The apparent digestibility of alkali-treated willow (Salix aquatica var. gigantia) when fed to sheep

Dried, ground willow (Salix aquatica) treated with 33 g sodium hydroxide kg^?1 (7.5M solution) was fed to sheep in pelleted diets containing 0, 100, 200, 300, 400 g treated willow kg^?1. Apparent digestibility coefficients of dietary dry matter, organic matter and energy declined linearly with increasing content of treated willow. Extrapolation of these relationships gave estimated apparent digestibility values for treated willow of 0.42 and 0.40 for dry matter (DM) and gross energy respectively. The apparent digestibility of acid-detergent fibre was shown to be 0.36. The metabolisable energy content of the treated willow was calculated to be 5.7 MJ kg^?1 DM. The high copper content (579 mg kg^?1) of the treated willow did not appear to have any deleterious effects on the animals during this short-term experiment as shown by the normal liver copper concentrations in the sheep at the end of the experiment.     

The 1995 North American Interagency Intercomparison of Ultraviolet Monitoring Spectroradiometers

Concern over stratospheric ozone depletion has prompted several government agencies in North America to establish networks of spectroradiometers for monitoring solar ultraviolet irradiance at the surface of the Earth. To assess the ability of spectroradiometers to accurately measure solar ultraviolet irradiance, and to compare the results between instruments of different monitoring networks, the second North American Intercomparison of Ultraviolet Monitoring Spectroradiometers was held June 12 to 23, 1995 at Table Mountain outside Boulder, Colorado, USA. This Intercomparison was coordinated by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Participating agencies were the Environmental Protection Agency; the National Science Foundation; the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center; the Department of Agriculture; and the Atmospheric Environment Service, Canada. Instruments were characterized for wavelength uncertainty, bandwidth, stray-light rejection, and spectral irradiance responsivity, the latter with a NIST standard lamp operating in a specially designed field calibration unit. The spectral irradiance responsivity, determined once indoors and twice outdoors, demonstrated that while the responsivities changed upon moving the instruments, they were relatively stable when the instruments remained outdoors. Synchronized spectral scans of the solar irradiance were performed over several days. Using the spectral irradiance responsivities determined with the NIST standard lamp and three different convolution functions to account for the different bandwidths of the instruments, the measured solar irradiances generally agreed to within 3 %.     

The influence of annealing on the capacitance-voltage characteristics of metal/SIPOS/silicon capacitors

Semi-insulating polycrystalline silicon (SIPOS)/Si samples have been annealed in forming gas at temperatures ranging from 300°C to 900°C. The influence of the anneal on the high frequency capacitance voltage characteristics of metal/SIPOS/silicon capacitors built afterwards has been studied. Up to annealing temperatures of 500°C, the rate of change of capacitance with voltage increases, while a decrease of this rate of change is observed at higher temperatures. Furthermore, the capacitance-voltage curves are shifted along the voltage axis towards more positive values up to 700°C. At higher annealing temperatures a shift in the opposite direction occurs.     

Toward Chirality‐Encoded Domain Wall Logic

Nonvolatile logic networks based on spintronic and nanomagnetic technologies have the potential to create high‐speed, ultralow power computational architectures. This article explores the feasibility of “chirality‐encoded domain wall logic,” a nanomagnetic logic architecture where data are encoded by the chiral structures of mobile domain walls in networks of ferromagnetic nanowires and processed by the chiral structures' interactions with geometric features of the networks. High‐resolution magnetic imaging is used to test two critical functionalities: the inversion of domain wall chirality at tailored artificial defect sites (logical NOT gates) and the chirality‐selective output of domain walls from 2‐in‐1‐out nanowire junctions (common operation to AND/NAND/OR/NOR gates). The measurements demonstrate both operations can be performed to a good degree of fidelity even in the presence of complex magnetization dynamics that would normally be expected to destroy chirality‐encoded information. Together, these results represent a strong indication of the feasibility of devices where chiral magnetization textures are used to directly carry, rather than merely delineate, data.     

