-07-01

This paper shares experiences of the Bristol-Myers Squibb Company during the design, validation and implementation of an electronic laboratory notebook (ELN) into the GLP/regulated bioanalytical analysis area, as well as addresses the impact on bioanalytical laboratory functions with the implementation of the electronic notebook. Some of the key points covered are: knowledge management - the project-based electronic notebook takes full advantage of the available technology that focuses on data organization and sharing so that scientific data generated by individual scientists became department knowledge; bioanalytical workflows in the ELN - the custom-built workflows that include data entry templates, validated calculation processes, integration with laboratory information management systems/laboratory instruments, and reporting capability improve the data quality and overall workflow efficiency; regulatory compliance - carefully designed notebook reviewing processes, cross referencing of distributed information, audit trail and software validation reduce compliance risks. By taking into consideration both data generation and project documentation needs, a well-designed ELN can deliver significant improvements in laboratory efficiency, work productivity, and regulatory compliance.

Using Vocabulary Notebooks for Vocabulary Acquisition and Teaching

Science.gov (United States)

Dubiner, Deborah

2017-01-01

Vocabulary knowledge is recognized as an essential element for second language acquisition and reading comprehension. One known way to encourage and support vocabulary development amongst second language learners is keeping a vocabulary notebook. The primary purpose of the present study was to document two aspects of student teachers' own…

Developing an Audiovisual Notebook as a Self-Learning Tool in Histology: Perceptions of Teachers and Students

Science.gov (United States)

Campos-Sánchez, Antonio; López-Núñez, Juan-Antonio; Scionti, Giuseppe; Garzón, Ingrid; González-Andrades, Miguel; Alaminos, Miguel; Sola, Tomás

2014-01-01

Videos can be used as didactic tools for self-learning under several circumstances, including those cases in which students are responsible for the development of this resource as an audiovisual notebook. We compared students' and teachers' perceptions regarding the main features that an audiovisual notebook should include. Four…

Learning to Produce Syllabic Speech Sounds via Reward-Modulated Neural Plasticity

Science.gov (United States)

Warlaumont, Anne S.; Finnegan, Megan K.

2016-01-01

At around 7 months of age, human infants begin to reliably produce well-formed syllables containing both consonants and vowels, a behavior called canonical babbling. Over subsequent months, the frequency of canonical babbling continues to increase. How the infant’s nervous system supports the acquisition of this ability is unknown. Here we present a computational model that combines a spiking neural network, reinforcement-modulated spike-timing-dependent plasticity, and a human-like vocal tract to simulate the acquisition of canonical babbling. Like human infants, the model’s frequency of canonical babbling gradually increases. The model is rewarded when it produces a sound that is more auditorily salient than sounds it has previously produced. This is consistent with data from human infants indicating that contingent adult responses shape infant behavior and with data from deaf and tracheostomized infants indicating that hearing, including hearing one’s own vocalizations, is critical for canonical babbling development. Reward receipt increases the level of dopamine in the neural network. The neural network contains a reservoir with recurrent connections and two motor neuron groups, one agonist and one antagonist, which control the masseter and orbicularis oris muscles, promoting or inhibiting mouth closure. The model learns to increase the number of salient, syllabic sounds it produces by adjusting the base level of muscle activation and increasing their range of activity. Our results support the possibility that through dopamine-modulated spike-timing-dependent plasticity, the motor cortex learns to harness its natural oscillations in activity in order to produce syllabic sounds. It thus suggests that learning to produce rhythmic mouth movements for speech production may be supported by general cortical learning mechanisms. The model makes several testable predictions and has implications for our understanding not only of how syllabic vocalizations develop

Will the leading firm continue to dominate the market in the Taiwan notebook industry?

Science.gov (United States)

Chu, Hsiao-Ping; Yeh, Ming-Liang; Sher, Peter J.; Chiu, Yi-Chia

2007-09-01

This study investigates whether the market share leader in the notebook industry in Taiwan is likely to maintain its dominant position. Market share data are used to investigate the intensity of competitiveness in the industry, and data on the gap in market shares are employed to elucidate the dominance of the leading firm in Taiwan's notebook industry during the 1998-2004 period. The newly developed Panel SURADF tests advanced by Breuer et al. [Misleading inferences from panel unit root tests with an illustration from purchasing power parity, Rev. Int. Econ. 9 (3) (2001) 482-493] are employed to determine whether the market share gap is stationary or not. Unlike other panel-based unit root tests which are joint tests of a unit root for all members of a panel and are incapable of determining the mix of I(0) and I(1) series in a panel setting, the Panel SURADF tests have the advantage of being able to investigate a separate unit root null hypothesis for each individual panel member and are, therefore, able to identify how many and which series in a panel are stationary processes. The empirical results from several panel-based unit root tests substantiate that the market shares of the firms studied here are non-stationary, indicating that Taiwan's notebook industry is highly competitive; however, Breuer et al.'s [12] Panel SURADF tests unequivocally show that only Compal is stationary with respect to market share gap. In terms of sales volume, Compal is the second largest firm in the notebook industry in Taiwan, and the results indicate that it alone has the opportunity to become the market share leader in the notebook industry.

A suite of Mathematica notebooks for the analysis of protein main chain 15N NMR relaxation data

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Spyracopoulos, Leo

2006-01-01

A suite of Mathematica notebooks has been designed to ease the analysis of protein main chain 15 N NMR relaxation data collected at a single magnetic field strength. Individual notebooks were developed to perform the following tasks: nonlinear fitting of 15 N-T 1 and -T 2 relaxation decays to a two parameter exponential decay, calculation of the principal components of the inertia tensor from protein structural coordinates, nonlinear optimization of the principal components and orientation of the axially symmetric rotational diffusion tensor, model-free analysis of 15 N-T 1 , -T 2 , and { 1 H}- 15 N NOE data, and reduced spectral density analysis of the relaxation data. The principle features of the notebooks include use of a minimal number of input files, integrated notebook data management, ease of use, cross-platform compatibility, automatic visualization of results and generation of high-quality graphics, and output of analyses in text format

SMART NOTEBOOK AS AN ICT WAY FОR DEVELOPMENT OF RESEARCH COMPETENCE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Svitlana V. Vasylenko

2014-05-01

Full Text Available The article discusses the benefits of the educational process for general and higher education through the development of research competence of students, information and communication technology training. These technologies are used in many areas of activity, including updated content of education, implementing of distance learning, introducing new forms of collaboration. Attention is accented on the features using SMART Notebook software for organizing the learning process in the form of interactive sessions, clarified a basic arguments to use SMART Notebook for creation an author's educational resources, to orient teachers to construct their personal innovative methodical system.

Mortar modified with sulfonated polystyrene produced from waste plastic cups

OpenAIRE

MOTTA,L. A. C.; VIEIRA,J. G.; OMENA,T. H.; FARIA,F. A. C.; RODRIGUES FILHO,G.; ASSUNÇÃO,R. M. N.

2016-01-01

Abstract In this work, we studied the addition of sulfonated polystyrene produced from waste plastic cups as an admixture for mortars. Mortars were analyzed with polystyrene content of 0.0; 0.2; 0.6; 1.0 and 1.4% in relation to the cement mass. The influence of polystyrene on the mortars' properties was evaluated by the consistency index, water retention, water absorption, porosity, elasticity modulus, compressive strength, flexural strength, bond tensile strength and microscopy. The increase...

75 FR 8400 - In the Matter of Certain Notebook Computer Products and Components Thereof; Notice of Investigation

Science.gov (United States)

2010-02-24

... INTERNATIONAL TRADE COMMISSION [Inv. No. 337-TA-705] In the Matter of Certain Notebook Computer... United States after importation of certain notebook computer products and components thereof by reason of... an industry in the United States exists as required by subsection (a)(2) of section 337. The...

Tailoring dislocation structures and mechanical properties of nanostructured metals produced by plastic deformation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Huang, Xiaoxu

2009-01-01

The presence of a dislocation structure associated with low-angle dislocation boundaries and interior dislocations is a common and characteristic feature in nanostructured metals produced by plastic deformation, and plays an important role in determining both the strength and ductility...

Data Mining to Capture User-Experience: A Case Study in Notebook Product Appearance Design

OpenAIRE

Rhoann Kerh; Chen-Fu Chien; Kuo-Yi Lin

2014-01-01

In the era of rapidly increasing notebook market, consumer electronics manufacturers are facing a highly dynamic and competitive environment. In particular, the product appearance is the first part for user to distinguish the product from the product of other brands. Notebook product should differ in its appearance to engage users and contribute to the user experience (UX). The UX evaluates various product concepts to find the design for user needs; in addition, help the designer to further u...

Field microcomputerized multichannel γ ray spectrometer based on notebook computer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jia Wenyi; Wei Biao; Zhou Rongsheng; Li Guodong; Tang Hong

1996-01-01

Currently, field γ ray spectrometry can not rapidly measure γ ray full spectrum, so a field microcomputerized multichannel γ ray spectrometer based on notebook computer is described, and the γ ray full spectrum can be rapidly measured in the field

Manufacturing of golf club using wood-plastic combination produced by γ-irradiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yamagami, Masayuki; Tsujii, Yukio; Ohnishi, Tokuhiro; Miyoshi, Hirofumi; Chubachi, Mitsuo; Takada, Hisatoshi.

1992-01-01

Wood-plastic combination (WPC) was produced by γ-irradiation of persimmon impregnated with acrylonitrile and styrene. The hardness and strength of WPC obtained were higher than those of an unmodified wood. Thus, it was found that the WPC is suited for a head of golf club, because the Shore hardness value of WPC is 36% greater than that of unmodified wood. An impregnation method of monomers with some pigments could produce colored WPC without diminishing natural grain. Head of golf club could be manufactured from colored WPC in practice. (auhtor)

Zařazení notebooků do současných informačních systémů

OpenAIRE

Kubeš, Adam

2009-01-01

This bachelor work focuses especially on categorization of notebooks in ICT of present IS. It extends and fills in my previous semestral work called "Notebooks", that I was working on in course Technical means and infrastructure of IS. The work is divided into two main sections -- theoretical and practical. Theoretical section devotes to the description of present types of computers and categorization of notebooks in ICT, their use, contributions, limitations, energy management and synchroniz...

Soft Lithographic Procedure for Producing Plastic Microfluidic Devices with View-ports Transparent to Visible and Infrared Light.

Science.gov (United States)

Suryana, Mona; Shanmugarajah, Jegan V; Maniam, Sivakumar M; Grenci, Gianluca

2017-08-17

Infrared (IR) spectro-microscopy of living biological samples is hampered by the absorption of water in the mid-IR range and by the lack of suitable microfluidic devices. Here, a protocol for the fabrication of plastic microfluidic devices is demonstrated, where soft lithographic techniques are used to embed transparent Calcium Fluoride (CaF2) view-ports in connection with observation chamber(s). The method is based on a replica casting approach, where a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) mold is produced through standard lithographic procedures and then used as the template to produce a plastic device. The plastic device features ultraviolet/visible/infrared (UV/Vis/IR) -transparent windows made of CaF2 to allow for direct observation with visible and IR light. The advantages of the proposed method include: a reduced need for accessing a clean room micro-fabrication facility, multiple view-ports, an easy and versatile connection to an external pumping system through the plastic body, flexibility of the design, e.g., open/closed channels configuration, and the possibility to add sophisticated features such as nanoporous membranes.

Digital Science Notebooks: Perspectives from an Elementary Classroom Teacher

Science.gov (United States)

Paek, Seungoh; Fulton, Lori A.

2017-01-01

This study investigates how tablet-based note-taking applications can be integrated into elementary science classes as digital science notebooks. A teacher with 20 students in Grades 4-5 from a public charter school in Hawaii participated in the study. The participating science teacher introduced a tablet-based note taking application (TNA) to her…

Integration of ROOT Notebooks as a Web-based ATLAS Analysis tool for public data releases and outreach

CERN Document Server

Banda, Tea; CERN. Geneva. EP Department

2016-01-01

The project consists in the initial development of ROOT notebooks for a Z boson analysis in C++ programming language that will allow students and researches to perform fast and very useful data analysis, using ATLAS public data and Monte- Carlo simulations. Several tools are considered: ROOT Data Analysis Frame- work, Jupyter Notebook Technology and CERN-ROOT computing service so-called SWAN.

Une lecture, mille et une reflexions: Cahier de reflexion sur le processus de lecture. (One Reading, 1001 Reflections: Notebook of Reflection on the Reading Process.)

Science.gov (United States)

Alberta Dept. of Education, Edmonton.

This activity notebook is intended to help French-speaking students in Alberta, Canada, develop reflective reading practices. Following an introduction and information (with graphics) on the notebook's organization, the notebook is divided into three sections of reading strategies: the first section contains three activities, the second section…

Interacting with Petabytes of Earth Science Data using Jupyter Notebooks, IPython Widgets and Google Earth Engine

Science.gov (United States)

Erickson, T. A.; Granger, B.; Grout, J.; Corlay, S.

2017-12-01

The volume of Earth science data gathered from satellites, aircraft, drones, and field instruments continues to increase. For many scientific questions in the Earth sciences, managing this large volume of data is a barrier to progress, as it is difficult to explore and analyze large volumes of data using the traditional paradigm of downloading datasets to a local computer for analysis. Furthermore, methods for communicating Earth science algorithms that operate on large datasets in an easily understandable and reproducible way are needed. Here we describe a system for developing, interacting, and sharing well-documented Earth Science algorithms that combines existing software components: Jupyter Notebook: An open-source, web-based environment that supports documents that combine code and computational results with text narrative, mathematics, images, and other media. These notebooks provide an environment for interactive exploration of data and development of well documented algorithms. Jupyter Widgets / ipyleaflet: An architecture for creating interactive user interface controls (such as sliders, text boxes, etc.) in Jupyter Notebooks that communicate with Python code. This architecture includes a default set of UI controls (sliders, dropboxes, etc.) as well as APIs for building custom UI controls. The ipyleaflet project is one example that offers a custom interactive map control that allows a user to display and manipulate geographic data within the Jupyter Notebook. Google Earth Engine: A cloud-based geospatial analysis platform that provides access to petabytes of Earth science data via a Python API. The combination of Jupyter Notebooks, Jupyter Widgets, ipyleaflet, and Google Earth Engine makes it possible to explore and analyze massive Earth science datasets via a web browser, in an environment suitable for interactive exploration, teaching, and sharing. Using these environments can make Earth science analyses easier to understand and reproducible, which may

Understand your Algorithm: Drill Down to Sample Visualizations in Jupyter Notebooks

Science.gov (United States)

Mapes, B. E.; Ho, Y.; Cheedela, S. K.; McWhirter, J.

2017-12-01

Statistics are the currency of climate dynamics, but the space of all possible algorithms is fathomless - especially for 4-dimensional weather-resolving data that many "impact" variables depend on. Algorithms are designed on data samples, but how do you know if they measure what you expect when turned loose on Big Data? We will introduce the year-1 prototype of a 3-year scientist-led, NSF-supported, Unidata-quality software stack called DRILSDOWN (https://brianmapes.github.io/EarthCube-DRILSDOWN/) for automatically extracting, integrating, and visualizing multivariate 4D data samples. Based on a customizable "IDV bundle" of data sources, fields and displays supplied by the user, the system will teleport its space-time coordinates to fetch Cases of Interest (edge cases, typical cases, etc.) from large aggregated repositories. These standard displays can serve as backdrops to overlay with your value-added fields (such as derived quantities stored on a user's local disk). Fields can be readily pulled out of the visualization object for further processing in Python. The hope is that algorithms successfully tested in this visualization space will then be lifted out and added to automatic processing toolchains, lending confidence in the next round of processing, to seek the next Cases of Interest, in light of a user's statistical measures of "Interest". To log the scientific work done in this vein, the visualizations are wrapped in iPython-based Jupyter notebooks for rich, human-readable documentation (indeed, quasi-publication with formatted text, LaTex math, etc.). Such notebooks are readable and executable, with digital replicability and provenance built in. The entire digital object of a case study can be stored in a repository, where libraries of these Case Study Notebooks can be examined in a browser. Model data (the session topic) are of course especially convenient for this system, but observations of all sorts can also be brought in, overlain, and differenced or

35-We polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell system for notebook computer using a compact fuel processor

Science.gov (United States)

Son, In-Hyuk; Shin, Woo-Cheol; Lee, Yong-Kul; Lee, Sung-Chul; Ahn, Jin-Gu; Han, Sang-Il; kweon, Ho-Jin; Kim, Ju-Yong; Kim, Moon-Chan; Park, Jun-Yong

A polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) system is developed to power a notebook computer. The system consists of a compact methanol-reforming system with a CO preferential oxidation unit, a 16-cell PEMFC stack, and a control unit for the management of the system with a d.c.-d.c. converter. The compact fuel-processor system (260 cm 3) generates about 1.2 L min -1 of reformate, which corresponds to 35 We, with a low CO concentration (notebook computers.

An ergonomic evaluation comparing desktop, notebook, and subnotebook computers.

Science.gov (United States)

Szeto, Grace P; Lee, Raymond

2002-04-01

To evaluate and compare the postures and movements of the cervical and upper thoracic spine, the typing performance, and workstation ergonomic factors when using a desktop, notebook, and subnotebook computers. Repeated-measures design. A motion analysis laboratory with an electromagnetic tracking device. A convenience sample of 21 university students between ages 20 and 24 years with no history of neck or shoulder discomfort. Each subject performed a standardized typing task by using each of the 3 computers. Measurements during the typing task were taken at set intervals. Cervical and thoracic spines adopted a more flexed posture in using the smaller-sized computers. There were significantly greater neck movements in using desktop computers when compared with the notebook and subnotebook computers. The viewing distances adopted by the subjects decreased as the computer size decreased. Typing performance and subjective rating of difficulty in using the keyboards were also significantly different among the 3 types of computers. Computer users need to consider the posture of the spine and potential risk of developing musculoskeletal discomfort in choosing computers. Copyright 2002 by the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine and the American Academy of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation

Python for signal processing featuring IPython notebooks

CERN Document Server

Unpingco, José

2013-01-01

This book covers the fundamental concepts in signal processing illustrated with Python code and made available via IPython Notebooks, which are live, interactive, browser-based documents that allow one to change parameters, redraw plots, and tinker with the ideas presented in the text. Everything in the text is computable in this format and thereby invites readers to ""experiment and learn"" as they read. The book focuses on the core, fundamental principles of signal processing. The code corresponding to this book uses the core functionality of the scientific Python toolchain that should remai

Development of a prediction model on the acceptance of electronic laboratory notebooks in academic environments.

Science.gov (United States)

Kloeckner, Frederik; Farkas, Robert; Franken, Tobias; Schmitz-Rode, Thomas

2014-04-01

Documentation of research data plays a key role in the biomedical engineering innovation processes. It makes an important contribution to the protection of intellectual property, the traceability of results and fulfilling the regulatory requirement. Because of the increasing digitalization in laboratories, an electronic alternative to the commonly-used paper-bound notebooks could contribute to the production of sophisticated documentation. However, compared to in an industrial environment, the use of electronic laboratory notebooks is not widespread in academic laboratories. Little is known about the acceptance of an electronic documentation system and the underlying reasons for this. Thus, this paper aims to establish a prediction model on the potential preference and acceptance of scientists either for paper-based or electronic documentation. The underlying data for the analysis originate from an online survey of 101 scientists in industrial, academic and clinical environments. Various parameters were analyzed to identify crucial factors for the system preference using binary logistic regression. The analysis showed significant dependency between the documentation system preference and the supposed workload associated with the documentation system (plaboratory notebook before implementation.

The status of electronic laboratory notebooks for chemistry and biology.

Science.gov (United States)

Taylor, Keith T

2006-05-01

Documenting an experiment in a way that ensures that the record can act as evidence to support a patent claim or to demonstrate compliance with the US Food and Drug Administration's (FDA's) predicate rules, puts demands on an electronic laboratory notebook (ELN) that are not trivial. The 1996 General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) allowed notebook records that were generated outside of the US to be used to claim precedence in US patent claims. This agreement spurred interest in the development of ELNs in Europe. The pharmaceutical research process became dependent on computer systems during the latter part of the 1990s, and this also led to a wider interest in ELNs. More recently, the FDA began to encourage submissions in an all-electronic form, leading to great interest in the use of ELNs in development and manufacturing. As a result of these influences, the pharmaceutical industry is now actively pursuing ELN evaluations and implementations. This article describes some of the early efforts and the recent drivers for ELN adoption. The state of the ELN market in 2005 is also described.

Mortar modified with sulfonated polystyrene produced from waste plastic cups

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

L. A. C. MOTTA

Full Text Available Abstract In this work, we studied the addition of sulfonated polystyrene produced from waste plastic cups as an admixture for mortars. Mortars were analyzed with polystyrene content of 0.0; 0.2; 0.6; 1.0 and 1.4% in relation to the cement mass. The influence of polystyrene on the mortars' properties was evaluated by the consistency index, water retention, water absorption, porosity, elasticity modulus, compressive strength, flexural strength, bond tensile strength and microscopy. The increase in the sulfonated polystyrene content decreased the elasticity modulus of the mortar and, despite higher porosity, there was a reduction of water absorption by capillarity. In relation to mortar without admixture, the modified mortar showed an increase in water retention and consistency index, and a large increase in flexural strength and bond tensile strength. The significant increase of bond tensile strength (214% with admixture 1% highlights the potential of the produced material as an adhesive mortar.

Who profits from innovation in global value chains? A study of the iPod and notebook PCs

OpenAIRE

Jason Dedrick; Kenneth L. Kraemer; Greg Linden

2010-01-01

This article analyzes the distribution of financial value from innovation in the global supply chains of iPods and notebook computers. We find that Apple has captured a great deal of value from the innovation embodied in the iPod, while notebook makers capture a more modest share of the value from PC innovation. In order to understand these differences, we employ concepts from theories of innovation and industrial organization, finding significant roles for industry evolution, complementary a...

Using M@th Desktop Notebooks and Palettes in the Classroom

Science.gov (United States)

Simonovits, Reinhard

2011-01-01

This article explains the didactical design of M@th Desktop (MD), a teaching and learning software application for high schools and universities. The use of two types of MD resources is illustrated: notebooks and palettes, focusing on the topic of exponential functions. The handling of MD in a blended learning approach and the impact on the…

Developing an audiovisual notebook as a self-learning tool in histology: perceptions of teachers and students.

Science.gov (United States)

Campos-Sánchez, Antonio; López-Núñez, Juan-Antonio; Scionti, Giuseppe; Garzón, Ingrid; González-Andrades, Miguel; Alaminos, Miguel; Sola, Tomás

2014-01-01

Videos can be used as didactic tools for self-learning under several circumstances, including those cases in which students are responsible for the development of this resource as an audiovisual notebook. We compared students' and teachers' perceptions regarding the main features that an audiovisual notebook should include. Four questionnaires with items about information, images, text and music, and filmmaking were used to investigate students' (n = 115) and teachers' perceptions (n = 28) regarding the development of a video focused on a histological technique. The results show that both students and teachers significantly prioritize informative components, images and filmmaking more than text and music. The scores were significantly higher for teachers than for students for all four components analyzed. The highest scores were given to items related to practical and medically oriented elements, and the lowest values were given to theoretical and complementary elements. For most items, there were no differences between genders. A strong positive correlation was found between the scores given to each item by teachers and students. These results show that both students' and teachers' perceptions tend to coincide for most items, and suggest that audiovisual notebooks developed by students would emphasize the same items as those perceived by teachers to be the most relevant. Further, these findings suggest that the use of video as an audiovisual learning notebook would not only preserve the curricular objectives but would also offer the advantages of self-learning processes. © 2013 American Association of Anatomists.

From documents to datasets: A MediaWiki-based method of annotating and extracting species observations in century-old field notebooks.

Science.gov (United States)

Thomer, Andrea; Vaidya, Gaurav; Guralnick, Robert; Bloom, David; Russell, Laura

2012-01-01

Part diary, part scientific record, biological field notebooks often contain details necessary to understanding the location and environmental conditions existent during collecting events. Despite their clear value for (and recent use in) global change studies, the text-mining outputs from field notebooks have been idiosyncratic to specific research projects, and impossible to discover or re-use. Best practices and workflows for digitization, transcription, extraction, and integration with other sources are nascent or non-existent. In this paper, we demonstrate a workflow to generate structured outputs while also maintaining links to the original texts. The first step in this workflow was to place already digitized and transcribed field notebooks from the University of Colorado Museum of Natural History founder, Junius Henderson, on Wikisource, an open text transcription platform. Next, we created Wikisource templates to document places, dates, and taxa to facilitate annotation and wiki-linking. We then requested help from the public, through social media tools, to take advantage of volunteer efforts and energy. After three notebooks were fully annotated, content was converted into XML and annotations were extracted and cross-walked into Darwin Core compliant record sets. Finally, these recordsets were vetted, to provide valid taxon names, via a process we call "taxonomic referencing." The result is identification and mobilization of 1,068 observations from three of Henderson's thirteen notebooks and a publishable Darwin Core record set for use in other analyses. Although challenges remain, this work demonstrates a feasible approach to unlock observations from field notebooks that enhances their discovery and interoperability without losing the narrative context from which those observations are drawn."Compose your notes as if you were writing a letter to someone a century in the future."Perrine and Patton (2011).

IFRI's notebooks. Energy, development and security

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Finon, D.; Jacquet, P.

1999-01-01

Today, the concept of energy security has been greatly modified by the worldwide trade, the markets deregulation, the technical progress and the nuclear contestation. This notebook is the synthesis of a colloquium jointly organized in December 16, 1997 by the IFRI and the Institute of Economy and Energy Policy (IEPE) with the sustain of the French delegation of strategic affairs of the defense ministry. It analyzes the evolution of energy markets at the year 2030 prospects and stresses on the role of Middle-East and on the stakes of the economical development and energy policy of China. Finally, it treats of the goals and modalities of the French and European energy policies. (J.S.)

Interaction of a laser-produced copper plasma jet with ambient plastic plasma

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Kasperczuk, A.; Pisarczyk, T.; Badziak, J.; Borodziuk, S.; Chodukowski, T.; Gus’kov, S.Yu.; Demchenko, N. N.; Klir, D.; Kravarik, J.; Kubes, P.; Rezac, K.; Ullschmied, Jiří; Krouský, Eduard; Mašek, Karel; Pfeifer, Miroslav; Rohlena, Karel; Skála, Jiří; Pisarczyk, P.

2011-01-01

Roč. 53, č. 9 (2011), 095003-095003 ISSN 0741-3335 R&D Projects: GA MŠk(CZ) 7E09092; GA MŠk(CZ) LC528 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z20430508; CEZ:AV0Z10100523 Keywords : laser produced-plasma jets * PALS laser * laser ablation * copper plasma * plastic plasma Subject RIV: BH - Optics, Masers, Lasers Impact factor: 2.425, year: 2011 http://iopscience.iop.org/0741-3335/53/9/095003/pdf/0741-3335_53_9_095003.pdf

Ergonomic guidelines for using notebook personal computers. Technical Committee on Human-Computer Interaction, International Ergonomics Association.

Science.gov (United States)

Saito, S; Piccoli, B; Smith, M J; Sotoyama, M; Sweitzer, G; Villanueva, M B; Yoshitake, R

2000-10-01

In the 1980's, the visual display terminal (VDT) was introduced in workplaces of many countries. Soon thereafter, an upsurge in reported cases of related health problems, such as musculoskeletal disorders and eyestrain, was seen. Recently, the flat panel display or notebook personal computer (PC) became the most remarkable feature in modern workplaces with VDTs and even in homes. A proactive approach must be taken to avert foreseeable ergonomic and occupational health problems from the use of this new technology. Because of its distinct physical and optical characteristics, the ergonomic requirements for notebook PCs in terms of machine layout, workstation design, lighting conditions, among others, should be different from the CRT-based computers. The Japan Ergonomics Society (JES) technical committee came up with a set of guidelines for notebook PC use following exploratory discussions that dwelt on its ergonomic aspects. To keep in stride with this development, the Technical Committee on Human-Computer Interaction under the auspices of the International Ergonomics Association worked towards the international issuance of the guidelines. This paper unveils the result of this collaborative effort.

Evaluating Engagement Models for a Citizen Science Project: Lessons Learned From Four Years of Nature's Notebook

Science.gov (United States)

Crimmins, T. M.; Rosemartin, A.

2012-12-01

The success of citizen science programs hinges on their abilities to recruit and maintain active participants. The USA National Phenology Network's plant and animal phenology observation program, Nature's Notebook, has been active since 2009. This program engages thousands of citizen scientists in tracking plant and animal life cycle activity over the course of the year. We embarked on an evaluation of the various observer recruitment and retention tactics that we have employed over the ~4-year life of this program to better inform future outreach efforts specific to Nature's Notebook and for the broader citizen science community. Participants in Nature's Notebook may become engaged via one of three pathways: individuals may join Nature's Notebook directly, they may be invited to join through a USA-NPN partner organization, or they may engage through a group with local, site-based leadership. The level and type of recruitment tactics, training, and retention efforts that are employed varies markedly among these three models. In this evaluation, we compared the efficacy of these three engagement models using several metrics: number of individuals recruited, number of individuals that go on to submit at least one data point, retention rates over time, duration of activity, and quantity of data points submitted. We also qualitatively considered the differences in costs the three models require to support. In terms of recruitment, direct engagement yielded 20-100 times more registrants than other two models. In contrast, rates of participation were highest for site-based leadership (>35%, versus 20-30% for direct engagement; rates for partner organizations were highly variable due to small sample sizes). Individuals participating through partners with site-based leadership showed a much higher rate of retention (41% of participants remained active for two+ years) than those participating directly in Nature's Notebook (27% of participants remained active for two+ years

Recycling of Plastic

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Christensen, Thomas Højlund; Fruergaard, Thilde

2011-01-01

Plastic is produced from fossil oil. Plastic is used for many different products. Some plastic products like, for example, wrapping foil, bags and disposable containers for food and beverage have very short lifetimes and thus constitute a major fraction of most waste. Other plastic products like...

35-We polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell system for notebook computer using a compact fuel processor

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Son, In-Hyuk; Shin, Woo-Cheol; Lee, Sung-Chul; Ahn, Jin-Gu; Han, Sang-Il; kweon, Ho-Jin; Kim, Ju-Yong; Park, Jun-Yong [Energy 1 Group, Energy Laboratory at Corporate R and D Center in Samsung SDI Co., Ltd., 575, Shin-dong, Yeongtong-gu, Suwon-si, Gyeonggi-do 443-731 (Korea); Lee, Yong-Kul [Department of Chemical Engineering, Dankook University, Youngin 448-701 (Korea); Kim, Moon-Chan [Department of Environmental Engineering, Chongju University, Chongju 360-764 (Korea)

2008-10-15

A polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) system is developed to power a notebook computer. The system consists of a compact methanol-reforming system with a CO preferential oxidation unit, a 16-cell PEMFC stack, and a control unit for the management of the system with a d.c.-d.c. converter. The compact fuel-processor system (260 cm{sup 3}) generates about 1.2 L min{sup -1} of reformate, which corresponds to 35 We, with a low CO concentration (<30 ppm, typically 0 ppm), and is thus proven to be capable of being targetted at notebook computers. (author)

Requirement analysis for an electronic laboratory notebook for sustainable data management in biomedical research.

Science.gov (United States)

Menzel, Julia; Weil, Philipp; Bittihn, Philip; Hornung, Daniel; Mathieu, Nadine; Demiroglu, Sara Y

2013-01-01

Sustainable data management in biomedical research requires documentation of metadata for all experiments and results. Scientists usually document research data and metadata in laboratory paper notebooks. An electronic laboratory notebook (ELN) can keep metadata linked to research data resulting in a better understanding of the research results, meaning a scientific benefit [1]. Besides other challenges [2], the biggest hurdles for introducing an ELN seem to be usability, file formats, and data entry mechanisms [3] and that many ELNs are assigned to specific research fields such as biology, chemistry, or physics [4]. We aimed to identify requirements for the introduction of ELN software in a biomedical collaborative research center [5] consisting of different scientific fields and to find software fulfilling most of these requirements.

Measuring and Comparing Academic Language Development and Conceptual Understanding via Science Notebooks

Science.gov (United States)

Huerta, Margarita; Tong, Fuhui; Irby, Beverly J.; Lara-Alecio, Rafael

2016-01-01

The authors of this quantitative study measured and compared the academic language development and conceptual understanding of fifth-grade economically disadvantaged English language learners (ELL), former ELLs, and native English-speaking (ES) students as reflected in their science notebook scores. Using an instrument they developed, the authors…

Structural plasticity in mesencephalic dopaminergic neurons produced by drugs of abuse: critical role of BDNF and dopamine.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ginetta eCollo

2014-11-01

Full Text Available Mesencephalic dopaminergic neurons were suggested to be a critical physiopathology substrate for addiction disorders. Among neuroadaptive processes to addictive drugs, structural plasticity has attracted attention. While structural plasticity occurs at both pre- and post-synaptic levels in the mesolimbic dopaminergic system, the present review focuses only on dopaminergic neurons. Exposures to addictive drugs determine two opposite structural responses, hypothrophic plasticity produced by opioids and cannabinoids (in particular during the early withdrawal phase and hypertrophic plasticity, mostly driven by psychostimulants and nicotine. In vitro and in vivo studies indentified BDNF and extracellular dopamine as two critical factors in determining structural plasticity, the two molecules sharing similar intracellular pathways involved in cell soma and dendrite growth, the MEK-ERK1/2 and the PI3K-Akt-mTOR, via preferential activation of TrkB and dopamine D3 receptors, respectively. At present information regarding specific structural changes associated to the various stages of the addiction cycle is incomplete. Encouraging neuroimaging data in humans indirectly support the preclinical evidence of hypotrophic and hypertrophic effects, suggesting a possible differential engagement of dopamine neurons in parallel and partially converging circuits controlling motivation, stress and emotions.

SimpleITK Image-Analysis Notebooks: a Collaborative Environment for Education and Reproducible Research.

Science.gov (United States)

Yaniv, Ziv; Lowekamp, Bradley C; Johnson, Hans J; Beare, Richard

2018-06-01

Modern scientific endeavors increasingly require team collaborations to construct and interpret complex computational workflows. This work describes an image-analysis environment that supports the use of computational tools that facilitate reproducible research and support scientists with varying levels of software development skills. The Jupyter notebook web application is the basis of an environment that enables flexible, well-documented, and reproducible workflows via literate programming. Image-analysis software development is made accessible to scientists with varying levels of programming experience via the use of the SimpleITK toolkit, a simplified interface to the Insight Segmentation and Registration Toolkit. Additional features of the development environment include user friendly data sharing using online data repositories and a testing framework that facilitates code maintenance. SimpleITK provides a large number of examples illustrating educational and research-oriented image analysis workflows for free download from GitHub under an Apache 2.0 license: github.com/InsightSoftwareConsortium/SimpleITK-Notebooks .

Einstein's `Z\\"urich Notebook' and his Journey to General Relativity

OpenAIRE

Straumann, Norbert

2011-01-01

On the basis of his `Z\\"urich Notebook' I shall describe a particularly fruitful phase in Einstein's struggle on the way to general relativity. These research notes are an extremely illuminating source for understanding Einstein's main physical arguments and conceptual difficulties that delayed his discovery of general relativity by about three years. Together with the `Ent\\-wurf' theory in collaboration with Marcel Grossmann, these notes also show that the final theory was missed late in 191...

Theoretical Framework for Plastic Waste Management in Ghana through Extended Producer Responsibility: Case of Sachet Water Waste.

Science.gov (United States)

Quartey, Ebo Tawiah; Tosefa, Hero; Danquah, Kwasi Asare Baffour; Obrsalova, Ilona

2015-08-20

Currently, use and disposal of plastic by consumers through waste management activities in Ghana not only creates environmental problems, but also reinforces the notion of a wasteful society. The magnitude of this problem has led to increasing pressure from the public for efficient and practical measures to solve the waste problem. This paper analyses the impact of plastic use and disposal in Ghana. It emphasizes the need for commitment to proper management of the impacts of plastic waste and effective environmental management in the country. Sustainable Solid Waste Management (SSWM) is a critical problem for developing countries with regards to climate change and greenhouse gas emission, and also the general wellbeing of the populace. Key themes of this paper are producer responsibility and management of products at end of life. The paper proposes two theatrical recovery models that can be used to address the issue of sachet waste in Ghana.

Exploding the Black Box: Personal Computing, the Notebook Battery Crisis, and Postindustrial Systems Thinking.

Science.gov (United States)

Eisler, Matthew N

Historians of science and technology have generally ignored the role of power sources in the development of consumer electronics. In this they have followed the predilections of historical actors. Research, development, and manufacturing of batteries has historically occurred at a social and intellectual distance from the research, development, and manufacturing of the devices they power. Nevertheless, power source technoscience should properly be understood as an allied yet estranged field of electronics. The separation between the fields has had important consequences for the design and manufacturing of mobile consumer electronics. This paper explores these dynamics in the co-construction of notebook batteries and computers. In so doing, it challenges assumptions of historians and industrial engineers and planners about the nature of computer systems in particular and the development of technological systems. The co-construction of notebook computers and batteries, and the occasional catastrophic failure of their compatibility, challenges systems thinking more generally.

Longitudinal Study of Factors Impacting the Implementation of Notebook Computer Based CAD Instruction

Science.gov (United States)

Goosen, Richard F.

2009-01-01

This study provides information for higher education leaders that have or are considering conducting Computer Aided Design (CAD) instruction using student owned notebook computers. Survey data were collected during the first 8 years of a pilot program requiring engineering technology students at a four year public university to acquire a notebook…

Integration of ROOT Notebooks as a Web-based ATLAS Analysis tool for Public Data Releases and Outreach

CERN Document Server

Abah, Anthony

2016-01-01

The project worked on the development of a physics analysis and its software under ROOT framework and Jupyter notebooks for the the ATLAS Outreach and the Naples teams. This analysis is created in the context of the release of data and Monte Carlo samples by the ATLAS collaboration. The project focuses on the enhancement of the recent opendata.atlas.cern web platform to be used as educational resources for university students and new researches. The generated analysis structure and tutorials will be used to extend the participation of students from other locations around the World. We conclude the project with the creation of a complete notebook representing the so-called W analysis in C + + language for the mentioned platform.

Theoretical Framework for Plastic Waste Management in Ghana through Extended Producer Responsibility: Case of Sachet Water Waste

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ebo Tawiah Quartey

2015-08-01

Full Text Available Currently, use and disposal of plastic by consumers through waste management activities in Ghana not only creates environmental problems, but also reinforces the notion of a wasteful society. The magnitude of this problem has led to increasing pressure from the public for efficient and practical measures to solve the waste problem. This paper analyses the impact of plastic use and disposal in Ghana. It emphasizes the need for commitment to proper management of the impacts of plastic waste and effective environmental management in the country. Sustainable Solid Waste Management (SSWM is a critical problem for developing countries with regards to climate change and greenhouse gas emission, and also the general wellbeing of the populace. Key themes of this paper are producer responsibility and management of products at end of life. The paper proposes two theatrical recovery models that can be used to address the issue of sachet waste in Ghana.

Theoretical Framework for Plastic Waste Management in Ghana through Extended Producer Responsibility: Case of Sachet Water Waste

Science.gov (United States)

Quartey, Ebo Tawiah; Tosefa, Hero; Danquah, Kwasi Asare Baffour; Obrsalova, Ilona

2015-01-01

Currently, use and disposal of plastic by consumers through waste management activities in Ghana not only creates environmental problems, but also reinforces the notion of a wasteful society. The magnitude of this problem has led to increasing pressure from the public for efficient and practical measures to solve the waste problem. This paper analyses the impact of plastic use and disposal in Ghana. It emphasizes the need for commitment to proper management of the impacts of plastic waste and effective environmental management in the country. Sustainable Solid Waste Management (SSWM) is a critical problem for developing countries with regards to climate change and greenhouse gas emission, and also the general wellbeing of the populace. Key themes of this paper are producer responsibility and management of products at end of life. The paper proposes two theatrical recovery models that can be used to address the issue of sachet waste in Ghana. PMID:26308016

An Interactive and Comprehensive Working Environment for High-Energy Physics Software with Python and Jupyter Notebooks

Science.gov (United States)

Braun, N.; Hauth, T.; Pulvermacher, C.; Ritter, M.

2017-10-01

Today’s analyses for high-energy physics (HEP) experiments involve processing a large amount of data with highly specialized algorithms. The contemporary workflow from recorded data to final results is based on the execution of small scripts - often written in Python or ROOT macros which call complex compiled algorithms in the background - to perform fitting procedures and generate plots. During recent years interactive programming environments, such as Jupyter, became popular. Jupyter allows to develop Python-based applications, so-called notebooks, which bundle code, documentation and results, e.g. plots. Advantages over classical script-based approaches is the feature to recompute only parts of the analysis code, which allows for fast and iterative development, and a web-based user frontend, which can be hosted centrally and only requires a browser on the user side. In our novel approach, Python and Jupyter are tightly integrated into the Belle II Analysis Software Framework (basf2), currently being developed for the Belle II experiment in Japan. This allows to develop code in Jupyter notebooks for every aspect of the event simulation, reconstruction and analysis chain. These interactive notebooks can be hosted as a centralized web service via jupyterhub with docker and used by all scientists of the Belle II Collaboration. Because of its generality and encapsulation, the setup can easily be scaled to large installations.

notebooks, looking for a very specific di- ary entry that he had made ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

notebooks, looking for a very specific di- ary entry that he had made some years before. As he searches, the audience (or in this case, the reader) is shown glimpses from Fugard's actual diary entries since there is a significant overlap between dramatist and character. As Fugard (and. Fourie) confirms in the foreword to the.

Cloud-based Jupyter Notebooks for Water Data Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Castronova, A. M.; Brazil, L.; Seul, M.

2017-12-01

The development and adoption of technologies by the water science community to improve our ability to openly collaborate and share workflows will have a transformative impact on how we address the challenges associated with collaborative and reproducible scientific research. Jupyter notebooks offer one solution by providing an open-source platform for creating metadata-rich toolchains for modeling and data analysis applications. Adoption of this technology within the water sciences, coupled with publicly available datasets from agencies such as USGS, NASA, and EPA enables researchers to easily prototype and execute data intensive toolchains. Moreover, implementing this software stack in a cloud-based environment extends its native functionality to provide researchers a mechanism to build and execute toolchains that are too large or computationally demanding for typical desktop computers. Additionally, this cloud-based solution enables scientists to disseminate data processing routines alongside journal publications in an effort to support reproducibility. For example, these data collection and analysis toolchains can be shared, archived, and published using the HydroShare platform or downloaded and executed locally to reproduce scientific analysis. This work presents the design and implementation of a cloud-based Jupyter environment and its application for collecting, aggregating, and munging various datasets in a transparent, sharable, and self-documented manner. The goals of this work are to establish a free and open source platform for domain scientists to (1) conduct data intensive and computationally intensive collaborative research, (2) utilize high performance libraries, models, and routines within a pre-configured cloud environment, and (3) enable dissemination of research products. This presentation will discuss recent efforts towards achieving these goals, and describe the architectural design of the notebook server in an effort to support collaborative

Cooling performance of a notebook PC mounted with heat spreader

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Noh, H.K. [Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute, Taejeon (Korea); Lim, K.B. [Hanbat National University, Taejeon (Korea); Park, M.H. [Korea Power Engineering Company (Korea)

2001-06-01

Parametric study to investigate the cooling performance of a notebook PC mounted with heat spreader has been numerically performed. Two case of air-blowing and air-exhaust at inlet were tested. The cooling effect on parameters such as, inlet velocities in the cases of air-blowing and air-exhaust, materials of heat spreader, and CPU powers were simulated for two cases. Cooling performance in the case of air-blowing was better than the case of air-exhaust. (author). 9 refs., 7 figs., 5 tabs.

Synthesis of biodegradable plastic from tapioca with N-Isopropylacrylamid and chitosan using glycerol as plasticizer

Science.gov (United States)

Syaubari; Safwani, S.; Riza, M.

2018-04-01

One of natural polymers that can be used as raw material in the manufacture of biodegradable plastic is tapioca and chitosan. The addition of other compounds such as glycerol as plasticizer is to improve the characteristics of the plastic that already produced. N- Isopropylacrylamid (NIPAm) is an organic compound that can be synthesized into a polymer or polymer grafting which also biodegradable too. This research aims tostudy the synthesis of biodegradable plastics from tapioca with the addition of chitosan, NIPAm, poly(NIPAm) and analyze the characteristics of biodegradable plastics that already produced. This research was done in three stages, there are (1) polymerization NIPAm, (2) the grafting of chitosan-poly NIPAm and (3) the synthesis of biodegradable plastics from starch mixture with variation of addition chitosan, NIPAm, poly(NIPAm), chitosan-graft-poly(NIPAm) and also variations of glycerol as plasticizer. The results of this research is a thin sheet of plastic which is will get analyzed for the characteristics of functional groups, mechanical, morphological and its biodegradability. FTIR spectra showed the grafting process with the new group formation of CO single-bond at 850 cm-1. Plastic with the addition of NIPAm and 1 ml glycerol has the highest tensile strength value about 31.1 MPa. Plastic with poly(NIPAm) and 4 ml glycerol produces the highest elongation value about 153.72%. Plastic with Chitosan-graft-poly(NIPAm) with 1 ml glycerol has the longest biodegradation because of the small mass-loss for six weeks which is about 6.6%.

Recycling of plastic waste: Presence of phthalates in plastics from households and industry

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pivnenko, Kostyantyn; Eriksen, Marie Kampmann; Martín-Fernández, J. A.

2016-01-01

Plastics recycling has the potential to substitute virgin plastics partially as a source of raw materials in plastic product manufacturing. Plastic as a material may contain a variety of chemicals, some potentially hazardous. Phthalates, for instance, are a group of chemicals produced in large...... recognised, the influence of plastic recycling on phthalate content has been hypothesised but not well documented. In the present work we analysed selected phthalates (DMP, DEP, DPP, DiBP, DBP, BBzP, DEHP, DCHP and DnOP) in samples of waste plastics as well as recycled and virgin plastics. DBP, DiBP and DEHP...

Sub-nanosecond plastic scintillators

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lyons, P.B.; Caldwell, S.E.; Hocker, L.P.; Crandall, D.G.; Zagarino, P.A.; Cheng, J.; Tirsell, G.; Hurlbut, C.R.

1977-01-01

Quenched plastic scintillators have been developed that yield much faster short decay components and greatly reduced long decay components compared to conventional plastic scintillators. The plastics are produced through the addition of selected quench agents to NE111 plastic scintillator that result in reduced total light output. Eight different agents have been studied. Benzophenone and piperidine are two of the most effective quench agents. Data are presented both for short and long decay components. The plastics are expected to make significant contributions in areas of plasma diagnostics

Sub-nanosecond plastic scintillators

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lyons, P.B.; Caldwell, S.E.; Hocker, L.P.; Crandall, D.G.; Zagarino, P.A.; Cheng, J.; Tirsell, G.; Hurlbut, C.R.

