Effects of upholstery materials on the burning behavior of real‐scale residential upholstered furniture mock‐ups

Fire spread and growth on real‐scale four cushion mock‐ups of residential upholstered furniture (RUF) were investigated with the goal of identifying whether changes in five classes of materials (barrier, flexible polyurethane foam, polyester fiber wrap, upholstery fabric, and sewing thread), referred to as factors, resulted in statistically significant changes in burning behavior. A fractional factorial experimental design plus practical considerations yielded a test matrix with 20 material combinations. Experiments were repeated a minimum of two times. Measurements included fire spread rates derived from video recordings and heat release rates (HRRs). A total of 13 experimental parameters (3 based on the videos and 10 on the HRR results), referred to as responses, characterized the measurements. Statistical analyses based on Main Effects Plots (main effects) and Block Plots (main effects and factor interactions) were used. The results showed that three of the factors resulted in statistically significant effects on varying numbers of the 13 responses. The Barrier and Fabric factors had the strongest main effects with roughly comparable magnitudes. Foam was statistically significant for fewer of the responses and its overall strength was weaker than for Barrier and Fabric. No statistically significant main effects were identified for Wrap or Thread. Multiple two‐term interactions between factors were identified as being statistically significant. The Barrier*Fabric interaction resulted in the highest number of and strongest statistically significant effects. The existence of two‐term interactions means that it will be necessary to consider their effects in approaches designed to predict the burning behavior of RUF.     

Evaluating the Use of Daily Care Notes Software for Older People with Dementia

There has been little research to investigate the impact of software to support the care for older people with dementia care. This article reports the evaluation of software adapted to support one key person-centered task for the care of older residents with dementia – recording and sharing daily care notes. The evaluation on the dementia wing of 1 residential home for over 6 months revealed that use of the software on mobile devices carried by the carers increased the number and volume of daily care notes recorded, but only for the types of content that were already being recorded by carers. Carers reported more advantages that resulted from daily care notes once in digital form than from the documenting task, as well as barriers to the use of mobile digital software to record daily care notes.     

Comparative study of surface properties of Mg-substituted hydroxyapatite bioceramic microspheres

Mg-substituted hydroxyapatite (HAp) bioceramic microspheres were prepared by spray drying and subsequent processing at 1173, 1273 and 1373 K. Influence of various Mg substitution levels (up to 0.84 ± 0.10 wt%) on physicochemical properties of the HAp bioceramic microspheres was evaluated. Obtained results were used for the elucidation of the compositional and structural characteristics of the microspheres in conjunction with adsorption of protein, namely, bovine serum albumin (BSA). The primary difference among the microspheres processed at various temperature was the presence or absence of the micropores (<2 nm in diameter) and mesopores (between 2 and 50 nm). Presence of the micro- and mesopores resulted in higher specific surface area (SSA), enhanced solubility, i.e., ion release, and, accordingly, increase in the amount of BSA adsorbed on the microspheres. Furthermore, the BSA adsorption capacity of the microspheres decreased with increasing Mg content despite of higher SSA.     

Potential for energy saving in building transition spaces

This paper reports on an analytical investigation into the energy saving potential associated with modified comfort limits in transitional spaces in buildings. Such spaces may not require the same high level and close environmental control of more fully occupied spaces and thus a wider variation in conditions and interpretation of thermal comfort may be permitted. Estimations are made of energy saving potential based upon typical floor area proportions utilised for transition spaces of various types in office/commercial buildings. The data are combined with suggested norms for comfort expectation that have wider temperature limits than for normally occupied office zones. The method has been applied to a series of building types situated in the climate of the East Pennines area of the UK using a thermal analysis tool. The results show that useful energy savings (particularly for heating) are possible by allowing for a modest (and realistic) relaxation of prescribed comfort standards in transition spaces. Further work is now required to confirm the limits and assess energy saving in practice.     

Claiming participation – a comparative analysis of DIY urbanism in Denmark

The article discuss the conflicts, potentials and possible alliances of do-it-yourself (DIY) urbanism when it takes the form of spontaneous place appropriations, when it is performed as participatory urban design and when it is integrated strategically in planning. DIY urbanism and experimentation with participation are currently strong influential factors in Danish planning. The article explores the use of participatory DIY urban design in two cases: the relocation of beer drinkers in Enghave Square and the Carlsberg City development in Copenhagen, Denmark. Carlsberg City is the most thorough Danish example of how DIY urban design is employed as an investment and planning tool. It discusses the implications of DIY urbanism in terms of how it can be understood in the context of the struggles over ‘the right to the city’, how it applies different activist tactics for the appropriation of space, and how it is integrated in planning and the development logic.     