Viscosity index. II. Correlation with rheological theories of data for blends containing n-octadecyl acrylate

The viscosities obtained for the copolymer blends of the previous paper were correlated with several relations derived to describe more fundamental behavior of polymer–diluent mixtures at both infinite dilution and finite concentrations. Only the most efficient blends showed any appreciable expansion of hydrodynamic volume as temperature increased from 25° to 98.9°C. However, in spite of restricted coil expansion, all of the copolymers were effective viscosity index improvers. The mechanism of viscosity index improvement in multigrade oils was shown to be largely regulated by the translational friction generated by the polymer coils. This greatly increased the apparent negative entropy change of the blends; the enthalpy change characteristic of the base oil was retained. Efficiency resulted from coil contraction at low temperatures, but enthalpy decrease below that of the base oil was small. In contrast, viscosity index improvement using higher molecular weight solvents was accompanied by large enthalpy increases. Thus, undesirably high viscosities resulted at low temperatures. The structure of these blends was uncomplicated by polymer chain entanglements; unit values of the Fox-Flory exponent were obtained for the relation between viscosity and weight-average carbon backbone length. The lack of evidence for coil compression in the thermodynamically miscible blends above a critical reduced concentration was anomalous. Intermingling of side chains and their interaction may have overcome normal excluded volume effects.     

Enhanced STL

STL format is widely used as a de facto industry standard in the rapid prototyping industry due to its simplicity and robustness. However, on account of its shortcomings and inadequacy in applications, many interface alternatives have been brought forward. In this paper, a new scheme is proposed to enhance the approximation accuracy and to extend functions of STL by means of introducing additional feature and attribute codes into STL format. The geometry feature code describes a tetrahedron based on the STL triangular facet, which provides better approximation to the object surface covering. The attribute code attaches attributes of object surfaces such as colours and markers to STL triangular facets. Moreover, the enhanced STL also shares the structure of binary STL format by filling feature and attribute codes into its blanks, and therefore is compatible with STL. Compared with STL, the enhanced STL provides not only higher accuracy with the same file size and compatible format, but also colour and marker functions for rapid prototyping.     

Geomorphic architecture: Multifamily residential design solutions

This article describes the main characteristics of geomorphic architecture, traces its development, and provides examples. Typical geomorphic buildings are characterized by one or more of the following characteristics: takes it imagery from nature; takes its imagery from a natural process; provides an experiential equivalence to that found in nature; fits into the natural contour of the land; merges with the landscape to form a single entity; is partially or completely earth-sheltered. The author discusses in detail modern examples of multifamily residences in Europe and the U.S. that typify the concepts of geomorphic architecture, and comments on the future prospects for geomorphic architecture in the U.S.     

River landscapes: changing the concrete overcoat?

River landscapes are increasingly important components of rural and urban environments but many river locations have become degraded by 'over-engineering' and neglect. They now need careful resuscitation using the range of relevant disciplines such that their values are enhanced in a sustainable way. The 'cultural' turn taken by landscape studies in the past decade or so will help, by adding interpretive skills and a deeper analysis of shared values and of the differences in understandings of nature and landscape by different individuals and groups. The river landscape of the 'every-day', and its associations and characteristics, will increase in importance as the emphasis in river and catchment management moves away from reliance on a land use planning or an engineering approach and towards enhancing what the common person finds important and valuable in their local river scene.     

Passive dosimeters — an approach to atmospheric pollutants analysis

The paper presents a review of the passive methods of sampling of inorganic and organic atmospheric pollutants. The importance of these methods, enabling both evaluation of workplace personal exposure and area monitoring, has been discussed. Commercially available personal monitors, as well as devices under further laboratory investigation have been described. Fundamental theoretical equations describing the operation of both passive devices based on diffusion through an air gap to a layer of collective media and passive devices with permeable membranes have been put forward. Presented and discussed herein are papers dealing with the investigation of the applicability of these devices under laboratory and field conditions, as well as with the comparison of passive monitors with active devices (e.g., detector tubes).