1976-01-01

Quenched plastic scintillators have been developed that yield much faster short decay components and greatly reduced long decay components compared to conventional plastic scintillators. The plastics are produced through the addition of selected quench agents to NE111 plastic scintillator that result in reduced total light output. Eight different agents have been studied. Benzophenone and piperidine are two of the most effective quench agents. Data are presented both for short and long decay components. The plastics are expected to make significant contributions in areas of plasma diagnostics

Plastic dosimeter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nagai, Shiro; Matsuda, Kohji.

1988-01-01

The report outlines major features and applications of plastic dosimeters. Some plastic dosimeters, including the CTA and PVC types, detect the response of the plastic material itself to radiations while others, such as pigment-added plastic dosimeters, contain additives as radiation detecting material. Most of these dosimeters make use of color centers produced in the dosimeter by radiations. The PMMA dosimeter is widely used in the field of radiation sterilization of food, feed and medical apparatus. The blue cellophane dosimeter is easy to handle if calibrated appropriately. The rad-color dosimeter serves to determine whether products have been irradiated appropriately. The CTA dosimeter has better damp proofing properties than the blue cellophane type. The pigment-added plastic dosimeter consists of a resin such as nylon, CTA or PVC that contains a dye. Some other plastic dosimeters are also described briefly. Though having many advantages, these plastic dosimeter have disadvantages as well. Some of their major disadvantages, including fading as well as large dependence on dose, temperature, humidity and anviroment, are discussed. (Nogami, K.)

Possibilities of producing sundry wood-plastic articles by different methods

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pesek, M.

1978-01-01

In making wood-plastic materials, i.e., the combination of wood and polymers, wood is impregnated by a polymerizable mixture; the incorporated mixture may be polymerized by ionizing radiation or by chemical initiation or by a combination of both. The advantages and drawbacks of the individual procedures are described. Examples are shown of the preparation of small wood-plastic articles, e.g., mosaic parquets, parts of music instruments, handles, etc., cured in a rotary curing container. (author)

Fort Dix Remedial Investigation/Feasibility Study for MAG-1 Area

Science.gov (United States)

1994-01-01

data produced for internal records and not reported as part of the analytical data include the following: laboratory worksheets , laboratory notebooks...Std. / Cond. Std. / __ Cond. Std. / Cond. Std. / Cond. Std. / Dissolved Oxygen Avg. Winkler Value __ ppm Meter Value __. ppm Redox Zobell Sol. Value...liquid limit less DRY STRENGTH DILATANCY (CONSISTENCY than half of than 50 (CRUSHING ( REACTION NEAR PLASTIC material is CHARACTERISTICS) TO SHAKING) UMIT

Radioactivity on the experimental notebook of Mme. Curie. Collection of Meisei University Library

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mori, Chizuo; Inoue, Kazumasa; Chiwa, Kiyoshi; Miyahara, Junji

2005-01-01

The contamination with radioactive material of the notebook written by Marie Curie, collected in the library of Meisei University, Tokyo, was studied by use of Imaging Plate to obtain the distribution images of the contamination on the front and back covers, Si detector to obtain the energy spectrum of α-particles from the cover, and HPGe detector to obtain γ-ray spectrum. The distribution images showed that the contamination appeared mainly at the area held with hands, and even the end of the notebook was contaminated. Many dots of the contamination might imply that there were powdery contaminations around her circumstances. Energy spectra of α-particles and γ-rays showed that most of the nuclei were 226 Ra and the daughters. The radioactivity level at the intensely contaminated part was just below the permissible level, 4 Bq/cm 2 , of surface contamination for α-nuclides of Japan. Number of pages written in every month over 15 years was examined for the purpose to imagine the circumstances at that time, and some remarks were given by referring her biographies which include a matter on a Japanese researcher. (author)

{OpenLabNotes} -- An Electronic Laboratory Notebook Extension for {OpenLabFramework}

OpenAIRE

List, M.; Franz, M.; Tan, O.; Mollenhauer, J.; Baumbach, J.

2015-01-01

Electronic laboratory notebooks (ELNs) are more accessible and reliable than their paper based alternatives and thus find widespread adoption. While a large number of Commercial products is available, small- to mid-sized laboratories can often not afford the costs or are concerned about the longevity of the providers. Turning towards free alternatives, however, raises questions about data protection, which are not sufficiently addressed by available solutions.To serve as legal documents, ELNs...

Enrico Fermi's Discovery of Neutron-Induced Artificial Radioactivity:The Recovery of His First Laboratory Notebook

Science.gov (United States)

Acocella, Giovanni; Guerra, Francesco; Robotti, Nadia

. We give a short description of the discovery of the first experimental notebook of Enrico Fermi (1901-1954) on his researches during March and April of 1934 on neutron-induced artificial radioactivity, and we point out its relevance for a proper historical and conceptual understanding of those researches.

Personalised Medical Reference to General Practice Notebook (GPnotebook - an evolutionary tale

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

James McMorran

2002-09-01

What has happened to this resource now? This brief paper outlines how the developers of the reference resource have improved on the design and content of the medical database. Now the reference resource is an Internet-based resource called General Practice Notebook (www.gpnotebook.co.uk and is currently attracting 5000 to 9000 page views per day and containing over 30 000 index terms in a complex web structure of over 60 000 links. This paper describes the evolutionary process that has occurred over the last decade.

Cross-Linked Amylose Bio-Plastic: A Transgenic-Based Compostable Plastic Alternative

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Domenico Sagnelli

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Bio-plastics and bio-materials are composed of natural or biomass derived polymers, offering solutions to solve immediate environmental issues. Polysaccharide-based bio-plastics represent important alternatives to conventional plastic because of their intrinsic biodegradable nature. Amylose-only (AO, an engineered barley starch with 99% amylose, was tested to produce cross-linked all-natural bioplastic using normal barley starch as a control. Glycerol was used as plasticizer and citrate cross-linking was used to improve the mechanical properties of cross-linked AO starch extrudates. Extrusion converted the control starch from A-type to Vh- and B-type crystals, showing a complete melting of the starch crystals in the raw starch granules. The cross-linked AO and control starch specimens displayed an additional wide-angle diffraction reflection. Phospholipids complexed with Vh-type single helices constituted an integrated part of the AO starch specimens. Gas permeability tests of selected starch-based prototypes demonstrated properties comparable to that of commercial Mater-Bi© plastic. The cross-linked AO prototypes had composting characteristics not different from the control, indicating that the modified starch behaves the same as normal starch. The data shows the feasibility of producing all-natural bioplastic using designer starch as raw material.

Cross-Linked Amylose Bio-Plastic: A Transgenic-Based Compostable Plastic Alternative

Science.gov (United States)

Sagnelli, Domenico; Kemmer, Gerdi Christine; Holse, Mette; Hebelstrup, Kim H.; Bao, Jinsong; Stelte, Wolfgang; Bjerre, Anne-Belinda; Blennow, Andreas

2017-01-01

Bio-plastics and bio-materials are composed of natural or biomass derived polymers, offering solutions to solve immediate environmental issues. Polysaccharide-based bio-plastics represent important alternatives to conventional plastic because of their intrinsic biodegradable nature. Amylose-only (AO), an engineered barley starch with 99% amylose, was tested to produce cross-linked all-natural bioplastic using normal barley starch as a control. Glycerol was used as plasticizer and citrate cross-linking was used to improve the mechanical properties of cross-linked AO starch extrudates. Extrusion converted the control starch from A-type to Vh- and B-type crystals, showing a complete melting of the starch crystals in the raw starch granules. The cross-linked AO and control starch specimens displayed an additional wide-angle diffraction reflection. Phospholipids complexed with Vh-type single helices constituted an integrated part of the AO starch specimens. Gas permeability tests of selected starch-based prototypes demonstrated properties comparable to that of commercial Mater-Bi© plastic. The cross-linked AO prototypes had composting characteristics not different from the control, indicating that the modified starch behaves the same as normal starch. The data shows the feasibility of producing all-natural bioplastic using designer starch as raw material. PMID:28973963

Cross-Linked Amylose Bio-Plastic: A Transgenic-Based Compostable Plastic Alternative.

Science.gov (United States)

Sagnelli, Domenico; Hooshmand, Kourosh; Kemmer, Gerdi Christine; Kirkensgaard, Jacob J K; Mortensen, Kell; Giosafatto, Concetta Valeria L; Holse, Mette; Hebelstrup, Kim H; Bao, Jinsong; Stelte, Wolfgang; Bjerre, Anne-Belinda; Blennow, Andreas

2017-09-30

Bio-plastics and bio-materials are composed of natural or biomass derived polymers, offering solutions to solve immediate environmental issues. Polysaccharide-based bio-plastics represent important alternatives to conventional plastic because of their intrinsic biodegradable nature. Amylose-only (AO), an engineered barley starch with 99% amylose, was tested to produce cross-linked all-natural bioplastic using normal barley starch as a control. Glycerol was used as plasticizer and citrate cross-linking was used to improve the mechanical properties of cross-linked AO starch extrudates. Extrusion converted the control starch from A-type to Vh- and B-type crystals, showing a complete melting of the starch crystals in the raw starch granules. The cross-linked AO and control starch specimens displayed an additional wide-angle diffraction reflection. Phospholipids complexed with Vh-type single helices constituted an integrated part of the AO starch specimens. Gas permeability tests of selected starch-based prototypes demonstrated properties comparable to that of commercial Mater-Bi © plastic. The cross-linked AO prototypes had composting characteristics not different from the control, indicating that the modified starch behaves the same as normal starch. The data shows the feasibility of producing all-natural bioplastic using designer starch as raw material.

7 CFR 58.326 - Plastic cream.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 3 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Plastic cream. 58.326 Section 58.326 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) AGRICULTURAL MARKETING SERVICE (Standards... Material § 58.326 Plastic cream. To produce plastic cream eligible for official certification, the quality...

INTERACTION BEHAVIOUR LEADING TO COMFORTIN SERVICE ENCOUNTER OF NOTEBOOK PERIPHERAL SERVICE CENTER BUSINESS

OpenAIRE

Dr. Wachyudi.N.*

2018-01-01

This study aims to determine the effect of interaction behavior that elicits a sense of comfort for customers in the service encounter of notebook peripheral business, and investigating the mediating role of comfort on overall service quality, customer satisfaction, word of mouth and the repurchase intention. Based on 250 valid responses collected from a survey questionnaire used structural equation modeling (SEM) to examine the research model. The findings showed that all hypotheses on the r...

Female Identity in Doris Lessing’s The Golden Notebook

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Heba Mohamed Abd El Aziz

2018-02-01

Full Text Available In the realm of art in general and literature in particular, the presence of Doris Lessing could not be denied as one of the most influential English novelists in the 1960s. Doris Lessing is a writer who is concerned with the representation of women identity in the West. In her renowned novel, The Golden Notebook Lessing aims at showcasing women identity in Europe and any aspect related to them, i.e., their psychology, political lives, relation to men and children, their place in a male-dominated society and their frequent attempts to escape from the social and political oppression. The aim of this paper is to present a truthful account of female identity from a feminist point of view.

Plastics control paraffin buildup

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1965-06-01

Paraffin buildup in producing oil wells has been virtually eliminated by the use of plastic-coated sucker rods. The payout of the plasticing process is generally reached in less than a year, and the paraffin buildup may be inhibited for 10 yr or longer. Most of the plants applying plastic coatings to sucker rods are now fully automated, though a few still offer the hand-sprayed coating that some operators prefer. The several steps involved are described. The ideal plastic for the job is resistant to chemicals at high and low temperatures, flexible, has good adhesion, abrasion resistance, impact resistance, and a smooth glossy finish. The phenol aldehyde and epoxy resins presently offered by the industry fulfill these specifications very well; the multicoating and multibaking techniques improve their performance. Due to wide variations in the severity of the paraffin problem from one oil field to another, there is no general rule to estimate the possible savings from using plastic-coated sucker rods. The process, however, does appear to do a remarkable job in controlling paraffin buildup wherever it is a problem in producing oil by pump.

Office of Geologic Repositories program baseline procedures notebook (OGR/B-1)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1986-06-01

Baseline management is typically applied to aid in the internal control of a program by providing consistent programmatic direction, control, and surveillance to an evolving system development. This fundamental concept of internal program control involves the establishment of a baseline to serve as a point of departure for consistent technical program coordination and to control subsequent changes from that baseline. The existence of a program-authorized baseline ensures that all participants are working to the same ground rules. Baseline management also ensures that, once the baseline is defined, changes are assessed and approved by a process which ensures adequate consideration of overall program impact. Baseline management also includes the consideration of examptions from the baseline. The process of baseline management continues through all the phases of an evolving system development program. As the Program proceeds, there will be a progressive increase in the data contained in the baseline documentation. Baseline management has been selected as a management technique to aid in the internal control of the Office of Geologic Repositories (OGR) program. Specifically, an OGR Program Baseline, including technical and programmatic requirements, is used for program control of the four Mined Geologic Disposal System field projects, i.e., Basalt Waste Isolation Project, Nevada Nuclear Waste Storage Investigation, Salt Repository Project and Crystalline Repository Project. This OGR Program Baseline Procedures Notebook provides a description of the baseline mwanagement concept, establishes the OGR Program baseline itself, and provides procedures to be followed for controlling changes to that baseline. The notebook has a controlled distribution and will be updated as required

The lost notebook of Enrico Fermi the true story of the discovery of neutron-induced radioactivity

CERN Document Server

Guerra, Francesco

2018-01-01

This book tells the curious story of an unexpected finding that sheds light on a crucial moment in the development of physics: the discovery of artificial radioactivity induced by neutrons. The finding in question is a notebook, clearly written in Fermi's handwriting, which records the frenzied days and nights that Fermi spent experimenting alone, driven by his theoretical ideas on beta decay. The notebook was found by the authors while browsing through documents left by Oscar D'Agostino, the chemist among Fermi's group. From Fermi's notes, they reconstruct with skill and expertise the detailed timeline of the critical days leading up to his vital discovery. While much is already known about the road that led Fermi to his important result, this is the first time that it has been possible to reconstruct precisely when and how the initial evidence of neutron-induced decay was obtained. In relating this fascinating story, the book will be of great interest not only to those with a passion for the history of scie...

«La bellezza è un sentimento istintivo». L’estetico nei Notebooks darwiniani

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lorenzo Bartalesi

2012-12-01

Full Text Available From Charles Darwin, the theoretical framework of evolutionary aesthetics is sexual selection. Recent debate focuses the attention particularly on the criterion of female choice. The aim of this article is to sketch a Darwinian way to aesthetics complementary to the one that Darwin himself present in The descent of man (1871. A series of notes in the Darwin's notebooks traditionally known as “Metaphysical Enquiries” will constitute the point of departure for a hypothetical reconstruction of evolutionary history of aesthetic

Bring Your Own Device: A Digital Notebook for Undergraduate Biochemistry Laboratory Using a Free, Cross-Platform Application

Science.gov (United States)

Van Dyke, Aaron R.; Smith-Carpenter, Jillian

2017-01-01

The majority of undergraduates own a smartphone, yet fewer than half view it as a valuable learning technology. Consequently, a digital laboratory notebook (DLN) was developed for an upper-division undergraduate biochemistry laboratory course using the free mobile application Evernote. The cloud-based DLN capitalized on the unique features of…

Elimination of Plastic Polymers in Natural Environments

OpenAIRE

Ramirez-Ekner, Sofia; Bidstrup, Marie Juliane Svea; Brusen, Nicklas Hald; Rugaard-Morgan, Zsa-Zsa Sophie Oona Ophelia

2017-01-01

Plastic production and consumption continues to rise and subsequently plastic waste continues to accumulates in natural environments, causing harm to ecosystems.The aim of this paper was to come up with a way to utilize organisms, that have been identified to produce plastic degrading enzymes, as a waste disposal technology. This review includes accounts of plastic production rates, the occurrence of plastic in natural environments and the current waste management systems to create an underst...

Degradation of oxo-biodegradable plastic by Pleurotus ostreatus.

Science.gov (United States)

da Luz, José Maria Rodrigues; Paes, Sirlaine Albino; Nunes, Mateus Dias; da Silva, Marliane de Cássia Soares; Kasuya, Maria Catarina Megumi

2013-01-01

Growing concerns regarding the impact of the accumulation of plastic waste over several decades on the environmental have led to the development of biodegradable plastic. These plastics can be degraded by microorganisms and absorbed by the environment and are therefore gaining public support as a possible alternative to petroleum-derived plastics. Among the developed biodegradable plastics, oxo-biodegradable polymers have been used to produce plastic bags. Exposure of this waste plastic to ultraviolet light (UV) or heat can lead to breakage of the polymer chains in the plastic, and the resulting compounds are easily degraded by microorganisms. However, few studies have characterized the microbial degradation of oxo-biodegradable plastics. In this study, we tested the capability of Pleurotus ostreatus to degrade oxo-biodegradable (D2W) plastic without prior physical treatment, such as exposure to UV or thermal heating. After 45 d of incubation in substrate-containing plastic bags, the oxo-biodegradable plastic, which is commonly used in supermarkets, developed cracks and small holes in the plastic surface as a result of the formation of hydroxyl groups and carbon-oxygen bonds. These alterations may be due to laccase activity. Furthermore, we observed the degradation of the dye found in these bags as well as mushroom formation. Thus, P. ostreatus degrades oxo-biodegradable plastics and produces mushrooms using this plastic as substrate.

Degradation of oxo-biodegradable plastic by Pleurotus ostreatus.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

José Maria Rodrigues da Luz

Full Text Available Growing concerns regarding the impact of the accumulation of plastic waste over several decades on the environmental have led to the development of biodegradable plastic. These plastics can be degraded by microorganisms and absorbed by the environment and are therefore gaining public support as a possible alternative to petroleum-derived plastics. Among the developed biodegradable plastics, oxo-biodegradable polymers have been used to produce plastic bags. Exposure of this waste plastic to ultraviolet light (UV or heat can lead to breakage of the polymer chains in the plastic, and the resulting compounds are easily degraded by microorganisms. However, few studies have characterized the microbial degradation of oxo-biodegradable plastics. In this study, we tested the capability of Pleurotus ostreatus to degrade oxo-biodegradable (D2W plastic without prior physical treatment, such as exposure to UV or thermal heating. After 45 d of incubation in substrate-containing plastic bags, the oxo-biodegradable plastic, which is commonly used in supermarkets, developed cracks and small holes in the plastic surface as a result of the formation of hydroxyl groups and carbon-oxygen bonds. These alterations may be due to laccase activity. Furthermore, we observed the degradation of the dye found in these bags as well as mushroom formation. Thus, P. ostreatus degrades oxo-biodegradable plastics and produces mushrooms using this plastic as substrate.

Degradation of Oxo-Biodegradable Plastic by Pleurotus ostreatus

Science.gov (United States)

da Luz, José Maria Rodrigues; Paes, Sirlaine Albino; Nunes, Mateus Dias; da Silva, Marliane de Cássia Soares; Kasuya, Maria Catarina Megumi

2013-01-01

Growing concerns regarding the impact of the accumulation of plastic waste over several decades on the environmental have led to the development of biodegradable plastic. These plastics can be degraded by microorganisms and absorbed by the environment and are therefore gaining public support as a possible alternative to petroleum-derived plastics. Among the developed biodegradable plastics, oxo-biodegradable polymers have been used to produce plastic bags. Exposure of this waste plastic to ultraviolet light (UV) or heat can lead to breakage of the polymer chains in the plastic, and the resulting compounds are easily degraded by microorganisms. However, few studies have characterized the microbial degradation of oxo-biodegradable plastics. In this study, we tested the capability of Pleurotus ostreatus to degrade oxo-biodegradable (D2W) plastic without prior physical treatment, such as exposure to UV or thermal heating. After 45 d of incubation in substrate-containing plastic bags, the oxo-biodegradable plastic, which is commonly used in supermarkets, developed cracks and small holes in the plastic surface as a result of the formation of hydroxyl groups and carbon-oxygen bonds. These alterations may be due to laccase activity. Furthermore, we observed the degradation of the dye found in these bags as well as mushroom formation. Thus, P. ostreatus degrades oxo-biodegradable plastics and produces mushrooms using this plastic as substrate. PMID:23967057

N. S. LESKOV’S NOTEBOOK WITH EXTRACTS FROM “PROLOGUE” (THE EXPERIENCE OF TEXTUAL COMMENTS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Inna N. Mineeva

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Thе article, for the fi rst time, provides a detailed textual commentary on N. S. Leskov’s notebook with extracts from “Prologue”. The extant literary materials include extracts and abstracts from the early printed Prologue, fi ction and historical literature of the 19th century, letters of European and Russian scholars and authors (Pushkin A., Tolstoy L., Pigault-Lebrun, Sher I., devoted to  doctrine matters and religious aspects, description and analysis of anthropologic categories. The autograph is the evidence of spiritual search and creative experiments of  the writer. In  the books the  writer found endorsement of both his own ideas, and those ones that require further inner understanding, questioning and emotional upheaval. Meanwhile, studying the history, structure and contents of  Prologue in  the 1880s, Leskov found an  exceptional existential and creative experience. The most part of  the notebook shows the writer’s learning process of various examples of repentance, atonement, a sudden rebirth of a sinner, active love, the benefi ts of obedience, the miracle of movement of a saint in space, the phenomenon of manifestation of  supernatural power and its intervention in  life of  a  man (God, the Holy Spirit, Angels, etc. While working with Prologue texts Leskov enunciated some principles of  their artistic processing  (quoting “crisis”, “turning”, unusual fragments in  the Church Slavonic language, emphasizing key situations by changing the name, specifying the narration, acronyms, graphic intonation. General trends in  understanding of  the  Prologue source (ideological, imaginative, plot-compositional, stylistic, identifi ed in the notebook, are subsequently transformed by the author in a series of “Byzantine Legends” where they receive additional semantic and functional load.

Cloud hosting of the IPython Notebook to Provide Collaborative Research Environments for Big Data Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Kershaw, Philip; Lawrence, Bryan; Gomez-Dans, Jose; Holt, John

2015-04-01

We explore how the popular IPython Notebook computing system can be hosted on a cloud platform to provide a flexible virtual research hosting environment for Earth Observation data processing and analysis and how this approach can be expanded more broadly into a generic SaaS (Software as a Service) offering for the environmental sciences. OPTIRAD (OPTImisation environment for joint retrieval of multi-sensor RADiances) is a project funded by the European Space Agency to develop a collaborative research environment for Data Assimilation of Earth Observation products for land surface applications. Data Assimilation provides a powerful means to combine multiple sources of data and derive new products for this application domain. To be most effective, it requires close collaboration between specialists in this field, land surface modellers and end users of data generated. A goal of OPTIRAD then is to develop a collaborative research environment to engender shared working. Another significant challenge is that of data volume and complexity. Study of land surface requires high spatial and temporal resolutions, a relatively large number of variables and the application of algorithms which are computationally expensive. These problems can be addressed with the application of parallel processing techniques on specialist compute clusters. However, scientific users are often deterred by the time investment required to port their codes to these environments. Even when successfully achieved, it may be difficult to readily change or update. This runs counter to the scientific process of continuous experimentation, analysis and validation. The IPython Notebook provides users with a web-based interface to multiple interactive shells for the Python programming language. Code, documentation and graphical content can be saved and shared making it directly applicable to OPTIRAD's requirements for a shared working environment. Given the web interface it can be readily made into a hosted

Plastics in the Marine Environment.

Science.gov (United States)

Law, Kara Lavender

2017-01-03

Plastics contamination in the marine environment was first reported nearly 50 years ago, less than two decades after the rise of commercial plastics production, when less than 50 million metric tons were produced per year. In 2014, global plastics production surpassed 300 million metric tons per year. Plastic debris has been detected worldwide in all major marine habitats, in sizes from microns to meters. In response, concerns about risks to marine wildlife upon exposure to the varied forms of plastic debris have increased, stimulating new research into the extent and consequences of plastics contamination in the marine environment. Here, I present a framework to evaluate the current understanding of the sources, distribution, fate, and impacts of marine plastics. Despite remaining knowledge gaps in mass budgeting and challenges in investigating ecological impacts, the increasing evidence of the ubiquity of plastics contamination in the marine environment, the continued rapid growth in plastics production, and the evidence-albeit limited-of demonstrated impacts to marine wildlife support immediate implementation of source-reducing measures to decrease the potential risks of plastics in the marine ecosystem.

Plastics in the Marine Environment

Science.gov (United States)

Law, Kara Lavender

2017-01-01

Plastics contamination in the marine environment was first reported nearly 50 years ago, less than two decades after the rise of commercial plastics production, when less than 50 million metric tons were produced per year. In 2014, global plastics production surpassed 300 million metric tons per year. Plastic debris has been detected worldwide in all major marine habitats, in sizes from microns to meters. In response, concerns about risks to marine wildlife upon exposure to the varied forms of plastic debris have increased, stimulating new research into the extent and consequences of plastics contamination in the marine environment. Here, I present a framework to evaluate the current understanding of the sources, distribution, fate, and impacts of marine plastics. Despite remaining knowledge gaps in mass budgeting and challenges in investigating ecological impacts, the increasing evidence of the ubiquity of plastics contamination in the marine environment, the continued rapid growth in plastics production, and the evidence—albeit limited—of demonstrated impacts to marine wildlife support immediate implementation of source-reducing measures to decrease the potential risks of plastics in the marine ecosystem.

Writing on the Bus: Using Athletic Team Notebooks and Journals to Advance Learning and Performance in Sports

Science.gov (United States)

Kent, Richard

2012-01-01

"Writing on the Bus" showcases the what, how, and why of using athletic team notebooks and journals. The book guides coaches and athletes, from elementary school through college, in analyzing games while thinking deeply about motivation, goal setting, and communication in order to optimize performance. Filled with lesson plans, writing activities,…

Electronic laboratory notebooks in a public–private partnership

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lea A.I. Vaas

2016-09-01

Full Text Available This report shares the experience during selection, implementation and maintenance phases of an electronic laboratory notebook (ELN in a public–private partnership project and comments on user’s feedback. In particular, we address which time constraints for roll-out of an ELN exist in granted projects and which benefits and/or restrictions come with out-of-the-box solutions. We discuss several options for the implementation of support functions and potential advantages of open access solutions. Connected to that, we identified willingness and a vivid culture of data sharing as the major item leading to success or failure of collaborative research activities. The feedback from users turned out to be the only angle for driving technical improvements, but also exhibited high efficiency. Based on these experiences, we describe best practices for future projects on implementation and support of an ELN supporting a diverse, multidisciplinary user group based in academia, NGOs, and/or for-profit corporations located in multiple time zones.

Dictionary of plastics. 7. rev. ed. Kunststoff-Lexikon

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Stoeckhert, K [ed.

1981-01-01

The book starts with a list of about 400 acronyms for plastic materials and additives, caoutchouc types, and synthetic fibers. This is followed by a 500-page glossary of plastics and a 200-page appendix listing producers of plastic feedstocks, chemical substances and additives, recoverable materials, processing systems, semi-finished plastic products and end products, machinery, tools and further aids for plastics processing. (HK).

Injury to crops by gas as produced from plastic materials

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Inden, T; Tachibana, S

1971-01-01

The effects of gas formations of phthalate and epoxy plasticizers on crops were studied at room temperature and 100 to 200 C. The materials were tested either alone Or as products including polyvinyl chloride and a stabilizer. At room temperature, dioctylphthalate (DOP) did not injure the cucumber leaves, whereas diisobutyl phthalate (DIBF) injured 74.1%, and dibutyl phthalate injured 36.5% of the surface of the leaves. Among many stabilizers tested, triphenyl phosphite injured 80% of the surface area of cucumber leaves. At 100 C to 200 C for 48 hours DIBP and CLP injured the Chinese cabbage leaves most, about 80% of the surface area. The following chemicals for the manufacturing of the plasticizers were also found to injure Chinese cabbage leaves, isobutanol 18.3%, 2-ethyl-hexanol 98.3%, isodecanol 98.5%, phthalic acid 40.0, and adipic acid 6.6%.

Plastics - the sustainable way to use Oil and Gas

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Siebourg, Wolfgang

2009-07-01

Conclusions (drawn by the author): Plastics are a sustainable use of oil and gas - Plastic products enable significant savings of energy and GHG emissions particularly in the use phase; - Plastic products help use resources in the most efficient way. Restricting plastics relative growth would result in increased energy consumption. Diversion from landfill would increase resource efficiency. Waste-to-Energy is an additional resource and is complementary to mechanical recycling. Plastics producers and the Oil and Gas industry should cooperate to produce reliable consumption data. Oil and Gas industry should develop and maintain European (world) eco-profiles (cradle to gate) for their respective industry. (author)

Process for remediation of plastic waste

Science.gov (United States)

Pol, Vilas G [Westmont, IL; Thiyagarajan, Pappannan [Germantown, MD

2012-04-10

A single step process for degrading plastic waste by converting the plastic waste into carbonaceous products via thermal decomposition of the plastic waste by placing the plastic waste into a reactor, heating the plastic waste under an inert or air atmosphere until the temperature of 700.degree. C. is achieved, allowing the reactor to cool down, and recovering the resulting decomposition products therefrom. The decomposition products that this process yields are carbonaceous materials, and more specifically egg-shaped and spherical-shaped solid carbons. Additionally, in the presence of a transition metal compound, this thermal decomposition process produces multi-walled carbon nanotubes.

Acoustic heating produced in the thermoviscous flow of a Bingham plastic

Science.gov (United States)

Perelomova, Anna

2011-02-01

This study is devoted to the instantaneous acoustic heating of a Bingham plastic. The model of the Bingham plastic's viscous stress tensor includes the yield stress along with the shear viscosity, which differentiates a Bingham plastic from a viscous Newtonian fluid. A special linear combination of the conservation equations in differential form makes it possible to reduce all acoustic terms in the linear part of of the final equation governing acoustic heating, and to retain those belonging to the thermal mode. The nonlinear terms of the final equation are a result of interaction between sounds and the thermal mode. In the field of intense sound, the resulting nonlinear acoustic terms form a driving force for the heating. The final governing dynamic equation of the thermal mode is valid in a weakly nonlinear flow. It is instantaneous, and does not imply that sounds be periodic. The equations governing the dynamics of both sounds and the thermal mode depend on sign of the shear rate. An example of the propagation of a bipolar initially acoustic pulse and the evolution of the heating induced by it is illustrated and discussed.

New perspectives in plastic biodegradation.

Science.gov (United States)

Sivan, Alex

2011-06-01

During the past 50 years new plastic materials, in various applications, have gradually replaced the traditional metal, wood, leather materials. Ironically, the most preferred property of plastics--durability--exerts also the major environmental threat. Recycling has practically failed to provide a safe solution for disposal of plastic waste (only 5% out of 1 trillion plastic bags, annually produced in the US alone, are being recycled). Since the most utilized plastic is polyethylene (PE; ca. 140 million tons/year), any reduction in the accumulation of PE waste alone would have a major impact on the overall reduction of the plastic waste in the environment. Since PE is considered to be practically inert, efforts were made to isolate unique microorganisms capable of utilizing synthetic polymers. Recent data showed that biodegradation of plastic waste with selected microbial strains became a viable solution. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Analysis and Implementation of an Electronic Laboratory Notebook in a Biomedical Research Institute.

Science.gov (United States)

Guerrero, Santiago; Dujardin, Gwendal; Cabrera-Andrade, Alejandro; Paz-Y-Miño, César; Indacochea, Alberto; Inglés-Ferrándiz, Marta; Nadimpalli, Hima Priyanka; Collu, Nicola; Dublanche, Yann; De Mingo, Ismael; Camargo, David

2016-01-01

Electronic laboratory notebooks (ELNs) will probably replace paper laboratory notebooks (PLNs) in academic research due to their advantages in data recording, sharing and security. Despite several reports describing technical characteristics of ELNs and their advantages over PLNs, no study has directly tested ELN performance among researchers. In addition, the usage of tablet-based devices or wearable technology as ELN complements has never been explored in the field. To implement an ELN in our biomedical research institute, here we first present a technical comparison of six ELNs using 42 parameters. Based on this, we chose two ELNs, which were tested by 28 scientists for a 3-month period and by 80 students via hands-on practical exercises. Second, we provide two survey-based studies aimed to compare these two ELNs (PerkinElmer Elements and Microsoft OneNote) and to analyze the use of tablet-based devices. We finally explore the advantages of using wearable technology as ELNs tools. Among the ELNs tested, we found that OneNote presents almost all parameters evaluated (39/42) and both surveyed groups preferred OneNote as an ELN solution. In addition, 80% of the surveyed scientists reported that tablet-based devices improved the use of ELNs in different respects. We also describe the advantages of using OneNote application for Apple Watch as an ELN wearable complement. This work defines essential features of ELNs that could be used to improve ELN implementation and software development.

Analysis and Implementation of an Electronic Laboratory Notebook in a Biomedical Research Institute.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Santiago Guerrero

Full Text Available Electronic laboratory notebooks (ELNs will probably replace paper laboratory notebooks (PLNs in academic research due to their advantages in data recording, sharing and security. Despite several reports describing technical characteristics of ELNs and their advantages over PLNs, no study has directly tested ELN performance among researchers. In addition, the usage of tablet-based devices or wearable technology as ELN complements has never been explored in the field. To implement an ELN in our biomedical research institute, here we first present a technical comparison of six ELNs using 42 parameters. Based on this, we chose two ELNs, which were tested by 28 scientists for a 3-month period and by 80 students via hands-on practical exercises. Second, we provide two survey-based studies aimed to compare these two ELNs (PerkinElmer Elements and Microsoft OneNote and to analyze the use of tablet-based devices. We finally explore the advantages of using wearable technology as ELNs tools. Among the ELNs tested, we found that OneNote presents almost all parameters evaluated (39/42 and both surveyed groups preferred OneNote as an ELN solution. In addition, 80% of the surveyed scientists reported that tablet-based devices improved the use of ELNs in different respects. We also describe the advantages of using OneNote application for Apple Watch as an ELN wearable complement. This work defines essential features of ELNs that could be used to improve ELN implementation and software development.

Recycling of plastic waste: Presence of phthalates in plastics from households and industry.

Science.gov (United States)

Pivnenko, K; Eriksen, M K; Martín-Fernández, J A; Eriksson, E; Astrup, T F

2016-08-01

Plastics recycling has the potential to substitute virgin plastics partially as a source of raw materials in plastic product manufacturing. Plastic as a material may contain a variety of chemicals, some potentially hazardous. Phthalates, for instance, are a group of chemicals produced in large volumes and are commonly used as plasticisers in plastics manufacturing. Potential impacts on human health require restricted use in selected applications and a need for the closer monitoring of potential sources of human exposure. Although the presence of phthalates in a variety of plastics has been recognised, the influence of plastic recycling on phthalate content has been hypothesised but not well documented. In the present work we analysed selected phthalates (DMP, DEP, DPP, DiBP, DBP, BBzP, DEHP, DCHP and DnOP) in samples of waste plastics as well as recycled and virgin plastics. DBP, DiBP and DEHP had the highest frequency of detection in the samples analysed, with 360μg/g, 460μg/g and 2700μg/g as the maximum measured concentrations, respectively. Among other, statistical analysis of the analytical results suggested that phthalates were potentially added in the later stages of plastic product manufacturing (labelling, gluing, etc.) and were not removed following recycling of household waste plastics. Furthermore, DEHP was identified as a potential indicator for phthalate contamination of plastics. Close monitoring of plastics intended for phthalates-sensitive applications is recommended if recycled plastics are to be used as raw material in production. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Engine performance and emission characteristics of plastic oil produced from waste polyethylene and its blends with diesel fuel

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yin, Sudong; Tan, Zhongchao [Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering, University of Waterloo (Canada)], Email: tanz@uwaterloo.ca

2011-07-01

This paper describes an experiment to determine the possibility of transforming waste plastics into a potential source of diesel fuel. Experiments were done on the use of various blends of plastic oil produced from waste polyethylene (WPE) with diesel fuel (D) at different volumetric ratios and the results were reviewed. WPE was thermally degraded with catalysis of sodium aluminum silicate at optimum conditions (414-480 degree celsius range and 1 h reaction time) and the collected oil was fractionated at various temperatures. The properties of the fuel blends at different volumetric ratios were measured in this study. It was shown that these blends can be used as fuel in compression ignition engines without any modification. With respect to engine performance and exhaust emission, it was found that using a 5% WPE-D (WPE5) blend instead of diesel fuel reduced carbon monoxide (CO) emission. However, the results of experiment showed that carbon dioxide (CO2) emission and oxides of nitrogen (NOx) emission rose.

Interactive model evaluation tool based on IPython notebook

Science.gov (United States)

Balemans, Sophie; Van Hoey, Stijn; Nopens, Ingmar; Seuntjes, Piet

2015-04-01

remaining parameter sets. As such, by interactively changing the settings and interpreting the graph, the user gains insight in the model structural behaviour. Moreover, a more deliberate choice of objective function and periods of high information content can be identified. The environment is written in an IPython notebook and uses the available interactive functions provided by the IPython community. As such, the power of the IPython notebook as a development environment for scientific computing is illustrated (Shen, 2014).

Using an ePortfolio System as an Electronic Laboratory Notebook in Undergraduate Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Practical Classes

Science.gov (United States)

Johnston, Jill; Kant, Sashi; Gysbers, Vanessa; Hancock, Dale; Denyer, Gareth

2014-01-01

Despite many apparent advantages, including security, back-up, remote access, workflow, and data management, the use of electronic laboratory notebooks (ELNs) in the modern research laboratory is still developing. This presents a challenge to instructors who want to give undergraduate students an introduction to the kinds of data curation and…

Production low cost plastic scintillator by using commercial polystyrene

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2011-01-01

Plastic Scintillators can be described as solid materials which contain organic fluorescent compounds dissolved within a polymer matrix. Transparent plastics commonly used for light scintillation are Polystyrene (or PS, poly-vinyl-benzene) and polyvinyl-toluene (or PVT, poly-methyl-styron). By changing the composition of plastic Scintillators some features such as light yield, radiation hardening, decay time etc. can be controlled. Plastic scintillation detectors have been used in nuclear and high energy physics for many decades. Among their benefits are fast response, ease of manufacture and versatility. Their main drawbacks are radiation resistance and cost. Many research projects have concentrated on improving the fundamental properties of plastic scintillators, but little attention has focussed on their cost and easier manufacturing techniques. First plastic Scintillators were produced in 1950's. Activities for production of low cost Scintillators accelerated in second half of 1970's. In 1975 acrylic based Plexipop Scintillator was developed. Despite its low cost, since its structure was not aromatic the light yield of Plexipop was about one quarter of classical Scintillators. Problems arising from slow response time and weak mechanical properties in scintillators developed, has not been solved until 1980. Within the last decade extrusion method became very popular in preparation of low cost and high quality plastic scintillators. In this activity, preliminary studies for low cost plastic scintillator production by using commercial polystyrene pellets and extrusion plus compression method were aimed. For this purpose, PS blocks consist of commercial fluorescent dopant were prepared in June 2008 by use of the extruder and pres in SANAEM. Molds suitable for accoupling to extruder were designed and manufactured and optimum production parameters such as extrusion temperature profile, extrusion rate and moulding pressure were obtained hence, PS Scintillator Blocks

Biodegradable and bio-based polymers: future prospects of eco-friendly plastics.

Science.gov (United States)

Iwata, Tadahisa

2015-03-09

Currently used plastics are mostly produced from petrochemical products, but there is a growing demand for eco-friendly plastics. The use of bio-based plastics, which are produced from renewable resources, and biodegradable plastics, which are degraded in the environment, will lead to a more sustainable society and help us solve global environmental and waste management problems. © 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Lessons Learned from the First Two Years of Nature's Notebook, the USA National Phenology Network's Plant and Animal Observation Program

Science.gov (United States)

Crimmins, T. M.; Rosemartin, A.; Denny, E. G.; Weltzin, J. F.; Marsh, L.

2010-12-01

Nature’s Notebook is the USA National Phenology Network’s (USA-NPN) national-scale plant and animal phenology observation program. The program was launched in March 2009 focusing only on plants; 2010 saw the addition of animals and the name and identity “Nature’s Notebook.” Over these two years, we have learned much about how to effectively recruit, train, and retain participants. We have engaged several thousand participants and can report a retention rate, reflected in the number of registered individuals that report observations, of approximately 25%. In 2009, participants reported observations on 133 species of plants on an average of nine days of the year, resulting in over 151,000 records in the USA-NPN phenology database. Results for the 2010 growing season are still being reported. Some of our most valuable lessons learned have been gleaned from communications with our observers. Through an informal survey, participants indicated that they would like to see more regular and consistent communications from USA-NPN program staff; clear, concise, and readily available training materials; mechanisms to keep them engaged and continuing to participate; and quick turn-around on data summaries. We are using this feedback to shape our program into the future. Another key observation we’ve made about our program is the value of locally and regionally-based efforts to implement Nature’s Notebook; some of our most committed observers are participating through partner programs such as the University of California-Santa Barbara Phenology Stewardship Program, Arbor Day Foundation, and the Great Sunflower Project. Future plans include reaching out to more partner organizations and improving our support for locally-based implementations of the Nature’s Notebook program. We have also recognized that the means for reaching and retaining potential participants in Nature’s Notebook vary greatly across generations. As the majority of our participants to

Constraints on the evolution of phenotypic plasticity

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Murren, Courtney J; Auld, Josh R.; Callahan, Hilary S

2015-01-01

Phenotypic plasticity is ubiquitous and generally regarded as a key mechanism for enabling organisms to survive in the face of environmental change. Because no organism is infinitely or ideally plastic, theory suggests that there must be limits (for example, the lack of ability to produce...... an optimal trait) to the evolution of phenotypic plasticity, or that plasticity may have inherent significant costs. Yet numerous experimental studies have not detected widespread costs. Explicitly differentiating plasticity costs from phenotype costs, we re-evaluate fundamental questions of the limits...... to the evolution of plasticity and of generalists vs specialists. We advocate for the view that relaxed selection and variable selection intensities are likely more important constraints to the evolution of plasticity than the costs of plasticity. Some forms of plasticity, such as learning, may be inherently...

Plastics and beaches: A degrading relationship

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Corcoran, Patricia L.; Biesinger, Mark C.; Grifi, Meriem

2009-01-01

Plastic debris in Earth's oceans presents a serious environmental issue because breakdown by chemical weathering and mechanical erosion is minimal at sea. Following deposition on beaches, plastic materials are exposed to UV radiation and physical processes controlled by wind, current, wave and tide action. Plastic particles from Kauai's beaches were sampled to determine relationships between composition, surface textures, and plastics degradation. SEM images indicated that beach plastics feature both mechanically eroded and chemically weathered surface textures. Granular oxidation textures were concentrated along mechanically weakened fractures and along the margins of the more rounded plastic particles. Particles with oxidation textures also produced the most intense peaks in the lower wavenumber region of FTIR spectra. The textural results suggest that plastic debris is particularly conducive to both chemical and mechanical breakdown in beach environments, which cannot be said for plastics in other natural settings on Earth

Recycling of plastics

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kaminsky, W; Menzel, J; Sinn, H

1976-01-01

Considering the shortage of raw materials and environmental pollution, the recycling of plastic waste is a very important topic. Pilot plants for research in Funabashi Japan, Franklin (Ohio) U.S.A., and the R 80-process of Krauss Maffei, W. Germany, have demonstrated the possibility of reclaiming plastics from refuse. Old tires and waste from the plastic producing and manufacturing industries are readily available. The pyrolysis of plastic yields gaseous and liquid products, and the exploitation of this cracking reaction has been demonstrated by pilot plants in Japan and Great Britain. Further laboratory scale experiments are taking place in W. Germany. In continuous fluidized beds and in molten salts, polyethylene, polypropylene, polyvinylchloride, polystyrene and rubber are pyrolysed and better than 98 percent conversion is obtained. Up to 40 percent of the feed can be obtained as aromatic compounds, and a pilot plant is under construction. As a first step PVC-containing material can be almost quantitatively dehydrochlorinated.

BC-454 boron-loaded plastic scintillator

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bellian, J.G.

1984-01-01

Prototype samples of plastic scintillators containing up to 10% by weight of natural boron have been produced. The maximum size scintillators made to date are 28 mm dia. x 100 mm long. Rods containing up to 2% boron are now made routinely and work is progressing on higher concentrations. The plastics are clear and emit the same blue fluorescence as other common plastic scintillators. It is expected that rods up to 3'' dia. containing 5% boron will be produced during the next few months. BC-454 is particularly useful in neutron research, materials studies, some types of neutron dosimetry, and monitoring of medium to high energy neutrons in the presence of other types radiation. It combines attractive features that enhance its usefulness to the physics community

Plastic footwear for leprosy.

Science.gov (United States)

Antia, N H

1990-03-01

The anaesthetic foot in leprosy poses the most major problem in the rehabilitation of its patients. Various attempts have been made to produce protective footwear such as the microcellular rubber-car-tyre sandals. Unfortunately these attempts have had little success on a large scale because of the inability to produce them in large numbers and the stigma attached to such unusual footwear. While such footwear may be superior to the 'tennis' shoe in protecting the foot from injury by the penetration of sharp objects, it fails to distribute the weight-bearing forces which is the major cause of plantar damage and ulceration in the anaesthetic foot. This can be achieved by providing rigidity to the sole, as demonstrated by the healing of ulcers in plaster of paris casts or the rigid wooden clog. A new type of moulded plastic footwear has been evolved in conjunction with the plastic footwear industry which provides footwear that can be mass produced at a low price and which overcomes the stigma of leprosy. Controlled rigidity is provided by the incorporation of a spring steel shank between the sponge insole and the hard wearing plastic sole. Trials have demonstrated both the acceptability of the footwear and its protective effects as well as its hard wearing properties.

UTILIZATION OF WASTE PLASTIC BOTTLES IN ASPHALT MIXTURE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

TAHER BAGHAEE MOGHADDAM

2013-06-01

Full Text Available Nowadays, large amounts of waste materials are being produced in the world. One of the waste materials is plastic bottle. Generating disposable plastic bottles is becoming a major problem in many countries. Using waste plastic as a secondary material in construction projects would be a solution to overcome the crisis of producing large amount of waste plastics in one hand and improving the structure’s characteristics such as resistance against cracking on the other hand. This study aimed to investigate the effects of adding plastic bottles in road pavement. Marshall properties as well as specific gravity of asphalt mixture containing different percentages of plastic bottles were evaluated. Besides, Optimum Asphalt Content (OAC was calculated for each percentages of plastic bottles used in the mix. The stiffness and fatigue characteristics of mixture were assessed at OAC value. Results showed that the stability and flow values of asphalt mixture increased by adding waste crushed plastic bottle into the asphalt mixture. Further, it was shown that the bulk specific gravity and stiffness of mixtures increased by adding lower amount of plastic bottles; however, adding higher amounts of plastic resulted in lower specific gravity and mix stiffness. In addition, it was concluded that the mixtures containing waste plastic bottles have lower OAC values compared to the conventional mixture, and this may reduce the amount of asphalt binder can be used in road construction projects. Besides, the mixtures containing waste plastic showed significantly greater fatigue resistance than the conventional mixture.

El Universo a Sus Pies: Actividades y Recursos para Astronomia (Universe at Your Fingertips: An Astronomy Activity and Resource Notebook).