Individual differences in boys' and girls' timing and tempo of puberty: Modeling development with nonlinear growth models.

Pubertal development is a nonlinear process progressing from prepubescent beginnings through biological, physical, and psychological changes to full sexual maturity. To tether theoretical concepts of puberty with sophisticated longitudinal, analytical models capable of articulating pubertal development more accurately, we used nonlinear mixed-effects models to describe both the timing and tempo of pubertal development in the sample of 364 White boys and 373 White girls measured across 6 years as part of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development. Individual differences in timing and tempo were extracted with models of logistic growth. Differential relations emerged for how boys' and girls' timing and tempo of development were related to physical characteristics (body mass index, height, and weight) and psychological outcomes (internalizing problems, externalizing problems, and risky sexual behavior). Timing and tempo are associated in boys but not girls. Pubertal timing and tempo are particularly important for predicting psychological outcomes in girls but only sparsely related to boys' psychological outcomes. Results highlight the importance of considering the nonlinear nature of puberty and expand the repertoire of possibilities for examining important aspects of how and when pubertal processes contribute to development. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effect of crude oil ageing on low salinity and low salinity surfactant flooding

Injection of brine with lower salinity than the connate brine has proven to give a moderate increase in oil recovery in sandstones. Recent research has shown that this process will significantly benefit from introducing surfactant optimised for low salinity environment.The mechanisms underlying increased recovery by low salinity brine injection are not yet fully understood. However, research to date suggests that they are related to complex crude oil/brine/rock interactions. With this in mind, the present paper investigates primarily how the extent of oil recovery from Berea sandstones subjected to long term exposure of crude oil is influenced by (1) low salinity water injection and (2) combined process low salinity water injection with surfactant flooding.Core displacement tests were conducted on four Berea cores (30 cm), two in a natural state and two that had been subject to extensive crude oil ageing at high temperature. Results obtained from different flooding steps are discussed in terms of oil recovery and effluent properties including turbidity, pH- and ion analysis (Na⁺, Mg²⁺, Ca²⁺). The results effectively illustrate that oil recoveries from the aged cores are higher during both low salinity water injection and low salinity water injection combined with surfactant flooding. An assessment of how tertiary oil recovery in aged and unaged cores varies with surfactant concentration is also presented.Effluent ion analysis from low salinity water floods showed that Mg²⁺ ions were strongly retained in the aged core while Ca²⁺ ions were being produced from both aged and unaged cores. The latter was attributed mainly to calcite dissolution. Results obtained from pressure profiles, effluent ion analysis and turbidity tests suggest higher production and elution of fine particles from the unaged core.     

Impact of the coating process on the molecular structure of starch‐based barrier coatings

Molecular analysis of starch structure can be used to explain and predict changes in physical properties, such as water vapor and oxygen barrier properties in packaging materials. Solution casting is a widely used technique to create films from starch formulations. This study compared the molecular properties of these standard films with those of experimental coatings applied to paper in laboratory‐scale and pilot‐scale trials, with all three techniques using the same starch formulation. The results revealed large differences in molecular structure, i.e., cross‐linking and hydrolysis, between films and coatings. The main differences were due to the shorter drying time allowed to laboratory‐scale coatings and the accelerated drying process in pilot trials owing to the high energy output of infrared dryers. Furthermore, surface morphology was highly affected by the coating technique used, with a rougher surface and many pinholes occurring in pilot‐scale coatings, giving lower water vapor permeability than laboratory‐scale coatings. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2014 , 131, 41190.     

Evaluating overflow probability for voice over internet protocol buffer dimensioning

The provision of quality of service to different service types in broadband packet networks requires techniques for the evaluation of the probabilities of packet delays and loss. The authors analyse the multiplexing of independent and homogeneous Markovian ON-OFF traffic sources into a single buffer, extending earlier work. The resulting closed-form equation provides a virtually zero-complexity approach to the calculation of the buffer overflow probability via the burst-scale decay rate of the buffer state probabilities. Graphical results are provided, comparing our expression with the results from simulations and the -standard- formula of Anick, Mitra and Sondhi. These show that our new formula provides excellent accuracy for medium to high loads, i.e. those load values at which queuing becomes important. This makes it ideal for quick calculations, with practical utility when dimensioning checks are required in many networking situations involving the accurate estimation of loss probabilities in e.g. buffer multiplexing VoIP traffic sources.