Science.gov (United States)

Fraknoi, Andrew, Ed.; Schatz, Dennis, Ed.

The goal of this resource notebook is to provide activities selected by astronomers and classroom teachers, comprehensive resource lists and bibliographies, background material on astronomical topics, and teaching ideas from experienced astronomy educators. Activities are grouped into several major areas of study in astronomy including lunar…

Usability Evaluation of Notebook Computers and Cellular Telephones Among Users with Visual and Upper Extremity Disabilities

OpenAIRE

Mooney, Aaron Michael

2002-01-01

Information appliances such as notebook computers and cellular telephones are becoming integral to the lives of many. These devices facilitate a variety of communication tasks, and are used for employment, education, and entertainment. Those with disabilities, however, have limited access to these devices, due in part to product designs that do not consider their special needs. A usability evaluation can help identify the needs and difficulties those with disabilities have when using a pro...

Creating Methane from Plastic: Recycling at a Lunar Outpost

Science.gov (United States)

Santiago-Maldonado, Edgardo; Captain, Janine; Devor, Robert; Gleaton, Jeremy

2010-01-01

The high cost of re-supply from Earth demands resources to be utilized to the fullest extent for exploration missions. The ability to refuel on the lunar surface would reduce the vehicle mass during launch and provide excess payload capability. Recycling is a key technology that maximizes the available resources by converting waste products into useful commodities. One example of this is to convert crew member waste such as plastic packaging, food scraps, and human waste into fuel. This process thermally degrades plastic in the presence of oxygen producing CO2 and CO. The CO2 and CO are then reacted with hydrogen over catalyst (Sabatier reaction) producing methane. An end-to-end laboratory-scale system has been designed and built to produce methane from plastic, in this case polyethylene. This first generation system yields 12-16% CH4 by weight of plastic used.

Production, use, and fate of all plastics ever made.

Science.gov (United States)

Geyer, Roland; Jambeck, Jenna R; Law, Kara Lavender

2017-07-01

Plastics have outgrown most man-made materials and have long been under environmental scrutiny. However, robust global information, particularly about their end-of-life fate, is lacking. By identifying and synthesizing dispersed data on production, use, and end-of-life management of polymer resins, synthetic fibers, and additives, we present the first global analysis of all mass-produced plastics ever manufactured. We estimate that 8300 million metric tons (Mt) as of virgin plastics have been produced to date. As of 2015, approximately 6300 Mt of plastic waste had been generated, around 9% of which had been recycled, 12% was incinerated, and 79% was accumulated in landfills or the natural environment. If current production and waste management trends continue, roughly 12,000 Mt of plastic waste will be in landfills or in the natural environment by 2050.

Integrating Hebbian and homeostatic plasticity: introduction.

Science.gov (United States)

Fox, Kevin; Stryker, Michael

2017-03-05

Hebbian plasticity is widely considered to be the mechanism by which information can be coded and retained in neurons in the brain. Homeostatic plasticity moves the neuron back towards its original state following a perturbation, including perturbations produced by Hebbian plasticity. How then does homeostatic plasticity avoid erasing the Hebbian coded information? To understand how plasticity works in the brain, and therefore to understand learning, memory, sensory adaptation, development and recovery from injury, requires development of a theory of plasticity that integrates both forms of plasticity into a whole. In April 2016, a group of computational and experimental neuroscientists met in London at a discussion meeting hosted by the Royal Society to identify the critical questions in the field and to frame the research agenda for the next steps. Here, we provide a brief introduction to the papers arising from the meeting and highlight some of the themes to have emerged from the discussions.This article is part of the themed issue 'Integrating Hebbian and homeostatic plasticity'. © 2017 The Author(s).

POTENTIAL PRODUCTION OF OIL FROM WASTE PLASTIC PYROLIYSIS IN GEOSTECH BUILDING

OpenAIRE

Kristyawan, I Putu Angga

2017-01-01

Office waste is produced from activity that carried in the office area. In Geostech office area, 18.05 % composition of the waste is plastic waste. Plastic waste total in Geostech is 17.1 kg/week. The highest of plastic waste type is PP (Polypropylene). plastic waste. From the waste total is known that that the potential of oil produced through pyrolysis is 11.6 kg/week or 13.7 L/week. Pirolysis oil can be used as substitute for diesel fuel because of the calorific value equal with the calori...

Extruding plastic scintillator at Fermilab

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pla-Dalmau, Anna; Bross, Alain D.; Rykalin, Viktor V.

2003-01-01

An understanding of the costs involved in the production of plastic scintillators and the development of a less expensive material have become necessary with the prospects of building very large plastic scintillation detectors. Several factors contribute to the high cost of plastic scintillating sheets, but the principal reason is the labor-intensive nature of the manufacturing process. In order to significantly lower the costs, the current casting procedures had to be abandoned. Since polystyrene is widely used in the consumer industry, the logical path was to investigate the extrusion of commercial-grade polystyrene pellets with dopants to yield high quality plastic scintillator. This concept was tested and high quality extruded plastic scintillator was produced. The D0 and MINOS experiments are already using extruded scintillator strips in their detectors. An extrusion line has recently been installed at Fermilab in collaboration with NICADD (Northern Illinois Center for Accelerator and Detector Development). This new facility will serve to further develop and improve extruded plastic scintillator. This paper will discuss the characteristics of extruded plastic scintillator and its raw materials, the different manufacturing techniques and the current R andD program at Fermilab

UTILIZING WASTE PLASTIC POLYPROPYLENE AND POLYETHYLENE TEREPHTHALATE AS ALTERNATIVE AGGREGATES TO PRODUCE LIGHTWEIGHT CONCRETE: A REVIEW

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

IBRAHIM H. ALFAHDAWI

2016-08-01

Full Text Available In recent times, there is an increasing need for the fabrication of mortar and concrete that can be characterised as sustainable and environmentally friendly. Ideally, this concrete should be inexpensive, lightweight, and outstanding in terms of its physical and mechanical specifications. Plastic materials have increasingly been used in the fabrication of different types of concrete admixtures and mortar constituents. These plastic materials take the form of fillers or shredded fibres derived from polypropylene and polyethylene terephthalate. The use of plastic materials presents the following benefits: (i enhanced mixture quality and (ii a reduction in the amount of accumulated single-use plastic materials that negatively impact the environment. This work reviews several previous studies on the utilisation and preparations of plastic materials and their effects on the physical and mechanical properties of concrete. Other topics, including hardened concrete, fresh concrete, application, and thermo-physical characteristics, are also elaborated.

Implementation and use of cloud-based electronic lab notebook in a bioprocess engineering teaching laboratory.

Science.gov (United States)

Riley, Erin M; Hattaway, Holly Z; Felse, P Arthur

2017-01-01

Electronic lab notebooks (ELNs) are better equipped than paper lab notebooks (PLNs) to handle present-day life science and engineering experiments that generate large data sets and require high levels of data integrity. But limited training and a lack of workforce with ELN knowledge have restricted the use of ELN in academic and industry research laboratories which still rely on cumbersome PLNs for recordkeeping. We used LabArchives, a cloud-based ELN in our bioprocess engineering lab course to train students in electronic record keeping, good documentation practices (GDPs), and data integrity. Implementation of ELN in the bioprocess engineering lab course, an analysis of user experiences, and our development actions to improve ELN training are presented here. ELN improved pedagogy and learning outcomes of the lab course through stream lined workflow, quick data recording and archiving, and enhanced data sharing and collaboration. It also enabled superior data integrity, simplified information exchange, and allowed real-time and remote monitoring of experiments. Several attributes related to positive user experiences of ELN improved between the two subsequent years in which ELN was offered. Student responses also indicate that ELN is better than PLN for compliance. We demonstrated that ELN can be successfully implemented in a lab course with significant benefits to pedagogy, GDP training, and data integrity. The methods and processes presented here for ELN implementation can be adapted to many types of laboratory experiments.

Plastic condoms.

Science.gov (United States)

1968-01-01

Only simple equipment, simple technology and low initial capital investment are needed in their manufacture. The condoms can be made by people who were previously unskilled or only semi-skilled workers. Plastic condoms differ from those made of latex rubber in that the nature of the plastic film allows unlimited shelf-life. Also, the plastic has a higher degree of lubricity than latex rubber; if there is a demand for extra lubrication in a particular market, this can be provided. Because the plastic is inert, these condoms need not be packaged in hermetically sealed containers. All these attributes make it possible to put these condoms on the distributors' shelves in developing countries competitively with rubber condoms. The shape of the plastic condom is based on that of the lamb caecum, which has long been used as luxury-type condom. The plastic condom is made from plastic film (ethylene ethyl acrilate) of 0.001 inch (0.0254 mm.) thickness. In addition, a rubber ring is provided and sealed into the base of the condom for retention during coitus. The advantage of the plastic condom design and the equipment on which it is made is that production can be carried out either in labour-intensive economy or with varying degrees of mechanization and automation. The uniform, finished condom if made using previously untrained workers. Training of workers can be done in a matter of hours on the two machines which are needed to produce and test the condoms. The plastic film is provided on a double wound roll, and condom blanks are prepared by means of a heat-sealing die on the stamping machine. The rubber rings are united to the condom blanks on an assembly machine, which consists of a mandrel and heat-sealing equipment to seal the rubber ring to the base of the condom. Built into the assembly machine is a simple air-testing apparatus that can detect the smallest pinhole flaw in a condom. The manufacturing process is completed by unravelling the condom from the assembly

Mining Tasks from the Web Anchor Text Graph: MSR Notebook Paper for the TREC 2015 Tasks Track

Science.gov (United States)

2015-11-20

Mining Tasks from the Web Anchor Text Graph: MSR Notebook Paper for the TREC 2015 Tasks Track Paul N. Bennett Microsoft Research Redmond, USA pauben...anchor text graph has proven useful in the general realm of query reformulation [2], we sought to quantify the value of extracting key phrases from...anchor text in the broader setting of the task understanding track. Given a query, our approach considers a simple method for identifying a relevant

Communication of the monitoring and evaluation process through the use of storyboards and story notebooks.

Science.gov (United States)

Lewis, L C; Honea, S H; Kanter, D F; Haney, P E

1993-10-01

In preparation for the 1993 Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care Organizations (JCAHO) survey, Audie L. Murphy Memorial Veterans Hospital Nursing Service was faced with determining the best approach to presenting their Total Quality Improvement/Total Quality Management (TQI/TQM) process. Nursing Service management and staff, Quality Improvement Clinicians, and medical staff used the Storyboard concept and the accompanying Story Notebooks to organize and to communicate their TQI/TQM process and findings. This concept was extremely beneficial, enabling staff to successfully present the multidisciplinary TQI/TQM data to the JCAHO surveyors.

Investigation into Plastic Cards

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Neringa Stašelytė

2015-03-01

Full Text Available The article examines the strength of laminating plastic cards at different lamination temperatures. For investigation purposes, two types of plastic substrate and films have been used. Laminate strength has been tested (CMYK to establish the impact of colours on the strength of laminate. The paper compares inks supplied by two different producers. The colour characteristics of CIE L*a*b* space before and after the lamination process have been found. According to lamination strength and characteristics of the colours, the most suitable inks, temperature and films have been chosen.

Action observation with kinesthetic illusion can produce human motor plasticity.

Science.gov (United States)

Nojima, Ippei; Koganemaru, Satoko; Kawamata, Toshio; Fukuyama, Hidenao; Mima, Tatsuya

2015-06-01

After watching sports, people often feel as if their sports skills might have been improved, even without any actual training. On some occasions, this motor skill learning through observation actually occurs. This phenomenon may be due to the fact that both action and action observation (AO) can activate shared cortical areas. However, the neural basis of performance gain through AO has not yet been fully clarified. In the present study, we used transcranial magnetic stimulation to investigate whether primary motor cortex (M1) plasticity is a physiological substrate of AO-induced performance gain and whether AO itself is sufficient to change motor performance. The excitability of M1, especially that of its intracortical excitatory circuit, was enhanced after and during AO with kinesthetic illusion but not in interventions without this illusion. Moreover, behavioral improvement occurred only after AO with kinesthetic illusion, and a significant correlation existed between the performance gain and the degree of illusion. Our findings indicated that kinesthetic illusion is an essential component of the motor learning and M1 plasticity induced by AO, and this insight may be useful for the strategic rehabilitation of stroke patients. © 2015 Federation of European Neuroscience Societies and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Long-term field measurement of sorption of organic contaminants to five types of plastic pellets: implications for plastic marine debris.

Science.gov (United States)

Rochman, Chelsea M; Hoh, Eunha; Hentschel, Brian T; Kaye, Shawn

2013-02-05

Concerns regarding marine plastic pollution and its affinity for chemical pollutants led us to quantify relationships between different types of mass-produced plastic and organic contaminants in an urban bay. At five locations in San Diego Bay, CA, we measured sorption of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) throughout a 12-month period to the five most common types of mass-produced plastic: polyethylene terephthalate (PET), high-density polyethylene (HDPE), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), low-density polyethylene (LDPE), and polypropylene (PP). During this long-term field experiment, sorption rates and concentrations of PCBs and PAHs varied significantly among plastic types and among locations. Our data suggest that for PAHs and PCBs, PET and PVC reach equilibrium in the marine environment much faster than HDPE, LDPE, and PP. Most importantly, concentrations of PAHs and PCBs sorbed to HDPE, LDPE, and PP were consistently much greater than concentrations sorbed to PET and PVC. These data imply that products made from HDPE, LDPE, and PP pose a greater risk than products made from PET and PVC of concentrating these hazardous chemicals onto fragmented plastic debris ingested by marine animals.

Plastic

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jeong Gi Hyeon

1987-04-01

This book deals with plastic, which includes introduction for plastic, chemistry of high polymers, polymerization, speciality and structure of a high molecule property of plastic, molding, thermosetting plastic, such as polyethylene, polyether, polyamide and polyvinyl acetyl, thermal plastic like phenolic resins, xylene resins, melamine resin, epoxy resin, alkyd resin and poly urethan resin, new plastic like ionomer and PPS resin, synthetic laminated tape and synthetic wood, mixed materials in plastic, reprocessing of waste plastic, polymer blend, test method for plastic materials and auxiliary materials of plastic.

The second green revolution? Production of plant-based biodegradable plastics.

Science.gov (United States)

Mooney, Brian P

2009-03-01

Biodegradable plastics are those that can be completely degraded in landfills, composters or sewage treatment plants by the action of naturally occurring micro-organisms. Truly biodegradable plastics leave no toxic, visible or distinguishable residues following degradation. Their biodegradability contrasts sharply with most petroleum-based plastics, which are essentially indestructible in a biological context. Because of the ubiquitous use of petroleum-based plastics, their persistence in the environment and their fossil-fuel derivation, alternatives to these traditional plastics are being explored. Issues surrounding waste management of traditional and biodegradable polymers are discussed in the context of reducing environmental pressures and carbon footprints. The main thrust of the present review addresses the development of plant-based biodegradable polymers. Plants naturally produce numerous polymers, including rubber, starch, cellulose and storage proteins, all of which have been exploited for biodegradable plastic production. Bacterial bioreactors fed with renewable resources from plants--so-called 'white biotechnology'--have also been successful in producing biodegradable polymers. In addition to these methods of exploiting plant materials for biodegradable polymer production, the present review also addresses the advances in synthesizing novel polymers within transgenic plants, especially those in the polyhydroxyalkanoate class. Although there is a stigma associated with transgenic plants, especially food crops, plant-based biodegradable polymers, produced as value-added co-products, or, from marginal land (non-food), crops such as switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.), have the potential to become viable alternatives to petroleum-based plastics and an environmentally benign and carbon-neutral source of polymers.

Environment friendly solutions of plastics waste management

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pirzada, F.N.; Riffat, T.; Pirzada, M.D.S.

1997-01-01

The use of plastics is growing worldwide. Consequently, the volume of plastic waste is also increasing. Presently, more than 100 million tons per year of plastic is being produced globally. In U.S. alone more than 10 million tons of plastic is being dumped in landfills as waste, where it can persist for decades. This has resulted in exhausting old landfills. Public awareness on environment is also making it difficult to find new sites for landfills. This has led to increased emphasis on treatment and recycling of plastic wastes. Volume reduction of plastic waste has some unique problems. They arise from the intrinsic chemical inertness of polymeric materials and toxic nature of their degradation byproducts. The paper reviews the present state of plastic waste management including land filling, incineration and recycling technologies. The technical problems associated with each of these processes have been discussed. There is also brief description of ongoing R and D for finding improved methods of plastic waste handling with their promises and problems. The role of tougher legislation in developing better recycling methods and degradable plastics has also been evaluated. The claims made by the proponents of degradable polymers have also been critically reviewed. (authors)

Cuadernos de Autoformacion en Participacion Social. Principios y Valores. Volumen 1 (Self Instructional Notebooks on Social Participation. Principles and Values. Volume 1).

Science.gov (United States)

Instituto Nacional para la Educacion de los Adultos, Mexico City (Mexico).

The series "Self-instructional Notes on Social Participation" is a six-volume series intended as teaching aids for adult educators. The theoretical, methodological, informative and practical elements of this series will assist professionals in their work and help them achieve greater success. The specific purpose of each notebook is…

Cuadernos de Autoformacion en Participacion Social: Metodologia. Volumen 2. Primera Edicion (Self-Instructional Notebooks on Social Participation: Methodology. Volume 2. First Edition).

Science.gov (United States)

Instituto Nacional para la Educacion de los Adultos, Mexico City (Mexico).

The series "Self-instructional Notes on Social Participation" is a six-volume series intended as teaching aids for adult educators. The theoretical, methodological, informative and practical elements of this series will assist professionals in their work and help them achieve greater success. The specific purpose of each notebook is…

GREEN PLASTIC: A NEW PLASTIC FOR PACKAGING

OpenAIRE

Mr. Pankaj Kumar*, Sonia

2016-01-01

This paper gives a brief idea about a new type of plastic called as bio-plastic or green plastic. Plastic is used as a packaging material for various products, but this plastic is made up of non renewable raw materials. There are various disadvantages of using conventional plastic like littering, CO2 production, non-degradable in nature etc. To overcome these problems a new type of plastic is discovered called bio-plastic or green plastic. Bio-plastic is made from renewable resources and also...

A Best Practices Notebook for Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation: Guidance and Insights for Policy and Practice from the CATALYST Project

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hare, M.; Bers, van C.; Mysiak, J.; Calliari, E.; Haque, A.; Warner, K.; Yuzva, K.; Zissener, M.; Jaspers, A.M.J.; Timmerman, J.G.

2014-01-01

This publication, A Best Practices Notebook for Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation: Guidance and Insights for Policy and Practice from the CATALYST Project is one of two main CATALYST knowledge products that focus on the transformative approaches and measures that can support

Catalytic Pyrolysis of Waste Plastic Mixture

Science.gov (United States)

Sembiring, Ferdianta; Wahyu Purnomo, Chandra; Purwono, Suryo

2018-03-01

Inorganic waste especially plastics still become a major problem in many places. Low biodegradability of this materials causes the effort in recycling become very difficult. Most of the municipal solid waste (MSW) recycling facilities in developing country only use composting method to recover the organic fraction of the waste, while the inorganic fraction is still untreated. By pyrolysis, plastic waste can be treated to produce liquid fuels, flammable gas and chars. Reduction in volume and utilization of the liquid and gas as fuel are the major benefits of the process. By heat integration actually this process can become a self-sufficient system in terms of energy demand. However, the drawback of this process is usually due to the diverse type of plastic in the MSW creating low grade of liquid fuel and harmful gases. In this study, the mixture of plastics i.e. polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is treated using pyrolysis with catalyst in several operating temperature. PET is problematic to be treated using pyrolysis due to wax-like byproduct in liquid which may cause pipe clogging. The catalyst is the mixture of natural zeolite and bentonite which is able to handle PP and PET mixture feed to produce high grade liquid fuels in terms of calorific value and other fuel properties.

Going paperless: implementing an electronic laboratory notebook in a bioanalytical laboratory.

Science.gov (United States)

Beato, Brian; Pisek, April; White, Jessica; Grever, Timothy; Engel, Brian; Pugh, Michael; Schneider, Michael; Carel, Barbara; Branstrator, Laurel; Shoup, Ronald

2011-07-01

AIT Bioscience, a bioanalytical CRO, implemented a highly configurable, Oracle-based electronic laboratory notebook (ELN) from IDBS called E-WorkBook Suite (EWBS). This ELN provides a high degree of connectivity with other databases, including Watson LIMS. Significant planning and training, along with considerable design effort and template validation for dozens of laboratory workflows were required prior to EWBS being viable for either R&D or regulated work. Once implemented, EWBS greatly reduced the need for traditional quality review upon experiment completion. Numerous real-time error checks occur automatically when conducting EWBS experiments, preventing the majority of laboratory errors by pointing them out while there is still time to correct any issues. Auditing and reviewing EWBS data are very efficient, because all data are forever securely (and even remotely) accessible, provided a reviewer has appropriate credentials. Use of EWBS significantly increases both data quality and laboratory efficiency.

Strength and thermal stability of fiber reinforced plastic composites ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Therefore, the strength properties and thermal stability of plastic composites reinforced with rattan fibers were investigated in this work. Particles of rattan species (Eremospatha macrocarpa (EM) and Laccosperma secundiflorum (LS)) were blended with High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE) to produce fiber reinforced plastic ...

All-natural bio-plastics using starch-betaglucan composites.

Science.gov (United States)

Sagnelli, Domenico; Kirkensgaard, Jacob J K; Giosafatto, Concetta Valeria L; Ogrodowicz, Natalia; Kruczała, Krzysztof; Mikkelsen, Mette S; Maigret, Jean-Eudes; Lourdin, Denis; Mortensen, Kell; Blennow, Andreas

2017-09-15

Grain polysaccharides represent potential valuable raw materials for next-generation advanced and environmentally friendly plastics. Thermoplastic starch (TPS) is processed using conventional plastic technology, such as casting, extrusion, and molding. However, to adapt the starch to specific functionalities chemical modifications or blending with synthetic polymers, such as polycaprolactone are required (e.g. Mater-Bi). As an alternative, all-natural and compostable bio-plastics can be produced by blending starch with other polysaccharides. In this study, we used a maize starch (ST) and an oat β-glucan (BG) composite system to produce bio-plastic prototype films. To optimize performing conditions, we investigated the full range of ST:BG ratios for the casting (100:0, 75:25, 50:50, 25:75 and 0:100 BG). The plasticizer used was glycerol. Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR), using TEMPO (2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxyl) as a spin probe, showed that the composite films with high BG content had a flexible chemical environment. They showed decreased brittleness and improved cohesiveness with high stress and strain values at the break. Wide-angle X-ray diffraction displayed a decrease in crystallinity at high BG content. Our data show that the blending of starch with other natural polysaccharides is a noteworthy path to improve the functionality of all-natural polysaccharide bio-plastics systems. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Um Rio para estudante ver: engenhosidades na produção de cadernos escolares - A Rio de Janeiro to be seen by students: ingenuity in producing school notebooks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ana Chrystina Venancio Mignot, Roberta Lopes da Veiga

2011-03-01

Full Text Available Resumo Analisar as intenções que guiaram a produção e comercialização da Coleção Rio, editada pela Casa Cruz, para comemorar 110 anos de existência da papelaria, em parceria com a Tilibra, a maior fabricante de cadernos escolares do país, implica em discutir a expansão e desenvolvimento da indústria caderneira resultante da modernização do parque gráfico. Para tanto, assim como editais e matérias publicadas na imprensa sobre o concurso de pintura que deu origem à coleção, alguns impressos dirigidos aos comerciantes de artigos escolares, revista e catálogos de diversas indústrias do ramo, são as principais fontes de pesquisa, visto que permitem compreender tanto as concepções que têm dos estudantes, como as preocupações que informam e conformam a produção de cadernos escolares, que deixam de ser vistos como simples suportes da escrita escolar, para serem transformados em objeto de desejo do consumidor. As escolhas das imagens das capas dos cadernos fazem parte das estratégias para conquistar este consumidor privilegiado: artistas de novelas, cantores famosos, desenhos animados, personagens de filmes e jogadores de futebol, que agradem à maioria. Com a Coleção Rio, a Casa Cruz se sobressai ao fugir da temática predominante na produção caderneira. Ao colocar em destaque algumas paisagens da Cidade Maravilhosa, também revela algumas concepções e expectativas que tem do consumidor. Nas capas assinadas por artistas plásticos cariocas, que estampam pontos turísticos e monumentos, a papelaria veicula a imagem que gostaria de perpetuar: uma cidade sem violência, medo, exclusão, uma cidade para estudante ver, amar, preservar. Palavras-chave: cadernos escolares, produção, comercialização.   A RIO DE JANEIRO TO BE SEEN BY STUDENTS: INGENUITY IN PRODUCING SCHOOL NOTEBOOKS Abstract Any attempt to analyze the intentions which have guided the production and commercialization of Rio Collection, edited by Casa Cruz

Cuadernos de Autoformacion en Participacion Social: Normatividad. Volumen 5. Primera Edicion (Self-Instructional Notebooks on Social Participation: Legal Issues. Volume 5. First Edition).

Science.gov (United States)

Instituto Nacional para la Educacion de los Adultos, Mexico City (Mexico).

The series "Self-instructional Notes on Social Participation" is a six volume series intended as teaching aids for adult educators. The theoretical, methodological, informative and practical elements of this series will assist professionals in their work and help them achieve greater success. The specific purpose of each notebook is…

Theoretical Framework for Plastic Waste Management in Ghana through Extended Producer Responsibility: Case of Sachet Water Waste

OpenAIRE

Quartey, Ebo; Tosefa, Hero; Danquah, Kwasi; Obrsalova, Ilona

2015-01-01

Currently, use and disposal of plastic by consumers through waste management activities in Ghana not only creates environmental problems, but also reinforces the notion of a wasteful society. The magnitude of this problem has led to increasing pressure from the public for efficient and practical measures to solve the waste problem. This paper analyses the impact of plastic use and disposal in Ghana. It emphasizes the need for commitment to proper management of the impacts of plastic waste and...

Reduction experiment of iron scale by adding waste plastics.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Chongmin; Chen, Shuwen; Miao, Xincheng; Yuan, Hao

2009-01-01

The special features of waste plastics in China are huge in total amount, various in type and dispersive in deposition. Therefore, it is necessary to try some new ways that are fit to Chinese situation for disposing waste plastics as metallurgical raw materials more effectively and flexibly. Owing to its high ferrous content and less impurity, the iron scale became ideal raw material to produce pure iron powder. One of the methods to produce pure iron powder is Hoganas Method, by which, after one or multistage of reduction steps, the iron scale can be reduced pure iron powder. However, combining utilization of waste plastics and iron powder production, a series of reduction experiments were arranged and investigated, which is hoped to take use of both thermal and chemical energy contained in waste plastics as well as to improve the reducing condition of iron scale, and hence to develop a new metallurgical way of disposing waste plastics. The results show that under these experimental conditions, the thermal-decomposition of water plastics can conduce to an increase of porosity in the reduction systems. Moreover, better thermodynamics and kinetics conditions for the reduction of scale can be reached. As a result, the reduction rate is increased.

Water Vapor Permeation in Plastics

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Keller, Paul E. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Kouzes, Richard T. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)

2017-01-01

Polyvinyl toluene (PVT) and polystyrene (PS) (referred to as “plastic scintillator”) are used for gamma ray detectors. A significant decrease in radiation detection performance has been observed in some PVT-based gamma-ray detectors in systems in outdoor environments as they age. Recent studies have revealed that plastic scintillator can undergo an environmentally related material degradation that adversely affects gamma ray detection performance under certain conditions and histories. A significant decrease in sensitivity has been seen in some gamma-ray detectors in some systems as they age. The degradation of sensitivity of plastic scintillator over time is due to a variety of factors, and the term “aging” is used to encompass all factors. Some plastic scintillator samples show no aging effects (no significant change in sensitivity over more than 10 years), while others show severe aging (significant change in sensitivity in less than 5 years). Aging effects arise from weather (variations in heat and humidity), chemical exposure, mechanical stress, light exposure, and loss of volatile components. The damage produced by these various causes can be cumulative, causing observable damage to increase over time. Damage may be reversible up to some point, but becomes permanent under some conditions. The objective of this report is to document the phenomenon of permeability of plastic scintillator to water vapor and to derive the relationship between time, temperature, humidity and degree of water penetration in plastic. Several conclusions are documented about the properties of water permeability of plastic scintillator.

L’impossibile fuga. Soggetto migrante e dinamiche identitarie in The Peruvian notebooks di Braulio Muñoz

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rodja Bernardoni

2011-06-01

Full Text Available The article aims to examine the novel The peruvian notebooks, by the peruvian writer Braulio Muñoz. We will proceed by analyzing it through the ideas of migrant subject and migrant discourse developed by the critic Antonio Cornejo Polar. Starting from the instability and the fragmentation of these symbolic and discursive realities, we will try to point out how the text intends to investigate and to represent the alienating dynamics that, in the migration experience, mark the process of social and identitarian redefinition.

Surface characterization of weathered wood-plastic composites produced from modified wood flour

Science.gov (United States)

James S. Fabiyi; Armando G. McDonald; Nicole M. Stark

2007-01-01

The effects of weathering on the surface properties of wood-plastic composites (WPC) were examined. High-density polyethylene (HDPE) based WPCs made from modified wood flour (untreated, extractives free, and holocellulose (delignified) fibers) were subjected to accelerated (xenon-arc) weathering. Colorimetry and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy were employed to...

From Notebook to Novel and from Diary to Dante: Reading Robert Dessaix’s Night Letters

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Roberta Trapè

2009-06-01

Full Text Available This paper has developed out of a larger work in progress, which focuses on representations of Italy in contemporary Australian fiction and non-fiction prose. This larger project aims to add to an established body of work on travel writing by considering Australian texts that describe Australian travel in Italy, Italian people and Italian places. In this paper, I will specifically focus on the representations of Italy in Robert Dessaix’s novel Night Letters (1996. My paper will explore the relationship between the writer’s actual journey in Italy and that of the creative work’s main character. The novel offers the protagonist’s account in the form of letters, which describe his travel from Switzerland across Northern Italy to Venice. I will begin by briefly outlining the Italian itinerary followed by Dessaix that would eventually inspire the novel. I will then explore the relationship between Dessaix’s notebooks recording his two journeys in Italy and the literary accomplishment of Night Letters. My aim is to show ways in which an itinerary becomes a story, a complex narrative. Reference will be made to factual accounts and descriptions in the author’s own diaries with an analysis of their generative role as key sources for the fictional work. This will be done through a close reading of particular passages, in the diaries and in the novel, concerning the same event. A comparative analysis of the notebooks and Night Letters can show that Dessaix’s diary entries relating to Italian places are woven into the fictional fabric of the ‘night letters’ according to a unifying principle.

FY 1995 report on the results of the R and D of biodegradable plastics; 1995 nendo seibunkaisei plastic kenkyu kaihatsu seika hokokusho. Ippan kokaiyo

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1996-03-01

For the development of biodegradable plastics, the paper made studies on the following items: 1) development of biodegradable plastics through the cultivation of plastic-like polymer producing micro-organisms; 2) development of biodegradable plastics using polysaccharides; 3) development of biodegradable plastics using molecular design/precise polymerization technology. In 1), P of 4HB fraction 10% was biosynthesized in 5L scale and in one stage by giving to fungus body the {gamma}-butyrolactone which was heated/hydrolyzed. In the study of PHB production by gene recombination of algae, the promoter is improved, and it was confirmed that PHB synthetic genes were surely introduced. PHB could be produced 25% by cultivation of acetic acid. In 2), using alkali protease as enzyme catalyst, sugar ester monomer was synthesized from glucose, sucrose and maltose. In 3), effects were grasped of polymerization conditions of succinic acid/1,4-butane diol/carbonate on the molecular weight and reaction velocity. A test on degradability was conducted by the enzyme method to study the structure of olygomer, in particular. Biodegradation of polyurethane was assessed by soil suspension. (NEDO)

Plastics recycling: challenges and opportunities.

Science.gov (United States)

Hopewell, Jefferson; Dvorak, Robert; Kosior, Edward

2009-07-27

Plastics are inexpensive, lightweight and durable materials, which can readily be moulded into a variety of products that find use in a wide range of applications. As a consequence, the production of plastics has increased markedly over the last 60 years. However, current levels of their usage and disposal generate several environmental problems. Around 4 per cent of world oil and gas production, a non-renewable resource, is used as feedstock for plastics and a further 3-4% is expended to provide energy for their manufacture. A major portion of plastic produced each year is used to make disposable items of packaging or other short-lived products that are discarded within a year of manufacture. These two observations alone indicate that our current use of plastics is not sustainable. In addition, because of the durability of the polymers involved, substantial quantities of discarded end-of-life plastics are accumulating as debris in landfills and in natural habitats worldwide. Recycling is one of the most important actions currently available to reduce these impacts and represents one of the most dynamic areas in the plastics industry today. Recycling provides opportunities to reduce oil usage, carbon dioxide emissions and the quantities of waste requiring disposal. Here, we briefly set recycling into context against other waste-reduction strategies, namely reduction in material use through downgauging or product reuse, the use of alternative biodegradable materials and energy recovery as fuel. While plastics have been recycled since the 1970s, the quantities that are recycled vary geographically, according to plastic type and application. Recycling of packaging materials has seen rapid expansion over the last decades in a number of countries. Advances in technologies and systems for the collection, sorting and reprocessing of recyclable plastics are creating new opportunities for recycling, and with the combined actions of the public, industry and governments it

Plastics recycling: challenges and opportunities

Science.gov (United States)

Hopewell, Jefferson; Dvorak, Robert; Kosior, Edward

2009-01-01

Plastics are inexpensive, lightweight and durable materials, which can readily be moulded into a variety of products that find use in a wide range of applications. As a consequence, the production of plastics has increased markedly over the last 60 years. However, current levels of their usage and disposal generate several environmental problems. Around 4 per cent of world oil and gas production, a non-renewable resource, is used as feedstock for plastics and a further 3–4% is expended to provide energy for their manufacture. A major portion of plastic produced each year is used to make disposable items of packaging or other short-lived products that are discarded within a year of manufacture. These two observations alone indicate that our current use of plastics is not sustainable. In addition, because of the durability of the polymers involved, substantial quantities of discarded end-of-life plastics are accumulating as debris in landfills and in natural habitats worldwide. Recycling is one of the most important actions currently available to reduce these impacts and represents one of the most dynamic areas in the plastics industry today. Recycling provides opportunities to reduce oil usage, carbon dioxide emissions and the quantities of waste requiring disposal. Here, we briefly set recycling into context against other waste-reduction strategies, namely reduction in material use through downgauging or product reuse, the use of alternative biodegradable materials and energy recovery as fuel. While plastics have been recycled since the 1970s, the quantities that are recycled vary geographically, according to plastic type and application. Recycling of packaging materials has seen rapid expansion over the last decades in a number of countries. Advances in technologies and systems for the collection, sorting and reprocessing of recyclable plastics are creating new opportunities for recycling, and with the combined actions of the public, industry and governments it

Maladaptive Plasticity Masks the Effects of Natural Selection in the Red-Shouldered Soapberry Bug.

Science.gov (United States)

Cenzer, Meredith L

2017-10-01

Natural selection can produce local adaptation, but local adaptation can be masked by maladaptive plasticity. Maladaptive plasticity may arise as a result of gene flow producing novel gene combinations that have not been exposed to selection. In the 1980s, populations of the red-shouldered soapberry bug (Jadera haematoloma) were locally adapted to feed on the seeds of a native host plant and an introduced host plant; by 2014, local differentiation in beak length had been lost, likely as a consequence of increased gene flow. In this study, I assess the relative contributions of natural selection and plasticity to beak length on these two hosts. I confirm the earlier hypothesis that the host plant seedpod drives divergent natural selection on beak length. I then demonstrate that the proximate cause of the loss of observable differentiation in beak length is maladaptive plasticity, which masks persistent genetic differences between host-associated populations. Maladaptive plasticity is highest in areas where the two plants co-occur; in combination with historical measures of plasticity in hybrids, this indicates that maladaptive plasticity may be a consequence of ongoing gene flow. Although natural selection produced locally adapted genotypes in soapberry bugs, maladaptive plasticity is masking phenotypic differences between populations in nature.

Fluidized-Bed Gasification of Plastic Waste, Wood, and Their Blends with Coal

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lucio Zaccariello

2015-08-01

Full Text Available The effect of fuel composition on gasification process performance was investigated by performing mass and energy balances on a pre-pilot scale bubbling fluidized bed reactor fed with mixtures of plastic waste, wood, and coal. The fuels containing plastic waste produced less H2, CO, and CO2 and more light hydrocarbons than the fuels including biomass. The lower heating value (LHV progressively increased from 5.1 to 7.9 MJ/Nm3 when the plastic waste fraction was moved from 0% to 100%. Higher carbonaceous fines production was associated with the fuel containing a large fraction of coal (60%, producing 87.5 g/kgFuel compared to only 1.0 g/kgFuel obtained during the gasification test with just plastic waste. Conversely, plastic waste gasification produced the highest tar yield, 161.9 g/kgFuel, while woody biomass generated only 13.4 g/kgFuel. Wood gasification showed a carbon conversion efficiency (CCE of 0.93, while the tests with two fuels containing coal showed lowest CCE values (0.78 and 0.70, respectively. Plastic waste and wood gasification presented similar cold gas efficiency (CGE values (0.75 and 0.76, respectively, while that obtained during the co-gasification tests varied from 0.53 to 0.73.

Thermo-plastic finite element analysis for metal honeycomb structure

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ji Zhanling

2013-01-01

Full Text Available This paper deals with thermal-plastic analysis for the metal honeycomb structure. The heat transfer equation and thermal elastoplastic constitutive equation of a multilayer panel are established and studied numerically using ANSYS software. The paper elucidates that only the outer skin produces easily plastic deformation, and the outer skin still exists some residual stress and residual deformation after cooling. The dynamic evolution of plastic deformation and material performance degradation under high energy thermal load are revealed.

Energy recycling of plastic and rubber wastes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hussain, R.

2003-01-01

Major areas for applications of plastics and rubbers are building and construction, packaging, transportation, automobiles, furniture, house wares, appliances, electrical and electronics. Approximately 20% of all the plastics produced are utilized by the building and construction industry/sup (1-3)/. Categories of polymers mostly used in the above industries include poly (vinyl chloride), polypropylene, polyethylene, polystyrene phenolics, acrylics and urethanes. Tyres and tubes are almost exclusively made up of rubbers. One third of total consumption of plastics finds applications, like films, bottles and packaging, in food-products that have a maximum life-span of two years, after which these find way to waste dumps. As the polymer industry in Pakistan is set to grow very rapidly in the near future the increase in utilization of plastic products in synchronous with the advent of computers and information technology. About 0.60 Kg per capita of waste generated daily in Lahore /(7.14)/ contains considerable quantity of plastics. (AB)

Plastic debris in the coastal environment: The invincible threat? Abundance of buried plastic debris on Malaysian beaches.

Science.gov (United States)

Fauziah, S H; Liyana, I A; Agamuthu, P

2015-09-01

Studies on marine debris have gained worldwide attention since many types of debris have found their way into the food chain of higher organisms. Thus, it is crucial that more focus is given to this area in order to curb contaminations in sea food. This study was conducted to quantify plastic debris buried in sand at selected beaches in Malaysia. Marine debris was identified according to size range and distribution, and this information was related to preventive actions to improve marine waste issues. For the purpose of this study, comparison of plastic waste abundance between a recreational beach and fish-landing beaches was also carried out, since the different beach types represent different activities that produce debris. Six beaches along the Malaysian coastline were selected for this study. The plastic types in this study were related to the functions of the beach. While recreational beaches have abundant quantities of plastic film, foamed plastic including polystyrene, and plastic fragment, fish-landing beaches accumulated line and foamed plastic. A total of 2542 pieces (265.30 g m(-2)) of small plastic debris were collected from all six beaches, with the highest number from Kuala Terengganu, at 879 items m(-2) on Seberang Takir Beach, followed by Batu Burok Beach with 780 items m(-2). Findings from studies of Malaysian beaches have provided a clearer understanding of the distribution of plastic debris. This demonstrates that commitments and actions, such as practices of the 'reduce, reuse, recycle' (3R) approach, supporting public awareness programmes and beach clean-up activities, are essential in order to reduce and prevent plastic debris pollution. © The Author(s) 2015.

Attitudes of Consumers Towards the Green Plastic

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gabriela Elnecave Kruter

2012-06-01

Full Text Available The demands regarding sustainable production and consumption are growing increasingly, the market is opening doors for companies to innovate in products and processes that present themselves as a solution to social and environmental problems facing society today. To this end, in 2010, a Brazilian company began producing the "green" polyethylene, or green plastic, which differs from conventional polyethylene because it is produced from the ethanol from cane sugar and not from naphtha oil. Because it is a new product on the market and little known, this study aims to understand consumer attitudes towards green plastic. Environmental concerns, ecologically conscious consumer behavior, purchase intention and previous knowledge of green plastic were also assessed. Were conducted initially in-depth interviews, which helped quantitative stage, an online survey, applied to a sample of 300 individuals. Results indicate that surveyed consumers have positive attitudes towards green plastic and intention to purchase products made ​​with this material. Despite exhibiting a high degree of environmental awareness, they show only moderate attitudes in relation to sustainable consumption in practice. We can conclude that there is still much to be done by companies and society so that a greater degree of maturity and respect for the environment can be achieved.

Cuadernos de Autoformacion en Participacion Social: Orientaciones Practicas. Volumen 4. Primera Edicion (Self-Instructional Notebooks on Social Participation: Practical Orientations. Volume 4. First Edition).

Science.gov (United States)

Instituto Nacional para la Educacion de los Adultos, Mexico City (Mexico).

The series "Self-instructional Notes on Social Participation" is a six volume series intended as teaching aids for adult educators. The theoretical, methodological, informative and practical elements of this series will assist professionals in their work and help them achieve greater success. The specific purpose of each notebook is…

Long-term sorption of metals is similar among plastic types: implications for plastic debris in aquatic environments.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chelsea M Rochman

Full Text Available Concerns regarding plastic debris and its ability to accumulate large concentrations of priority pollutants in the aquatic environment led us to quantify relationships between different types of mass-produced plastic and metals in seawater. At three locations in San Diego Bay, we measured the accumulation of nine targeted metals (aluminum, chromium, manganese, iron, cobalt, nickel, zinc, cadmium and lead sampling at 1, 3, 6, 9 and 12 months, to five plastic types: polyethylene terephthalate (PET, high-density polyethylene (HDPE, polyvinyl chloride (PVC, low-density polyethylene (LDPE, and polypropylene (PP. Accumulation patterns were not consistent over space and time, and in general all types of plastic tended to accumulate similar concentrations of metals. When we did observe significant differences among concentrations of metals at a single sampling period or location in San Diego Bay, we found that HDPE typically accumulated lesser concentrations of metals than the other four polymers. Furthermore, over the 12-month study period, concentrations of all metals increased over time, and chromium, manganese, cobalt, nickel, zinc and lead did not reach saturation on at least one plastic type during the entire 12-month exposure. This suggests that plastic debris may accumulate greater concentrations of metals the longer it remains at sea. Overall, our work shows that a complex mixture of metals, including those listed as priority pollutants by the US EPA (Cd, Ni, Zn and Pb, can be found on plastic debris composed of various plastic types.

Long-term sorption of metals is similar among plastic types: implications for plastic debris in aquatic environments.

Science.gov (United States)

Rochman, Chelsea M; Hentschel, Brian T; Teh, Swee J

2014-01-01

Concerns regarding plastic debris and its ability to accumulate large concentrations of priority pollutants in the aquatic environment led us to quantify relationships between different types of mass-produced plastic and metals in seawater. At three locations in San Diego Bay, we measured the accumulation of nine targeted metals (aluminum, chromium, manganese, iron, cobalt, nickel, zinc, cadmium and lead) sampling at 1, 3, 6, 9 and 12 months, to five plastic types: polyethylene terephthalate (PET), high-density polyethylene (HDPE), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), low-density polyethylene (LDPE), and polypropylene (PP). Accumulation patterns were not consistent over space and time, and in general all types of plastic tended to accumulate similar concentrations of metals. When we did observe significant differences among concentrations of metals at a single sampling period or location in San Diego Bay, we found that HDPE typically accumulated lesser concentrations of metals than the other four polymers. Furthermore, over the 12-month study period, concentrations of all metals increased over time, and chromium, manganese, cobalt, nickel, zinc and lead did not reach saturation on at least one plastic type during the entire 12-month exposure. This suggests that plastic debris may accumulate greater concentrations of metals the longer it remains at sea. Overall, our work shows that a complex mixture of metals, including those listed as priority pollutants by the US EPA (Cd, Ni, Zn and Pb), can be found on plastic debris composed of various plastic types.

Plastic solidification of radioactive wastes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Moriyama, Noboru

1981-01-01

Over 20 years have elapsed after the start of nuclear power development, and the nuclear power generation in Japan now exceeds the level of 10,000 MW. In order to meet the energy demands, the problem of the treatment and disposal of radioactive wastes produced in nuclear power stations must be solved. The purpose of the plastic solidification of such wastes is to immobilize the contained radionuclides, same as other solidification methods, to provide the first barrier against their move into the environment. The following matters are described: the nuclear power generation in Japan, the radioactive wastes from LWR plants, the position of plastic solidification, the status of plastic solidification in overseas countries and in Japan, the solidification process for radioactive wastes with polyethylene, and the properties of solidified products, and the leachability of radionuclides in asphalt solids. (J.P.N.)

Effect of boron compounds on the thermal and combustion properties of wood-plastic composites

OpenAIRE

Altuntaş, Ertuğrul; Karaoğul, Eyyup; Alma, Mehmet Hakkı

2017-01-01

In this study, the thermal properties and fire resistancesof the wood plastic composites produced with waste lignocellulosic materialswere investigated. For this purpose, lignocellulosic waste, high densitypolyethylene, (HDPE) sodium borate (borax) and boric acid was used to producethe wood-plastic composites. A twin-screw extruder was used during theproduction of the wood plastic composites. The produced composite granule waspressed at 175 °C hot press. The effects of boric acid and borax ad...

INFLUENCE OF REGRIND ON PROPERTIES OF PLASTICS PRODUCED BY INJECTION MOULDING

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ľudmila Dulebová

2011-07-01

Full Text Available The contribution deals with the evaluation of results of selected mechanical tests. Materials Crastin® PBT (with 30 % glass fibre and Celanex® 2004-2 PBT (without filler were used at tests with various percentage of added regrind into basic material. The mechanical properties were obtained by tensile test and Shore hardness test. Utilization of regrind at the production of new moulded parts is important from aspect of reduction plastics waste and pollution abatement of environment.

Oil sorbents from plastic wastes and polymers: A review.

Science.gov (United States)

Saleem, Junaid; Adil Riaz, Muhammad; Gordon, McKay

2018-01-05

A large volume of the waste produced across the world is composed of polymers from plastic wastes such as polyethylene (HDPE or LDPE), polypropylene (PP), and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) amongst others. For years, environmentalists have been looking for various ways to overcome the problems of such large quantities of plastic wastes being disposed of into landfill sites. On the other hand, the usage of synthetic polymers as oil sorbents in particular, polyolefins, including polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene (PE) have been reported. In recent years, the idea of using plastic wastes as the feed for the production of oil sorbents has gained momentum. However, the studies undertaking such feasibility are rather scattered. This review paper is the first of its kind reporting, compiling and reviewing these various processes. The production of an oil sorbent from plastic wastes is being seen to be satisfactorily achievable through a variety of methods Nevertheless, much work needs to be done regarding further investigation of the numerous parameters influencing production yields and sorbent qualities. For example, differences in results are seen due to varying operating conditions, experimental setups, and virgin or waste plastics being used as feeds. The field of producing oil sorbents from plastic wastes is still very open for further research, and seems to be a promising route for both waste reduction, and the synthesis of value-added products such as oil sorbents. In this review, the research related to the production of various oil sorbents based on plastics (plastic waste and virgin polymer) has been discussed. Further oil sorbent efficiency in terms of oil sorption capacity has been described. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Pathological Plasticity in Fragile X Syndrome

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Brandon S. Martin

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Deficits in neuronal plasticity are common hallmarks of many neurodevelopmental disorders. In the case of fragile-X syndrome (FXS, disruption in the function of a single gene, FMR1, results in a variety of neurological consequences directly related to problems with the development, maintenance, and capacity of plastic neuronal networks. In this paper, we discuss current research illustrating the mechanisms underlying plasticity deficits in FXS. These processes include synaptic, cell intrinsic, and homeostatic mechanisms both dependent on and independent of abnormal metabotropic glutamate receptor transmission. We place particular emphasis on how identified deficits may play a role in developmental critical periods to produce neuronal networks with permanently decreased capacity to dynamically respond to changes in activity central to learning, memory, and cognition in patients with FXS. Characterizing early developmental deficits in plasticity is fundamental to develop therapies that not only treat symptoms but also minimize the developmental pathology of the disease.

Production of Methane and Water from Crew Plastic Waste

Science.gov (United States)

Captain, Janine; Santiago, Eddie; Parrish, Clyde; Strayer, Richard F.; Garland, Jay L.

2008-01-01

Recycling is a technology that will be key to creating a self sustaining lunar outpost. The plastics used for food packaging provide a source of material that could be recycled to produce water and methane. The recycling of these plastics will require some additional resources that will affect the initial estimate of starting materials that will have to be transported from earth, mainly oxygen, energy and mass. These requirements will vary depending on the recycling conditions. The degredation products of these plastics will vary under different atmospheric conditions. An estimate of the the production rate of methane and water using typical ISRU processes along with the plastic recycling will be presented.

[The behavior of fiber-reinforced plastics during laser cutting].

Science.gov (United States)

Emmrich, M; Levsen, K; Trasser, F J

1992-06-01

The pattern of the organic emissions, which are produced by processing of fibre reinforced plastics (epoxy resins reinforced by aramid and glass fibres and phenol resins reinforced by aramid fibre) with laser beam was studied and the concentrations of the main components determined. Despite the application of plastic materials with different chemical structures, the observed patterns are very similar. Mainly aromatic hydrocarbons are emitted, especially benzene and toluene, as well as some heteroatom-containing aromatic hydrocarbons (e.g. phenol). By use of oxygen as process gas the emissions during cutting of glass fibre reinforced plastics can be reduced, while they will be constantly high with aramid fibre reinforced plastics.

Physical and biological treatments of polyethylene-rice starch plastic films

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

El-Naggar, Manal M.A., E-mail: mmelnaggar@yahoo.com [Microbiology Lab., National Institute of Oceanography and Fisheries, Alexandria (Egypt); Farag, Magdy Gh. [Development Plastic Center, Victoria, Alexandria (Egypt)

2010-04-15

This study aimed to produce an industrial applicable thermo-stable {alpha}-amylase from marine Bacillus amyloliquefaciens which isolated and selected according to its significant enzyme production. The effect of different pH values and temperatures on the bacterial growth and the enzyme production was estimated using an experimental statistical design; maximum amylase production and bacterial growth was obtained at pH 7.0 and 50 deg. C. Some biodegradable polyethylene rice starch plastic films (PERS-P) were manufactured using 0, 2.5, 5, 7.5 and 10% starch concentrations. The biodegradability (reduction in the plastic elongation%) was tested using the exposure to UV radiation at {lambda}{sub 300-400nm} (intensity of about 1000 W/m{sup 2}) and the produced B. amyloliquefaciens thermo-stable {alpha}-amylase. A significant reduction in the elongation% of these biodegradable plastics was observed in both cases especially on testing the 10% PERS-P; they showed a reduction of 26% and 20%, respectively, compared to the untreated plastic films (180 {+-} 5).

Physical and biological treatments of polyethylene-rice starch plastic films

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

El-Naggar, Manal M.A.; Farag, Magdy Gh.

2010-01-01

This study aimed to produce an industrial applicable thermo-stable α-amylase from marine Bacillus amyloliquefaciens which isolated and selected according to its significant enzyme production. The effect of different pH values and temperatures on the bacterial growth and the enzyme production was estimated using an experimental statistical design; maximum amylase production and bacterial growth was obtained at pH 7.0 and 50 deg. C. Some biodegradable polyethylene rice starch plastic films (PERS-P) were manufactured using 0, 2.5, 5, 7.5 and 10% starch concentrations. The biodegradability (reduction in the plastic elongation%) was tested using the exposure to UV radiation at λ 300-400nm (intensity of about 1000 W/m 2 ) and the produced B. amyloliquefaciens thermo-stable α-amylase. A significant reduction in the elongation% of these biodegradable plastics was observed in both cases especially on testing the 10% PERS-P; they showed a reduction of 26% and 20%, respectively, compared to the untreated plastic films (180 ± 5).

Environmental impact assessment of six starch plastics focusing on wastewater-derived starch and additives

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Broeren, Martijn L.M.; Kuling, Lody; Worrell, Ernst; Shen, Li

2017-01-01

Starch plastics are developed for their biobased origin and potential biodegradability. To assist the development of sustainable starch plastics, this paper quantifies the environmental impacts of starch plastics produced from either virgin starch or starch reclaimed from wastewater. A

Plastics and environmental health: the road ahead.

Science.gov (United States)

North, Emily J; Halden, Rolf U

2013-01-01

Plastics continue to benefit society in innumerable ways, even though recent public focus on plastics has centered mostly on human health and environmental concerns, including their endocrine-disrupting properties and the long-term pollution they represent. The benefits of plastics are particularly apparent in medicine and public health. Plastics are versatile, cost-effective, require less energy to produce than alternative materials like metal or glass, and can be manufactured to have many different properties. Due to these characteristics, polymers are used in diverse health applications like disposable syringes and intravenous bags, sterile packaging for medical instruments as well as in joint replacements, tissue engineering, etc. However, not all current uses of plastics are prudent and sustainable, as illustrated by the widespread, unwanted human exposure to endocrine-disrupting bisphenol A (BPA) and di-(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (DEHP), problems arising from the large quantities of plastic being disposed of, and depletion of non-renewable petroleum resources as a result of the ever-increasing mass production of plastic consumer articles. Using the health-care sector as example, this review concentrates on the benefits and downsides of plastics and identifies opportunities to change the composition and disposal practices of these invaluable polymers for a more sustainable future consumption. It highlights ongoing efforts to phase out DEHP and BPA in the health-care and food industry and discusses biodegradable options for plastic packaging, opportunities for reducing plastic medical waste, and recycling in medical facilities in the quest to reap a maximum of benefits from polymers without compromising human health or the environment in the process.

Plastics and Environmental Health: The Road Ahead

Science.gov (United States)

North, Emily J.; Halden, Rolf U.

2013-01-01

Plastics continue to benefit society in innumerable ways, even though recent public focus on plastics has centered mostly on human health and environmental concerns, including endocrine-disrupting properties and long-term pollution. The benefits of plastics are particularly apparent in medicine and public health. Plastics are versatile, cost-effective, require less energy to produce than alternative materials – such as metal or glass – and can be manufactured to have many different properties. Due to these characteristics, polymers are used in diverse health applications, such as disposable syringes and intravenous bags, sterile packaging for medical instruments as well as in joint replacements, tissue engineering, etc. However, not all current uses of plastics are prudent and sustainable, as illustrated by widespread, unwanted human exposure to endocrine-disrupting bisphenol-A (BPA) and di-(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (DEHP), problems arising from the large quantities of plastic being disposed of, and depletion of non-renewable petroleum resources as a result of ever increasing mass-production of plastic consumer articles. By example of the healthcare sector, this review concentrates on benefits and downsides of plastics and identities opportunities to change the composition and disposal practices of these invaluable polymers for a more sustainable future consumption. It highlights ongoing efforts to phase out DEHP and BPA in the healthcare and food industry, and discusses biodegradable options for plastic packaging, opportunities for reducing plastic medical waste, and recycling in medical facilities in the quest to reap a maximum of benefits from polymers without compromising human health or the environment in the process. PMID:23337043

Contrasting patterns of transgenerational plasticity in ecologically distinct congeners.

Science.gov (United States)

Sultan, Sonia E; Barton, Kasey; Wilczek, Amity M

2009-07-01

Stressful parental environments can influence offspring size and development either adaptively or maladaptively, yet little is known about species' differences in this complex aspect of phenotypic plasticity. We performed a reciprocal split-brood experiment to compare transgenerational plasticity in response to drought stress in two closely related annual plant species. We raised inbred replicate parent plants of eight genotypes per species in dry vs. moist soil to generate offspring of each genetic line that differed only in parental environment, then monitored seedling development in both dry and moist conditions. Individuals of the two species expressed contrasting patterns of transgenerational plasticity for traits important to seedling drought tolerance. In Polygonum persicaria, a weedy generalist found in moist, dry, and variably dry sites, drought-stressed plants produced offspring with longer and more rapidly extending root systems and greater biomass when growing in dry soil. In contrast, in P. hydropiper, a non-weedy congener restricted to moist habitats, the offspring of drought-stressed parents had reduced root system development and seedling biomass in dry soil. In P. persicaria, transgenerational and immediate adaptive plasticity combined to produce drought-adapted seedling phenotypes. These results make clear that characteristic patterns of transgenerational plasticity can contribute to ecological diversity among species.

UTILIZING WASTE PLASTIC POLYPROPYLENE AND POLYETHYLENE TEREPHTHALATE AS ALTERNATIVE AGGREGATES TO PRODUCE LIGHTWEIGHT CONCRETE: A REVIEW

OpenAIRE

IBRAHIM H. ALFAHDAWI; S. A. OSMAN; R. HAMID; ABDULKADER ISMAIL AL-HADITHI

2016-01-01

In recent times, there is an increasing need for the fabrication of mortar and concrete that can be characterised as sustainable and environmentally friendly. Ideally, this concrete should be inexpensive, lightweight, and outstanding in terms of its physical and mechanical specifications. Plastic materials have increasingly been used in the fabrication of different types of concrete admixtures and mortar constituents. These plastic materials take the form of fillers or shredded fibres derived...

Triboelectrostatic separation for granular plastic waste recycling: a review.

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Guiqing; Li, Jia; Xu, Zhenming

2013-03-01

The world's plastic consumption has increased incredibly in recent decades, generating more and more plastic waste, which makes it a great public concern. Recycling is the best treatment for plastic waste since it cannot only reduce the waste but also reduce the consumption of oil for producing new virgin plastic. Mechanical recycling is recommended for plastic waste to avoid the loss of its virgin value. As a mechanical separation technology, triboelectrostatic separation utilizes the difference between surface properties of different materials to get them oppositely charged, deflected in the electric field and separately collected. It has advantages such as high efficiency, low cost, no concern of water disposal or secondary pollution and a relatively wide processing range of particle size especially suitable for the granular plastic waste. The process of triboelectrostatic separation for plastic waste is reviewed in this paper. Different devices have been developed and proven to be effective for separation of plastic waste. The influence factors are also discussed. It can be concluded that the triboelectrostatic separation of plastic waste is a promising technology. However, more research is required before it can be widely applied in industry. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Cuadernos de Autoformacion en Participacion Social: Proyectos del INEA. Volumen 3. Primera Edicion (Self-Instructional Notebooks on Social Participation: INEA Projects. Volume 3. First Edition).

Science.gov (United States)

Instituto Nacional para la Educacion de los Adultos, Mexico City (Mexico).

The series "Self-instructional Notes on Social Participation" is a six volume series intended as teaching aids for adult educators. The theoretical, methodological, informative and practical elements of this series will assist professionals in their work and help them achieve greater success. The specific purpose of each notebook is…

First steps towards semantic descriptions of electronic laboratory notebook records.

Science.gov (United States)

Coles, Simon J; Frey, Jeremy G; Bird, Colin L; Whitby, Richard J; Day, Aileen E

2013-12-20

In order to exploit the vast body of currently inaccessible chemical information held in Electronic Laboratory Notebooks (ELNs) it is necessary not only to make it available but also to develop protocols for discovery, access and ultimately automatic processing. An aim of the Dial-a-Molecule Grand Challenge Network is to be able to draw on the body of accumulated chemical knowledge in order to predict or optimize the outcome of reactions. Accordingly the Network drew up a working group comprising informaticians, software developers and stakeholders from industry and academia to develop protocols and mechanisms to access and process ELN records. The work presented here constitutes the first stage of this process by proposing a tiered metadata system of knowledge, information and processing where each in turn addresses a) discovery, indexing and citation b) context and access to additional information and c) content access and manipulation. A compact set of metadata terms, called the elnItemManifest, has been derived and caters for the knowledge layer of this model. The elnItemManifest has been encoded as an XML schema and some use cases are presented to demonstrate the potential of this approach.

Temperature dependence of plastic scintillators

Science.gov (United States)

Peralta, L.

2018-03-01

Plastic scintillator detectors have been studied as dosimeters, since they provide a cost-effective alternative to conventional ionization chambers. Several articles have reported undesired response dependencies on beam energy and temperature, which provides the motivation to determine appropriate correction factors. In this work, we studied the light yield temperature dependency of four plastic scintillators, BCF-10, BCF-60, BC-404, RP-200A and two clear fibers, BCF-98 and SK-80. Measurements were made using a 50 kVp X-ray beam to produce the scintillation and/or radioluminescence signal. The 0 to 40 °C temperature range was scanned for each scintillator, and temperature coefficients were obtained.

U.S. Navy Shipboard-Generated Plastic Waste Pilot Recycling Program

Science.gov (United States)

1991-03-01

ship’s stores or vending machines often makes it way into "plastics only" containers located in work and berthing spaces. During the Escambia MRFsort...from Ships, or MARPOL). This legislation, which bans the disposal of plastics into the ocean, resulted from international and national pressures to halt...plastic by weight from a mixed, municipal waste stream produces a good product using the Er-1 extrusion technology. The Er-1 machine is a batch

Low cost plastic scintillator by using commercial polystyrene

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Oktar, O.; Ari, G.; Guenduez, O.; Demirel, H.; Demirbas, A.

2009-01-01

Plastic scintillation detectors have been used in nuclear and high energy physics for many decades. Among their benefits are fast response, ease of manufacture and versatility. Their main drawbacks are radiation resistance and cost. Plastic Scintillators can be described as solid materials which contain organic fluorescent compounds dissolved within a polymer matri10. Transparent plastics commonly used for light scintillation are Polystyrene (or PS, poly-vinyl-benzene) and polyvinyl-toluene (or PVT, poly-methyl-styron). In this activity, preliminary studies for low cost plastic scintillator production by using commercial polystyrene pellets and extrusion method were aimed. For this purpose, PS blocks consist of commercial fluorescent dopant were prepared by an extruder in SANAEM. Molds suitable for extruder were designed and manufactured and optimum production parameters such as extrusion temperature profile, extrusion rate and pressure were obtained. Plastic blocks prepared were optically and mechanically tested and its response against various radioactive sources was measured.This study has shown that plastic scintillators imported can be produced in SANAEM domestically and be used for detection of radioactive materials within the country or border gates.

Pyrolysis of plastic packaging waste: A comparison of plastic residuals from material recovery facilities with simulated plastic waste

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Adrados, A.; Marco, I. de; Caballero, B.M.; López, A.; Laresgoiti, M.F.; Torres, A.

2012-01-01

Highlights: ► Pyrolysis of plastic waste. ► Comparison of different samples: real waste, simulated and real waste + catalyst. ► Study of the effects of inorganic components in the pyrolysis products. - Abstract: Pyrolysis may be an alternative for the reclamation of rejected streams of waste from sorting plants where packing and packaging plastic waste is separated and classified. These rejected streams consist of many different materials (e.g., polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), aluminum, tetra-brik, and film) for which an attempt at complete separation is not technically possible or economically viable, and they are typically sent to landfills or incinerators. For this study, a simulated plastic mixture and a real waste sample from a sorting plant were pyrolyzed using a non-stirred semi-batch reactor. Red mud, a byproduct of the aluminum industry, was used as a catalyst. Despite the fact that the samples had a similar volume of material, there were noteworthy differences in the pyrolysis yields. The real waste sample resulted, after pyrolysis, in higher gas and solid yields and consequently produced less liquid. There were also significant differences noted in the compositions of the compared pyrolysis products.

Plasticity of the Axon Initial Segment

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Petersen, Anders Victor; Cotel, Florence; Perrier, Jean François

2017-01-01

of metabotropic receptors modulates the properties of ion channels expressed at the AIS within seconds and consequently produces fast adjustments of neuronal excitability. Recent results suggest that this plasticity plays important roles in physiological functions as diverse as memory formation, hearing...

Revision of the European Ecolabel Criteria for Personal, Notebook and Tablet Computers TECHNICAL REPORT Summary of the final criteria proposals

OpenAIRE

DODD NICHOLAS; VIDAL ABARCA GARRIDO CANDELA; WOLF Oliver; GRAULICH Kathrin; BUNKE Dirk; GROSS Rita; LIU Ran; MANHART Andreas; PRAKASH Siddharth

2015-01-01

This technical report provide the background information for the revision of the EU Ecolabel criteria for Personal and Notebook Computers. The study has been carried out by the Joint Research Centre with technical support from the Oeko-Institut. The work has been developed for the European Commission's Directorate General for the Environment. The main purpose of this report is to provide a summary of the technical background and rationale for each criterion proposal. This document is compl...

PLASTIC MATERIALS IN EUROPEAN AGRICULTURE: ACTUAL USE AND PERSPECTIVES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Giacomo Scarascia-Mugnozza

2012-06-01

Full Text Available The world consumption of plastics in agriculture amounts yearly to 6.5 million tons. In addition to conventional polymers used in agriculture for greenhouses and mulches such as PE, PVC, EVA, photo-selective and luminescent polymers have been used, in order to improve the quality of crops. For the same reason plastic nets are used mainly in countries with tropical and Mediterranean climates. For an environmentally friendly agricultural activity, an alternative strategy can be represented by bio-based agricultural raw materials. For low environmental impact applications, biodegradable materials for agricultural films are nowadays produced. An overview of the main methods for the disposal and recycling of plastic materials are presented with the results of mechanical and radiometric tests on recycled plastics. The strategies to reduce the burden of plastics in agriculture are: a correct procedure for the collection, disposal and recycling of post-consumption plastics; the increase of lifetime duration and performance; and the introduction and promotion of bio-based materials.

Effect of HDPE plastic waste towards batako properties

Science.gov (United States)

Nursyamsi, N.; Indrawan, I.; Theresa, V.

2018-02-01

Indonesia is the world’s second largest producer of plastic waste to the sea, after China. Most of the plastic waste is polyethylene. Polyethylene is a polymer consisting of long chains of ethylene monomers. Moreover, polyethylene is plastic that has characteristics such as; thermoplastic, elastic, non-translucent, odorless, slightly opaque and transparent, resistant to impact and has a resistance of up to 135 degrees Celsius. The type of HDPE plastic (high-density polyethylene), which has been cleaned and chopped as a substitute of fine aggregate, is used in the brick’s making process. HDPE has a stronger, harder, smoother and more resistant to high-temperature properties. In this study, a weight variation of 0%, 10%, and 20% of HDPE plastic wastes was used from the total weight of sand as a substitution. Furthermore, the tensile and compressive strength were tested on day 7. Based on the research, the quality of the specimen achieved was categorized in quality III according to SNI 03-0349-1989.

THE EFFECT OF BRAND IMAGE, PRODUCT KNOWLEDGE AND PRODUCT QUALITY ON PURCHASE INTENTION OF NOTEBOOK WITH DISCOUNT PRICE AS MODERATING VARIABLE

OpenAIRE

Erida, Erida; Rangkuti, Ari Sonang

2017-01-01

The purpose of this study are: (1) explaining the effect of brand image, product knowledge and product quality toward purchase intention of Asus Notebook, and (2) explaining the discount price capability on moderating the effect of brand image, product knowledge and product quality toward purchase intention. Research is that through survey, where data collection is: obeservation, interview, and questioning delivery to 99 respondents. Research result shows that brand image, product knowledge a...

Cloud-Based Applications for Organizing and Reviewing Plastic Surgery Content.

Science.gov (United States)

Luan, Anna; Momeni, Arash; Lee, Gordon K; Galvez, Michael G

2015-01-01

Cloud-based applications including Box, Dropbox, Google Drive, Evernote, Notability, and Zotero are available for smartphones, tablets, and laptops and have revolutionized the manner in which medical students and surgeons read and utilize plastic surgery literature. Here we provide an overview of the use of Cloud computing in practice and propose an algorithm for organizing the vast amount of plastic surgery literature. Given the incredible amount of data being produced in plastic surgery and other surgical subspecialties, it is prudent for plastic surgeons to lead the process of providing solutions for the efficient organization and effective integration of the ever-increasing data into clinical practice.

Conversion of hazardous plastic wastes into useful chemical products.

Science.gov (United States)

Siddiqui, Mohammad Nahid

2009-08-15

Azoisobutylnitrile (AIBN) initiator was used in the treatment of most widely used domestic plastics in lieu of catalysts. The pyrolysis of low-density polyethylene (LDPE), high-density polyethylene (HDPE), polypropylene (PP), poly-ethylene terephthalate (PET) and polystyrene (PS) plastics with azoisobutylnitrile was carried out individually under nitrogen atmosphere. A series of single (plastic/AIBN) and binary (mixed plastics/AIBN) reactions were carried out in a 25-cm(3) micro-autoclave reactor. The optimum conditions selected for this study were: 5% AIBN by weight of total plastics, 60 min, 650 psi and 420 degrees C. It was found that HDPE, LDPE, PP underwent to a maximum cracking and produced highest amounts of liquid and gaseous products. Pyrolysis of PET and PS plastics with AIBN afforded comparatively significant amount of insoluble organic materials. In other reactions, fixed ratios of mixed plastics were pyrolyzed with AIBN that afforded excellent yields of liquid hydrocarbons. This result shows a very significant increase in the liquid portions of the products on using AIBN in the pyrolysis of plastics. The use of AIBN in the pyrolysis of plastics is seems to be feasible and an environmental friendly alternative to catalytic process for maximizing the liquid fuels or chemical feed stocks in higher amounts.

Conversion of hazardous plastic wastes into useful chemical products

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Siddiqui, Mohammad Nahid

2009-01-01

Azoisobutylnitrile (AIBN) initiator was used in the treatment of most widely used domestic plastics in lieu of catalysts. The pyrolysis of low-density polyethylene (LDPE), high-density polyethylene (HDPE), polypropylene (PP), poly-ethylene terephthalate (PET) and polystyrene (PS) plastics with azoisobutylnitrile was carried out individually under nitrogen atmosphere. A series of single (plastic/AIBN) and binary (mixed plastics/AIBN) reactions were carried out in a 25-cm 3 micro-autoclave reactor. The optimum conditions selected for this study were: 5% AIBN by weight of total plastics, 60 min, 650 psi and 420 o C. It was found that HDPE, LDPE, PP underwent to a maximum cracking and produced highest amounts of liquid and gaseous products. Pyrolysis of PET and PS plastics with AIBN afforded comparatively significant amount of insoluble organic materials. In other reactions, fixed ratios of mixed plastics were pyrolyzed with AIBN that afforded excellent yields of liquid hydrocarbons. This result shows a very significant increase in the liquid portions of the products on using AIBN in the pyrolysis of plastics. The use of AIBN in the pyrolysis of plastics is seems to be feasible and an environmental friendly alternative to catalytic process for maximizing the liquid fuels or chemical feed stocks in higher amounts.

Cuadernos de Autoformacion en Participacion Social. Para que y para quienes. Primera Edicion (Self-Informational Notebooks on Social Participation. For What and for Whom)? First Edition.

Science.gov (United States)

Instituto Nacional para la Educacion de los Adultos, Mexico City (Mexico).

The series "Self-instructional Notes on Social Participation" is a six-volume series intended as teaching aids for adult educators. The theoretical, methodological, informative and practical elements of this series will assist professionals in their work and help them achieve greater success. The specific purpose of each notebook is…

Plastic ingestion by a generalist seabird on the coast of Uruguay.

Science.gov (United States)

Lenzi, Javier; Burgues, María Fernanda; Carrizo, Daniel; Machín, Emanuel; Teixeira-de Mello, Franco

2016-06-15

We analyzed plastic ingestion by Kelp Gull (Larus dominicanus) from 806 pellets collected between 2011 and 2013. Employing a Raman spectroscopy, we characterized those polymers used to produce the plastics ingested. Debris was recorded in 143 pellets (%FO=17.7%, n=202, 92.58g). Plastic was found in 119 pellets (%FO=83%) and non-plastic occurred in 56 pellets (%FO=39%). The most important debris category was plastic film with 55.3% (n=79). Plastic bags were observed in 19 pellets (%FO=2.4%, weight=25.02g). Glass was the second most important component (%FO=18.9%) followed by plastic fragments (%FO=17.8%). Plastic debris represented the 65.3% of the debris fragments (n=132, weight=58.84g), and was composed by polyethylene (52%), polypropylene (26%), polyamide (12%), polystyrene (6%), polyvinyl chloride (2%), and polyethylene terephthalate (2%). How plastics were obtained by gulls and the effects on individuals are discussed, as well as environmental considerations about plastic pollution on coastal environments. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Identifying Non-Volatile Data Storage Areas: Unique Notebook Identification Information as Digital Evidence

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nikica Budimir

2007-03-01

Full Text Available The research reported in this paper introduces new techniques to aid in the identification of recovered notebook computers so they may be returned to the rightful owner. We identify non-volatile data storage areas as a means of facilitating the safe storing of computer identification information. A forensic proof of concept tool has been designed to test the feasibility of several storage locations identified within this work to hold the data needed to uniquely identify a computer. The tool was used to perform the creation and extraction of created information in order to allow the analysis of the non-volatile storage locations as valid storage areas capable of holding and preserving the data created within them.  While the format of the information used to identify the machine itself is important, this research only discusses the insertion, storage and ability to retain such information.

Plasticity theory

CERN Document Server

Lubliner, Jacob

2008-01-01

The aim of Plasticity Theory is to provide a comprehensive introduction to the contemporary state of knowledge in basic plasticity theory and to its applications. It treats several areas not commonly found between the covers of a single book: the physics of plasticity, constitutive theory, dynamic plasticity, large-deformation plasticity, and numerical methods, in addition to a representative survey of problems treated by classical methods, such as elastic-plastic problems, plane plastic flow, and limit analysis; the problem discussed come from areas of interest to mechanical, structural, and

Development of High Performance Cooling Modules in Notebook PC's

Science.gov (United States)

Tanahashi, Kosei

The CPU power consumption in Notebook PCs is increasing every year. Video chips and HDDs are also continually using larger power for higher performance. In addition, since miniaturization is desired, the mounting of components is becoming more and more dense. Accordingly, the cooling mechanisms are increasingly important. The cooling modules have to dissipate larger amounts of heat in the same environmental conditions. Therefore, high capacity cooling capabilities is needed, while low costs and high reliability must be retained. Available cooling methods include air or water cooling systems and the heat conduction method. The air cooling system is to transmit heat by a cooling fan often using a heat pipe. The water cooling one employs the water to carry heat to the back of the display, which offers a comparatively large cooling area. The heat conduction method is to transfer the heat by thermal conduction to the case. This article describes the development of new and comparatively efficient cooling devices offering low cost and high reliability for air cooling system. As one of the development techniques, the heat resistance and performance are measured for various parts and layouts. Each cooling system is evaluated in the same measurement environment. With regards to the fans, an optimal shape of the fan blades to maximize air flow is found by using CFD simulation, and prototypes were built and tested.

Plastics, the environment and human health: current consensus and future trends.

Science.gov (United States)

Thompson, Richard C; Moore, Charles J; vom Saal, Frederick S; Swan, Shanna H

2009-07-27

Plastics have transformed everyday life; usage is increasing and annual production is likely to exceed 300 million tonnes by 2010. In this concluding paper to the Theme Issue on Plastics, the Environment and Human Health, we synthesize current understanding of the benefits and concerns surrounding the use of plastics and look to future priorities, challenges and opportunities. It is evident that plastics bring many societal benefits and offer future technological and medical advances. However, concerns about usage and disposal are diverse and include accumulation of waste in landfills and in natural habitats, physical problems for wildlife resulting from ingestion or entanglement in plastic, the leaching of chemicals from plastic products and the potential for plastics to transfer chemicals to wildlife and humans. However, perhaps the most important overriding concern, which is implicit throughout this volume, is that our current usage is not sustainable. Around 4 per cent of world oil production is used as a feedstock to make plastics and a similar amount is used as energy in the process. Yet over a third of current production is used to make items of packaging, which are then rapidly discarded. Given our declining reserves of fossil fuels, and finite capacity for disposal of waste to landfill, this linear use of hydrocarbons, via packaging and other short-lived applications of plastic, is simply not sustainable. There are solutions, including material reduction, design for end-of-life recyclability, increased recycling capacity, development of bio-based feedstocks, strategies to reduce littering, the application of green chemistry life-cycle analyses and revised risk assessment approaches. Such measures will be most effective through the combined actions of the public, industry, scientists and policymakers. There is some urgency, as the quantity of plastics produced in the first 10 years of the current century is likely to approach the quantity produced in the

Plastics, the environment and human health: current consensus and future trends

Science.gov (United States)

Thompson, Richard C.; Moore, Charles J.; vom Saal, Frederick S.; Swan, Shanna H.

2009-01-01

Plastics have transformed everyday life; usage is increasing and annual production is likely to exceed 300 million tonnes by 2010. In this concluding paper to the Theme Issue on Plastics, the Environment and Human Health, we synthesize current understanding of the benefits and concerns surrounding the use of plastics and look to future priorities, challenges and opportunities. It is evident that plastics bring many societal benefits and offer future technological and medical advances. However, concerns about usage and disposal are diverse and include accumulation of waste in landfills and in natural habitats, physical problems for wildlife resulting from ingestion or entanglement in plastic, the leaching of chemicals from plastic products and the potential for plastics to transfer chemicals to wildlife and humans. However, perhaps the most important overriding concern, which is implicit throughout this volume, is that our current usage is not sustainable. Around 4 per cent of world oil production is used as a feedstock to make plastics and a similar amount is used as energy in the process. Yet over a third of current production is used to make items of packaging, which are then rapidly discarded. Given our declining reserves of fossil fuels, and finite capacity for disposal of waste to landfill, this linear use of hydrocarbons, via packaging and other short-lived applications of plastic, is simply not sustainable. There are solutions, including material reduction, design for end-of-life recyclability, increased recycling capacity, development of bio-based feedstocks, strategies to reduce littering, the application of green chemistry life-cycle analyses and revised risk assessment approaches. Such measures will be most effective through the combined actions of the public, industry, scientists and policymakers. There is some urgency, as the quantity of plastics produced in the first 10 years of the current century is likely to approach the quantity produced in the

All-natural bio-plastics using starch-betaglucan composites

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sagnelli, Domenico; Kirkensgaard, Jacob Judas Kain; Giosafatto, Concetta Valeria L.

2017-01-01

functionalities chemical modifications or blending with synthetic polymers, such as polycaprolactone are required (e.g. Mater-Bi). As an alternative, all-natural and compostable bio-plastics can be produced by blending starch with other polysaccharides. In this study, we used a maize starch (ST) and an oat β...... BG content. Our data show that the blending of starch with other natural polysaccharides is a noteworthy path to improve the functionality of all-natural polysaccharide bio-plastics systems....

Magical Engineering Plastic

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim, Gwang Ung

1988-01-15

This book introduces engineering plastic about advantage of engineering plastic, plastic material from processing method, plastic shock, plastic until now, background of making of engineering plastic, wonderful engineering plastic science such as a high molecule and molecule, classification of high molecule, difference between metal and high molecule, heat and high molecule materials, and property of surface, engineering plastic of dream like from linseed oil to aramid, small dictionary of engineering plastic.

Magical Engineering Plastic

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, Gwang Ung

1988-01-01

This book introduces engineering plastic about advantage of engineering plastic, plastic material from processing method, plastic shock, plastic until now, background of making of engineering plastic, wonderful engineering plastic science such as a high molecule and molecule, classification of high molecule, difference between metal and high molecule, heat and high molecule materials, and property of surface, engineering plastic of dream like from linseed oil to aramid, small dictionary of engineering plastic.

Production and technological plasticity of commercially pure Titanium in submicrocrystalline state

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Danilov, V. I.; Zuev, L. B.; Shlyahova, G. V.; Orlova, D. V; Sharkeev, Yu. P.

2010-01-01

Presented is the method for producing solid billets of commercially pure titanium having low dimensional nanostructure (structural elements < 100 nm). The method is based on multiple unidirectional pressing, with the direction of pressing being changed every other cycle, followed by cold rolling. The microstructure, mechanical characteristics and plastic deformation behavior of material produced by the above method was investigated. The results obtained are presented herein. The loading diagram of titanium alloy in nanostructure state shows a lengthy prefracture portion, which suggests that material undergoes practically no deformation hardening. The latter stage is also distinguished by the emergence of macroscopic nuclei of localized plastic flow, which differ in the level of accumulated deformation. The maximal-amplitude nucleus will remain stationary, pinpointing the place of future fracture. On the meso-scale level formation of meso-bands (folds) is observed, with the distribution and characteristic sizes of the meso-bands corresponding to the arrangement of localized plastic flow macro-nuclei. Characteristically, the local and global loss of plastic flow stability will occur simultaneously in titanium alloy in nanostructure state. On the base of experimental evidence certain modifications can be introduced into the pressing schedules employed by the production of materials in nanostructure state. Key words: titanium, nanostructure state, method of severe plastic deformation, deformation behavior, localized plastic flow, fracture

International policies to reduce plastic marine pollution from single-use plastics (plastic bags and microbeads): A review.

Science.gov (United States)

Xanthos, Dirk; Walker, Tony R

2017-05-15

Marine plastic pollution has been a growing concern for decades. Single-use plastics (plastic bags and microbeads) are a significant source of this pollution. Although research outlining environmental, social, and economic impacts of marine plastic pollution is growing, few studies have examined policy and legislative tools to reduce plastic pollution, particularly single-use plastics (plastic bags and microbeads). This paper reviews current international market-based strategies and policies to reduce plastic bags and microbeads. While policies to reduce microbeads began in 2014, interventions for plastic bags began much earlier in 1991. However, few studies have documented or measured the effectiveness of these reduction strategies. Recommendations to further reduce single-use plastic marine pollution include: (i) research to evaluate effectiveness of bans and levies to ensure policies are having positive impacts on marine environments; and (ii) education and outreach to reduce consumption of plastic bags and microbeads at source. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Service Integration to Enhance Research Data Management: RSpace Electronic Laboratory Notebook Case Study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stuart Macdonald

2015-02-01

Full Text Available Research Data Management (RDM provides a framework that supports researchers and their data throughout the course of their research and is increasingly regarded as one of the essential areas of responsible conduct of research. New tools and infrastructures make possible the generation of large volumes of digital research data in a myriad of formats. This facilitates new ways to analyse, share and reuse these outputs, with libraries, IT services and other service units within academic institutions working together with the research community to develop RDM infrastructures to curate and preserve this type of research output and make them re-usable for future generations. Working on the principle that a rationalised and continuous flow of data between systems and across institutional boundaries is one of the core goals of information management, this paper will highlight service integration via Electronic Laboratory Notebooks (ELN, which streamline research data workflows, result in efficiency gains for researchers, research administrators and other stakeholders, and ultimately enhance the RDM process.

Effect of cyclic plastic pre-strain on low cycle fatigue life

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kanno, Satoshi; Nakane, Motoki; Yorikawa, Morio; Takagi, Yoshio

2010-01-01

In order to evaluate structural integrity of nuclear components subjected large seismic load which produce locally plastic strain, low cycle fatigue life was examined using cyclic plastic pre-strained materials of austenitic steel (SUS316, SUS316L, SUS304TP: JIS (Japanese Industrial Standards)) and ferritic steel (SFVQ1A, STS480, STPT410, SFVC2B, SS400: JIS). It was not found that cyclic plastic pre-strain up to range of 16%, 2.5 times affected on low cycle fatigue life. The validity of existing procedure of fatigue life estimation based on usage factor was confirmed when large seismic load brought nuclear materials cyclic plastic strain. (author)

Experimental Validation of Plastic Mandible Models Produced by a "Low-Cost" 3-Dimensional Fused Deposition Modeling Printer.

Science.gov (United States)

Maschio, Federico; Pandya, Mirali; Olszewski, Raphael

2016-03-22

The objective of this study was to investigate the accuracy of 3-dimensional (3D) plastic (ABS) models generated using a low-cost 3D fused deposition modelling printer. Two human dry mandibles were scanned with a cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) Accuitomo device. Preprocessing consisted of 3D reconstruction with Maxilim software and STL file repair with Netfabb software. Then, the data were used to print 2 plastic replicas with a low-cost 3D fused deposition modeling printer (Up plus 2®). Two independent observers performed the identification of 26 anatomic landmarks on the 4 mandibles (2 dry and 2 replicas) with a 3D measuring arm. Each observer repeated the identifications 20 times. The comparison between the dry and plastic mandibles was based on 13 distances: 8 distances less than 12 mm and 5 distances greater than 12 mm. The mean absolute difference (MAD) was 0.37 mm, and the mean dimensional error (MDE) was 3.76%. The MDE decreased to 0.93% for distances greater than 12 mm. Plastic models generated using the low-cost 3D printer UPplus2® provide dimensional accuracies comparable to other well-established rapid prototyping technologies. Validated low-cost 3D printers could represent a step toward the better accessibility of rapid prototyping technologies in the medical field.

Developmental Plasticity in Child Growth and Maturation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ze'ev eHochberg

2011-09-01

Full Text Available The ability of a given genotype to produce different phenotypes in response to different environments is termed "plasticity", and is part of the organism's "adaptability" to environmental cues. The expressions of suites of genes, particularly during development or life-history transitions, probably underlie the fundamental plasticity of an organism. Plasticity in developmental programming has evolved in order to provide the best chances of survival and reproductive success to organisms under changing environments. Environmental conditions that are experienced in early life can profoundly influence human biology, child growth and maturation, and long-term health and longevity. Developmental origins of health and disease and life history transitions are purported to use placental, nutritional, and endocrine cues for setting long-term biological, mental, and behavioral strategies for child growth and maturation in response to local ecological and/or social conditions. The window of developmental plasticity extends from conception to early childhood, and even beyond to the transition from juvenility to adoelscence, and could be transmitted transgenerationally. It involves epigenetic responses to environmental changes, which exert their effects during life history phase-transitions.

Review Paper on Application of Waste Plastic in Modifying Bitumen Properties

OpenAIRE

AdityaBhardwaj; Bal Krishna Keshav; AkulDev Singh

2017-01-01

Industrialisation and population is increasing day by day leading to the increase in the amount of waste plastic. Plastic is a non-biodegradable substance i.e. it is not decomposed by bacteria easily. So, dumping it causes soil pollution which leads to decrease in the fertility of soil. Another way of getting rid of plastic is by burning it, which also produces a lot of harmful gases and leads to increase in air pollution. Soil and air pollution both are harmful for the environment. Waste pla...

Spallation products induced by energetic neutrons in plastic detector material

CERN Document Server

Grabisch, K; Enge, W; Scherzer, R

1977-01-01

Cellulose nitrate plastic detector sheets were irradiated with secondary neutrons of the 22 GeV/c proton beam at the CERN accelerator. He, Li and Be particles which are produced in nuclear interactions of the neutrons with the target elements C, N and O of the plastic detector material are measured. Preliminary angle and range distributions and isotropic abundances of the secondary particles are discussed. (6 refs).

Phenotypic Plasticity of Cuticular Hydrocarbon Profiles in Insects.

Science.gov (United States)

Otte, Tobias; Hilker, Monika; Geiselhardt, Sven

2018-03-01

The insect integument is covered by cuticular hydrocarbons (CHCs) which provide protection against environmental stresses, but are also used for communication. Here we review current knowledge on environmental and insect-internal factors which shape phenotypic plasticity of solitary living insects, especially herbivorous ones. We address the dynamics of changes which may occur within minutes, but may also last weeks, depending on the species and conditions. Two different modes of changes are suggested, i.e. stepwise and gradual. A switch between two distinct environments (e.g. host plant switch by phytophagous insects) results in stepwise formation of two distinct adaptive phenotypes, while a gradual environmental change (e.g. temperature gradients) induces a gradual change of numerous adaptive CHC phenotypes. We further discuss the ecological and evolutionary consequences of phenotypic plasticity of insect CHC profiles by addressing the question at which conditions is CHC phenotypic plasticity beneficial. The high plasticity of CHC profiles might be a trade-off for insects using CHCs for communication. We discuss how insects cope with the challenge to produce and "understand" a highly plastic, environmentally dependent CHC pattern that conveys reliable and comprehensible information. Finally, we outline how phenotypic plasticity of CHC profiles may promote speciation in insects that rely on CHCs for mate recognition.

Leaching of plastic polymers by plastic vials used for storing homoeopathic medicines: A preliminary study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Neeraj Gupta

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Background: In Homoeopathy, plastic containers/vials are used for the storing/dispensing of ethanol-based medicines instead of glass. Various studies have suggested that plastic components that leach out in stored substances tend to cause contamination and may produce adverse effects in living systems. The present study was aimed to find out chemical composition and leaching behaviour of commonly used plastic vials (PVs if any during the storage of ethanol-based homoeopathic medicines in optimal environment. Material and Methods: The experiments were conducted on two sample sets of PVs. Chemical properties of PV were assessed by Fourier Transform Infrared Attenuated Total Reflectance (FTIR-ATR spectroscopy. PV were cut separately [sample-1 (S-1 and sample-2 (S-2] and immersed in Homoeopathic Grade Ethanol (HGE in conical flask and stored for 7 days at ambient temperature (25° ± 5C with constant rotary shaking. After 7 days, S-1 and S-2 of PV in Homoeopathic Grade Ethanol (HGE were decanted and filtered. Aliquots (A1 and A2 were analysed by proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (H 1 NMR. The spectral graph obtained by FTIR-ATR spectroscopy for PV compositions and spectral graph obtained by H 1 NMR spectroscopy for PV ethanol aliquots were examined for PVs material and PV leaching effect in HGE. Results: FTIR-ATR spectra showed that PV are made up of two types of polyolefin′s compounds i.e. Low Density Polyethylene (LDPE and Linear Low Density Polyethylene (LLDPE. Aliquots of PV in HGE showed the presence benzophenone and its methyl derivative, heat and light stabiliser (2, 2, 6, 6-tetramethylpiperidine and amino derivative, antioxidant (4, 4′- thiobis and 2-tertbutyl-5-methylphenol and plasticizer bis 2-Diethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP or Dioctyl phthalate (DOP. Results of study suggest that PVs leach out plastic polymers in HGE. Conclusion: This preliminary experiment suggests that it is not safe to use LDPE/LLDPE plastic for storing

Cuadernos de Autoformacion en Participacion Social: Educacion con la comunidad. Volumen 6. Primera Edicion (Self-Instructional Notebooks on Social Participation: Education with the Community. Volume 6. First Edition).

Science.gov (United States)

Instituto Nacional para la Educacion de los Adultos, Mexico City (Mexico).

The series "Self-instructional Notes on Social Participation" is a six volume series intended as teaching aids for adult educators. The theoretical, methodological, informative and practical elements of this series will assist professionals in their work and help them achieve greater success. The specific purpose of each notebook is…

Method to produce a neutron shielding

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Merkle, H.J.

1978-01-01

The neutron shielding for armoured vehicles consists of preshaped plastic plates which are coated on the armoured vehicle walls by conversion of the thermoplast. Suitable plastics or thermoplasts are PVC, PVC acetate, or mixtures of these, into which more than 50% B, B 4 C, or BN is embedded. The colour of the shielding may be determined by the choice of the neutron absorber, e.g. a white colour for BN. The plates are produced using an extruder or calender. (DG) [de

The conversion of waste plastics/petroleum residue mixtures to transportation fuels

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ali, M.F.; Siddiqui, M.N.

2005-01-01

Plastics have become the material of choice in the modern world and its applications in the industrial field are continually increasing. Presently the plastics are manufactured for various uses such as: consumer packaging, wires, pipes, containers, bottles, appliances, electrical/electronic parts, computers and automotive parts. Most of he post consumer, plastic products are discarded and end up as mixed plastic municipal waste. The disposal of his waste has become a major social concern. Mixed plastic waste (MPW) recycling is still very much in its infancy. Approximately 20 million tons of plastic waste is generated in the United States of America, while about 15 million tons is generated throughout the Europe. With existing recycle efforts, only 7% of the MPW are recycled to produce low-grade plastic products such as plastic sacks, pipes, plastic fencing, and garden furniture. The current plastic reclamation technology options are generally grouped into the following four types: (i) Primary: The processing of plastic for use comparable to the original application. (ii) Secondary: The processing of plastics waste into new products with a lower quality level. (iii) Tertiary: The chemical or thermal processing of plastic waste to their basic hydrocarbon feedstock. The resulting raw materials are then reprocessed into plastic material or other products of the oil refining process. (iv) Quaternary: The incineration of plastics waste to recover energy. This paper deals exclusively with tertiary recycling by pyrolysis and catalytic cracking of plastics waste alone and by coprocessing with petroleum residue or heavy oils to fuels and petrochemical feedstock for further processing in existing refinery and petrochemical units. (author)

Biodegradable plastics derived from micro-fibrillated cellulose fiber and chitosan

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nishiyama, M.; Hosokawa, J.; Yoshihara, K.; Kubo, T.; Kabeya, H.; Endo, T. [Shikoku National Industrial Research Inst., Kagawa (Japan)

1995-12-25

We have been carrying out studies to develop biodegradable plastics from natural polysaccharides. We have found that a combination of micro-fibrillated cellulose fiber and chitosan produces a useful material that can be used to form biodegradable film and moldings. Cellulose-chitosan composite film demonstrate higher strength than general purpose plastic films, and wet strength peaks when chitosan content is 10-20%. The relatively small amount of chitosan needed is economically convenient because chitosan is more expensive than cellulose. This film biodegrade well in soil, completely dissolving and disappearing in two months. Biodegradability is influenced by the temperature used in thermal treatment the film, the quantity of acid groups in the cellulose, and other factors. These characteristics will be used to control decomposition. Since cellulose-chitosan-plastics are not thermoplastics, we have been working on joint research with companies to produce films, nonwoven fabrics and foams. We discuss here the properties and application of these composite moldings. 4 refs., 3 figs., 3 tabs.

Pyrolysis of plastic packaging waste: A comparison of plastic residuals from material recovery facilities with simulated plastic waste.

Science.gov (United States)

Adrados, A; de Marco, I; Caballero, B M; López, A; Laresgoiti, M F; Torres, A

2012-05-01

Pyrolysis may be an alternative for the reclamation of rejected streams of waste from sorting plants where packing and packaging plastic waste is separated and classified. These rejected streams consist of many different materials (e.g., polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), aluminum, tetra-brik, and film) for which an attempt at complete separation is not technically possible or economically viable, and they are typically sent to landfills or incinerators. For this study, a simulated plastic mixture and a real waste sample from a sorting plant were pyrolyzed using a non-stirred semi-batch reactor. Red mud, a byproduct of the aluminum industry, was used as a catalyst. Despite the fact that the samples had a similar volume of material, there were noteworthy differences in the pyrolysis yields. The real waste sample resulted, after pyrolysis, in higher gas and solid yields and consequently produced less liquid. There were also significant differences noted in the compositions of the compared pyrolysis products. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Accelerated Aging Test for Plastic Scintillator Gamma Ray Detectors

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kouzes, Richard T. [Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)

2017-05-12

Polyvinyl toluene (PVT) and polystyrene (PS), collectively referred to as “plastic scintillator,” are synthetic polymer materials used to detect gamma radiation, and are commonly used in instrumentation. Recent studies have revealed that plastic scintillator undergoes an environmentally related material degradation that adversely affects performance under certain conditions and histories. A significant decrease in gamma ray sensitivity has been seen in some detectors in systems as they age. The degradation of sensitivity of plastic scintillator over time is due to a variety of factors, and the term “aging” is used to encompass all factors. Some plastic scintillator samples show no aging effects (no significant change in sensitivity over more than 10 years), while others show severe aging (significant change in sensitivity in less than 5 years). Aging effects arise from weather (variations in heat and humidity), chemical exposure, mechanical stress, light exposure, and loss of volatile components. The damage produced by these various causes can be cumulative, causing observable damage to increase over time. Damage may be reversible up to some point, but becomes permanent under some conditions. It has been demonstrated that exposure of plastic scintillator in an environmental chamber to 30 days of high temperature and humidity (90% relative humidity and 55°C) followed by a single cycle to cold temperature (-30°C) will produce severe fogging in all PVT samples. This thermal cycle will be referred to as the “Accelerated Aging Test.” This document describes the procedure for performing this Accelerated Aging Test.

Uma análise dos atributos importantes no processo de decisão de compra de notebooks utilizando análise fatorial e escalonamento multidimensional.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Valter Afonso Vieira

2006-12-01

Full Text Available Identificar atributos importantes no processo decisório do consumidor é uma tarefa árdua para profissionais de marketing. Diversos são os segmentos que necessitam de tais tipos de pesquisas. Com base nesse contexto, este artigo tem como objetivo identificar os atributos importantes considerados pelos consumidores na compra de notebook. Para tal fim, realizou-se uma pesquisa exploratória-qualitativa por meio da entrevista de profundidade com profissionais da área de informática e com potenciais compradores de notebook. Os resultados, após análise de conteúdo, demonstraram 42 atributos considerados para a compra. Em um segundo momento foi realizada uma etapa quantitativa tipo survey com uma amostra bola-de-neve de 131 entrevistados. Assim, após aplicação da análise fatorial exploratória, cinco dimensões foram identificadas, correspondendo aos atributos mais importantes para o processo de decisão de compra. As dimensões foram classificadas como prazer e benefício, características do aparelho, desempenho, cautela e operacional. Por fim, conclusões finais e pesquisas futuras são apresentadas e discutidas.

Biodegradable plastics from Sinorhizobium meliloti as plastics compatible with the environment and human health

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mehrdad Hashemi Beidokhti

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Introduction: Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs are natural polyesters and biodegradable plastics that are stored as intracellular inclusion bodies by a great variety of bacteria. The aim of this study was to extract polyhydroxyalkanoate from native Sinorhizobium meliloti in Iran. Materials and methods: Sinorhizobium meliloti isolates were collected from roots of alfalfa plants and were identified by Gram staining, biochemical experiments and amplification of 1500 bp fragment of 16Sr DNA gene. PHA granules were detected by microscopic examination. PHA production was evaluated in nutrient deficient medium and its amount was determined by conversion of PHA into crotonic acid by sulphuric acid treatment. The effect of various temperatures, agitation rate and carbon source (sucrose, mannitol, and maltose were evaluated on dry cell weight and polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB production. Results: The maximum amount of polymer production (43.10% was seen in basal mineral medium at 29°C, pH~7 and 215 revolutions per minute (rpm. The results of this research showed that the S5 isolate was capable to produce maximum poly3- hydroxybutyrate. The produced polymer was analyzed for its purity by GC- mass (gas chromatography- mass spectroscopy and confirmed to be PHB compared with the standard polymer. Discussion and conclusion: Native strains of Sinorhizobium can be used in the production of biodegradable plastics and the results of present study showed that S. meliloti S5 was capable to produce maximum PHB at 29°C, agitation rate of 215 rpm, and pH~7. 

Pyrolysis of plastic waste for liquid fuel production as prospective energy resource

Science.gov (United States)

Sharuddin, S. D. A.; Abnisa, F.; Daud, W. M. A. W.; Aroua, M. K.

2018-03-01

The worldwide plastic generation expanded over years because of the variety applications of plastics in numerous sectors that caused the accumulation of plastic waste in the landfill. The growing of plastics demand definitely affected the petroleum resources availability as non-renewable fossil fuel since plastics were the petroleum-based material. A few options that have been considered for plastic waste management were recycling and energy recovery technique. Nevertheless, several obstacles of recycling technique such as the needs of sorting process that was labour intensive and water pollution that lessened the process sustainability. As a result, the plastic waste conversion into energy was developed through innovation advancement and extensive research. Since plastics were part of petroleum, the oil produced through the pyrolysis process was said to have high calorific value that could be used as an alternative fuel. This paper reviewed the thermal and catalytic degradation of plastics through pyrolysis process and the key factors that affected the final end product, for instance, oil, gaseous and char. Additionally, the liquid fuel properties and a discussion on several perspectives regarding the optimization of the liquid oil yield for every plastic were also included in this paper.

Liquid fuel obtain from polypropylene (PP-5) and high density polyethylene (HDPE-2) waste plastics mixture

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sarker, Moinuddin; Rashid, Mohammad Mamunor; Rahman, Md. Sadikur; Molla, Mohammed [Department of Research and Development, Natural State Research Inc, Stamford, (United States)

2011-07-01

Plastics are made by combination of small based molecules to form monomers. The monomers are then joined together by chemical polymerization mechanism to form polymers also known as plastics. These plastics contain various elements such as carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, chlorine and sul fur. The use of plastics is vastly expanded and it is being used in every sector of the world. However, using plastics does have a negative aspect, after use they end up in our landfill as waste causing numerous health and environmental problems. Landfill waste plastics release harmful gases due to the presence of carbon, chlorine and sul fur in them into the atmosphere causing climates to change drastically, equivalent to the effects of greenhouse gases (GHG) emission. To overcome these environmental issues, scientists have already developed many methods to converting these waste plastics into energy and fuel . We developed one new methods thermal cracking conversion to convert these waste plastics into usable liquid fuel . Thermal cracking conversion is a process to shorten the long chain hydrocarbons to produce liquid fuel in the absence of a catalyst. The thermal degradation process of the waste plastics long chain hydrocarbon to makes short chain hydrocarbon fuel. The fuel produced has been analyzed and tested according to standard methods. Key words: fuel , hydrocarbon, waste plastic, thermal degradation, conversion, GC/MS.

Liquid fuel obtain from polypropylene (PP-5) and high density polyethylene (HDPE-2) waste plastics mixture

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sarker, Moinuddin; Rashid, Mohammad Mamunor; Rahman, Md. Sadikur; Molla, Mohammed

2011-01-01

Plastics are made by combination of small based molecules to form monomers. The monomers are then joined together by chemical polymerization mechanism to form polymers also known as plastics. These plastics contain various elements such as carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, chlorine and sul fur. The use of plastics is vastly expanded and it is being used in every sector of the world. However, using plastics does have a negative aspect, after use they end up in our landfill as waste causing numerous health and environmental problems. Landfill waste plastics release harmful gases due to the presence of carbon, chlorine and sul fur in them into the atmosphere causing climates to change drastically, equivalent to the effects of greenhouse gases (GHG) emission. To overcome these environmental issues, scientists have already developed many methods to converting these waste plastics into energy and fuel . We developed one new methods thermal cracking conversion to convert these waste plastics into usable liquid fuel . Thermal cracking conversion is a process to shorten the long chain hydrocarbons to produce liquid fuel in the absence of a catalyst. The thermal degradation process of the waste plastics long chain hydrocarbon to makes short chain hydrocarbon fuel. The fuel produced has been analyzed and tested according to standard methods. Key words: fuel , hydrocarbon, waste plastic, thermal degradation, conversion, GC/MS

Greenhouse gas mitigation for U.S. plastics production: energy first, feedstocks later

Science.gov (United States)

Posen, I. Daniel; Jaramillo, Paulina; Landis, Amy E.; Griffin, W. Michael

2017-03-01

Plastics production is responsible for 1% and 3% of U.S. greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and primary energy use, respectively. Replacing conventional plastics with bio-based plastics (made from renewable feedstocks) is frequently proposed as a way to mitigate these impacts. Comparatively little research has considered the potential for green energy to reduce emissions in this industry. This paper compares two strategies for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from U.S. plastics production: using renewable energy or switching to renewable feedstocks. Renewable energy pathways assume all process energy comes from wind power and renewable natural gas derived from landfill gas. Renewable feedstock pathways assume that all commodity thermoplastics will be replaced with polylactic acid (PLA) and bioethylene-based plastics, made using either corn or switchgrass, and powered using either conventional or renewable energy. Corn-based biopolymers produced with conventional energy are the dominant near-term biopolymer option, and can reduce industry-wide GHG emissions by 25%, or 16 million tonnes CO2e/year (mean value). In contrast, switching to renewable energy cuts GHG emissions by 50%-75% (a mean industry-wide reduction of 38 million tonnes CO2e/year). Both strategies increase industry costs—by up to 85/tonne plastic (mean result) for renewable energy, and up to 3000 tonne-1 plastic for renewable feedstocks. Overall, switching to renewable energy achieves greater emission reductions, with less uncertainty and lower costs than switching to corn-based biopolymers. In the long run, producing bio-based plastics from advanced feedstocks (e.g. switchgrass) and/or with renewable energy can further reduce emissions, to approximately 0 CO2e/year (mean value).

Fabrication of plastic objects by radiation-induced molding

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Leszyk, G.M.; Morrison, E.D.; Williams, R.F. Jr.

1976-01-01

A process is described for fabricating thin plastic objects. It comprises the following successive operations: a supporting tray is moved into a pouring area; a succession of components of viscous composition in the predetermined shape corresponding to the objects to be produced is poured on to this supporting tray, the viscosity of the composition being such that these distinct components retain their poured shape when they are no longer supported on the supporting tray; the supporting tray bearing the distinct viscous composition components is then moved into a hardening area; the distinct viscous composition components are then irradiated in this hardening area so as to transform them into solid plastic objects. The supporting tray carrying the separate plastic objects, now solid, is withdrawn from the hardening area [fr

Pervasive plastisphere: First record of plastics in egagropiles (Posidonia spheroids).

Science.gov (United States)

Pietrelli, Loris; Di Gennaro, Alessia; Menegoni, Patrizia; Lecce, Francesca; Poeta, Gianluca; Acosta, Alicia T R; Battisti, Corrado; Iannilli, Valentina

2017-10-01

The ability of Posidonia oceanica spheroids (egagropiles, EG) to incorporate plastics was investigated along the central Italy coast. Plastics were found in the 52.84% of the egagropiles collected (n = 685). The more represented size of plastics has range within 1-1.5 cm, comparable to the size of natural fibres. Comparing plastics occurring both in EG and in surrounding sand, Polyethylene, Polyester and Nylon were the most abundant polymers in EG, while PSE, PE, PP and PET were the most represented in sand. In particular PE and PP were significantly more represented in sand, while PE, Nylon, Polyester and microfibers (as pills) were more represented in EG. Within plastics found in EG, 26.9% were microfibers as small pills (PET mixing. These microfibers might be produced by discharges from washing machines and currently represents an emerging pollutant with widespread distribution in marine and freshwater ecosystems. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

EVALUATION OF RECYCLED PLASTIC LUMBER FOR MARINE APPLICATIONS

Science.gov (United States)

This report presents an evaluation of the recycled plastic materials (RPM) produced by California Recycling Company (CRC). This evaluation is performed under the Municipal Waste Innovative Technology Evaluation (MITE) Program of the U.S. EPA, Risk Reduction Engineering Laboratory...

Valorization of post-consumer waste plastic in cementitious concrete composites

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Marzouk, O. Yazoghli; Dheilly, R.M.; Queneudec, M.

2007-01-01

The sheer amount of disposable bottles being produced nowadays makes it imperative to identify alternative procedures for recycling them since they are non-biodegradable. This paper describes an innovative use of consumed plastic bottle waste as sand-substitution aggregate within composite materials for building application. Particularly, bottles made of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) have been used as partial and complete substitutes for sand in concrete composites. Various volume fractions of sand varying from 2% to 100% were substituted by the same volume of granulated plastic, and various sizes of PET aggregates were used. The bulk density and mechanical characteristics of the composites produced were evaluated. To study the relationship between mechanical properties and composite microstructure, scanning electron microscopy technique was employed. The results presented show that substituting sand at a level below 50% by volume with granulated PET, whose upper granular limit equals 5 mm, affects neither the compressive strength nor the flexural strength of composites. This study demonstrates that plastic bottles shredded into small PET particles may be used successfully as sand-substitution aggregates in cementitious concrete composites. These new composites would appear to offer an attractive low-cost material with consistent properties; moreover, they would help in resolving some of the solid waste problems created by plastics production and in saving energy

Plastic Surgery

Science.gov (United States)

... Staying Safe Videos for Educators Search English Español Plastic Surgery KidsHealth / For Teens / Plastic Surgery What's in ... her forehead lightened with a laser? What Is Plastic Surgery? Just because the name includes the word " ...

Compact assembly generates plastic foam, inflates flotation bag

Science.gov (United States)

1965-01-01

Device for generating plastic foam consists of an elastomeric bag and two containers with liquid resin and a liquid catalyst. When the walls of the containers are ruptured the liquids come into contact producing foam which inflates the elastomeric bag.

The use of notebooks in mathematics instruction. What is manageable? What should be avoided? A field report after 10 years of CAS-application

OpenAIRE

Hofbauer, Peter

2012-01-01

Computer Algebra Systems (CAS) have been changing the mathematics instruction requirements for many years. Since the tendency of using CAS in mathematics instruction has been rising for decades and reports have often been positive, the implementation of notebook classes seems to be the consequent next step of mathematics instruction supported by computers. Experiences that have been made with the use of CAS in PC-rooms can be transformed directly into the classroom. Hence the use of CAS is no...

OpenLabNotes--An Electronic Laboratory Notebook Extension for OpenLabFramework.

Science.gov (United States)

List, Markus; Franz, Michael; Tan, Qihua; Mollenhauer, Jan; Baumbach, Jan

2015-10-06

Electronic laboratory notebooks (ELNs) are more accessible and reliable than their paper based alternatives and thus find widespread adoption. While a large number of commercial products is available, small- to mid-sized laboratories can often not afford the costs or are concerned about the longevity of the providers. Turning towards free alternatives, however, raises questions about data protection, which are not sufficiently addressed by available solutions. To serve as legal documents, ELNs must prevent scientific fraud through technical means such as digital signatures. It would also be advantageous if an ELN was integrated with a laboratory information management system to allow for a comprehensive documentation of experimental work including the location of samples that were used in a particular experiment. Here, we present OpenLabNotes, which adds state-of-the-art ELN capabilities to OpenLabFramework, a powerful and flexible laboratory information management system. In contrast to comparable solutions, it allows to protect the intellectual property of its users by offering data protection with digital signatures. OpenLabNotes effectively closes the gap between research documentation and sample management, thus making Open-LabFramework more attractive for laboratories that seek to increase productivity through electronic data management.

OpenLabNotes - An Electronic Laboratory Notebook Extension for OpenLabFramework.

Science.gov (United States)

List, Markus; Franz, Michael; Tan, Qihua; Mollenhauer, Jan; Baumbach, Jan

2015-09-01

Electronic laboratory notebooks (ELNs) are more accessible and reliable than their paper based alternatives and thus find widespread adoption. While a large number of commercial products is available, small- to mid-sized laboratories can often not afford the costs or are concerned about the longevity of the providers. Turning towards free alternatives, however, raises questions about data protection, which are not sufficiently addressed by available solutions. To serve as legal documents, ELNs must prevent scientific fraud through technical means such as digital signatures. It would also be advantageous if an ELN was integrated with a laboratory information management system to allow for a comprehensive documentation of experimental work including the location of samples that were used in a particular experiment. Here, we present OpenLabNotes, which adds state-of-the-art ELN capabilities to OpenLabFramework, a powerful and flexible laboratory information management system. In contrast to comparable solutions, it allows to protect the intellectual property of its users by offering data protection with digital signatures. OpenLabNotes effectively closes the gap between research documentation and sample management, thus making Open- LabFramework more attractive for laboratories that seek to increase productivity through electronic data management.

Plastic anisotropy of straight and cross rolled molybdenum sheets

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Oertel, C.-G.; Huensche, I.; Skrotzki, W.; Knabl, W.; Lorich, A.; Resch, J.

2008-01-01

The microstructure, texture and mechanical properties of molybdenum sheets produced by different rolling processes were investigated by orientation imaging in the scanning electron microscope, X-ray diffraction and tensile tests, respectively. For comparable recrystallization degree of the sheets investigated, straight rolling with low reduction ratio produces α-fiber textures with a maximum at {100} . At higher rolling degrees the maximum shifts to {112} . Cross rolling increases the rotated cube component {100} . The strong differences in the texture measured are reflected in the plastic anisotropy characterized by differences in the yield stress and Lankford parameter which were measured along directions in the rolling plane at angles of 0 deg., 45 deg. and 90 deg. with the rolling direction. The Taylor-Bishop-Hill theory is used successfully to qualitatively explain the plastic anisotropy

Sharp tipped plastic hollow microneedle array by microinjection moulding

Science.gov (United States)

Yung, K. L.; Xu, Yan; Kang, Chunlei; Liu, H.; Tam, K. F.; Ko, S. M.; Kwan, F. Y.; Lee, Thomas M. H.

2012-01-01

A method of producing sharp tipped plastic hollow microneedle arrays using microinjection moulding is presented in this paper. Unlike traditional approaches, three mould inserts were used to create the sharp tips of the microneedles. Mould inserts with low surface roughness were fabricated using a picosecond laser machine. Sharp tipped plastic hollow microneedles 500 µm in height were fabricated using a microinjection moulding machine developed by the authors’ group. In addition, the strength of the microneedle was studied by simulation and penetration experiments. Results show that the microneedles can penetrate into skin, delivering liquid successfully without any breakage or severe deformation. Techniques presented in this paper can be used to fabricate sharp tipped plastic hollow microneedle arrays massively with low cost.

Sharp tipped plastic hollow microneedle array by microinjection moulding

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yung, K L; Xu, Yan; Kang, Chunlei; Liu, H; Tam, K F; Ko, S M; Kwan, F Y; Lee, Thomas M H

2012-01-01

A method of producing sharp tipped plastic hollow microneedle arrays using microinjection moulding is presented in this paper. Unlike traditional approaches, three mould inserts were used to create the sharp tips of the microneedles. Mould inserts with low surface roughness were fabricated using a picosecond laser machine. Sharp tipped plastic hollow microneedles 500 µm in height were fabricated using a microinjection moulding machine developed by the authors’ group. In addition, the strength of the microneedle was studied by simulation and penetration experiments. Results show that the microneedles can penetrate into skin, delivering liquid successfully without any breakage or severe deformation. Techniques presented in this paper can be used to fabricate sharp tipped plastic hollow microneedle arrays massively with low cost. (paper)

Experimental Validation of Plastic Mandible Models Produced by a “Low-Cost” 3-Dimensional Fused Deposition Modeling Printer

Science.gov (United States)

Maschio, Federico; Pandya, Mirali; Olszewski, Raphael

2016-01-01

Background The objective of this study was to investigate the accuracy of 3-dimensional (3D) plastic (ABS) models generated using a low-cost 3D fused deposition modelling printer. Material/Methods Two human dry mandibles were scanned with a cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) Accuitomo device. Preprocessing consisted of 3D reconstruction with Maxilim software and STL file repair with Netfabb software. Then, the data were used to print 2 plastic replicas with a low-cost 3D fused deposition modeling printer (Up plus 2®). Two independent observers performed the identification of 26 anatomic landmarks on the 4 mandibles (2 dry and 2 replicas) with a 3D measuring arm. Each observer repeated the identifications 20 times. The comparison between the dry and plastic mandibles was based on 13 distances: 8 distances less than 12 mm and 5 distances greater than 12 mm. Results The mean absolute difference (MAD) was 0.37 mm, and the mean dimensional error (MDE) was 3.76%. The MDE decreased to 0.93% for distances greater than 12 mm. Conclusions Plastic models generated using the low-cost 3D printer UPplus2® provide dimensional accuracies comparable to other well-established rapid prototyping technologies. Validated low-cost 3D printers could represent a step toward the better accessibility of rapid prototyping technologies in the medical field. PMID:27003456

Experimental assessment of unvalidated assumptions in classical plasticity theory.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Brannon, Rebecca Moss (University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT); Burghardt, Jeffrey A. (University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT); Bauer, Stephen J.; Bronowski, David R.

2009-01-01

This report investigates the validity of several key assumptions in classical plasticity theory regarding material response to changes in the loading direction. Three metals, two rock types, and one ceramic were subjected to non-standard loading directions, and the resulting strain response increments were displayed in Gudehus diagrams to illustrate the approximation error of classical plasticity theories. A rigorous mathematical framework for fitting classical theories to the data, thus quantifying the error, is provided. Further data analysis techniques are presented that allow testing for the effect of changes in loading direction without having to use a new sample and for inferring the yield normal and flow directions without having to measure the yield surface. Though the data are inconclusive, there is indication that classical, incrementally linear, plasticity theory may be inadequate over a certain range of loading directions. This range of loading directions also coincides with loading directions that are known to produce a physically inadmissible instability for any nonassociative plasticity model.

plastic waste recycling

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Dr Ahmed

incinerators is increasing around the world. Discarded plastic products ... Agency (EPA) estimated that the amount of plastics throw away is. 50 % greater in the ... The waste plastics were identified using the Society of the Plastic. Industry (SPI) ...

ASSESSMENT OF PLASTIC FLOWS AND STOCKS IN SERBIA USING MATERIAL FLOW ANALYSIS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Goran Vujić

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Material flow analysis (MFA was used to assess the amounts of plastic materials flows and stocks that are annually produced, consumed, imported, exported, collected, recycled, and disposed in the landfills in Serbia. The analysis revealed that approximatelly 269,000 tons of plastic materials are directly disposed in uncontrolled landfills in Serbia without any preatretment, and that siginificant amounts of these materials have already accumulated in the landfills. The substantial amounts of landfilled plastics represent not only a loss of valuable recourses, but also pose a seriuos treath to the environment and human health, and if the trend of direct plastic landfilling is continued, Serbia will face with grave consecequnces.

Plastic scintillators utilization in position sensitive detection systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Garcia, Marcelo Bernardes; Soares, Adalberto Jose; Baptista Filho, Benedito Dias

2002-01-01

This paper shows the viability of using a plastic scintillator detector to determine the one dimension position of a radioactive source. The experiments were performed using collimated 99m Tc sources of several activities supplied by the Centro de Radiofarmacia (from IPEN), and a 15 cm long plastic scintillator with diameter 5,08 cm, produced by the Centro de Tecnologia das Radiacoes (also from IPEN). The spectrum was obtained using the Genie 2000 software, and the results processed using a neural network specially developed for the proposed application. The final results demonstrate the viability of the proposed application. (author)

Direct liquefaction of plastics and coprocessing of coal with plastics

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Huffman, G.P.; Feng, Z.; Mahajan, V. [Univ. of Kentucky, Lexington, KY (United States)

1995-12-31

The objectives of this work were to optimize reaction conditions for the direct liquefaction of waste plastics and the coprocessing of coal with waste plastics. In previous work, the direct liquefaction of medium and high density polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PPE), poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET), and a mixed plastic waste, and the coliquefaction of these plastics with coals of three different ranks was studied. The results established that a solid acid catalyst (HZSM-5 zeolite) was highly active for the liquefaction of the plastics alone, typically giving oil yields of 80-95% and total conversions of 90-100% at temperatures of 430-450 {degrees}C. In the coliquefaction experiments, 50:50 mixtures of plastic and coal were used with a tetralin solvent (tetralin:solid = 3:2). Using approximately 1% of the HZSM-5 catalyst and a nanoscale iron catalyst, oil yields of 50-70% and total conversion of 80-90% were typical. In the current year, further investigations were conducted of the liquefaction of PE, PPE, and a commingled waste plastic obtained from the American Plastics Council (APC), and the coprocessing of PE, PPE and the APC plastic with Black Thunder subbituminous coal. Several different catalysts were used in these studies.

Thermal and mechanical properties of bio-based plasticizers mixtures on poly (vinyl chloride

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Boussaha Bouchoul

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Abstract The use of mixtures of nontoxic and biodegradable plasticizers coming from natural resources is a good way to replace conventional phthalates plasticizers. In this study, two secondary plasticizers of epoxidized sunflower oil (ESO and epoxidized sunflower oil methyl ester (ESOME were synthesized and have been used with two commercially available biobased plasticizers; isosorbide diesters (ISB and acetyl tributyl citrate (ATBC in order to produce flexible PVC. Different mixtures of these plasticizers have been introduced in PVC formulations. Thermal, mechanical and morphological properties have been studied by using discoloration, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC, dynamic mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA, tensile - strain and scanning electron microscopy (SEM. Studies have shown that PVC plasticization and stabilization were improved by addition of plasticizers blends containing ISB, ATBC, ESO and ESOME. An increase in the content of ESO or ESOME improved thermal and mechanical properties, whereas ESOME/ATBC formulations exhibited the best properties.

Ocean acidification challenges copepod phenotypic plasticity

Science.gov (United States)

Vehmaa, Anu; Almén, Anna-Karin; Brutemark, Andreas; Paul, Allanah; Riebesell, Ulf; Furuhagen, Sara; Engström-Öst, Jonna

2016-11-01

Ocean acidification is challenging phenotypic plasticity of individuals and populations. Calanoid copepods (zooplankton) are shown to be fairly plastic against altered pH conditions, and laboratory studies indicate that transgenerational effects are one mechanism behind this plasticity. We studied phenotypic plasticity of the copepod Acartia sp. in the course of a pelagic, large-volume mesocosm study that was conducted to investigate ecosystem and biogeochemical responses to ocean acidification. We measured copepod egg production rate, egg-hatching success, adult female size and adult female antioxidant capacity (ORAC) as a function of acidification (fCO2 ˜ 365-1231 µatm) and as a function of quantity and quality of their diet. We used an egg transplant experiment to reveal whether transgenerational effects can alleviate the possible negative effects of ocean acidification on offspring development. We found significant negative effects of ocean acidification on adult female size. In addition, we found signs of a possible threshold at high fCO2, above which adaptive maternal effects cannot alleviate the negative effects of acidification on egg-hatching and nauplii development. We did not find support for the hypothesis that insufficient food quantity (total particulate carbon < 55 µm) or quality (C : N) weakens the transgenerational effects. However, females with high-ORAC-produced eggs with high hatching success. Overall, these results indicate that Acartia sp. could be affected by projected near-future CO2 levels.

Mechanisms by Which Phenotypic Plasticity Affects Adaptive Divergence and Ecological Speciation.

Science.gov (United States)

Nonaka, Etsuko; Svanbäck, Richard; Thibert-Plante, Xavier; Englund, Göran; Brännström, Åke

2015-11-01

Phenotypic plasticity is the ability of one genotype to produce different phenotypes depending on environmental conditions. Several conceptual models emphasize the role of plasticity in promoting reproductive isolation and, ultimately, speciation in populations that forage on two or more resources. These models predict that plasticity plays a critical role in the early stages of speciation, prior to genetic divergence, by facilitating fast phenotypic divergence. The ability to plastically express alternative phenotypes may, however, interfere with the early phase of the formation of reproductive barriers, especially in the absence of geographic barriers. Here, we quantitatively investigate mechanisms under which plasticity can influence progress toward adaptive genetic diversification and ecological speciation. We use a stochastic, individual-based model of a predator-prey system incorporating sexual reproduction and mate choice in the predator. Our results show that evolving plasticity promotes the evolution of reproductive isolation under diversifying environments when individuals are able to correctly select a more profitable habitat with respect to their phenotypes (i.e., adaptive habitat choice) and to assortatively mate with relatively similar phenotypes. On the other hand, plasticity facilitates the evolution of plastic generalists when individuals have a limited capacity for adaptive habitat choice. We conclude that plasticity can accelerate the evolution of a reproductive barrier toward adaptive diversification and ecological speciation through enhanced phenotypic differentiation between diverging phenotypes.

The role of chlorine and additives of PVC-plastic in combustion

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mattila, H.

1991-01-01

The PVC differs from other common plastics due to the chlorine content. As the PVC is combusted, the chlorine is released mainly as hydrogen chloride. The content of chlorinated hydrocarbons is small, but these can also contain polychlorinated dibenzofuranes and dibenzodioxines, which are extremely poisonous. The aim of this study was to find out, what is the portion of PVC combustion in total emission of chlorinated hydrocarbons. Additionally, the amounts chlorine coming into combustion process with ordinary fuels have been estimated, and they are compared with the amounts of PVC. The chloride content of municipal wastes vary in between 0.4-0.9 %. The portion of plastics is about 30 % of the total, and the rest being from paper, food , wood and garden wastes an textiles. Both organic and inorganic chlorine form gaseous hydrogen chlorid in combustion processes. HCl can then react with oxygen and produce caseous chlorine. This can react with unreacted carbon of the smoke and produce different kinds of chlorinated hydrocarbons. The portion of PVC of the chlorine going into combustion in Finland has been estimated to be about 1-2 %. Combustion tests were made using coal and bark and plastic waste as additional fuel. It was noticed that addition of plastic decreased the amount of polyaromatic hydrocarbons in the smoke. Chlorinated dioxins and furans occurred a little less in the gases of combustion of plastic mixtures not containing PVC than in reference tests, but they increased when PVC containing plastic mixture was combusted, but more chlorinated dioxins and furans were absorbed into fly ash, so the emissions remained almost the same

Influence of various stresses on diametral and axial plastic deformations of the Phenix reactor fuel cans

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Guerin, Y.; Boutard, J.L.

1983-04-01

Dimensions of fuel cans are modified during irradiation in fast reactors: diameter increase is produced by steel swelling and irradiation creep under the pressure of fission gases and length increase integrates swelling. Diameter and density measured on fuel cans in SS 316, irradiated in the Phenix reactor, show that interaction spacer-can and interaction between pins produce plastic deformations. The interaction spacer-can leads not only to a helical deflection of the pin but also a slight axial plastic compression associated to a diametral plastic deformation. There is also a leveling of elongation in these strained pins because of friction with neighbouring pins [fr

Studies of novel plastic scintillators

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McInally, I.D.

1979-08-01

The general aim of this study was to synthesize fluorescent compounds which are capable of polymerisation, to prepare polymers and co-polymers from these compounds and to study the photophysical properties of these materials. In this way it is hoped to produce plastic scintillators exhibiting improved energy transfer efficiency. Materials studied included POS(2-phenyl-5-(p vinyl) phenyloxazole) vinyl naphthalene, methyl anthracene terminated poly vinyl toluene) and derivatives of BuPBD. (author)

Recent developments in plastic scintillators with pulse shape discrimination

Science.gov (United States)

Zaitseva, N. P.; Glenn, A. M.; Mabe, A. N.; Carman, M. L.; Hurlbut, C. R.; Inman, J. W.; Payne, S. A.

2018-05-01

The paper reports results of studies conducted to improve scintillation performance of plastic scintillators capable of neutron/gamma pulse-shape discrimination (PSD). Compositional modifications made with the polymer matrix improved physical stability, allowing for increased loads of the primary dye that, in combination with selected secondary dyes, provided enhanced PSD especially important for the lower energy ranges. Additional measurements were made with a newly-introduced PSD plastic EJ-276, that replaces the first commercially produced EJ-299. Comparative studies conducted with the new materials and EJ-309 liquids at large scale (up to 10 cm) show that current plastics may provide scintillation and PSD performance sufficient for the replacement of liquid scintillators. Comparison to stilbene single crystals compliments the information about the status of the solid-state materials recently developed for fast neutron detection applications.

Optimization of the fabrication methodology for plastic scintillators using chemical catalyzers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Costa Junior, Nelson P.; Costa, Fabio E. da; Mesquita, Carlos H.; Hamada, Margarida M.

1997-01-01

Plastic scintillator detectors were developed by polymerisation in the PPO and POPOP solution in styrene monomer, using catalyst 1-1 Bis(terc-peroxybuthyl)cyclohexane ranging from 0.008 to 0.5%. In order to study the catalyst influence on the plastic scintillator quality, the luminescence emission, transmittance, decay constant and light output for alpha and gamma rays were evaluated. For comparison, the same evaluation measurements were carried out using the plastic scintillator detector produced by thermal polymerisation under vacuum (1.0 x 10 -2 mbar), without catalyst. The results indicated that the catalyst concentration must range from 0.008 to 0.1%. (author). 10 refs., 7 figs., 1 tab

Vocal plasticity in a reptile.

Science.gov (United States)

Brumm, Henrik; Zollinger, Sue Anne

2017-05-31

Sophisticated vocal communication systems of birds and mammals, including human speech, are characterized by a high degree of plasticity in which signals are individually adjusted in response to changes in the environment. Here, we present, to our knowledge, the first evidence for vocal plasticity in a reptile. Like birds and mammals, tokay geckos ( Gekko gecko ) increased the duration of brief call notes in the presence of broadcast noise compared to quiet conditions, a behaviour that facilitates signal detection by receivers. By contrast, they did not adjust the amplitudes of their call syllables in noise (the Lombard effect), which is in line with the hypothesis that the Lombard effect has evolved independently in birds and mammals. However, the geckos used a different strategy to increase signal-to-noise ratios: instead of increasing the amplitude of a given call type when exposed to noise, the subjects produced more high-amplitude syllable types from their repertoire. Our findings demonstrate that reptile vocalizations are much more flexible than previously thought, including elaborate vocal plasticity that is also important for the complex signalling systems of birds and mammals. We suggest that signal detection constraints are one of the major forces driving the evolution of animal communication systems across different taxa. © 2017 The Author(s).

Characteristics of A-150 plastic equivalent gas in A-150 plastic ionization chambers for p(66)Be(49) neutrons

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Awschalom, M.; Rosenberg, I.; Ten Haken, R.K.; Pearson, D.W.; DeLuca, P.M. Jr.; Attix, F.H.

1982-01-01

The average energy necessary to produce an electron-ion pair (anti W) of a gas mixture having an atomic composition very close to that of A-150 plastic has been studied through use in different size ionization chambers made of that plastic in a p(66)Be(49) neutron therapy beam. A tentative value for anti W(A-150-gas) of 27.3 +/ -0.5 J C -1 was derived. The anti W value of the A-150 equivalent gas mixture is compared to those of methane-based tissue-equivalent gas and of air for the p(66)Be(49) neutron beam as well as to corresponding values found in similar experiments using 14.8 MeV monoenergetic neutrons

Do plastic particles affect microalgal photosynthesis and growth?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Sjollema, S.B.; Redondo-Hasselerharm, P.; Leslie, H.A.; Kraak, M.H.S.; Vethaak, A.D.

2016-01-01

The unbridled increase in plastic pollution of the world's oceans raises concerns about potential effects these materials may have on microalgae, which are primary producers at the basis of the food chain and a major global source of oxygen. Our current understanding about the potential modes and

Integration of ROOT Notebooks as an ATLAS analysis web-based tool in outreach and public data release

CERN Document Server

Sanchez, Arturo; The ATLAS collaboration

2016-01-01

The integration of the ROOT data analysis framework with the Jupyter Notebook technology presents an incredible potential in the enhance and expansion of educational and training programs: starting from university students in their early years, passing to new ATLAS PhD students and post doctoral researchers, to those senior analysers and professors that want to restart their contact with the analysis of data or to include a more friendly but yet very powerful open source tool in the classroom. Such tools have been already tested in several environments and a fully web-based integration together with Open Access Data repositories brings the possibility to go a step forward in the search of ATLAS for integration between several CERN projects in the field of the education and training, developing new computing solutions on the way.

Simulation of Dislocation and Transformation Plasticity in Shape Memory Alloys

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Volkov, Alexander

1999-01-01

A model of deformation of shape memory alloys has been developed. It takes into account deformation due to the phase transformation and plastic deformation, produced by an external stress or by inter-phase stresses...

Production of high-calorie energy briquettes from bark waste, plastic and oil

Science.gov (United States)

Suwinarti, W.; Amirta, R.; Yuliansyah

2018-04-01

Bark is the waste generated from the utilization of plantation timber, while plastics and oil waste are produced from daily human activity. These waste has the potential to be used as energy briquettes raw materials, especially for fuel in power plants. It would be worth very strategic for the environment and the welfare of society, considering that at this time we are not yet fully capable of well managing all three waste types. On the other hands most of the power plants that operate today still use diesel and coal as fuel. Therefore, the best composition of mixing bark, plastic and oil will be studied as well as its influence on the physical and chemical quality of the briquettes produced. The results show that the addition of the oil waste (70%) and used plastic (30%) as additive give effect to the performance of the briquette formation with the highest calorific value of 33.56 MJ/kg.

Standard guide for preparation of plastics and polymeric specimens for microstructural examination

CERN Document Server

American Society for Testing and Materials. Philadelphia

2004-01-01

1.1 This guide covers recommended procedures and guidelines for the preparation of plastic and polymeric specimens for microstructural examination by light and electron microscopy. 1.2 This guide is applicable to most semi-rigid and rigid plastics, including engineering plastics. This guide is also applicable to some non-rigid plastics. 1.3 The procedures and guidelines presented in this guide are those which generally produce satisfactory specimens. This guide does not describe the variations in techniques required to solve individual problems. 1.4 Many detailed descriptions of grinding and polishing of plastics and polymers are available (1-7). 1.5 This standard does not purport to address all of the safety concerns, if any, associated with its use. It is the responsibility of the user of this standard to establish appropriate safety and health practices and determine the applicability of regulatory limitations prior to use.

Morphofunctional Experience-Dependent Plasticity in the Honeybee Brain

Science.gov (United States)

Andrione, Mara; Timberlake, Benjamin F.; Vallortigara, Giorgio; Antolini, Renzo; Haase, Albrecht

2017-01-01

Repeated or prolonged exposure to an odorant without any positive or negative reinforcement produces experience-dependent plasticity, which results in habituation and latent inhibition. In the honeybee ("Apis mellifera"), it has been demonstrated that, even if the absolute neural representation of an odor in the primary olfactory center,…

Do plastic particles affect microalgal photosynthesis and growth?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Sjollema, S.B.; Redondo-Hasselerharm, P.; Leslie, H.A.; Kraak, M.H.S.; Vethaak, A.D.

2016-01-01

The unbridled increase in plastic pollution of the world’s oceans raises concerns about potential effects these materials may have on microalgae, which are primary producers at the basis of the food chain and a major global source of oxygen. Our current understanding about the potential modes and

Collective flow effects observed with the Plastic Ball

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gustafsson, H.A.; Gutbrod, H.H.; Kolb, B.

1984-01-01

At the Bevalac, collisions of Ca + Ca and Nb + Nb at 400 MeV/nucleon have been studied with the Plastic Ball/Plastic Wall detector. The Plastic Ball covers the angular region between 10 0 and 160 0 . It consists of 815 detectors where each module is a ΔE-E telescope capable of identifying the hydrogen and helium isotopes and positive pions. The ΔE measurement is performed with a 4-mm thick CaF crystal and the E counter is a 36-cm long plastic scintillator. Both signals are read out by a single photomultiplier tube. Due to the different decay times of the two scintillators, ΔE and E information can be separated by gating two different ADC-s at different times. The positive pions are additionally identified by measuring the delayed decay. The Platic Wall, placed 6 m downstream from the target, covers the angular range from 0 0 to 10 0 and measures time of flight, energy loss and position of the reaction products. In addition, the information from the inner counters (0 0 to 2 0 ) is used to produce a trigger signal. Data show two different collection effects

Effect of catalyst contact mode and gas atmosphere during catalytic pyrolysis of waste plastics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xue, Yuan; Johnston, Patrick; Bai, Xianglan

2017-01-01

Highlights: • PE, PP, PS and PET were catalytically pyrolyzed in a tandem micro-pyrolyzer. • Product distribution and composition were varied at in-situ and ex-situ pyrolysis. • Hydrogen carrier gas suppressed coke formation and reduced polyaromatic content. • Positive synergies between PE and PS, or PE and PET were found. - Abstract: In the present study, polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) were pyrolyzed using HZSM-5 zeolite in a tandem micro-pyrolyzer to investigate the effects of plastic type, catalyst and feedstock contact mode, as well as the type of carrier gas on product distribution. Among the four plastics, PS produced highest aromatic yields up to 85% whereas PE and PP mainly produced aliphatic hydrocarbons. In comparison to ex-situ pyrolysis, in-situ pyrolysis of the plastics produced more solid residue but also promoted the formation of aromatic hydrocarbons, except PS. For PS, ex-situ pyrolysis produced a higher yield of aromatics than in-situ pyrolysis, mostly contributed by high styrene yield. During in-situ pyrolysis, the catalyst reduced the decomposition temperatures of the plastics in the order of PE, PP, PS and PET from high to low. Hydrogen carrier gas reduced solid residue and also increased the selectivity of single ring aromatics in comparison to inert pyrolysis. Hydrogen was more beneficial to PS and PET than PE and PP in terms of reducing coke yield and increasing hydrocarbon yield. The present study also showed that catalytically co-pyrolyzing PS and PE, or PET and PE increases the yield of aromatics and reduces the yield of solid residue due to hydrogen transfer from PE to PS or PET and alkylation reactions among the plastic-derivatives.

Plastic value chains

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Baxter, John; Wahlstrom, Margareta; Zu Castell-Rüdenhausen, Malin

2014-01-01

Optimizing plastic value chains is regarded as an important measure in order to increase recycling of plastics in an efficient way. This can also lead to improved awareness of the hazardous substances contained in plastic waste, and how to avoid that these substances are recycled. As an example......, plastics from WEEE is chosen as a Nordic case study. The project aims to propose a number of improvements for this value chain together with representatives from Nordic stakeholders. Based on the experiences made, a guide for other plastic value chains shall be developed....

Plastic waste disposal apparatus

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kito, S

1972-05-01

A test plant plastic incinerator was constructed by the Takuma Boiler Manufacturing Co. for Sekisui Chemical Industries, and the use of a continuous feed spreader was found to be most effective for prevention of black smoke, and the use of a venturi scrubber proved to be effective for elimination of hydrogen chloride gas. The incinerator was designed for combustion of polyvinyl chloride exclusively, but it is also applicable for combustion of other plastics. When burning polyethylene, polypropylene, or polystyrene, (those plastics which do not produce toxic gases), the incinerator requires no scrubber for the combustion gas. The system may or may not have a pretreatment apparatus. For an incinerator with a pretreatment system, the flow chart comprises a pit, a supply crane, a vibration feeder, a metal eliminator, a rotation shredder, a continuous screw feeder with a quantitative supply hopper, a pretreatment chamber (300 C dry distillation), a quantitative supply hopper, and the incinerator. The incinerator is a flat non-grid type combustion chamber with an oil burner and many air nozzles. From the incinerator, ashes are sent by an ash conveyor to an ash bunker. The combustion gas goes to the boiler, and the water supplied the boiler water pump creates steam. The heat from the gas is sent back to the pretreatment system through a heat exchanger. The gas then goes to a venturi scrubber and goes out from a stack.

Morphological analysis of thermoplastic starch films and montmorillonite (TPS/MMT) using vegetable oils of Brazilian Cerrado as plasticizers

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schlemmer, Daniela; Sales, Maria Jose A.; Angelica, Romulo S.; Gomes, Ana Cristina M.M.

2009-01-01

Biopolymers can be used where petrochemical plastics have applications with short life. The excellent degradation of starch and its low cost make it an alternative for obtaining biodegradable plastics. To obtain thermoplastic starch (TPS) is necessary mechanical shake, high temperature and plasticizers. In this work, TPS were produced using three different vegetable oils from Brazilian's cerrado as plasticizers: buriti, macauba or pequi. Materials are also produced with montmorillonite (MMT). All the materials were analyzed by scanning electronic microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The starch micrographs revealed irregular delaminate with a predominance of starch and 'holes' for the oils. In nanocomposites the clusters of clay are dispersed without a defined standard. It was understood that the plasticizers and processing completely changed the structure of starch causing a decrease in their crystallinity degree. Almost all nanocomposites presented exfoliate structure, only one presented intercalated structure. (author)

Our plastic age.

Science.gov (United States)

Thompson, Richard C; Swan, Shanna H; Moore, Charles J; vom Saal, Frederick S

2009-07-27

Within the last few decades, plastics have revolutionized our daily lives. Globally we use in excess of 260 million tonnes of plastic per annum, accounting for approximately 8 per cent of world oil production. In this Theme Issue of Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, we describe current and future trends in usage, together with the many benefits that plastics bring to society. At the same time, we examine the environmental consequences resulting from the accumulation of waste plastic, the effects of plastic debris on wildlife and concerns for human health that arise from the production, usage and disposal of plastics. Finally, we consider some possible solutions to these problems together with the research and policy priorities necessary for their implementation.

Our plastic age

Science.gov (United States)

Thompson, Richard C.; Swan, Shanna H.; Moore, Charles J.; vom Saal, Frederick S.

2009-01-01

Within the last few decades, plastics have revolutionized our daily lives. Globally we use in excess of 260 million tonnes of plastic per annum, accounting for approximately 8 per cent of world oil production. In this Theme Issue of Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, we describe current and future trends in usage, together with the many benefits that plastics bring to society. At the same time, we examine the environmental consequences resulting from the accumulation of waste plastic, the effects of plastic debris on wildlife and concerns for human health that arise from the production, usage and disposal of plastics. Finally, we consider some possible solutions to these problems together with the research and policy priorities necessary for their implementation. PMID:19528049

Challenges and opportunities of biodegradable plastics: A mini review.

Science.gov (United States)

Rujnić-Sokele, Maja; Pilipović, Ana

2017-02-01

The concept of materials coming from nature with environmental advantages of being biodegradable and/or biobased (often referred to as bioplastics) is very attractive to the industry and to the consumers. Bioplastics already play an important role in the fields of packaging, agriculture, gastronomy, consumer electronics and automotive, but still they have a very low share in the total production of plastics (currently about 1% of the about 300 million tonnes of plastic produced annually). Biodegradable plastics are often perceived as the possible solution for the waste problem, but biodegradability is just an additional feature of the material to be exploited at the end of its life in specific terms, in the specific disposal environment and in a specific time, which is often forgotten. They should be used as a favoured choice for the applications that demand a cheap way to dispose of the item after it has fulfilled its job (e.g. for food packaging, agriculture or medical products). The mini-review presents the opportunities and future challenges of biodegradable plastics, regarding processing, properties and waste management options.

‘White revolution’ to ‘white pollution’—agricultural plastic film mulch in China

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, E. K.; He, W. Q.; Yan, C. R.

2014-09-01

Plastic film mulching has played an important role in Chinese agriculture due to its soil warming and moisture conservation effects. With the help of plastic film mulch technology, grain and cash crop yields have increased by 20-35% and 20-60%, respectively. The area of plastic film coverage in China reached approximately 20 million hectares, and the amount of plastic film used reached 1.25 million tons in 2011. While producing huge benefits, plastic film mulch technology has also brought on a series of pollution hazards. Large amounts of residual plastic film have detrimental effects on soil structure, water and nutrient transport and crop growth, thereby disrupting the agricultural environment and reducing crop production. To control pollution, the Chinese government urgently needs to elevate plastic film standards. Meanwhile, research and development of biodegradable mulch film and multi-functional mulch recovery machinery will help promote effective control and management of residual mulch pollution.

A plastic micropump constructed with conventional techniques and materials

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bohm, S.; Olthuis, Wouter; Bergveld, Piet

1999-01-01

A plastic micropump which can be produced using conventional production techniques and materials is presented. By applying well-known techniques and materials, economic fabrication of micropumps for various applications is feasible even at low production volumes. The micropump is capable of pumping

Ocean acidification challenges copepod phenotypic plasticity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. Vehmaa

2016-11-01

Full Text Available Ocean acidification is challenging phenotypic plasticity of individuals and populations. Calanoid copepods (zooplankton are shown to be fairly plastic against altered pH conditions, and laboratory studies indicate that transgenerational effects are one mechanism behind this plasticity. We studied phenotypic plasticity of the copepod Acartia sp. in the course of a pelagic, large-volume mesocosm study that was conducted to investigate ecosystem and biogeochemical responses to ocean acidification. We measured copepod egg production rate, egg-hatching success, adult female size and adult female antioxidant capacity (ORAC as a function of acidification (fCO2  ∼  365–1231 µatm and as a function of quantity and quality of their diet. We used an egg transplant experiment to reveal whether transgenerational effects can alleviate the possible negative effects of ocean acidification on offspring development. We found significant negative effects of ocean acidification on adult female size. In addition, we found signs of a possible threshold at high fCO2, above which adaptive maternal effects cannot alleviate the negative effects of acidification on egg-hatching and nauplii development. We did not find support for the hypothesis that insufficient food quantity (total particulate carbon < 55 µm or quality (C : N weakens the transgenerational effects. However, females with high-ORAC-produced eggs with high hatching success. Overall, these results indicate that Acartia sp. could be affected by projected near-future CO2 levels.

Ocean acidification challenges copepod reproductive plasticity

Science.gov (United States)

Vehmaa, A.; Almén, A.-K.; Brutemark, A.; Paul, A.; Riebesell, U.; Furuhagen, S.; Engström-Öst, J.

2015-11-01

Ocean acidification is challenging phenotypic plasticity of individuals and populations. Calanoid copepods (zooplankton) are shown to be fairly plastic against altered pH conditions, and laboratory studies indicate that transgenerational effects are one mechanism behind this plasticity. We studied phenotypic plasticity of the copepod Acartia bifilosa in the course of a pelagic, large-volume mesocosm study that was conducted to investigate ecosystem and biogeochemical responses to ocean acidification. We measured copepod egg production rate, egg hatching success, adult female size and adult female antioxidant capacity (ORAC) as a function of acidification (fCO2 ~ 365-1231 μatm), and as a function of quantity and quality of their diet. We used an egg transplant experiment to reveal if transgenerational effects can alleviate the possible negative effects of ocean acidification on offspring development. We found significant negative effects of ocean acidification on adult female copepod size and egg hatching success. In addition, we found a threshold of fCO2 concentration (~ 1000 μatm), above which adaptive maternal effects cannot alleviate the negative effects of acidification on egg hatching and nauplii development. We did not find support for the hypothesis that insufficient food quantity (total particulate carbon ~ 55 μm) or quality (C : N) weakens the transgenerational effects. However, females with high ORAC produced eggs with high hatching success. Overall, these results indicate that A. bifilosa could be affected by projected near future CO2 levels.

A N-D VIRTUAL NOTEBOOK ABOUT THE BASILICA OF S. AMBROGIO IN MILAN: INFORMATION MODELING FOR THE COMMUNICATION OF HISTORICAL PHASES SUBTRACTION PROCESS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

C. Stanga

2017-08-01

Full Text Available This essay describes the combination of 3D solutions and software techniques with traditional studies and researches in order to achieve an integrated digital documentation between performed surveys, collected data, and historical research. The approach of this study is based on the comparison of survey data with historical research, and interpretations deduced from a data cross-check between the two mentioned sources. The case study is the Basilica of S. Ambrogio in Milan, one of the greatest monuments in the city, a pillar of the Christianity and of the History of Architecture. It is characterized by a complex stratification of phases of restoration and transformation. Rediscovering the great richness of the traditional architectural notebook, which collected surveys and data, this research aims to realize a virtual notebook, based on a 3D model that supports the dissemination of the collected information. It can potentially be understandable and accessible by anyone through the development of a mobile app. The 3D model was used to explore the different historical phases, starting from the recent layers to the oldest ones, through a virtual subtraction process, following the methods of Archaeology of Architecture. Its components can be imported into parametric software and recognized both in their morphological and typological aspects. It is based on the concept of LoD and ReverseLoD in order to fit the accuracy required by each step of the research.

a N-D Virtual Notebook about the Basilica of S. Ambrogio in Milan: Information Modeling for the Communication of Historical Phases Subtraction Process

Science.gov (United States)

Stanga, C.; Spinelli, C.; Brumana, R.; Oreni, D.; Valente, R.; Banfi, F.

2017-08-01

This essay describes the combination of 3D solutions and software techniques with traditional studies and researches in order to achieve an integrated digital documentation between performed surveys, collected data, and historical research. The approach of this study is based on the comparison of survey data with historical research, and interpretations deduced from a data cross-check between the two mentioned sources. The case study is the Basilica of S. Ambrogio in Milan, one of the greatest monuments in the city, a pillar of the Christianity and of the History of Architecture. It is characterized by a complex stratification of phases of restoration and transformation. Rediscovering the great richness of the traditional architectural notebook, which collected surveys and data, this research aims to realize a virtual notebook, based on a 3D model that supports the dissemination of the collected information. It can potentially be understandable and accessible by anyone through the development of a mobile app. The 3D model was used to explore the different historical phases, starting from the recent layers to the oldest ones, through a virtual subtraction process, following the methods of Archaeology of Architecture. Its components can be imported into parametric software and recognized both in their morphological and typological aspects. It is based on the concept of LoD and ReverseLoD in order to fit the accuracy required by each step of the research.

Impact of Bio-Based Plastics on Current Recycling of Plastics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Luc Alaerts

2018-05-01

Full Text Available Bio-based plastics are increasingly appearing in a range of consumption products, and after use they often end up in technical recycling chains. Bio-based plastics are different from fossil-based ones and could disturb the current recycling of plastics and hence inhibit the closure of plastic cycles, which is undesirable given the current focus on a transition towards a circular economy. In this paper, this risk has been assessed via three elaborated case studies using data and information retrieved through an extended literature search. No overall risks were revealed for bio-based plastics as a group; rather, every bio-based plastic is to be considered as a potential separate source of contamination in current recycling practices. For PLA (polylactic acid, a severe incompatibility with PET (polyethylene terephthalate recycling is known; hence, future risks are assessed by measuring amounts of PLA ending up in PET waste streams. For PHA (polyhydroxy alkanoate there is no risk currently, but it will be crucial to monitor future application development. For PEF (polyethylene furanoate, a particular approach for contamination-related issues has been included in the upcoming market introduction. With respect to developing policy, it is important that any introduction of novel plastics is well guided from a system perspective and with a particular eye on incompatibilities with current and upcoming practices in the recycling of plastics.

Nature's Notebook Provides Phenology Observations for NASA Juniper Phenology and Pollen Transport Project

Science.gov (United States)

Luval, J. C.; Crimmins, T. M.; Sprigg, W. A.; Levetin, E.; Huete, A.; Nickovic, S.; Prasad, A.; Vukovic, A.; VandeWater, P. K.; Budge, A. M.;

A Review on Landfill Management in the Utilization of Plastic Waste as an Alternative Fuel

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hidayah Nurul

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Wastes from landfills originate from many spheres of life. These are produces as a result of human activities either domestically or industrially. The global plastic production increased over years due to the vast applications of plastics in many sectors. The continuous demand of plastics caused the plastic wastes accumulation in the landfill consumed a lot of spaces that contributed to the environmental. In addition, economic growth and development also increased our demand and dependency on plastics which leads to its accumulation in landfills imposing risk on human health, animals and cause environmental pollution problems such as ground water contamination, sanitary related issues, etc. The management and disposal of plastic waste have become a major concern, especially in developing cities. The idea of waste to energy recovery is one of the promising techniques used for managing the waste of plastic. Hence, this paper aims review at utilizing of plastic as an alternative fuel.

A Review on Landfill Management in the Utilization of Plastic Waste as an Alternative Fuel

Science.gov (United States)

Hidayah, Nurul; Syafrudin

2018-02-01

Wastes from landfills originate from many spheres of life. These are produces as a result of human activities either domestically or industrially. The global plastic production increased over years due to the vast applications of plastics in many sectors. The continuous demand of plastics caused the plastic wastes accumulation in the landfill consumed a lot of spaces that contributed to the environmental. In addition, economic growth and development also increased our demand and dependency on plastics which leads to its accumulation in landfills imposing risk on human health, animals and cause environmental pollution problems such as ground water contamination, sanitary related issues, etc. The management and disposal of plastic waste have become a major concern, especially in developing cities. The idea of waste to energy recovery is one of the promising techniques used for managing the waste of plastic. Hence, this paper aims review at utilizing of plastic as an alternative fuel.

Plastic flow produced by single ion impacts on metals

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Birtcher, R. C.

1998-01-01

Single ion impacts have been observed using in situ transmission electron microscopy and video recording with a time resolution of 33 milliseconds. Gold was irradiated at 50 K and room temperature. Single ion impacts produce holes, modify existing holes, and extrude material into the initial specimen hole and holes formed by other ion impacts. The same behavior is observed at both temperatures. At both temperatures, ion impacts result in craters and ejected material. Ion impacts produce more small craters than large ones for all ion masses, while heavier mass ions produce more and larger craters than lighter mass ions. This comparison is affected by the ion energy. As the energy of an ion is increased, the probability for deposition near the surface decreases and fewer craters are formed. For a given ion mass, crater production depends on the probability for displacement cascade production in the near surface region. Crater and holes are stable at room temperature, however, ion impacts near an existing crater may cause flow of material into the crater either reshaping or annihilating it. Holes and craters result from the explosive outflow of material from the molten zone of near-surface cascades. The outflow may take the form of molten material, a solid lid or an ejected particle. The surface is a major perturbation on displacement cascades resulting from ion impacts

Biodegradability of plastics.

Science.gov (United States)

Tokiwa, Yutaka; Calabia, Buenaventurada P; Ugwu, Charles U; Aiba, Seiichi

2009-08-26

Plastic is a broad name given to different polymers with high molecular weight, which can be degraded by various processes. However, considering their abundance in the environment and their specificity in attacking plastics, biodegradation of plastics by microorganisms and enzymes seems to be the most effective process. When plastics are used as substrates for microorganisms, evaluation of their biodegradability should not only be based on their chemical structure, but also on their physical properties (melting point, glass transition temperature, crystallinity, storage modulus etc.). In this review, microbial and enzymatic biodegradation of plastics and some factors that affect their biodegradability are discussed.

Capturing Plastic Surgery on Film—Making Reconstruction Visible

Science.gov (United States)

Ismail, Tarek; Sarraf, Namita; Epple, Christian; Schaefer, Kristin Marit; Schaefer, Dirk J.

2017-01-01

Summary: The Swiss Plastic Surgery Association (https://plasticsurgery.ch/en/) decided to produce a corporate video to illustrate the concept of "plastic surgery of confidence" to the public. We show the diversity of specializations and the vast range of tasks that surgeons passionately handle day in and day out. We wanted to convey 2 main messages: first, that plastic surgery is more than just cosmetic surgery, and second, that plastic surgery in Switzerland is synonymous with quality and confidence. We selected 17 topics that we felt had good filmic potential and would best explain to the public what plastic surgery is about. This included the selection of appropriate patients, experts, and locations from all over the country. We thought it crucial to show the initial preoperative situation, as only in this case would the achievement of reconstruction be evident and comprehensive to the layman audience. The actual production was filmed in 5 different locations and took 5 days of shooting. We recorded 17 surgeons, 9 patients, and about 30 voluntary background actors. From 23 hours of footage, we created a 7 minute, 22 second corporate video, recorded in 3 of the Swiss national languages. The video was presented to the public online in June 2016, on the same day as the National Open Day of Plastic Surgery in Switzerland. The video is available online. We evaluated the impact of the video using a questionnaire for lay people and observed that it could substantially improve the perception of our specialty, especially regarding the reconstructive aspect. We feel that a freely available corporate video is a very useful means to promote plastic surgery and help patients better understand what it is all about. PMID:29062635

Capturing Plastic Surgery on Film—Making Reconstruction Visible

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alexander Lunger, MD

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Summary:. The Swiss Plastic Surgery Association (https://plasticsurgery.ch/en/ decided to produce a corporate video to illustrate the concept of "plastic surgery of confidence" to the public. We show the diversity of specializations and the vast range of tasks that surgeons passionately handle day in and day out. We wanted to convey 2 main messages: first, that plastic surgery is more than just cosmetic surgery, and second, that plastic surgery in Switzerland is synonymous with quality and confidence. We selected 17 topics that we felt had good filmic potential and would best explain to the public what plastic surgery is about. This included the selection of appropriate patients, experts, and locations from all over the country. We thought it crucial to show the initial preoperative situation, as only in this case would the achievement of reconstruction be evident and comprehensive to the layman audience. The actual production was filmed in 5 different locations and took 5 days of shooting. We recorded 17 surgeons, 9 patients, and about 30 voluntary background actors. From 23 hours of footage, we created a 7 minute, 22 second corporate video, recorded in 3 of the Swiss national languages. The video was presented to the public online in June 2016, on the same day as the National Open Day of Plastic Surgery in Switzerland. The video is available online. We evaluated the impact of the video using a questionnaire for lay people and observed that it could substantially improve the perception of our specialty, especially regarding the reconstructive aspect. We feel that a freely available corporate video is a very useful means to promote plastic surgery and help patients better understand what it is all about.

Capturing Plastic Surgery on Film-Making Reconstruction Visible.

Science.gov (United States)

Lunger, Alexander; Ismail, Tarek; Sarraf, Namita; Epple, Christian; Schaefer, Kristin Marit; Schaefer, Dirk J

2017-09-01

The Swiss Plastic Surgery Association (https://plasticsurgery.ch/en/) decided to produce a corporate video to illustrate the concept of "plastic surgery of confidence" to the public. We show the diversity of specializations and the vast range of tasks that surgeons passionately handle day in and day out. We wanted to convey 2 main messages: first, that plastic surgery is more than just cosmetic surgery, and second, that plastic surgery in Switzerland is synonymous with quality and confidence. We selected 17 topics that we felt had good filmic potential and would best explain to the public what plastic surgery is about. This included the selection of appropriate patients, experts, and locations from all over the country. We thought it crucial to show the initial preoperative situation, as only in this case would the achievement of reconstruction be evident and comprehensive to the layman audience. The actual production was filmed in 5 different locations and took 5 days of shooting. We recorded 17 surgeons, 9 patients, and about 30 voluntary background actors. From 23 hours of footage, we created a 7 minute, 22 second corporate video, recorded in 3 of the Swiss national languages. The video was presented to the public online in June 2016, on the same day as the National Open Day of Plastic Surgery in Switzerland. The video is available online. We evaluated the impact of the video using a questionnaire for lay people and observed that it could substantially improve the perception of our specialty, especially regarding the reconstructive aspect. We feel that a freely available corporate video is a very useful means to promote plastic surgery and help patients better understand what it is all about.

Characterization of plastic blends made from mixed plastics waste of different sources.

Science.gov (United States)

Turku, Irina; Kärki, Timo; Rinne, Kimmo; Puurtinen, Ari

2017-02-01

This paper studies the recyclability of construction and household plastic waste collected from local landfills. Samples were processed from mixed plastic waste by injection moulding. In addition, blends of pure plastics, polypropylene and polyethylene were processed as a reference set. Reference samples with known plastic ratio were used as the calibration set for quantitative analysis of plastic fractions in recycled blends. The samples were tested for the tensile properties; scanning electron microscope-energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy was used for elemental analysis of the blend surfaces and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) analysis was used for the quantification of plastics contents.

A strain gradient plasticity theory with application to wire torsion

KAUST Repository

Liu, J. X.

2014-06-05

Based on the framework of the existing strain gradient plasticity theories, we have examined three kinds of relations for the plastic strain dependence of the material intrinsic length scale, and thus developed updated strain gradient plasticity versions with deformation-dependent characteristic length scales. Wire torsion test is taken as an example to assess existing and newly built constitutive equations. For torsion tests, with increasing plastic strain, a constant intrinsic length predicts too high a torque, while a decreasing intrinsic length scale can produce better predictions instead of the increasing one, different from some published observations. If the Taylor dislocation rule is written in the Nix-Gao form, the derived constitutive equations become singular when the hardening exponent gets close to zero, which seems questionable and calls for further experimental clarifications on the exact coupling of hardening due to statistically stored dislocations and geometrically necessary dislocations. Particularly, when comparing the present model with the mechanism-based strain gradient plasticity, the present model satisfies the reciprocity relation naturally and gives different predictions even under the same parameter setting. © The Author(s) 2014 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav.

Impregnating Systems for Producing Wood-Plastic Composite Materials and Resinified Woods by Radiochemical Means

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Laizier, J.; Laroche, R.; Marchand, J.

1969-01-01

The effect of the nature of the components in the impregnation mixture on the characteristics of wood-plastic combinations has been studied in the case of beech by applying a wide variety of compositions. In particular, the effect of water (in the impregnator, and in the form of moisture in the wood) on the characteristics of the products obtained has been determined. It has been shown that, in place of the conventional method for preparing resinified woods (using a ternary monomer-solvent-water mixture), it is possible to use a method involving comonomers, which obviate the need to dry the wood after treatment. The evaluation of the results obtained is based on the value of the impregnation rate and on the modifications in microscopic structure; these emphasize the differences between the types of filler and enable comparisons to be drawn with the dimensional stabilities observed. Measurements of variations in dimensions and the recurrence of moisture have made it possible to establish a classification based on the types of monomer used and the operating conditions. It is shown that a whole range of products is obtained, the properties of which differ widely and are comparatively easily adaptable to the purpose specified. These properties illustrate clearly the differences and characteristics of resinified woods as opposed to conventional wood-plastic materials. (author) [fr

The Prevalence of Cosmetic Facial Plastic Procedures among Facial Plastic Surgeons.

Science.gov (United States)

Moayer, Roxana; Sand, Jordan P; Han, Albert; Nabili, Vishad; Keller, Gregory S

2018-04-01

This is the first study to report on the prevalence of cosmetic facial plastic surgery use among facial plastic surgeons. The aim of this study is to determine the frequency with which facial plastic surgeons have cosmetic procedures themselves. A secondary aim is to determine whether trends in usage of cosmetic facial procedures among facial plastic surgeons are similar to that of nonsurgeons. The study design was an anonymous, five-question, Internet survey distributed via email set in a single academic institution. Board-certified members of the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery (AAFPRS) were included in this study. Self-reported history of cosmetic facial plastic surgery or minimally invasive procedures were recorded. The survey also queried participants for demographic data. A total of 216 members of the AAFPRS responded to the questionnaire. Ninety percent of respondents were male ( n  = 192) and 10.3% were female ( n  = 22). Thirty-three percent of respondents were aged 31 to 40 years ( n  = 70), 25% were aged 41 to 50 years ( n  = 53), 21.4% were aged 51 to 60 years ( n  = 46), and 20.5% were older than 60 years ( n  = 44). Thirty-six percent of respondents had a surgical cosmetic facial procedure and 75% has at least one minimally invasive cosmetic facial procedure. Facial plastic surgeons are frequent users of cosmetic facial plastic surgery. This finding may be due to access, knowledge base, values, or attitudes. By better understanding surgeon attitudes toward facial plastic surgery, we can improve communication with patients and delivery of care. This study is a first step in understanding use of facial plastic procedures among facial plastic surgeons. Thieme Medical Publishers 333 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10001, USA.

Earthquake statistics and plastic events in soft-glassy materials

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Benzi, Roberto; Kumar, Pinaki; Toschi, Federico; Trampert, Jeannot

2016-01-01

We propose a new approach for generating synthetic earthquakes based on the physics of soft glasses. The continuum approach produces yield-stress materials based on Lattice–Boltzmann simulations. We show that if the material is stimulated below yield stress, plastic events occur, which have strong

Radiation processing in the plastics industry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Saunders, C.B.

1988-01-01

The interaction of ionizing radiation with organic substrates to produce useful physical and chemical changes is the basis of the radiation processing industry for plastics. Electron beam (EB) accelerators dominate the industry; however, there are a few small applications that use gamma radiation. The five general product categories that account for over 95% of the worldwide EB capacity used for plastics production are the following: wire and cable insulation; heat-shrinkable film, tubes and pipes; radiation-curable coatings; rubber products; and polyolefin foam. A total of 6.1% of the yearly production of these products in the United States is EB treated. The United States accounts for 59% of the total worldwide EB capacity of 20.5 MW (1984), followed by Europe (16%) and Japan (15%). There are 469 to 479 individual EB units worldwide used for the production of plastics and rubber. The average annual rate of growth (AARG) for the EB processing of plastics in Japan, from 1977 to 1987, was 13.3%. The AARG for Japan has decreased from 20% for 1977 to 198, to 6.4% for 1984 to 1987. Radiation cross-linking, of power cable insulation (cable rating ≥75 kV), thick polyolefin and rubber sheet (≥15 mm), and thick-walled tubing is one fo the potential applications for a 5- to 10-MeV EB system. Other products such as coatings, films and wire insulation may be economically EB-treated using a 5 to 10 MeV accelerator, if several layers of the product could be irradiated simultaneously. Two general product categories that require more study to determine the potential of high-energy EB processing are moulded plastics and composite materials. 32 refs

Biodegradability of Plastics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yutaka Tokiwa

2009-08-01

Full Text Available Plastic is a broad name given to different polymers with high molecular weight, which can be degraded by various processes. However, considering their abundance in the environment and their specificity in attacking plastics, biodegradation of plastics by microorganisms and enzymes seems to be the most effective process. When plastics are used as substrates for microorganisms, evaluation of their biodegradability should not only be based on their chemical structure, but also on their physical properties (melting point, glass transition temperature, crystallinity, storage modulus etc.. In this review, microbial and enzymatic biodegradation of plastics and some factors that affect their biodegradability are discussed.

A study on compound contents for plastic injection molding products of metallic resin pigment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Park, Young Whan; Kwak, Jae Seob; Lee, Gyu Sang

2016-01-01

Injection molding process is widely used for producing most plastic products. In order to make a metal-colored plastic product especially in modern luxury home alliances, metallic pigments which are mixed to a basic resin material for injection molding are available. However, the process control for the metal-colored plastic product is extremely difficult due to non-uniform melt flow of the metallic resin pigments. To improve the process efficiency, a rapid mold cooling method by a compressed cryogenic fluid and electricity mold are also proposed to decrease undesired compound contents within a molded plastic product. In this study, a quality of the metal-colored plastic product is evaluated with process parameters; injection speed, injection pressure, and pigment contents, and an influence of the rapid cooling and heating system is demonstrated

A study on compound contents for plastic injection molding products of metallic resin pigment

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Park, Young Whan; Kwak, Jae Seob [Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, Pukyong National University, Busan (Korea, Republic of); Lee, Gyu Sang [Alliance Molding Engineering TeamLG Electronics Inc., Osan (Korea, Republic of)

2016-12-15

Injection molding process is widely used for producing most plastic products. In order to make a metal-colored plastic product especially in modern luxury home alliances, metallic pigments which are mixed to a basic resin material for injection molding are available. However, the process control for the metal-colored plastic product is extremely difficult due to non-uniform melt flow of the metallic resin pigments. To improve the process efficiency, a rapid mold cooling method by a compressed cryogenic fluid and electricity mold are also proposed to decrease undesired compound contents within a molded plastic product. In this study, a quality of the metal-colored plastic product is evaluated with process parameters; injection speed, injection pressure, and pigment contents, and an influence of the rapid cooling and heating system is demonstrated.

Reducing single-use plastic shopping bags in the USA.

Science.gov (United States)

Wagner, Travis P

2017-12-01

In the USA, local governments have the primary responsibility to manage MSW. However, local governments lack the authority to explicitly shift costs or responsibility back onto the producer for specific problem wastes. A particularly problematic waste for local governments is the single-use plastic bag. In 2014, in the USA, 103.465 billion single-use plastic shopping bags were consumed. Because of their extremely low recyclability rate, plastic bags remain a significant source of land-based litter and marine debris and impair stormwater management systems. They also reduce the effectiveness of automated recycling systems. In response, local governments increasingly have adopted a variety of measures specifically intended to reduce the store-level consumption of single-use shopping bags in 5 major categories: bans, imposition of fees and taxes, establishing minimum product design of bags, requiring consumer education, and mandating retailer take-back programs. As of September 2017, there were 271 local governments in the USA with plastic bag ordinances covering 9.7% of the nation's population. The majority (95%) of the ordinances is a ban on single-use plastic bags; 56.9% of these bans also include a mandatory fee on paper and/or reusable bags. For the fee-based ordinances, the mode is $0.10 per bag; every tax/fee ordinance allows retailers to retain some or all the collected fee. As local governments continue to increase their actions on plastic bags, 11 states have enacted laws to prohibit local governments from regulating single-use plastic bags. Because of the success with single-use bags, local governments are also enacting similar ordinances on single-use expanded polystyrene consumer products and other single-use plastic products. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Plastics disassembly versus bulk recycling: engineering design for end-of-life electronics resource recovery.

Science.gov (United States)

Rios, Pedro; Stuart, Julie Ann; Grant, Ed

2003-12-01

Annual plastic flows through the business and consumer electronics manufacturing supply chain include nearly 3 billion lb of high-value engineering plastics derived from petroleum. The recovery of resource value from this stream presents critical challenges in areas of materials identification and recycling process design that demand new green engineering technologies applied together with life cycle assessment and ecological supply chain analysis to create viable plastics-to-plastics supply cycles. The sustainable recovery of potentially high-value engineering plastics streams requires that recyclers either avoid mixing plastic parts or purify later by separating smaller plastic pieces created in volume reduction (shredding) steps. Identification and separation constitute significant barriers in the plastics-to-plastics recycling value proposition. In the present work, we develop a model that accepts randomly arriving electronic products to study scenarios by which a recycler might identify and separate high-value engineering plastics as well as metals. Using discrete eventsimulation,we compare current mixed plastics recovery with spectrochemical plastic resin identification and subsequent sorting. Our results show that limited disassembly with whole-part identification can produce substantial yields in separated streams of recovered engineering thermoplastics. We find that disassembly with identification does not constitute a bottleneck, but rather, with relatively few workers, can be configured to pull the process and thus decrease maximum staging space requirements.

A Perspective on the Prowaste Concept: Efficient Utilization of Plastic Waste through Product Design and Process Innovation.

Science.gov (United States)

Greco, Antonio; Frigione, Mariaenrica; Maffezzoli, Alfonso; Marseglia, Alessandro; Passaro, Alessandra

2014-07-23

This work is aimed to present an innovative technology for the reinforcement of beams for urban furniture, produced by in-mold extrusion of plastics from solid urban waste. This material, which is usually referred to as "recycled plastic lumber", is characterized by very poor mechanical properties, which results in high deflections under flexural loads, particularly under creep conditions. The Prowaste project, founded by the EACI (European Agency for Competitiveness and Innovation) in the framework of the Eco-Innovation measure, was finalized to develop an innovative technology for selective reinforcement of recycled plastic lumber. Selective reinforcement was carried out by the addition of pultruded glass rods in specific positions with respect to the cross section of the beam, which allowed optimizing the reinforcing efficiency. The reinforcement of the plastic lumber beams with pultruded rods was tested at industrial scale plant, at Solteco SL (Alfaro, Spain). The beams obtained, characterized by low cost and weight, were commercialized by the Spanish company. The present paper presents the most relevant results of the Prowaste project. Initially, an evaluation of the different materials candidates for the reinforcement of recycled plastic lumber is presented. Plastic lumber beams produced in the industrial plant were characterized in terms of flexural properties. The results obtained are interpreted by means of beam theory, which allows for extrapolation of the characteristic features of beams produced by different reinforcing elements. Finally, a theoretical comparison with other approaches which can be used for the reinforcement of plastic lumber is presented, highlighting that, among others, the Prowaste concept maximizes the stiffening efficiency, allowing to significantly reduce the weight of the components.

Elastic-plastic behaviour of thick-walled containers considering plastic compressibility

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Betten, J.; Frosch, H.G.

1983-01-01

In this paper the elastic-plastic behaviour of thick-walled pressure vessels with internal and external pressure is studied. To describe the mechanical behaviour of isotropic, plastic compressible materials we use a plastic potential which is a single-valued function of the principle stresses. For cylinders and spheres an analytic expression for the computation of stresses and residual stresses is specified. Afterwards the strains are calculated by using the finite difference method. Some examples will high-light the influence of the plastic compressibility on the behaviour of pressure vessels. (orig.) [de

Development of metallic molds for the large volume plastic scintillator fabrication

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Calvo, Wilson A.P.; Vieira, Jose M.; Rela, Paulo R.; Bruzinga, Wilson A.; Araujo, Eduardo P.; Costa Junior, Nelson P.; Hamada, Margarida M.

1997-01-01

The plastic scintillators are radiation detectors made of organic fluorescent compounds dissolved in a solidified polymer matrix. The manufacturing process of large volume detectors (55 liters) at low cost, by polymerization of the styrene monomer plus PPO and POPOP scintillators, was studied in this paper. Metallic molds of ASTM 1200 aluminum and AISI 304 stainless steel were produced by TIG welding process since the polymerization reaction is very exothermic. The measurements of transmittance, luminescence, X-ray fluorescence and light output were carried out in the plastic scintillators made using different metallic molds. The characterization results of the detectors produced in an open system using ASTM 1200 aluminum mold show that there is not quality change in the scintillator, even with aluminum being considered as unstable for styrene monomer. Therefore, the ASTM 1200 aluminum was found to be the best alternative to produce the detector by an open system polymerization. (author). 11 refs., 8 figs., 1 tab

Bacterial production of the biodegradable plastics polyhydroxyalkanoates.

Science.gov (United States)

Urtuvia, Viviana; Villegas, Pamela; González, Myriam; Seeger, Michael

2014-09-01

Petroleum-based plastics constitute a major environmental problem due to their low biodegradability and accumulation in various environments. Therefore, searching for novel biodegradable plastics is of increasing interest. Microbial polyesters known as polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) are biodegradable plastics. Life cycle assessment indicates that PHB is more beneficial than petroleum-based plastics. In this report, bacterial production of PHAs and their industrial applications are reviewed and the synthesis of PHAs in Burkholderia xenovorans LB400 is described. PHAs are synthesized by a large number of microorganisms during unbalanced nutritional conditions. These polymers are accumulated as carbon and energy reserve in discrete granules in the bacterial cytoplasm. 3-hydroxybutyrate and 3-hydroxyvalerate are two main PHA units among 150 monomers that have been reported. B. xenovorans LB400 is a model bacterium for the degradation of polychlorobiphenyls and a wide range of aromatic compounds. A bioinformatic analysis of LB400 genome indicated the presence of pha genes encoding enzymes of pathways for PHA synthesis. This study showed that B. xenovorans LB400 synthesize PHAs under nutrient limitation. Staining with Sudan Black B indicated the production of PHAs by B. xenovorans LB400 colonies. The PHAs produced were characterized by GC-MS. Diverse substrates for the production of PHAs in strain LB400 were analyzed. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

On Darwin's 'metaphysical notebooks'. II: "Metaphysics" and final cause.

Science.gov (United States)

Calabi, L

2001-01-01

The first part of this paper was published in Rivista di Biologia/Biology Forum 94 (2001). In the second part below an examination is made of the meaning of the term Metaphysics in some passages of the Darwinian Notebooks for the years 1836-1844. Metaphysics no longer defines a field of philosophical enquiries mainly concerning the being and the essence after the manner of Aristotle; it now refers to a kind of philosophy of mind after the manner of J. Locke's criticism of the Hypokeimenon. However Aristotle's Metaphysics also encompasses a treatment of the idea of causes, and of final cause particularly, in the explanation of events, and in the explanation of natural phenomena especially. The criticism of the idea of final cause in the interpretation of the world of life is one of Darwin's foundational acts in his early years. When conceiving his Système du monde, in the last years of the XVIII Century, Laplace could think that God is a hypothesis not really needed by science, as we are told. For the knowledge of organic nature to attain the status of science, it remained to be shown that since--certain of the exemplariness of Newton's Principles as much as cautious before the mystery of life--did not need the hypothesis of final ends in order to understand and explain the productions of the living nature: not only in the form of that final cause (the First Cause, the Vera Causa) in which Natural Theology still rested, but also in the form of nature's inner finality which still moulded Whewell's Kantian philosophy. Such demonstration is a very important subject in Darwin's early enquiries, where he criticises finalism as a projection of self-conceiving Man, likely inherited from a knowing of causality in nuce to be found also in animals.

Integration of ROOT notebook as an ATLAS analysis web-based tool in outreach and public data release projects

CERN Document Server

AUTHOR|(INSPIRE)INSPIRE-00237353; The ATLAS collaboration

2017-01-01

Integration of the ROOT data analysis framework with the Jupyter Notebook technology presents the potential of enhancement and expansion of educational and training programs. It can be beneficial for university students in their early years, new PhD students and post-doctoral researchers, as well as for senior researchers and teachers who want to refresh their data analysis skills or to introduce a more friendly and yet very powerful open source tool in the classroom. Such tools have been already tested in several environments. A fully web-based integration of the tools and the Open Access Data repositories brings the possibility to go a step forward in the ATLAS quest of making use of several CERN projects in the field of the education and training, developing new computing solutions on the way.

Tribo-charging properties of waste plastic granules in process of tribo-electrostatic separation.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Jia; Wu, Guiqing; Xu, Zhenming

2015-01-01

Plastic products can be found everywhere in people's daily life. With the consistent growth of plastic consumption, more and more plastic waste is generated. Considering the stable chemical and physics characteristics of plastic, regular waste management methods are not suitable for recycling economic strategy of each government, which has become a serious environmental problem. Recycling plastic waste is considered to be the best way to treat it, because it cannot only deduce the waste but also save the energy to produce new virgin plastic. Tribo-electrostatic separation is strongly recommended for plastic separation as it can preserve the original properties of plastic and has little additional pollution. In this study, plastic granules are generated by crushing plastic waste in waste electric and electronic equipment. The tribo-charging properties of plastic waste were studied by vibrating tribo-charging and cyclone tribo-charging. The triboelectric series obtained by vibrating was: (-)-PE-PS-PC-PVC-ABS-PP-(+), while the triboelectric series obtained by cyclone was (-)-PE-PS-PC-PVC-ABS-PP-(+). Further, the cyclone charging was more effective and stable than vibrating charging. The impact factors experiments showed that small particle size was better changed than large ones and were more suitable recycled by tribo-electrostatic separation. High relative humidity was identified as impede charging effect. The results of this study will help defining the operating parameters of subsequent separator. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Mechanically equivalent elastic-plastic deformations and the problem of plastic spin

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Steigmann David J.

2011-01-01

Full Text Available The problem of plastic spin is phrased in terms of a notion of mechanical equivalence among local intermediate configurations of an elastic/ plastic crystalline solid. This idea is used to show that, without further qualification, the plastic spin may be suppressed at the constitutive level. However, the spin is closely tied to an underlying undistorted crystal lattice which, once specified, eliminates the freedom afforded by mechanical equivalence. As a practical matter a constitutive specification of plastic spin is therefore required. Suppression of plastic spin thus emerges as merely one such specification among many. Restrictions on these are derived in the case of rate-independent response.

Dose errors due to charge storage in electron irradiated plastic phantoms

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Galbraith, D.M.; Rawlinson, J.A.; Munro, P.

1984-01-01

Commercial plastics used for radiation dosimetry are good electrical insulators. Used in electron beams, these insulators store charge and produce internal electric fields large enough to measurably alter the electron dose distribution in the plastic. The reading per monitor unit from a cylindrical ion chamber imbedded in a polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) or polystyrene phantom will increase with accumulated electron dose, the increase being detectable after about 20 Gy of 6-MeV electrons. The magnitude of the effect also depends on the type of the plastic, the thickness of the plastic, the wall thickness of the detector, the diameter and depth of the hole in the plastic, the energy of the electron beam, and the dose rate used. Effects of charge buildup have been documented elsewhere for very low energy electrons at extremely high doses and dose rates. Here we draw attention to the charging effects in plastics at the dose levels encountered in therapy dosimetry where ion chamber or other dosimeter readings may easily increase by 5% to 10% and where a phantom, once charged, will also affect subsequent readings taken in 60 Co beams and high-energy electron and x-ray beams for periods of several days to many months. It is recommended that conducting plastic phantoms replace PMMA and polystyrene phantoms in radiation dosimetry

Energy Payback Time of a Solar Photovoltaic Powered Waste Plastic Recyclebot System

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shan Zhong

2017-06-01

Full Text Available The growth of both plastic consumption and prosumer 3-D printing are driving an interest in producing 3-D printer filaments from waste plastic. This study quantifies the embodied energy of a vertical DC solar photovoltaic (PV powered recyclebot based on life cycle energy analysis and compares it to horizontal AC recyclebots, conventional recycling, and the production of a virgin 3-D printer filament. The energy payback time (EPBT is calculated using the embodied energy of the materials making up the recyclebot itself and is found to be about five days for the extrusion of a poly lactic acid (PLA filament or 2.5 days for the extrusion of an acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS filament. A mono-crystalline silicon solar PV system is about 2.6 years alone. However, this can be reduced by over 96% if the solar PV system powers the recyclebot to produce a PLA filament from waste plastic (EPBT is only 0.10 year or about a month. Likewise, if an ABS filament is produced from a recyclebot powered by the solar PV system, the energy saved is 90.6–99.9 MJ/kg and 26.33–29.43 kg of the ABS filament needs to be produced in about half a month for the system to pay for itself. The results clearly show that the solar PV system powered recyclebot is already an excellent way to save energy for sustainable development.

Plastics and health risks.

Science.gov (United States)

Halden, Rolf U

2010-01-01

By 2010, the worldwide annual production of plastics will surpass 300 million tons. Plastics are indispensable materials in modern society, and many products manufactured from plastics are a boon to public health (e.g., disposable syringes, intravenous bags). However, plastics also pose health risks. Of principal concern are endocrine-disrupting properties, as triggered for example by bisphenol A and di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP). Opinions on the safety of plastics vary widely, and despite more than five decades of research, scientific consensus on product safety is still elusive. This literature review summarizes information from more than 120 peer-reviewed publications on health effects of plastics and plasticizers in lab animals and humans. It examines problematic exposures of susceptible populations and also briefly summarizes adverse environmental impacts from plastic pollution. Ongoing efforts to steer human society toward resource conservation and sustainable consumption are discussed, including the concept of the 5 Rs--i.e., reduce, reuse, recycle, rethink, restrain--for minimizing pre- and postnatal exposures to potentially harmful components of plastics.

Effect of Plasticizers on Physicochemical and Mechanical Properties of Chitosan-Gelatin Films

Science.gov (United States)

Manshor, N. Mohammed; Rezali, M. I.; Jai, J.; Yahya, A.

2018-05-01

Composite chitosan-gelatin films were produced to investigate the effect of plasticizer and composition of chitosan and gelatin on physicochemical and mechanical properties of the films. The films were prepared according to ratio of chitosan: gelatin of 1:1, 1:2 and 2:1. For each film, glycerol, sorbitol and sucrose were added as plasticizer. The film forming solution was poured on a glass plate and dried for 12 hours in an oven at 60°C. The highest tensile strength was 4.04 MPa for films of ratio 2:1 plasticized with glycerol compared to sorbitol and sucrose which were 3.94 MPa and 3.84 MPa, respectively. However, films plasticized with sorbitol at ratio of 1:2 had the highest percent elongation which was 68.20%, followed by glycerol and sucrose which were 26.51% and 24.08%, respectively.

Apllication of plastic scintillators with light intensifiers in photographic dosemeters to increase the sensitivity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mesquita, C.H. de; Hamada, M.M.

1988-01-01

The purpose of this work is to evaluate the effect of a light converter (plastic scintillator) to use as badge in the conventional photographic dosimeter. In this dosimeter the light is a new component of emulsion sensibilization. So, even radiations that are not able to reach the photographic emulsion can be detected by producing photons in the plastic scintillator. (author) [pt

Recycling of plastic waste: Presence of phthalates in plastics from households and industry

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pivnenko, Kostyantyn; Eriksen, Marie Kampmann; Martín-Fernández, J. A.

2016-01-01

recognised, the influence of plastic recycling on phthalate content has been hypothesised but not well documented. In the present work we analysed selected phthalates (DMP, DEP, DPP, DiBP, DBP, BBzP, DEHP, DCHP and DnOP) in samples of waste plastics as well as recycled and virgin plastics. DBP, DiBP and DEHP...... product manufacturing (labelling, gluing, etc.) and were not removed following recycling of household waste plastics. Furthermore, DEHP was identified as a potential indicator for phthalate contamination of plastics. Close monitoring of plastics intended for phthalates-sensitive applications...

Utilization possibilities of hydrocarbon fractions obtained by waste plastic pyrolysis: energetic utilization and applications in polymer composites

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Miskolczi, Norbert; Borsodi, Nikolett; Angyal, Andras [University of Pannonia, MOL Department of Hydrocarbon and Coal Processing (Hungary)], email: mnorbert@almos.uni-pannon.hu, email: borsodinikolett@almos.uni-pannon.hu, email: angyala@almos.uni-pannon.hu

2011-07-01

With the energy crisis and the rising concerns about the environment, energy-saving measures are urgently needed. Each year about 300M tons of plastic wastes are produced world-wide and governments are now focusing on recycling and reusing these products to save significant amounts of energy. The aim of this paper was to analyze the products which can be obtained from waste plastic and determine their possible uses. Pyrolysis of commercial waste plastics was done in a reactor at 500-600 degree celsius and the products were then analyzed using several methods. Results showed that the pyrolysis produces gases, naphtha, middle distillates and heavy oils. The properties of these products were also determined and it was found that they have the potential to be used in fuel-like and additive producing applications. This study highlighted that pyrolysis of waste polymers can yield useful products.

Lead contamination of inexpensive plastic jewelry

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yost, Jamie L. [Department of Chemistry, Ashland University, Ashland, Ohio (United States); Weidenhamer, Jeffrey D. [Department of Chemistry, Ashland University, Ashland, Ohio (United States)], E-mail: jweiden@ashland.edu

2008-04-15

The neurological hazards of lead to children are well-known. As a result of recent documented cases of lead poisoning, regulatory attention in the United States has focused on the lead content of children's metal jewelry. By contrast, little is known about the possible hazards of plastic jewelry items. The objective of this study was to determine whether inexpensive plastic jewelry is a possible source of toxic lead for children. Samples of more than 100 inexpensive plastic jewelry items were analyzed for lead content. Beads were screened by soaking in 1 M nitric acid. Nine items found to release more than 30 {mu}g of lead per bead were further tested for accessible lead, and scrapings of the bead coatings were analyzed for total lead content. The maximum accessible lead found was 49 {mu}g per bead, which is below the current US Consumer Product Safety Commission limit of 175 {mu}g. However, when the number of beads in each item was taken into account, six of the nine leaded samples contained more than 175 {mu}g accessible lead per item. The lead in these items appears to be associated with lead-based paints used to produce glossy coatings on imitation pearls and similar items. Coatings obtained by scraping individual beads contained 3.5-23% lead, which far exceeds the US regulatory limit of 0.06% lead in paints on items intended for children. Our results demonstrate that plastic jewelry items merit the attention of public health and consumer protection agencies seeking to limit the exposure of children to lead.

Development, maternal effects, and behavioral plasticity.

Science.gov (United States)

Mateo, Jill M

2014-11-01

Behavioral, hormonal, and genetic processes interact reciprocally, and differentially affect behavior depending on ecological and social contexts. When individual differences are favored either between or within environments, developmental plasticity would be expected. Parental effects provide a rich source for phenotypic plasticity, including anatomical, physiological, and behavioral traits, because parents respond to dynamic cues in their environment and can, in turn, influence offspring accordingly. Because these inter-generational changes are plastic, parents can respond rapidly to changing environments and produce offspring whose phenotypes are well suited for current conditions more quickly than occurs with changes based on evolution through natural selection. I review studies on developmental plasticity and resulting phenotypes in Belding's ground squirrels (Urocitellus beldingi), an ideal species, given the competing demands to avoid predation while gaining sufficient weight to survive an upcoming hibernation, and the need for young to learn their survival behaviors. I will show how local environments and perceived risk of predation influence not only foraging, vigilance, and anti-predator behaviors, but also adrenal functioning, which may be especially important for obligate hibernators that face competing demands on the storage and mobilization of glucose. Mammalian behavioral development is sensitive to the social and physical environments provided by mothers during gestation and lactation. Therefore, maternal effects on offspring's phenotypes, both positive and negative, can be particularly strong. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology. All rights reserved. For permissions please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Lead contamination of inexpensive plastic jewelry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yost, Jamie L.; Weidenhamer, Jeffrey D.

2008-01-01

The neurological hazards of lead to children are well-known. As a result of recent documented cases of lead poisoning, regulatory attention in the United States has focused on the lead content of children's metal jewelry. By contrast, little is known about the possible hazards of plastic jewelry items. The objective of this study was to determine whether inexpensive plastic jewelry is a possible source of toxic lead for children. Samples of more than 100 inexpensive plastic jewelry items were analyzed for lead content. Beads were screened by soaking in 1 M nitric acid. Nine items found to release more than 30 μg of lead per bead were further tested for accessible lead, and scrapings of the bead coatings were analyzed for total lead content. The maximum accessible lead found was 49 μg per bead, which is below the current US Consumer Product Safety Commission limit of 175 μg. However, when the number of beads in each item was taken into account, six of the nine leaded samples contained more than 175 μg accessible lead per item. The lead in these items appears to be associated with lead-based paints used to produce glossy coatings on imitation pearls and similar items. Coatings obtained by scraping individual beads contained 3.5-23% lead, which far exceeds the US regulatory limit of 0.06% lead in paints on items intended for children. Our results demonstrate that plastic jewelry items merit the attention of public health and consumer protection agencies seeking to limit the exposure of children to lead

Effect of plastic mulch on growth and yield of chilli (Capsicum annuum L.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M Ashrafuzzaman

2011-04-01

Full Text Available In this work a field study was conducted to evaluate the effect of coloured plastic mulch on growth and yield of chilli from October 2005 to April 2006. The plastic mulches were transparent, blue, and black and bare soil was the control. Different mulches generated higher soil temperature and soil moisture under mulch over the control. Transparent and blue plastic mulches encouraged weed population which were suppressed under black plastic. Plant height, number of primary branches, stem base diameter, number of leaves and yield were better for the plants on plastic. At the mature green stage, fruits had the highest vitamin-C content on the black plastic. Mulching produced the fruits with the highest chlorophyll-a, chlorophyll-b and total chlorophyll contents and also increased the number of fruits per plant and yield. However, mulching did not affect the length and diameter of the fruits and number of seeds per fruit. Plants on black plastic mulch had the maximum number of fruits and highest yield. Thus, mulching appears to be a viable tool to increase the chilli production under tropical conditions.

[Structural plasticity associated with drugs addiction].

Science.gov (United States)

Zhu, Jie; Cao, Guo-fen; Dang, Yong-hui; Chen, Teng

2011-12-01

An essential feature of drug addiction is that an individual continues to use drug despite the threat of severely adverse physical or psychosocial consequences. Persistent changes in behavior and psychological function that occur as a function of drugs of abuse are thought to be due to the reorganization of synaptic connections (structural plasticity) in relevant brain circuits (especially the brains reward circuits). In this paper we summarized evidence that, indeed, exposure to amphetamine, cocaine, nicotine or morphine produced persistent changes in the structure of dendrites and dendritic spines on cells in relevant brain regions. We also approached the potential molecular mechanisms of these changes. It is suggested that structural plasticity associated with exposure to drugs of abuse reflects a reorganization of patterns of synaptic connectivity in these neural systems, a reorganization that alters their operation, thus contributing to some of the persistent sequela associated with drug use-including addiction.

Differences in typing forces, muscle activity, comfort, and typing performance among virtual, notebook, and desktop keyboards.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Jeong Ho; Aulck, Lovenoor; Bartha, Michael C; Harper, Christy A; Johnson, Peter W

2014-11-01

The present study investigated whether there were physical exposure and typing productivity differences between a virtual keyboard with no tactile feedback and two conventional keyboards where key travel and tactile feedback are provided by mechanical switches under the keys. The key size and layout were same across all the keyboards. Typing forces; finger and shoulder muscle activity; self-reported comfort; and typing productivity were measured from 19 subjects while typing on a virtual (0 mm key travel), notebook (1.8 mm key travel), and desktop keyboard (4 mm key travel). When typing on the virtual keyboard, subjects typed with less force (p's typing forces and finger muscle activity came at the expense of a 60% reduction in typing productivity (p typing sessions or when typing productivity is at a premium, conventional keyboards with tactile feedback may be more suitable interface. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd and The Ergonomics Society. All rights reserved.

Preparation of plastic scintillator detectors and physicochemical parameter characterization

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hamada, M.M.; Mesquita, C.H. de.

1988-10-01

The development of plastic scintillators for use in the nuclear radiation detection is described. The detectors were fabricated by the polymerization of styrene with organic fluors. The organic fluors used were PPO (1,4 diphenyl-oxazol) and POPOP 1,4-di-2-(5-phenyl-oxazolil) - benzene in proportions of 0,5 and 0,05% respectively. Physicochemical parameters related to the quality of this detector are investigated at this laboratory. The evaluation of its fluorescence characteristics, density, melting softening, refractive index, molecular weight, gamma and alpha spectrometry characteristics and finally the comparative pulse height analysis indicate that the plastic scintillator produced at this laboratory is comparable with others already described. (author)

Challenges in plastics recycling

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pivnenko, Kostyantyn; Jakobsen, L. G.; Eriksen, Marie Kampmann

2015-01-01

Recycling of waste plastics still remains a challenging area in the waste management sector. The current and potential goals proposed on EU or regional levels are difficult to achieve, and even to partially fullfil them the improvements in collection and sorting should be considerable. A study...... was undertaken to investigate the factors affecting quality in plastics recycling. The preliminary results showed factors primarily influencing quality of plastics recycling to be polymer cross contamination, presence of additives, non-polymer impurities, and polymer degradation. Deprivation of plastics quality......, with respect to recycling, has been shown to happen throughout the plastics value chain, but steps where improvements may happen have been preliminary identified. Example of Cr in plastic samples analysed showed potential spreading and accumulation of chemicals ending up in the waste plastics. In order...

Individual differences in behavioural plasticities.

Science.gov (United States)

Stamps, Judy A

2016-05-01

Interest in individual differences in animal behavioural plasticities has surged in recent years, but research in this area has been hampered by semantic confusion as different investigators use the same terms (e.g. plasticity, flexibility, responsiveness) to refer to different phenomena. The first goal of this review is to suggest a framework for categorizing the many different types of behavioural plasticities, describe examples of each, and indicate why using reversibility as a criterion for categorizing behavioural plasticities is problematic. This framework is then used to address a number of timely questions about individual differences in behavioural plasticities. One set of questions concerns the experimental designs that can be used to study individual differences in various types of behavioural plasticities. Although within-individual designs are the default option for empirical studies of many types of behavioural plasticities, in some situations (e.g. when experience at an early age affects the behaviour expressed at subsequent ages), 'replicate individual' designs can provide useful insights into individual differences in behavioural plasticities. To date, researchers using within-individual and replicate individual designs have documented individual differences in all of the major categories of behavioural plasticities described herein. Another important question is whether and how different types of behavioural plasticities are related to one another. Currently there is empirical evidence that many behavioural plasticities [e.g. contextual plasticity, learning rates, IIV (intra-individual variability), endogenous plasticities, ontogenetic plasticities) can themselves vary as a function of experiences earlier in life, that is, many types of behavioural plasticity are themselves developmentally plastic. These findings support the assumption that differences among individuals in prior experiences may contribute to individual differences in behavioural

Compositions of volatile organic compounds emitted from melted virgin and waste plastic pellets.

Science.gov (United States)

Yamashita, Kyoko; Yamamoto, Naomichi; Mizukoshi, Atsushi; Noguchi, Miyuki; Ni, Yueyong; Yanagisawa, Yukio

2009-03-01

To characterize potential air pollution issues related to recycling facilities of waste plastics, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted from melted virgin and waste plastics pellets were analyzed. In this study, laboratory experiments were performed to melt virgin and waste plastic pellets under various temperatures (150, 200, and 250 degrees C) and atmospheres (air and nitrogen [N2]). In the study presented here, low-density polyethylene (LDPE), polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS) and the recycled waste plastic pellets were used. The VOCs generated from each plastic pellets were collected by Tenax/Carboxen adsorbent tubes and analyzed by thermal desorption-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (TD-GC/MS). The result showed the higher temperatures generated larger amounts of total VOCs (TVOCs). The VOCs emitted from the virgin plastic pellets likely originated from polymer degradation. Smaller TVOC emissions were observed in N2 atmosphere than in air atmosphere. In particular, larger amounts of the oxygenated compounds, which are generally hazardous and malodorous, were detected in air than in N2. In addition to the compounds originating from polymer degradation, the compounds originating from the plastic additives were also detected from LDPE and PS. Furthermore, various species of VOCs likely originating from contaminant inseparate polyvinyl chloride (PVC), food residues, cleaning agents, degreasers, and so on were detected from the waste plastic. Thus, melting waste plastics, as is conducted in recycling facilities, might generate larger amounts of potentially toxic compounds than producing virgin plastics.

Pathways for degradation of plastic polymers floating in the marine environment.

Science.gov (United States)

Gewert, Berit; Plassmann, Merle M; MacLeod, Matthew

2015-09-01

Each year vast amounts of plastic are produced worldwide. When released to the environment, plastics accumulate, and plastic debris in the world's oceans is of particular environmental concern. More than 60% of all floating debris in the oceans is plastic and amounts are increasing each year. Plastic polymers in the marine environment are exposed to sunlight, oxidants and physical stress, and over time they weather and degrade. The degradation processes and products must be understood to detect and evaluate potential environmental hazards. Some attention has been drawn to additives and persistent organic pollutants that sorb to the plastic surface, but so far the chemicals generated by degradation of the plastic polymers themselves have not been well studied from an environmental perspective. In this paper we review available information about the degradation pathways and chemicals that are formed by degradation of the six plastic types that are most widely used in Europe. We extrapolate that information to likely pathways and possible degradation products under environmental conditions found on the oceans' surface. The potential degradation pathways and products depend on the polymer type. UV-radiation and oxygen are the most important factors that initiate degradation of polymers with a carbon-carbon backbone, leading to chain scission. Smaller polymer fragments formed by chain scission are more susceptible to biodegradation and therefore abiotic degradation is expected to precede biodegradation. When heteroatoms are present in the main chain of a polymer, degradation proceeds by photo-oxidation, hydrolysis, and biodegradation. Degradation of plastic polymers can lead to low molecular weight polymer fragments, like monomers and oligomers, and formation of new end groups, especially carboxylic acids.

Durability of wood plastic composites manufactured from recycled plastic

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Irina Turku

2018-03-01

Full Text Available The influence of accelerated weathering, xenon-arc light and freeze-thaw cycling on wood plastic composites extruded from a recycled plastic was studied. The results showed that, in general, weathering had a stronger impact on samples made from plastic waste compared to a sample made from virgin material. After weathering, the mechanical properties, tensile and flexural, were reduced by 2–30%, depending on the plastic source. Wettability of the samples was shown to play a significant role in their stability. Chemical analysis with infrared spectroscopy and surface observation with a scan electron microscope confirmed the mechanical test results. Incorporation of carbon black retained the properties during weathering, reducing the wettability of the sample, diminishing the change of mechanical properties, and improving color stability. Keywords: Environmental science, Mechanical engineering, Materials science

Phenotypic plasticity, costs of phenotypes, and costs of plasticity

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Callahan, Hilary S; Maughan, Heather; Steiner, Uli

2008-01-01

Why are some traits constitutive and others inducible? The term costs often appears in work addressing this issue but may be ambiguously defined. This review distinguishes two conceptually distinct types of costs: phenotypic costs and plasticity costs. Phenotypic costs are assessed from patterns...... of covariation, typically between a focal trait and a separate trait relevant to fitness. Plasticity costs, separable from phenotypic costs, are gauged by comparing the fitness of genotypes with equivalent phenotypes within two environments but differing in plasticity and fitness. Subtleties associated with both...... types of costs are illustrated by a body of work addressing predator-induced plasticity. Such subtleties, and potential interplay between the two types of costs, have also been addressed, often in studies involving genetic model organisms. In some instances, investigators have pinpointed the mechanistic...

Plastic waste as a resource. Strategies for reduction and utilization of plastic waste

OpenAIRE

Pasqual i Camprubí, Gemma

2010-01-01

Plastic materials have experienced a spectacular rate of growth in recent decades, consequently, production of plastics, and likewise their consumption, has increased markedly since 1950. Moreover, they are lightweight and durable, as well as can be moulded into a variety of products that can be manufactured in many different types of plastic and in a wide range of applications. Inevitably, continually increasing amounts of used plastic are originating daily, resulting in a plastic waste prob...

Chemotion ELN: an Open Source electronic lab notebook for chemists in academia.

Science.gov (United States)

Tremouilhac, Pierre; Nguyen, An; Huang, Yu-Chieh; Kotov, Serhii; Lütjohann, Dominic Sebastian; Hübsch, Florian; Jung, Nicole; Bräse, Stefan

2017-09-25

The development of an electronic lab notebook (ELN) for researchers working in the field of chemical sciences is presented. The web based application is available as an Open Source software that offers modern solutions for chemical researchers. The Chemotion ELN is equipped with the basic functionalities necessary for the acquisition and processing of chemical data, in particular the work with molecular structures and calculations based on molecular properties. The ELN supports planning, description, storage, and management for the routine work of organic chemists. It also provides tools for communicating and sharing the recorded research data among colleagues. Meeting the requirements of a state of the art research infrastructure, the ELN allows the search for molecules and reactions not only within the user's data but also in conventional external sources as provided by SciFinder and PubChem. The presented development makes allowance for the growing dependency of scientific activity on the availability of digital information by providing Open Source instruments to record and reuse research data. The current version of the ELN has been using for over half of a year in our chemistry research group, serves as a common infrastructure for chemistry research and enables chemistry researchers to build their own databases of digital information as a prerequisite for the detailed, systematic investigation and evaluation of chemical reactions and mechanisms.

Gene Expression Patterns Underlying the Reinstatement of Plasticity in the Adult Visual System

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ettore Tiraboschi

2013-01-01

Full Text Available The nervous system is highly sensitive to experience during early postnatal life, but this phase of heightened plasticity decreases with age. Recent studies have demonstrated that developmental-like plasticity can be reactivated in the visual cortex of adult animals through environmental or pharmacological manipulations. These findings provide a unique opportunity to study the cellular and molecular mechanisms of adult plasticity. Here we used the monocular deprivation paradigm to investigate large-scale gene expression patterns underlying the reinstatement of plasticity produced by fluoxetine in the adult rat visual cortex. We found changes, confirmed with RT-PCRs, in gene expression in different biological themes, such as chromatin structure remodelling, transcription factors, molecules involved in synaptic plasticity, extracellular matrix, and excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmission. Our findings reveal a key role for several molecules such as the metalloproteases Mmp2 and Mmp9 or the glycoprotein Reelin and open up new insights into the mechanisms underlying the reopening of the critical periods in the adult brain.

Separate collection of plastic waste, better than technical sorting from municipal solid waste?

Science.gov (United States)

Feil, Alexander; Pretz, Thomas; Jansen, Michael; Thoden van Velzen, Eggo U

2017-02-01

The politically preferred solution to fulfil legal recycling demands is often implementing separate collection systems. However, experience shows their limitations, particularly in urban centres with a high population density. In response to the European Union landfill directive, mechanical biological waste treatment plants have been installed all over Europe. This technology makes it possible to retrieve plastic waste from municipal solid waste. Operators of mechanical biological waste treatment plants, both in Germany and the Netherlands, have started to change their mechanical separation processes to additionally produce plastic pre-concentrates. Results from mechanical biological waste treatment and separate collection of post-consumer packaging waste will be presented and compared. They prove that both the yield and the quality of plastic waste provided as feedstock for the production of secondary plastic raw material are largely comparable. An economic assessment shows which conditions for a technical sorting plant are economically attractive in comparison to separate collection systems. It is, however, unlikely that plastic recycling will ever reach cost neutrality.

Elastic-plastic collapse of super-elastic shock waves in face-centered-cubic solids

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhakhovsky, Vasily V; Demaske, Brian J; Oleynik, Ivan I; Inogamov, Nail A; White, Carter T

2014-01-01

Shock waves in the [110] and [111] directions of single-crystal Al samples were studied using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. Piston-driven simulations were performed to investigate the split shock-wave regime. At low piston velocities, the material is compressed initially to a metastable over-compressed elastic state leading to a super-elastic single shock wave. This metastable elastic state later collapses to a plastic state resulting in the formation of a two-wave structure consisting of an elastic precursor followed by a slower plastic wave. The single two-zone elastic-plastic shock-wave regime appearing at higher piston velocities was studied using moving window MD. The plastic wave attains the same average speed as the elastic precursor to form a single two-zone shock wave. In this case, repeated collapse of the highly over-compressed elastic state near the plastic shock front produces ultrashort triangle pulses that provide the pressure support for the leading elastic precursor.

Machining of Fibre Reinforced Plastic Composite Materials

Science.gov (United States)

2018-01-01

Fibre reinforced plastic composite materials are difficult to machine because of the anisotropy and inhomogeneity characterizing their microstructure and the abrasiveness of their reinforcement components. During machining, very rapid cutting tool wear development is experienced, and surface integrity damage is often produced in the machined parts. An accurate selection of the proper tool and machining conditions is therefore required, taking into account that the phenomena responsible for material removal in cutting of fibre reinforced plastic composite materials are fundamentally different from those of conventional metals and their alloys. To date, composite materials are increasingly used in several manufacturing sectors, such as the aerospace and automotive industry, and several research efforts have been spent to improve their machining processes. In the present review, the key issues that are concerning the machining of fibre reinforced plastic composite materials are discussed with reference to the main recent research works in the field, while considering both conventional and unconventional machining processes and reporting the more recent research achievements. For the different machining processes, the main results characterizing the recent research works and the trends for process developments are presented. PMID:29562635

Machining of Fibre Reinforced Plastic Composite Materials

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alessandra Caggiano

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Fibre reinforced plastic composite materials are difficult to machine because of the anisotropy and inhomogeneity characterizing their microstructure and the abrasiveness of their reinforcement components. During machining, very rapid cutting tool wear development is experienced, and surface integrity damage is often produced in the machined parts. An accurate selection of the proper tool and machining conditions is therefore required, taking into account that the phenomena responsible for material removal in cutting of fibre reinforced plastic composite materials are fundamentally different from those of conventional metals and their alloys. To date, composite materials are increasingly used in several manufacturing sectors, such as the aerospace and automotive industry, and several research efforts have been spent to improve their machining processes. In the present review, the key issues that are concerning the machining of fibre reinforced plastic composite materials are discussed with reference to the main recent research works in the field, while considering both conventional and unconventional machining processes and reporting the more recent research achievements. For the different machining processes, the main results characterizing the recent research works and the trends for process developments are presented.

Development of the Plastic Melt Waste Compactor- Design and Fabrication of the Half-Scale Prototype

Science.gov (United States)

Pace, Gregory S.; Fisher, John

2005-01-01

A half scale version of a device called the Plastic Melt Waste Compactor prototype has been developed at NASA Ames Research Center to deal with plastic based wastes that are expected to be encountered in future human space exploration scenarios such as Lunar or Martian Missions. The Plastic Melt Waste Compactor design was based on the types of wastes produced on the International Space Station, Space Shuttle, MIR and Skylab missions. The half scale prototype unit will lead to the development of a full scale Plastic Melt Waste Compactor prototype that is representative of flight hardware that would be used on near and far term space missions. This report details the progress of the Plastic Melt Waste Compactor Development effort by the Solid Waste Management group at NASA Ames Research Center.

Thermal degradation and plasticizing mechanism of poly(vinyl chloride) plasticized with a novel cardanol derived plasticizer

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, J.; Nie, X. A.; Jiang, J. C.; Zhou, Y. H.

2018-01-01

A natural plasticizer cardanol derivatives glycidyl ether (CGE) was synthesized and employed as a plasticizer for the poly(vinyl chloride). The effect of CGE on thermal degradation of PVC films and its plasticizing mechanism were firstly reported. The molecular structure of CGE was characterized with Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Thermal properties, degradation properties and compatibility of the PVC films were investigated by Differential scanning calorimeter analysis (DSC), Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and FTIR, respectively. Compared with the commercial plasticizers dioctylphthalate (DOP), CGE can endow PVC film with a decrease of 4.31 °C in glass transition temperature (Tg), an increase of 24.01 °C and 25.53 °C in 10% weight loss (T 10) and 50% weight loss (T 50) respectively, and a higher activetion energy of thermal degradation (Ea ).

Delivering health information about self-medication to older adults: use of touchscreen-equipped notebook computers.

Science.gov (United States)

Neafsey, P J; Strickler, Z; Shellman, J; Padula, A T

2001-11-01

Preventing Drug Interactions in Active Older Adults is an educational intervention to prevent prescription and over-the-counter (OTC) drug and alcohol interactions in active, community-living older adults. The objectives of the program are to increase older adults' knowledge of potential interactions of prescription medications with OTC drugs and alcohol and to increase their confidence (self-efficacy) about how to avoid such interactions. An interactive multimedia computer software program (Personal Education Program or PEP) was designed for the learning styles and psychomotor skills of older adults. Focus groups of older adults evaluated PEP components in a formative manner during development. The program content dealing with antacids, calcium supplements, and acid reducers was pilot tested with 60 older adults recruited from local senior centers. Participants used the PEP on notebook computers equipped with infrared-sensitive touchscreens. Users of PEP had greater knowledge and self-efficacy scores than controls. Participants indicated a high degree of satisfaction with the PEP and reported their intent to make specific changes in self-medication behaviors.

Mixed plastics recycling technology

CERN Document Server

Hegberg, Bruce

1995-01-01

Presents an overview of mixed plastics recycling technology. In addition, it characterizes mixed plastics wastes and describes collection methods, costs, and markets for reprocessed plastics products.

OpenLabNotes – An Electronic Laboratory Notebook Extension for OpenLabFramework

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

List Markus

2015-09-01

Full Text Available Electronic laboratory notebooks (ELNs are more accessible and reliable than their paper based alternatives and thus find widespread adoption. While a large number of commercial products is available, small- to mid-sized laboratories can often not afford the costs or are concerned about the longevity of the providers. Turning towards free alternatives, however, raises questions about data protection, which are not sufficiently addressed by available solutions. To serve as legal documents, ELNs must prevent scientific fraud through technical means such as digital signatures. It would also be advantageous if an ELN was integrated with a laboratory information management system to allow for a comprehensive documentation of experimental work including the location of samples that were used in a particular experiment. Here, we present OpenLabNotes, which adds state-of-the-art ELN capabilities to OpenLabFramework, a powerful and flexible laboratory information management system. In contrast to comparable solutions, it allows to protect the intellectual property of its users by offering data protection with digital signatures. OpenLabNotes effectively closes the gap between research documentation and sample management, thus making Open- LabFramework more attractive for laboratories that seek to increase productivity through electronic data management.

Earthquake statistics inferred from plastic events in soft-glassy materials

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Benzi, Roberto; Toschi, Federico; Trampert, Jeannot

2016-01-01

We propose a new approach for generating synthetic earthquake catalogues based on the physics of soft glasses. The continuum approach produces yield-stress materials based on Lattice-Boltzmann simulations. We show that, if the material is stimulated below yield stress, plastic events occur, which

Characteristic structures and properties of nanostructured metals prepared by plastic deformation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Huang, Xiaoxu

2011-01-01

This chapter focuses on describing the characteristic microstructures of nanostructured metals produced by plastic deformation to ultrahigh strains and their correlation with hardening by annealing and softening by deformation. The results suggest that optimising microstructure and the mechanical...

Plastic flexible films waste management - A state of art review.

Science.gov (United States)

Horodytska, O; Valdés, F J; Fullana, A

2018-04-21

Plastic flexible films are increasingly used in many applications due to their lightness and versatility. In 2014, the amount of plastic films represented 34% of total plastic packaging produced in UK. The flexible film waste generation rises according to the increase in number of applications. Currently, in developed countries, about 50% of plastics in domestic waste are films. Moreover, about 615,000 tonnes of agricultural flexible waste are generated in the EU every year. A review of plastic films recycling has been conducted in order to detect the shortcomings and establish guidelines for future research. This paper reviews plastic films waste management technologies from two different sources: post-industrial and post-consumer. Clean and homogeneous post-industrial waste is recycled through closed-loop or open-loop mechanical processes. The main differences between these methods are the quality and the application of the recycled materials. Further research should be focused on closing the loops to obtain the highest environmental benefits of recycling. This could be accomplished through minimizing the material degradation during mechanical processes. Regarding post-consumer waste, flexible films from agricultural and packaging sectors have been assessed. The agricultural films and commercial and industrial flexible packaging are recycled through open-loop mechanical recycling due to existing selective waste collection routes. Nevertheless, the contamination from the use phase adversely affects the quality of recycled plastics. Therefore, upgrading of current washing lines is required. On the other hand, household flexible packaging shows the lowest recycling rates mainly because of inefficient sorting technologies. Delamination and compatibilization methods should be further developed to ensure the recycling of multilayer films. Finally, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) studies on waste management have been reviewed. A lack of thorough LCA on plastic films waste

Pyrolysis of fibre residues with plastic contamination from a paper recycling mill: Energy recoveries

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brown, Logan Jeremy; Collard, François-Xavier; Görgens, Johann

2017-01-01

Highlights: • Pyrolysis of fibre-plastics residues from paper recycling mill into fuel products. • Product with remarkable energy content up to 42.8 MJ/kg. • Influence of temperature on the product yields and fuel properties. • Effect of plastic composition on product properties. - Abstract: Pyrolysis is a promising technology for the production of marketable energy products from waste mixtures, as it decomposes heterogeneous material into homogenous fuel products. This research assessed the ability of slow pyrolysis to convert three waste streams, composed of fibre residues contaminated with different plastic mixtures, into char and tarry phase products at three different temperatures (300, 425 and 550 °C). The products were characterised in terms of mass yield, higher heating value (HHV) and gross energy conversion (EC). Significant amounts of hydrocarbon plastics in the feed materials increased the calorific values of the char (up to 32.9 MJ/kg) and tarry phase (up to 42.8 MJ/kg) products, comparable to high volatile bituminous A coal and diesel respectively. For all three waste streams converted at 300 °C, the majority of the energy in the feedstock was recovered in the char product (>80%), while deoxygenation of fibre component resulted in char with increased calorific value (up to 31.6 MJ/kg) being produced. Pyrolysis at 425 °C for two of the waste streams containing significant amounts of plastic produced both a valuable char and tarry phase, which resulted in an EC greater than 74%. Full conversion of plastic at 550 °C increased the tarry phase yield but dramatically decreased the char HHV. The influence of temperature on product yield and HHV was discussed based on the pyrolysis mechanisms and in relation to the plastic composition of the waste streams.

Testing and Analysis of the First Plastic Melt Waste Compactor Prototype

Science.gov (United States)

Pace, Gregory S.; Fisher, John W.

2005-01-01

A half scale Plastic Melt Waste Compactor prototype has been developed at NASA Ames Research Center. The half scale prototype unit will lead to the development of a full scale Plastic Melt Waste Compactor prototype that is representative of flight hardware that would be used on near and far term space missions. This report details the testing being done on the prototype Plastic Melt Waste Compactor by the Solid Waste Management group at NASA Ames Research Center. The tests are designed to determine the prototype's functionality, simplicity of operation, ability to contain and control noxious off-gassing, biological stability of the processed waste, and water recovery potential using a waste composite that is representative of the types of wastes produced on the International Space Station, Space Shuttle, MIR and Skylab missions.

Eco-Evo-Devo: developmental symbiosis and developmental plasticity as evolutionary agents.

Science.gov (United States)

Gilbert, Scott F; Bosch, Thomas C G; Ledón-Rettig, Cristina

2015-10-01

The integration of research from developmental biology and ecology into evolutionary theory has given rise to a relatively new field, ecological evolutionary developmental biology (Eco-Evo-Devo). This field integrates and organizes concepts such as developmental symbiosis, developmental plasticity, genetic accommodation, extragenic inheritance and niche construction. This Review highlights the roles that developmental symbiosis and developmental plasticity have in evolution. Developmental symbiosis can generate particular organs, can produce selectable genetic variation for the entire animal, can provide mechanisms for reproductive isolation, and may have facilitated evolutionary transitions. Developmental plasticity is crucial for generating novel phenotypes, facilitating evolutionary transitions and altered ecosystem dynamics, and promoting adaptive variation through genetic accommodation and niche construction. In emphasizing such non-genomic mechanisms of selectable and heritable variation, Eco-Evo-Devo presents a new layer of evolutionary synthesis.

What Is Being Trained? How Divergent Forms of Plasticity Compete To Shape Locomotor Recovery after Spinal Cord Injury.

Science.gov (United States)

Huie, J Russell; Morioka, Kazuhito; Haefeli, Jenny; Ferguson, Adam R

2017-05-15

Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a devastating syndrome that produces dysfunction in motor and sensory systems, manifesting as chronic paralysis, sensory changes, and pain disorders. The multi-faceted and heterogeneous nature of SCI has made effective rehabilitative strategies challenging. Work over the last 40 years has aimed to overcome these obstacles by harnessing the intrinsic plasticity of the spinal cord to improve functional locomotor recovery. Intensive training after SCI facilitates lower extremity function and has shown promise as a tool for retraining the spinal cord by engaging innate locomotor circuitry in the lumbar cord. As new training paradigms evolve, the importance of appropriate afferent input has emerged as a requirement for adaptive plasticity. The integration of kinematic, sensory, and loading force information must be closely monitored and carefully manipulated to optimize training outcomes. Inappropriate peripheral input may produce lasting maladaptive sensory and motor effects, such as central pain and spasticity. Thus, it is important to closely consider the type of afferent input the injured spinal cord receives. Here we review preclinical and clinical input parameters fostering adaptive plasticity, as well as those producing maladaptive plasticity that may undermine neurorehabilitative efforts. We differentiate between passive (hindlimb unloading [HU], limb immobilization) and active (peripheral nociception) forms of aberrant input. Furthermore, we discuss the timing of initiating exposure to afferent input after SCI for promoting functional locomotor recovery. We conclude by presenting a candidate rapid synaptic mechanism for maladaptive plasticity after SCI, offering a pharmacological target for restoring the capacity for adaptive spinal plasticity in real time.

Time between plastic displacements of elasto-plastic oscillators subject to Gaussian white noise

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Tarp-Johansen, Niels Jacob; Ditlevsen, Ove Dalager

2001-01-01

A one degree of freedom elasto-plastic oscillator subject to stationary Gaussian white noise has a plastic displacement response process of intermittent character. During shorter or longer time intervals the oscillator vibrates within the elastic domain without undergoing any plastic displacements...... between the clumps of plastic displacements. This is needed for a complete description of the plastic displacement process. A quite accurate fast simulation procedure is presented based on an amplitude model to determine the short waiting times in the transient regime of the elastic vibrations existing...

Method for compression molding of thermosetting plastics utilizing a temperature gradient across the plastic to cure the article

Science.gov (United States)

Heier, W. C. (Inventor)

1974-01-01

A method is described for compression molding of thermosetting plastics composition. Heat is applied to the compressed load in a mold cavity and adjusted to hold molding temperature at the interface of the cavity surface and the compressed compound to produce a thermal front. This thermal front advances into the evacuated compound at mean right angles to the compression load and toward a thermal fence formed at the opposite surface of the compressed compound.

Delivery outcome among women employed in the plastics industry in Sweden and Norway.

Science.gov (United States)

Ahlborg, G; Bjerkedal, T; Egenaes, J

1987-01-01

In Sweden and Norway separate case-control studies of pregnancy outcome for the period 1973-1981 among female workers in the plastics industry were carried out with similar design. Employment records were obtained from companies producing and/or processing plastics and these were matched with the national medical birth and malformation registers. Within the cohorts of pregnancies during which the mother held employment in a plastics industry (1.397 in the Swedish and 288 in the Norwegian study), cases of stillbirths or infant deaths, selected malformations, or low birthweight (less than 2,000 g) were identified. For each case two controls from the same source were individually matched with regard to date of birth, age of mother, and parity. Exposure data concerning the 44 Swedish and ten Norwegian triplets were obtained from the employers. An increased odds ratio was found for processing of polyvinylchloride (PVC) plastics (95% CI Sweden 1.0-5.1; total material 1.1-4.5). However, processing of cold plastics yielded a higher odds ratio than processing of heated plastics. No increased odds ratio was found for processing of styrene or polyurethane plastics. Since not all of the plastics industries in the two countries participated in the studies and the number of cases was small, the result must be interpreted with caution.

Semantic modeling of plastic deformation of polycrystalline rock

Science.gov (United States)

Babaie, Hassan A.; Davarpanah, Armita

2018-02-01

We have developed the first iteration of the Plastic Rock Deformation (PRD) ontology by modeling the semantics of a selected set of deformational processes and mechanisms that produce, reconfigure, displace, and/or consume the material components of inhomogeneous polycrystalline rocks. The PRD knowledge model also classifies and formalizes the properties (relations) that hold between instances of the dynamic physical and chemical processes and the rock components, the complex physio-chemical, mathematical, and informational concepts of the plastic rock deformation system, the measured or calculated laboratory testing conditions, experimental procedures and protocols, the state and system variables, and the empirical flow laws that define the inter-relationships among the variables. The ontology reuses classes and properties from several existing ontologies that are built for physics, chemistry, biology, and mathematics. With its flexible design, the PRD ontology is well positioned to incrementally develop into a model that more fully represents the knowledge of plastic deformation of polycrystalline rocks in the future. The domain ontology will be used to consistently annotate varied data and information related to the microstructures and the physical and chemical processes that produce them at different spatial and temporal scales in the laboratory and in the solid Earth. The PRDKB knowledge base, when built based on the ontology, will help the community of experimental structural geologists and metamorphic petrologists to coherently and uniformly distribute, discover, access, share, and use their data through automated reasoning and integration and query of heterogeneous experimental deformation data that originate from autonomous rock testing laboratories.

[Application of biodegradable plastic film to reduce plastic film residual pollution in Chinese agriculture].

Science.gov (United States)

Yan, Changrong; He, Wenqing; Xue, Yinghao; Liu, Enke; Liu, Qin

2016-06-25

Plastic film has become an important agriculture production material in recent years. Over the past three decades, the amount and application area of plastic film have increased steadily, and in 2014, which are 1.4 million tons and more than 180 million hm² respectively. It plays a key role for ensuring the supply of agricultural goods in China. Meanwhile, plastic film residual pollution becomes more and more serious, and in some regions, the amount of plastic film residues has reached over 250 kg/hm². In part of the Northwest region, soil structure of farmland has been destroyed by plastic film residues and then crop growth and farming operations were suppressed. It is recognized as a good choice to replace plastic film with biodegradable plastic film, an effective measure to solve the plastic film residue pollution. Now, it is in a critical stage of study and assessment of biodegradable plastic film in China and fortunately some biodegradable plastic films show effects in the production of potatoes, peanuts and tobacco. Overall, a series of challenges has still been faced by the biodegradable plastic film, mainly including improving the quality of biodegradable plastic products, such as tensile strength, flexibility, improving the controllability of rupture and degradation, enhancing the ability of increasing soil temperature and preserving soil moisture, and to satisfy the demand of crops production with mulching. In addition, it is essential to reduce the cost of the biodegradable film and promote the application of biodegradable film on large-scale. With the development of biodegradable plastic technology and agricultural production environment, the application of the biodegradable film will have a good future.

Effect of dynamic plastic deformation on microstructure and annealing behaviour of modified 9Cr-1Mo steel

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Zhang, Zhenbo; Mishin, Oleg V.; Tao, N. R.

2015-01-01

after quasi- static compression. The microstructure after dynamic plastic deformation is however less stable than the microstructure after quasi- static compression. Annealing at 675 and 700 degrees C leads to structural coarsening and recrystallisation in each sample, but with recrystallisation...... occurring faster in the sample annealed after dynamic plastic deformation. The lower thermal stability of the microstructure produced by dynamic plastic deformation is attributed to a higher driving force for recrystallisation in the dynamically deformed material....

78 FR 20640 - Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs); Recycling Plastics from Shredder Residue

Science.gov (United States)

2013-04-05

... (PCBs); Recycling Plastics from Shredder Residue AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). ACTION....gov or at the Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics Docket (OPPT Docket), Environmental Protection... that would produce broad environmental benefits and increase global competitiveness (Ref. 2). ISRI...

Pyrolysis-catalysis of waste plastic using a nickel-stainless-steel mesh catalyst for high-value carbon products.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Yeshui; Nahil, Mohamad A; Wu, Chunfei; Williams, Paul T

2017-11-01

A stainless-steel mesh loaded with nickel catalyst was produced and used for the pyrolysis-catalysis of waste high-density polyethylene with the aim of producing high-value carbon products, including carbon nanotubes (CNTs). The catalysis temperature and plastic-to-catalyst ratio were investigated to determine the influence on the formation of different types of carbon deposited on the nickel-stainless-steel mesh catalyst. Increasing temperature from 700 to 900°C resulted in an increase in the carbon deposited on the nickel-loaded stainless-steel mesh catalyst from 32.5 to 38.0 wt%. The increase in sample-to-catalyst ratio reduced the amount of carbon deposited on the mesh catalyst in terms of g carbon g -1 plastic. The carbons were found to be largely composed of filamentous carbons, with negligible disordered (amorphous) carbons. Transmission electron microscopy analysis of the filamentous carbons revealed them to be composed of a large proportion (estimated at ∼40%) multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs). The optimum process conditions for CNT production, in terms of yield and graphitic nature, determined by Raman spectroscopy, was catalysis temperature of 800°C and plastic-to-catalyst ratio of 1:2, where a mass of 334 mg of filamentous/MWCNTs g -1 plastic was produced.

Phenotypic Plasticity through Transcriptional Regulation of the Evolutionary Hotspot Gene tan in Drosophila melanogaster.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jean-Michel Gibert

2016-08-01

Full Text Available Phenotypic plasticity is the ability of a given genotype to produce different phenotypes in response to distinct environmental conditions. Phenotypic plasticity can be adaptive. Furthermore, it is thought to facilitate evolution. Although phenotypic plasticity is a widespread phenomenon, its molecular mechanisms are only beginning to be unravelled. Environmental conditions can affect gene expression through modification of chromatin structure, mainly via histone modifications, nucleosome remodelling or DNA methylation, suggesting that phenotypic plasticity might partly be due to chromatin plasticity. As a model of phenotypic plasticity, we study abdominal pigmentation of Drosophila melanogaster females, which is temperature sensitive. Abdominal pigmentation is indeed darker in females grown at 18°C than at 29°C. This phenomenon is thought to be adaptive as the dark pigmentation produced at lower temperature increases body temperature. We show here that temperature modulates the expression of tan (t, a pigmentation gene involved in melanin production. t is expressed 7 times more at 18°C than at 29°C in female abdominal epidermis. Genetic experiments show that modulation of t expression by temperature is essential for female abdominal pigmentation plasticity. Temperature modulates the activity of an enhancer of t without modifying compaction of its chromatin or level of the active histone mark H3K27ac. By contrast, the active mark H3K4me3 on the t promoter is strongly modulated by temperature. The H3K4 methyl-transferase involved in this process is likely Trithorax, as we show that it regulates t expression and the H3K4me3 level on the t promoter and also participates in female pigmentation and its plasticity. Interestingly, t was previously shown to be involved in inter-individual variation of female abdominal pigmentation in Drosophila melanogaster, and in abdominal pigmentation divergence between Drosophila species. Sensitivity of t

Plastic fish

CERN Multimedia

Antonella Del Rosso

2015-01-01

In terms of weight, the plastic pollution in the world’s oceans is estimated to be around 300,000 tonnes. This plastic comes from both land-based and ocean-based sources. A lecture at CERN by chemist Wolfgang Trettnak addressed this issue and highlighted the role of art in raising people’s awareness.   Artwork by Wolfgang Trettnak. Packaging materials, consumer goods (shoes, kids’ toys, etc.), leftovers from fishing and aquaculture activities… our oceans and beaches are full of plastic litter. Most of the debris from beaches is plastic bottles. “PET bottles have high durability and stability,” explains Wolfgang Trettnak, a chemist by education and artist from Austria, who gave a lecture on this topic organised by the Staff Association at CERN on 26 May. “PET degrades very slowly and the estimated lifetime of a bottle is 450 years.” In addition to the beach litter accumulated from human use, rivers bring several ki...

Tribo-charging properties of waste plastic granules in process of tribo-electrostatic separation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Li, Jia, E-mail: weee@sjtu.edu.cn; Wu, Guiqing; Xu, Zhenming

2015-01-15

Highlights: • The cyclone charging was more effective and stable than vibrating charging. • The small particle size was better changed than large ones and was more suitable recycled by TES. • The drying pretreatment is good for improving the short-term charging effect. - Abstract: Plastic products can be found everywhere in people’s daily life. With the consistent growth of plastic consumption, more and more plastic waste is generated. Considering the stable chemical and physics characteristics of plastic, regular waste management methods are not suitable for recycling economic strategy of each government, which has become a serious environmental problem. Recycling plastic waste is considered to be the best way to treat it, because it cannot only deduce the waste but also save the energy to produce new virgin plastic. Tribo-electrostatic separation is strongly recommended for plastic separation as it can preserve the original properties of plastic and has little additional pollution. In this study, plastic granules are generated by crushing plastic waste in waste electric and electronic equipment. The tribo-charging properties of plastic waste were studied by vibrating tribo-charging and cyclone tribo-charging. The triboelectric series obtained by vibrating was: (−)-PE–PS–PC–PVC–ABS–PP-(+), while the triboelectric series obtained by cyclone was (−)-PE–PS–PC–PVC–ABS–PP-(+). Further, the cyclone charging was more effective and stable than vibrating charging. The impact factors experiments showed that small particle size was better changed than large ones and were more suitable recycled by tribo-electrostatic separation. High relative humidity was identified as impede charging effect. The results of this study will help defining the operating parameters of subsequent separator.

Tribo-charging properties of waste plastic granules in process of tribo-electrostatic separation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li, Jia; Wu, Guiqing; Xu, Zhenming

2015-01-01

Highlights: • The cyclone charging was more effective and stable than vibrating charging. • The small particle size was better changed than large ones and was more suitable recycled by TES. • The drying pretreatment is good for improving the short-term charging effect. - Abstract: Plastic products can be found everywhere in people’s daily life. With the consistent growth of plastic consumption, more and more plastic waste is generated. Considering the stable chemical and physics characteristics of plastic, regular waste management methods are not suitable for recycling economic strategy of each government, which has become a serious environmental problem. Recycling plastic waste is considered to be the best way to treat it, because it cannot only deduce the waste but also save the energy to produce new virgin plastic. Tribo-electrostatic separation is strongly recommended for plastic separation as it can preserve the original properties of plastic and has little additional pollution. In this study, plastic granules are generated by crushing plastic waste in waste electric and electronic equipment. The tribo-charging properties of plastic waste were studied by vibrating tribo-charging and cyclone tribo-charging. The triboelectric series obtained by vibrating was: (−)-PE–PS–PC–PVC–ABS–PP-(+), while the triboelectric series obtained by cyclone was (−)-PE–PS–PC–PVC–ABS–PP-(+). Further, the cyclone charging was more effective and stable than vibrating charging. The impact factors experiments showed that small particle size was better changed than large ones and were more suitable recycled by tribo-electrostatic separation. High relative humidity was identified as impede charging effect. The results of this study will help defining the operating parameters of subsequent separator

Selection of polychlorinated plastics in plastic waste by X-ray fluorescence method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kumasaki, H.; Shinozaki, Y.

1979-01-01

The X-ray fluorescence method using a small source of 55 Fe was examined and found to be applicable for the selection of polychlorinated plastics from plastic waste in model areas in Tokyo designated for investigating their content in the waste. The weight ratios of soft and hard polychlorinated plastics to the total plastic waste estimated by this method were found to be 15.6% and 0.29% respectively. These values agree well with the results obtained with the Beilstein method. (author)

Digest: Plants adapt under attack: genotypic selection and phenotypic plasticity under herbivore pressure.

Science.gov (United States)

Hawkins, Nichola J

2018-03-31

Plant species adapt to changing environmental conditions through phenotypic plasticity and natural selection. Agrawal et al. (2018) found that dandelions responded to the presence of insect pests by producing higher levels of defensive compounds. This defensive response resulted both from phenotypic plasticity, with individual plants' defenses triggered by insect attack, and from evolution by natural selection acting on genetic variation in the plant population. © 2018 The Author(s). Evolution © 2018 The Society for the Study of Evolution.

Combating oil spill problem using plastic waste

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Saleem, Junaid, E-mail: junaidupm@gmail.com [Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Karachi (Pakistan); Ning, Chao; Barford, John [Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon (Hong Kong); McKay, Gordon [Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon (Hong Kong); Division of Sustainable Development, College of Science, Engineering and Technology, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Qatar Foundation, Doha (Qatar)

2015-10-15

Highlights: • Up-cycling one type of pollution i.e. plastic waste and successfully using it to combat the other type of pollution i.e. oil spill. • Synthesized oil sorbent that has extremely high oil uptake of 90 g/g after prolonged dripping of 1 h. • Synthesized porous oil sorbent film which not only facilitates in oil sorption but also increases the affinity between sorbent and oil by means of adhesion. - Abstract: Thermoplastic polymers (such as polypropylene, polyethylene, polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and high density polyethylene (HDPE)) constitute 5–15% of municipal solid waste produced across the world. A huge quantity of plastic waste is disposed of each year and is mostly either discarded in landfills or incinerated. On the other hand, the usage of synthetic polymers as oil sorbents, in particular, polyolefins, including polypropylene (PP), and polyethylene (PE) are the most commonly used oil sorbent materials mainly due to their low cost. However, they possess relatively low oil absorption capacities. In this work, we provide an innovative way to produce a value-added product such as oil-sorbent film with high practical oil uptake values in terms of g/g from waste HDPE bottles for rapid oil spill remedy.

Combating oil spill problem using plastic waste

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Saleem, Junaid; Ning, Chao; Barford, John; McKay, Gordon

2015-01-01

Highlights: • Up-cycling one type of pollution i.e. plastic waste and successfully using it to combat the other type of pollution i.e. oil spill. • Synthesized oil sorbent that has extremely high oil uptake of 90 g/g after prolonged dripping of 1 h. • Synthesized porous oil sorbent film which not only facilitates in oil sorption but also increases the affinity between sorbent and oil by means of adhesion. - Abstract: Thermoplastic polymers (such as polypropylene, polyethylene, polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and high density polyethylene (HDPE)) constitute 5–15% of municipal solid waste produced across the world. A huge quantity of plastic waste is disposed of each year and is mostly either discarded in landfills or incinerated. On the other hand, the usage of synthetic polymers as oil sorbents, in particular, polyolefins, including polypropylene (PP), and polyethylene (PE) are the most commonly used oil sorbent materials mainly due to their low cost. However, they possess relatively low oil absorption capacities. In this work, we provide an innovative way to produce a value-added product such as oil-sorbent film with high practical oil uptake values in terms of g/g from waste HDPE bottles for rapid oil spill remedy

Toxicological Threats of Plastic

Science.gov (United States)

Plastics pose both physical (e.g., entanglement, gastrointestinal blockage, reef destruction) and chemical threats (e.g., bioaccumulation of the chemical ingredients of plastic or toxic chemicals sorbed to plastics) to wildlife and the marine ecosystem.

Plasticity and beyond microstructures, crystal-plasticity and phase transitions

CERN Document Server

Hackl, Klaus

2014-01-01

The book presents the latest findings in experimental plasticity, crystal plasticity, phase transitions, advanced mathematical modeling of finite plasticity and multi-scale modeling. The associated algorithmic treatment is mainly based on finite element formulations for standard (local approach) as well as for non-standard (non-local approach) continua and for pure macroscopic as well as for directly coupled two-scale boundary value problems. Applications in the area of material design/processing are covered, ranging from grain boundary effects in polycrystals and phase transitions to deep-drawing of multiphase steels by directly taking into account random microstructures.

Vegetative and reproductive evaluation of hot peppers under different plastic mulches in poly/plastic tunnel

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Iqbal, Q.; Amjad, M.; Ahmad, R.

2009-01-01

Since the beginning of civilization, the man has developed technologies to increase the efficiency of food production. The use of plastic mulch in commercial vegetable production is one of these traditional techniques that have been used for centuries. Studies were conducted to assess the efficacy of plastic mulch on growth and yield of two hot pepper hybrids, viz. Sky Red and Maha in poly/plastic tunnel. The treatments were black plastic mulch, clear plastic mulch and bare soil as control. Both hot pepper hybrids mulched with black plastic showed significantly better vegetative growth (plant height, leaf area etc) and fruit yield. Clear plastic mulch significantly increased soil temperature and reduced the number of days to first flower than black plastic mulch and bare soil. However, fruit yield was higher by 39.56 and 36.49% respectively in both hybrids when they were grown on black and clear plastic mulch as compared to bare soil. Overall results indicated that the use of plastic mulch is an ideal option to maximize hot pepper productivity as well as to extend their production season in poly/plastic tunnels. (author)

Interaction between vegetable oil based plasticizer molecules and polyvinyl chloride, and their plasticization effect

Science.gov (United States)

Haryono, Agus; Triwulandari, Evi; Jiang, Pingping

2017-01-01

Plasticizer molecules are low molecular weight compounds that are widely used in polymer industries especially in polyvinyl chloride (PVC) resin. As an additive in PVC resin, the important role of plasticizer molecules is to improve the flexibility and processability of PVC by lowering the glass transition temperature (Tg). However, the commercial plasticizer like di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (DEHP) is known to cause liver cancer, at least in laboratory rats. DEHP can leach out from PVC into blood, certain drug solutions and fatty foods, which has been detected in the bloodstream of patients undergoing transfusion. Vegetable oil based plasticizers have some attractive properties such as non-toxic, bio-degradable, good heat and light stability, renewable resources, and environmentally friendly. Here we discussed the main results and development of vegetable oil based plasticizer, and especially palm oil based plasticizer. The interaction between plasticizer and polymer was discussed from the properties of the plasticized polymeric material.

THE EFFECT OF AMOUNT OF NATURAL ZEOLIT CATALYST IN PRODUCT OF POLYPROPILENE (PP PLASTIC WASTE PYROLYSIS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

khalimatus sa'diyah

2015-12-01

Full Text Available To overcome the waste problem, especially plastic waste , environmental concerned scientists from various disciplines have conducted various research and actions. Catalytic pyrolysis processes was chosen as an alternative method to recycle plastic waste. The purpose of this experiment was to determine the effect of natural zeolit catalyst on the pyrolysis process with oxygen-free conditions to obtain maximum hydrocarbon compounds (gasoline fraction in C5-C9. The process of pyrolysis was conducted in 3.5 dm3 unstirred stainless steel semi-batch reactor. This process operated at atmospheric pressure with nitrogen injection. Plastic waste that used in this particular paper was 50 grams of polypropylene (PP. In pyrolysis process, natural zeolite catalysts was added 2,5 gram (5% weight of natural zeolite per weight of plastic waste samples, 5 gram (10% , and 10 gram (20%. Temperature of pyrolysis was 450°C and were maintained until 30 minutes. Steam that produced from pyrolisis was condensed and analysed by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS to determine yield of hydrocarbons produced. From the analysis of GC-MS, liquid products of pyrolysis contained lots of aromatic hydrocarbons. The optimal amount of catalyst that produce liquid with hydrocarbon compound that has the quality of gasoline was 10 gram (20% with ≤C9 composition as 29,16% n-paraffin, 9,22% cycloparaffin, and 61,64% aromatics.

Deactivation and regeneration of ZSM-5 zeolite in catalytic pyrolysis of plastic wastes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lopez, A.; Marco, I. de; Caballero, B.M.; Adrados, A.; Laresgoiti, M.F.

2011-01-01

Highlights: → Pyrolysis transforms plastic wastes in valuable liquids and gases useful as fuels or source of chemicals. → The use of ZSM-5 zeolite in pyrolysis favours the production of gases and of lighter and more aromatic liquids. → ZSM-5 zeolite is almost completely deactivated after one plastics pyrolysis experiment. → ZSM-5 zeolite used in plastic wastes pyrolysis can be regenerated by burning the deposited coke in an air stream. → Regenerated ZSM-5 recovers its activity and produces liquids and gases equivalent to those obtained with fresh catalyst. - Abstract: In this work, a study of the regeneration and reuse of ZSM-5 zeolite in the pyrolysis of a plastic mixture has been carried out in a semi-batch reactor at 440 deg. C. The results have been compared with those obtained with fresh-catalyst and in non-catalytic experiments with the same conditions. The use of fresh catalyst produces a significant change in both the pyrolysis yields and the properties of the liquids and gases obtained. Gases more rich in C3-C4 and H 2 are produced, as well as lower quantities of aromatic liquids if compared with those obtained in thermal decomposition. The authors have proved that after one pyrolysis experiment the zeolite loses quite a lot of its activity, which is reflected in both the yields and the products quality; however, this deactivation was found to be reversible since after regeneration heating at 550 deg. C in oxygen atmosphere, this catalyst recovered its initial activity, generating similar products and in equivalent proportions as those obtained with fresh catalyst.

Handbook of Plastic Welding

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Islam, Aminul

The purpose of this document is to summarize the information about the laser welding of plastic. Laser welding is a matured process nevertheless laser welding of micro dimensional plastic parts is still a big challenge. This report collects the latest information about the laser welding of plastic...... materials and provides an extensive knowhow on the industrial plastic welding process. The objectives of the report include: - Provide the general knowhow of laser welding for the beginners - Summarize the state-of-the-art information on the laser welding of plastics - Find the technological limits in terms...... of design, materials and process - Find the best technology, process and machines adaptive to Sonion’s components - Provide the skills to Sonion’s Design Engineers for successful design of the of the plastic components suitable for the laser welding The ultimate goal of this report is to serve...

Screening of yeasts capable of producing cellulase-free xylanase

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Professor

2015-06-10

Jun 10, 2015 ... of their ability to degrade xylan, which was found in the medium by using agar degradation halos, the ... These enzymes are produced by molds, bacteria, yeasts ... collected, stored in sterile plastic bags and transported under.

Abiotic degradation of plastic films

Science.gov (United States)

Ángeles-López, Y. G.; Gutiérrez-Mayen, A. M.; Velasco-Pérez, M.; Beltrán-Villavicencio, M.; Vázquez-Morillas, A.; Cano-Blanco, M.

2017-01-01

Degradable plastics have been promoted as an option to mitigate the environmental impacts of plastic waste. However, there is no certainty about its degradability under different environmental conditions. The effect of accelerated weathering (AW), natural weathering (NW) and thermal oxidation (TO) on different plastics (high density polyethylene, HDPE; oxodegradable high density polyethylene, HDPE-oxo; compostable plastic, Ecovio ® metalized polypropylene, PP; and oxodegradable metalized polypropylene, PP-oxo) was studied. Plastics films were exposed to AW per 110 hours; to NW per 90 days; and to TO per 30 days. Plastic films exposed to AW and NW showed a general loss on mechanical properties. The highest reduction in elongation at break on AW occurred to HDPE-oxo (from 400.4% to 20.9%) and was higher than 90% for HDPE, HDPE-oxo, Ecovio ® and PP-oxo in NW. No substantial evidence of degradation was found on plastics exposed to TO. Oxo-plastics showed higher degradation rates than their conventional counterparts, and the compostable plastic was resistant to degradation in the studied abiotic conditions. This study shows that degradation of plastics in real life conditions will vary depending in both, their composition and the environment.

Plasticity characteristic obtained by indentation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mil'man, Yu.V.; Chugunova, S.I.; Goncharova, I.V.

2011-01-01

Methods for determination plasticity characteristic δH in the measurement of hardness and nanohardness are considered. Parameter δH characterizes the plasticity of a material by the part of plastic deformation in the total elastic-plastic deformation. The value of δH is defined for metals with different types of crystal lattice, covalent and partially covalent crystals, intermetallics, metallic glasses and quasicrystals. It is discussed the dependence of the plasticity characteristic δH on structural factors and temperature. Parameter δH allows to analyze and compare the plasticity of materials which are brittle at standard mechanical tests. The combination of hardness H, as the strength characteristic, and the plasticity characteristic δH makes possible the better characterization of mechanical behavior of materials than only the hardness H. The examples of plasticity characteristic δH application are represented.

Biodegradation of compostable and oxodegradable plastic films by backyard composting and bioaugmentation.

Science.gov (United States)

Quecholac-Piña, Xochitl; García-Rivera, Mariel Anel; Espinosa-Valdemar, Rosa María; Vázquez-Morillas, Alethia; Beltrán-Villavicencio, Margarita; Cisneros-Ramos, Adriana de la Luz

2017-11-01

Plastics are widely used in the production of short-life products, which are discarded producing an accumulation of these materials and problems due to their persistence in the environment and waste management systems. Degradable plastics (compostable, oxodegradable) have been presented as an alternative to decrease the negative effect of plastic waste. In this research, the feasibility of degrading a commercially available compostable film and oxodegradable polyethylene, with and without previous abiotic oxidation, is assessed in a home composting system. Reactors (200 L) were used to degrade the plastic films along with a mixture of organic food waste (50 %), mulch (25 %), and dry leaves (25 %), amended with yeast and a solution of brown sugar to increase the speed of the process. The presence of the plastic film did not affect the composting process, which showed an initial increase in temperature and typical profiles for moisture content, pH, with a final C/N of 17.4. After 57 days, the compostable plastic has decreased its mechanical properties in more than 90 %, while the oxodegradable film did not show significant degradation if it was not previously degraded by UV radiation. The use of these plastics should be assessed against the prevailing waste management system in each city or country. In the case of Mexico, which lacks the infrastructure for industrial composting, home composting could be an option to degrade compostable plastics along organic waste. However, more testing is needed in order to set the optimal parameters of the process.

A saturation hypothesis to explain both enhanced and impaired learning with enhanced plasticity

Science.gov (United States)

Nguyen-Vu, TD Barbara; Zhao, Grace Q; Lahiri, Subhaneil; Kimpo, Rhea R; Lee, Hanmi; Ganguli, Surya; Shatz, Carla J; Raymond, Jennifer L

2017-01-01

Across many studies, animals with enhanced synaptic plasticity exhibit either enhanced or impaired learning, raising a conceptual puzzle: how enhanced plasticity can yield opposite learning outcomes? Here, we show that the recent history of experience can determine whether mice with enhanced plasticity exhibit enhanced or impaired learning in response to the same training. Mice with enhanced cerebellar LTD, due to double knockout (DKO) of MHCI H2-Kb/H2-Db (KbDb−/−), exhibited oculomotor learning deficits. However, the same mice exhibited enhanced learning after appropriate pre-training. Theoretical analysis revealed that synapses with history-dependent learning rules could recapitulate the data, and suggested that saturation may be a key factor limiting the ability of enhanced plasticity to enhance learning. Optogenetic stimulation designed to saturate LTD produced the same impairment in WT as observed in DKO mice. Overall, our results suggest that the recent history of activity and the threshold for synaptic plasticity conspire to effect divergent learning outcomes. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.20147.001 PMID:28234229

The effect of nanocrystallization and free volume on the room temperature plasticity of Zr-based bulk metallic glasses

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mondal, K.; Ohkubo, T.; Toyama, T.; Nagai, Y.; Hasegawa, M.; Hono, K.

2008-01-01

To understand the mechanism of the room temperature plasticity of bulk metallic glasses (BMGs), microstructure observations, density measurements and positron annihilation studies were carried out for Zr-based BMGs cast at various temperatures and post-annealed under different conditions. We found that higher casting temperatures cause partial crystallization, which enhance the plasticity as long as the volume fraction of the crystalline phase is low. However, a similar nanocrystalline microstructure produced by post-annealing often leads to a large loss of plasticity, while certain conditions enhance the plasticity. Based on density measurements and positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy, we conclude that the relative contribution of free volume and nanocrystallization is important for acquiring plasticity in metallic glasses

Impacts of discarded plastic bags on marine assemblages and ecosystem functioning.

Science.gov (United States)

Green, Dannielle Senga; Boots, Bas; Blockley, David James; Rocha, Carlos; Thompson, Richard

2015-05-05

The accumulation of plastic debris is a global environmental problem due to its durability, persistence, and abundance. Although effects of plastic debris on individual marine organisms, particularly mammals and birds, have been extensively documented (e.g., entanglement and choking), very little is known about effects on assemblages and consequences for ecosystem functioning. In Europe, around 40% of the plastic items produced are utilized as single-use packaging, which rapidly accumulate in waste management facilities and as litter in the environment. A range of biodegradable plastics have been developed with the aspiration of reducing the persistence of litter; however, their impacts on marine assemblages or ecosystem functioning have never been evaluated. A field experiment was conducted to assess the impact of conventional and biodegradable plastic carrier bags as litter on benthic macro- and meio-faunal assemblages and biogeochemical processes (primary productivity, redox condition, organic matter content, and pore-water nutrients) on an intertidal shore near Dublin, Ireland. After 9 weeks, the presence of either type of bag created anoxic conditions within the sediment along with reduced primary productivity and organic matter and significantly lower abundances of infaunal invertebrates. This indicates that both conventional and biodegradable bags can rapidly alter marine assemblages and the ecosystem services they provide.

Experiments with elasto-plastic oscillator

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Randrup-thomsen, Søren; Ditlevsen, Ove Dalager

1996-01-01

Plastic displacements of a Gaussian white noise excited three degrees of freedom non-ideal elasto-plastic oscillator are measured in laboratory experiments and the plastic displacements are compared to computer simulated results for the corresponding ideal elasto-plastic oscillator. The comparative...

Experiments with elasto-plastic oscillator

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Randrup-Thomsen, S.; Ditlevsen, Ove Dalager

1999-01-01

Plastic displacements of a Gaussian white noise excited three degrees of freedom non-ideal elasto-plastic oscillator are measured in laboratory experiments and the plastic displacements are compared to computer simulated results for the corresponding ideal elasto-plastic oscillator. The comparative...

ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUE-PLASTIC

OpenAIRE

Sunita Shakle

2017-01-01

Polythene is the most common plastic, the annual global production is approximately 60 million tones, and its primary use is in packing. Plastic bags pollute soil and waters and kill thousands of marine generalize plastic bags are not biodegradable they clog water ways, spoil the land scape and end up in landfills. Where they may take 1000 year or more to break down into ever smaller particals that continue to pollution the soil and water.

Modelling of cyclic plasticity for austenitic stainless steels 304L, 316L, 316L(N)-IG

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dalla Palma, Mauro, E-mail: mauro.dallapalma@igi.cnr.it

2016-11-01

Highlights: • Stress-strain amplitudes of cyclic stress strain curves defined by design codes are provided as reference data. • A macroinstruction simulating cyclic plasticity and producing hardening parameters of constitutive models is developed. • Hardening parameters of the nonlinear Chaboche model are provided for stainless steels 316l-N, 316L, 304L at different temperatures. • Ratcheting is simulated by using the produced hardening parameters. - Abstract: The integrity assessment of structures subjected to cyclic loading must be verified with regard to cyclic type damage including time-independent fatigue and progressive deformation or ratcheting. Cyclic damage is verified simulating the material elastic-plastic loop and looking at the accumulated net plastic strain during each cycle at all points of the structure subjected to the complete time history of loadings. This work deals with the development of a numerical model producing the Chaboche hardening parameters starting from stress-strain data produced by testing of materials. Then, the total plastic strain can be simulated using the Chaboche inelastic constitutive model requested for finite element analyses. This is particularly demanding for pressure vessels, pressurised piping, boilers, and mechanical components of nuclear installations made of stainless steels. A design optimisation by iterative analyses is developed to approach the stress-strain test data with the Chaboche model. The parameters treated as design variables are the Chaboche parameters and the objective function to be minimised is a combination of the deviations from test data. The optimiser calls a macroinstruction simulating cyclic loading of a sample for different material temperatures. The numerical model can be used to produce hardening parameters of materials for inelastic finite element verifications of structures with complex joints like elbows subjected to a combination of steady sustained and cyclic loads.

Nano-Ceramic Coated Plastics

Science.gov (United States)

Cho, Junghyun

2013-01-01

Plastic products, due to their durability, safety, and low manufacturing cost, are now rapidly replacing cookware items traditionally made of glass and ceramics. Despite this trend, some still prefer relatively expensive and more fragile ceramic/glassware because plastics can deteriorate over time after exposure to foods, which can generate odors, bad appearance, and/or color change. Nano-ceramic coatings can eliminate these drawbacks while still retaining the advantages of the plastic, since the coating only alters the surface of the plastic. The surface coating adds functionality to the plastics such as self-cleaning and disinfectant capabilities that result from a photocatalytic effect of certain ceramic systems. These ceramic coatings can also provide non-stick surfaces and higher temperature capabilities for the base plastics without resorting to ceramic or glass materials. Titanium dioxide (TiO2) and zinc oxide (ZnO) are the candidates for a nano-ceramic coating to deposit on the plastics or plastic films used in cookware and kitchenware. Both are wide-bandgap semiconductors (3.0 to 3.2 eV for TiO2 and 3.2 to 3.3 eV for ZnO), so they exhibit a photocatalytic property under ultraviolet (UV) light. This will lead to decomposition of organic compounds. Decomposed products can be easily washed off by water, so the use of detergents will be minimal. High-crystalline film with large surface area for the reaction is essential to guarantee good photocatalytic performance of these oxides. Low-temperature processing (nano-ceramic coatings (TiO2, ZnO) on plastic materials (silicone, Teflon, PET, etc.) that can possess both photocatalytic oxide properties and flexible plastic properties. Processing cost is low and it does not require any expensive equipment investment. Processing can be scalable to current manufacturing infrastructure.

Elastic-plastic analysis of AS4/PEEK composite laminate using a one-parameter plasticity model

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, C. T.; Yoon, K. J.

1992-01-01

A one-parameter plasticity model was shown to adequately describe the plastic deformation of AS4/PEEK (APC-2) unidirectional thermoplastic composite. This model was verified further for unidirectional and laminated composite panels with and without a hole. The elastic-plastic stress-strain relations of coupon specimens were measured and compared with those predicted by the finite element analysis using the one-parameter plasticity model. The results show that the one-parameter plasticity model is suitable for the analysis of elastic-plastic deformation of AS4/PEEK composite laminates.

Physico-chemical properties of excavated plastic from landfill mining and current recycling routes.

Science.gov (United States)

Canopoli, L; Fidalgo, B; Coulon, F; Wagland, S T

2018-06-01

In Europe over 5.25 billion tonnes of waste has been landfilled between 1995 and 2015. Among this large amount of waste, plastic represents typically 5-25 wt% which is significant and has the potential to be recycled and reintroduced into the circular economy. To date there is still however little information available of the opportunities and challenges in recovering plastics from landfill sites. In this review, the impacts of landfill chemistry on the degradation and/or contamination of excavated plastic waste are analysed. The feasibility of using excavated plastic waste as feedstock for upcycling to valuable chemicals or liquid fuels through thermochemical conversion is also critically discussed. The limited degradation that is experienced by many plastics in landfills (>20 years) which guarantee that large amount is still available is largely due to thermooxidative degradation and the anaerobic conditions. However, excavated plastic waste cannot be conventionally recycled due to high level of ash, impurities and heavy metals. Recent studies demonstrated that pyrolysis offers a cost effective alternative option to conventional recycling. The produced pyrolysis oil is expected to have similar characteristics to petroleum diesel oil. The production of valuable product from excavated plastic waste will also increase the feasibility of enhanced landfill mining projects. However, further studies are needed to investigate the uncertainties about the contamination level and degradation of excavated plastic waste and address their viability for being processed through pyrolysis. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Performance of molded plastic scintillators

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gen, N.S.; Leman, V.E.; Solomonov, V.M.

1989-01-01

The performance of molded plastic scintillators is studied. The plastic scintillators studied were formed by transfer molding and intrusion from a scintillation composition consisting of polystyrene and a standard system of luminescent additives: 2 mass % of paraterphenyl + 0.06 mass % 1,4-di-/2-[5-phenyloxazoyly]/benzene and a plasticizer. The combined effect of mechanical load and temperature was studied. The effect of radiation on molded plastic scintillators was studied using gamma radiation from a 60 Co source. The studies show that the main operating characteristics of molded plastic scintillators are on a par with those of polymerized plastic scintillators. At the same time, molded plastic scintillators are superior in thermal stability at temperatures below the glass transition temperature and with respect to their working temperature range

Plastic food packaging and health

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Raika Durusoy

2011-02-01

Full Text Available Plastics have a wide usage in our daily lives. One of their uses is for food packaging and food containers. The aim of this review is to introduce different types of chemicals that can leach from food packaging plastics into foods and cause human exposure and to mention their effects on health. The types of plastics were reviewed under the 13 headings in Turkish Codex Alimentarius and plastics recycling symbols were provided to enable the recognition of the type of plastic when applicable. Chemicals used during the production and that can cause health risks are investigated under the heading of the relevant type of plastic. The most important chemicals from plastic food packaging that can cause toxicity are styrene, 1,3-butadiene, melamine, formaldehyde, acrylamide, di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate, di-2-ethylhexyl adipate, vinyl chloride and bisphenol A. These chemicals have endocrine disrupting, carcinogenic and/or development disrupting effects. These chemicals may leach into foods depending on the chemical properties of the plastic or food, temperature during packaging, processing and storage, exposure to UV and duration of storage. Contact with fatty/oily or acidic foods, heating of the food inside the container, or drinking hot drinks from plastic cups, use of old and scratched plastics and some detergents increase the risk of leaching. The use of plastic containers and packaging for food and beveradges should be avoided whenever possible and when necessary, less harmful types of plastic should be preferred. [TAF Prev Med Bull 2011; 10(1.000: 87-96

Circular economy measures to keep plastics and their value in the economy, avoid waste and reduce marine litter

OpenAIRE

Ten Brink, Patrick; Schweitzer, Jean-pierre; Watkins, Emma; De Smet, Michel; Leslie, Heather; Galgani, Francois

2017-01-01

We live in the plastic age (the “plasticene”), producing over 300 million tonnes (mt) of plastic every year globally, 5-15 mt of which flow into already polluted oceans. Plastic remains a key material in the global economy, but low rates of collection, reuse and recycling, emissions of microplastic from product wear and tear, and often insufficient disposal measures are leading to far-reaching environmental, health, social and economic impacts. The costs of inaction are unacceptably high. Glo...

Fear and Fascination in the Big City: Rilke's Use of George Simmel in The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Neil H. Donahue

1992-06-01

Full Text Available This essay examines Rainer Maria Rilke's The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge (1910 as one corner in a triangle of reciprocal influence and affinity in early twentieth-century modernity consisting of Rilke, the sociologist Georg Simmel, and the art theorist Wilhelm Worringer. In the notes, this essay documents the biographical relations among the three, but in its text it demonstrates through textual analysis how Rilke's descriptions of Malte in Paris enact Simmel's categories of psychological response for man in the metropolis, as delineated in his essay "The Metropolis and Mental Life"(1903. Rilke's descriptions of Malte's attempts to overcome his fears of the metropolis coincide then with Worringer's thesis in his Abstraction and Empathy (1908 on the psychological origins of abstract art and Joseph Frank's later elaboration of that thesis into an aesthetics of spatial form.

Our plastic age

OpenAIRE

Thompson, Richard C.; Swan, Shanna H.; Moore, Charles J.; vom Saal, Frederick S.

2009-01-01

Within the last few decades, plastics have revolutionized our daily lives. Globally we use in excess of 260 million tonnes of plastic per annum, accounting for approximately 8 per cent of world oil production. In this Theme Issue of Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, we describe current and future trends in usage, together with the many benefits that plastics bring to society. At the same time, we examine the environmental consequences resulting from the accumulation of waste pl...

A Conservative Formulation for Plasticity

Science.gov (United States)

1992-01-01

concepts that apply to a broad class of macroscopic models: plastic deformation and plastic flow rule. CONSERVATIVE PLASTICITY 469 3a. Plastic Defrrnation...temperature. We illustrate these concepts with a model that has been used to describe high strain-rate plastic flow in metals [11, 31, 32]. In the case...JOURDREN, AND P. VEYSSEYRE. Un Modele ttyperelastique- Plastique Euldrien Applicable aux Grandes Dtformations: Que/ques R~sultats 1-D. preprint, 1991. 2. P

Wood-plastic combination

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schaudy, R.

1978-02-01

A review on wood-plastic combinations is given including the production (wood and plastic component, radiation hardening, curing), the obtained properties, present applications and prospects for the future of these materials. (author)

Focused campaign increases activity among participants in Nature's Notebook, a citizen science project

Science.gov (United States)

Crimmins, Theresa M.; Weltzin, Jake F.; Rosemartin, Alyssa H.; Surina, Echo M.; Marsh, Lee; Denny, Ellen G.

2014-01-01

Citizen science projects, which engage non-professional scientists in one or more stages of scientific research, have been gaining popularity; yet maintaining participants’ activity level over time remains a challenge. The objective of this study was to evaluate the potential for a short-term, focused campaign to increase participant activity in a national-scale citizen science program. The campaign that we implemented was designed to answer a compelling scientific question. We invited participants in the phenology-observing program, Nature’s Notebook, to track trees throughout the spring of 2012, to ascertain whether the season arrived as early as the anomalous spring of 2010. Consisting of a series of six electronic newsletters and costing our office slightly more than 1 week of staff resources, our effort was successful; compared with previous years, the number of observations collected in the region where the campaign was run increased by 184%, the number of participants submitting observations increased by 116%, and the number of trees registered increased by 110%. In comparison, these respective metrics grew by 25, 55, and 44%, over previous years, in the southeastern quadrant of the United States, where no such campaign was carried out. The campaign approach we describe here is a model that could be adapted by a wide variety of programs to increase engagement and thereby positively influence participant retention.

Plastic deformation and contact area of an elastic-plastic contact of ellipsoid bodies after unloading

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Jamari, Jamari; Schipper, Dirk J.

2007-01-01

This paper presents theoretical and experimental results of the residual or plastic deformation and the plastic contact area of an elastic–plastic contact of ellipsoid bodies after unloading. There are three regime responses of the deformation and contact area: elastic, elastic–plastic and fully

Challenges and opportunities in understanding microbial communities with metagenome assembly (accompanied by IPython Notebook tutorial)

Science.gov (United States)

Howe, Adina; Chain, Patrick S. G.

2015-01-01

Metagenomic investigations hold great promise for informing the genetics, physiology, and ecology of environmental microorganisms. Current challenges for metagenomic analysis are related to our ability to connect the dots between sequencing reads, their population of origin, and their encoding functions. Assembly-based methods reduce dataset size by extending overlapping reads into larger contiguous sequences (contigs), providing contextual information for genetic sequences that does not rely on existing references. These methods, however, tend to be computationally intensive and are again challenged by sequencing errors as well as by genomic repeats While numerous tools have been developed based on these methodological concepts, they present confounding choices and training requirements to metagenomic investigators. To help with accessibility to assembly tools, this review also includes an IPython Notebook metagenomic assembly tutorial. This tutorial has instructions for execution any operating system using Amazon Elastic Cloud Compute and guides users through downloading, assembly, and mapping reads to contigs of a mock microbiome metagenome. Despite its challenges, metagenomic analysis has already revealed novel insights into many environments on Earth. As software, training, and data continue to emerge, metagenomic data access and its discoveries will to grow. PMID:26217314

Challenges and opportunities in understanding microbial communities with metagenome assembly (accompanied by IPython Notebook tutorial

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Adina eHowe

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Metagenomic investigations hold great promise for informing the genetics, physiology, and ecology of environmental microorganisms. Current challenges for metagenomic analysis are related to our ability to connect the dots between sequencing reads, their population of origin, and their encoding functions. Assembly-based methods reduce dataset size by extending overlapping reads into larger contiguous sequences (contigs, providing contextual information for genetic sequences that does not rely on existing references. These methods, however, tend to be computationally intensive and are again challenged by sequencing errors as well as by genomic repeats While numerous tools have been developed based on these methodological concepts, they present confounding choices and training requirements to metagenomic investigators. To help with accessibility to assembly tools, this review also includes an IPython Notebook metagenomic assembly tutorial. This tutorial has instructions for execution any operating system using Amazon Elastic Cloud Compute and guides users through downloading, assembly, and mapping reads to contigs of a mock microbiome metagenome. Despite its challenges, metagenomic analysis has already revealed novel insights into many environments on Earth. As software, training, and data continue to emerge, metagenomic data access and its discoveries will to grow.

Phenotypic plasticity in opsin expression in a butterfly compound eye complements sex role reversal

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Everett Andrew

2012-11-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Animals often display phenotypic plasticity in morphologies and behaviors that result in distinct adaptations to fluctuating seasonal environments. The butterfly Bicyclus anynana has two seasonal forms, wet and dry, that vary in wing ornament brightness and in the identity of the sex that performs the most courting and choosing. Rearing temperature is the cue for producing these alternative seasonal forms. We hypothesized that, barring any developmental constraints, vision should be enhanced in the choosy individuals but diminished in the non-choosy individuals due to physiological costs. As a proxy of visual performance we measured eye size, facet lens size, and sensitivity to light, e.g., the expression levels of all opsins, in males and females of both seasonal forms. Results We found that B. anynana eyes displayed significant sexual dimorphism and phenotypic plasticity for both morphology and opsin expression levels, but not all results conformed to our prediction. Males had larger eyes than females across rearing temperatures, and increases in temperature produced larger eyes in both sexes, mostly via increases in facet number. Ommatidia were larger in the choosy dry season (DS males and transcript levels for all three opsins were significantly lower in the less choosy DS females. Conclusions Opsin level plasticity in females, and ommatidia size plasticity in males supported our visual plasticity hypothesis but males appear to maintain high visual function across both seasons. We discuss our results in the context of distinct sexual and natural selection pressures that may be facing each sex in the wild in each season.

Particle stabilization of plastic flow in nanostructured Al-1 %Si Alloy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Huang, Tianlin; Li, Chao; Wu, Guilin

2014-01-01

A nanostructured Al-1 %Si alloy containing a dispersion of Si particles in ultrapure aluminum (99.9996 %) was produced by heavy cold rolling to study the effect of second-phase particles on the occurrence of plastic instability during tensile testing of a nanostructured metal. Tensile tests were...

Research Advances: Paper Batteries, Phototriggered Microcapsules, and Oil-Free Plastic Production

Science.gov (United States)

King, Angela G.

2010-01-01

Chemists continue to work at the forefront of materials science research. Recent advances include application of bioengineering to produce plastics from renewable biomass instead of petroleum, generation of paper-based batteries, and development of phototriggerable microcapsules for chemical delivery. In this article, the author provides summaries…

Application of fluidization to separate packaging waste plastics.

Science.gov (United States)

Carvalho, M Teresa; Ferreira, Célia; Portela, Antía; Santos, João Tiago

2009-03-01

The objective of the experimental work described in this paper is the study of the separation of PS (polystyrene) from PET (polyethylene terephthalate) and PVC (polyvinyl chloride) from drop-off points using a fluidized bed separator. This is a low-cost process commonly used in the hydro-classification of mineral ores. Firstly, experimental tests were carried out with artificial granulated samples with different grain sizes, types and sources of plastic ("separability tests"). The particle settling velocities were determined under different operating conditions. Then, based on the results, the laboratory tests continued with real mixtures of waste plastics ("separation tests") and the efficiency of the process was evaluated. From a PET-rich mixture, a concentrate of PS with a 75% grade in PS was produced while the underflow was quite clear from PS (grade less than 0.5% in PS).

Circular economy measures to keep plastics and their value in the economy, avoid waste and reduce marine litter

OpenAIRE

ten Brink, Patrick; Schweitzer, Jean-Pierre; Watkins, Emma; Janssens, Charlotte; De Smet, Michiel; Leslie, Heather; Galgani, François

2018-01-01

We live in the plastic age (the “plasticene”), producing over 300 million tonnes (mt) of plastic every year globally, 5–15 mt of which flow into already polluted oceans. Plastic remains a key material in the global economy, but low rates of collection, reuse and recycling, emissions of microplastic from product wear and tear, and often insufficient disposal measures are leading to far-reaching environmental, health, social and economic impacts. The costs of inaction are unacceptably high. Glo...

Factors Affecting the Discharge of Micro-Plastic Fibers from Household Laundry

Science.gov (United States)

Lange, N.

2017-12-01

Every day millions of loads of laundry are done in in the United States alone. Many, if not most, include synthetic fibers. During washing, micro-plastic fibers are released from the fabric, and discharged into the wastewater. These fibers have been detected in fresh water throughout the world and all of the oceans. These micro-plastic fibers are an emerging environmental contaminant that can adversely affect wildlife and are highly bio-accumulated in aquatic food-chains. Additionally, like other plastics, micro-fibers are not readily biodegraded and persist in the environment for a long time. In this research, I explored the effect of the way we wash clothes on the amount of micro-plastic fibers that are shed by common clothing materials containing man-made fibers. I collected discharge samples from wash and rinse cycles of a washing machine. I collected samples from a control wash using no detergent and then repeated five times. Next, I repeated the experiment five times using four different types of detergent. Large amounts of micro-plastic fibers were released during all wash cycles. However, the numbers decreased during the later rinse cycles. The use of laundry detergent increased the number of micro-plastic fibers released into the wash-water. Deep cleaning detergents produced over ten times more fibers than the no-detergent control. The gentlest detergent only released two times more fibers than the control. Therefore, it would be possible to affect the number of fibers released into the wastewater simply by selection of detergent. The ultimate goal of my research is to develop an optimized detergent that minimizes the number of micro-plastic fibers generated by washing and still effectively clean clothes.

Synaptic Plasticity and Nociception

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

ChenJianguo

2004-01-01

Synaptic plasticity is one of the fields that progresses rapidly and has a lot of success in neuroscience. The two major types of synaptie plasticity: long-term potentiation ( LTP and long-term depression (LTD are thought to be the cellular mochanisms of learning and memory. Recently, accumulating evidence suggests that, besides serving as a cellular model for learning and memory, the synaptic plasticity involves in other physiological or pathophysiological processes, such as the perception of pain and the regulation of cardiovascular system. This minireview will focus on the relationship between synaptic plasticity and nociception.

Dimensional accuracy optimization of the micro-plastic injection molding process using the Taguchi design method

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chil-Chyuan KUO KUO

2015-06-01

Full Text Available Plastic injection molding is an important field in manufacturing industry because there are many plastic products that produced by injection molding. However, the time and cost required for producing a precision mold are the most troublesome problems that limit the application at the development stage of a new product in precision machinery industry. This study presents an approach of manufacturing a hard mold with microfeatures for micro-plastic injection molding. This study also focuses on Taguchi design method for investigating the effect of injection parameters on the dimensional accuracy of Fresnel lens during plastic injection molding. It was found that the dominant factor affecting the microgroove depth of Fresnel lens is packing pressure. The optimum processing parameters are packing pressure of 80 MPa, melt temperature of 240 °C, mold temperature of 90 °C and injection speed of 50 m/s. The dimensional accuracy of Fresnel lens can be controlled within ±3 µm using the optimum level of process parameters through the confirmation test. The research results of this study have industrial application values because electro-optical industries are able to significantly reduce a new optical element development cycle time.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.ms.21.2.5864

Measurement of the plastic scintillator response to heavy ions, between 0 to 30 MeV/N

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dorion, I.

1984-01-01

The light produced in a plastic scintillator depends on particle nature and energy. Theoretical models predict a linear behavior of the light output response for high energy heavy ions. An experimental set-up was realised in order to perform the integral and, in some case, the differential measurement of the light yield in a plastic scintillator (NE102) stopping 6 Li, 12 C, 16 O, 20 Ne, 40 Ar ions given by SARA, with particle incident energy from 3 to 30 MeV per nucleon. The plastic resolution was also measured. The data analysis leads to experimental results which are in good agreement with the predictions. Taking into account resolution value, the use of plastic scintillator in detection system allows in some case, particle identification [fr

Plastic heat exchangers: a state-of-the-art review

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Miller, D; Holtz, R E; Koopman, R N; Marciniak, T J; MacFarlane, D R

1979-07-01

Significant increases in energy utilization efficiency can be achieved through the recovery of low-temperature rejected heat. This energy conserving possibility provides incentive for the development of heat exchangers which could be employed in applications where conventional units cannot be used. Some unique anticorrosion and nonstick characteristics of plastics make this material very attractive for heat recovery where condensation, especially sulfuric acid, and fouling occur. Some of the unique characteristics of plastics led to the commercial success of DuPont's heat exchangers utilizing polytetrafluoroethylene (trade name Teflon) tubes. Attributes which were exploited in this application were the extreme chemical inertness of the material and its flexibility, which enabled utilization in odd-shaped spaces. The wide variety of polymeric materials available ensures chemical inertness for almost any application. Lower cost, compoundability with fillers to improve thermal/mechanical properties, and versatile fabrication methods are incentives for many uses. Also, since many plastics resist corrosion, they can be employed in lower temperature applications (< 436 K), where condensation can occur and metal units have been unable to function. It is clear that if application and design can be merged to produce a cost-effective alternate to present methods of handling low-temperature rejected heat, then there is significant incentive for plastic heat exchangers, to replace traditional metallic heat exchangers or to be used in services where metals are totally unsuited.

Achromobactor denitrificans SP1 produces pharmaceutically active 25C prodigiosin upon utilizing hazardous di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate

Science.gov (United States)

Achromobacter denitrificans SP1 isolated from soil sludge heavily contaminated with plastic waste produced a novel pharmaceutically-active 25C prodigiosin analog during growth in a simple mineral salt medium supplemented with hazardous di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (DEHP) blended PVC plastics (in situ) ...

An Analysis of the Advantages of Reusable Plastic Containers in Strawberry Logistics : A Case Study of the Japan Agricultural Cooperative YOICHI

OpenAIRE

尾碕, 亨; 樋元, 淳一

2014-01-01

This article undertook a comparative analysis of cardboard boxes and reusable plastic containers and their impact on production logistics costs and the receipt prices of producers. The results showed that reusable plastic containers shortened logistical working hours, reduced production logistics costs and increased the receipt prices of the producer. However, exchange-value cannot realized if the quality of the farm product is not maintained, even if it is transported in superior packing con...

The influence of temperature on the formation of liquid fuel from Polypropylene plastic wastes

Science.gov (United States)

Martynis, M.; Mulyazmi; Praputri, E.; Witri, R.; Putri, N.

2018-03-01

The current trend of municipal waste management in urban areas is caused by rapid changes in social, economic, political and cultural life. As a non-biodegradable polymers that have become essential materials, plastic wastes have created a very serious environmental challenge because of the huge quantities and their disposal problems. Recycling of plastics is seen as one method for reducing environmental and resource depletion. The most attractive technique of plastics recycling is pyrolysis involving the degradation of the polymeric materials by heating in the absence of oxygen. This study investigated the characteristics of pyrolysis liquid fuel (PLF) produced from polypropylene plastic wastes with temperature variations. Pyrolisis was carried out on 200 grams of polypropylene waste plastics at the operating temperature of 200°C, 250°C, 300 °C and 350 °C for 45 minutes. The liquid products were found to have carbon chain length in the range of C8-C9, similar with gasoline. The maximum density, volume and calorific value of the oil obtained were 0.8 g/cm3, 61 ml and 1307 cal/gr, respectively.

Effect of Plastic Deformation on the Corrosion Behavior of a Super-Duplex Stainless Steel

Science.gov (United States)

Renton, Neill C.; Elhoud, Abdu M.; Deans, William F.

2011-04-01

The role of plastic deformation on the corrosion behavior of a 25Cr-7Ni super-duplex stainless steel (SDSS) in a 3.5 wt.% sodium chloride solution at 90 °C was investigated. Different levels of plastic strain between 4 and 16% were applied to solution annealed tensile specimens and the effect on the pitting potential measured using potentiodynamic electrochemical techniques. A nonlinear relationship between the pitting potential and the plastic strain was recorded, with 8 and 16% causing a significant reduction in average E p, but 4 and 12% causing no significant change when compared with the solution-annealed specimens. The corrosion morphology revealed galvanic interaction between the anodic ferrite and the cathodic austenite causing preferential dissolution of the ferrite. Mixed potential theory and the changing surface areas of the two phases caused by the plastic deformation structures explain the reductions in pitting potential at certain critical plastic strain levels. End-users and manufacturers should evaluate the corrosion behavior of specific cold-worked duplex and SDSSs using their as-produced surface finishes assessing in-service corrosion performance.

Avalanches and plastic flow in crystal plasticity: an overview

Science.gov (United States)

Papanikolaou, Stefanos; Cui, Yinan; Ghoniem, Nasr

2018-01-01

Crystal plasticity is mediated through dislocations, which form knotted configurations in a complex energy landscape. Once they disentangle and move, they may also be impeded by permanent obstacles with finite energy barriers or frustrating long-range interactions. The outcome of such complexity is the emergence of dislocation avalanches as the basic mechanism of plastic flow in solids at the nanoscale. While the deformation behavior of bulk materials appears smooth, a predictive model should clearly be based upon the character of these dislocation avalanches and their associated strain bursts. We provide here a comprehensive overview of experimental observations, theoretical models and computational approaches that have been developed to unravel the multiple aspects of dislocation avalanche physics and the phenomena leading to strain bursts in crystal plasticity.

Melting the Plastic Ceiling: Overcoming Obstacles to Foster Leadership in Women Plastic Surgeons.

Science.gov (United States)

Silva, Amanda K; Preminger, Aviva; Slezak, Sheri; Phillips, Linda G; Johnson, Debra J

2016-09-01

The underrepresentation of women leaders in plastic surgery echoes a phenomenon throughout society. The importance of female leadership is presented, and barriers to gender equality in plastic surgery, both intrinsic and extrinsic, are discussed. Strategies for fostering women in leadership on an individual level and for the specialty of plastic surgery are presented.

Revision of the concept of registration threshold in plastic track detectors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Somogyi, G.; Grabisch, K.; Scherzer, R.; Enge, W.

1976-01-01

Response curves (V identical Vsub(T)/Vsub(B) versus REL) of various plastic track detectors (CN, CA, PC, PET) were determined in the region of relatively low etching rate ratios V. Comparative investigations made it clear thay the registration threshold concept needs revision. It was found that for most of the commercial plastics the V(REL) curves can be well described by the relation V = 1 + αRELsup(β), where the power index is about 3 within a limit +- 10% for pure materials. With CN the situation proved to be more complex in the presence of a relatively large amount of camphor in the matrix of the detector. For the interpretation of the observed shape of the V(REL) curves, a theoretical model similar to the one that is used to describe the survival curves of irradiated biological objects, was proposed. Experiments performed for a better understanding of the nature of the radiation-damage in plastics yielded a simple relation REL = const x √D between the REL value of nuclei and the volume dose D deposited by accelerated electron beams, which produced equivalent chemical etchability in the irradiated plastics. (orig./ORU) [de

SYNTHESIS AND CHARACTERIZATION OF HDPE PLASTIC FILM FOR HERBICIDE CONTAINER USING FLY ASH CLASS F AS FILLER

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Yatim Lailun Ni’mah

2010-06-01

Full Text Available High Density Polyethylene (HDPE plastic plays an important role in various applications, for example, it can be used as a container (bottle. Petrokimia Kayaku Company, a branch of Petrokimia Company of Gresik, produces herbicides using HDPE plastic bottles as their container. Those plastic bottles undergo degradation (kempot for certain period of time. The aim of this research is to characterize and to synthesize the HDPE plastic film with class F fly ash as filler. The results expected from this research are producing the plastic with a better properties and durability. This research was initiated by taking the sample of HDPE plastic bottle and herbicides (containing Gramakuat, on active material parakuat dichloride at Petrokimia Kayaku Company. Both the initial HDPE and the degraded bottles was analyzed their tensile strength and Fourier Transform-Infra Red (FTIR spectral. The next step was to synthesize the HDPE plastic film using class F fly ash as filler and a coupling agent. The filler concentrations were 0%, 5%, 10%, 15%, and 20wt %. The best result was 5% filler concentration with tensile strength of 27.7 lbs. This HDPE film was then subjected to degradation test using pyridine solution with various concentrations (1%, 3% and 5% for two weeks, thermal degradation at 100 °C for two weeks and chemical resistance by xylene with soak time variation of 24 h, 98 h and 168 h. The result of degradations test show that the value of tensile strength was decreased with the increase of filler consentration. The chemical resistance, however, was increased.   Keywords: degradation, filler, fly ash, HDPE, Herbicide

ECOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC SUBSTANTIATION OF SELECTION OF THE METHOD FOR PLASTIC WASTE MANAGEMENT

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T. P. Shanina

2015-11-01

Full Text Available Analysis of the classifications of plastic waste from production and consumption is made by various criteria. Distinctive features of the specifi ed waste behavior under various treatment methods (deposition at landfill, incineration and recycling are discussed. Clustering of the polymeric waste by hazard categories of the combustion products is performed. The polyvinyl-chlorides and polycarbonates which generate the most hazardous products under  the combustion are singled out in a particular cluster. The qualitative and quantitative descrip- The qualitative and quantitative description of the plastic waste generated in Ukraine from 2011 to 2013 is provided. Grossemissions of the polyvinylchloride and polystyrene waste incineration products are calculated. Evaluation of the environmental damage resulting from implementation of various methods for plastic waste management is based on an environmental tax rate having a compensatory nature. Potential profit from selling the secondary raw materials, produced from plastic waste, is analysed. Ranking of the potential methods for plastic waste management is presented in the context of ecological and economic substantiation: the most preferable method is production of secondary raw materials (recycled resources; the least preferable one is incineration of the specified wastes.

The effects of adding waste plastic fibers on some properties of roller compacted concrete

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Abed Adil

2018-01-01

Full Text Available An attempt to produce of roller compacted concrete (RCC improved by adding waste plastic fibers (WPFs resulting from cutting the PET beverage bottles was recorded in this study. The method which is used for production of RCC is an approved design method for ACI committee (5R-207,1980[1]. WPF was added by volumetric percentages ranging between (0.5 to 2 % and reference concrete mix was produced for comparison reason. Many tests were conducted on the models produced by rolling compacted concrete like compressive strength, flexural strength, modulus of elasticity, dry density, water absorption and ultrasonic pulse velocity. The analysis of the results showed that the use of plastic waste fibers (1% had led to improvement in the properties of each of the compressive strength and flexural strength compared with reference concrete. Results also showed that the addition of these, fibers increase water absorption and reduce the speed of Ultrasonic pulse velocity.

Some Limitations in the Use of Plastic and Dyed Plastic Dosimeters

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Miller, Arne; Bjergbakke, Erling; McLaughlin, W. L.

1975-01-01