Sind Borverbindungen im Holzschutz effektiv und zeitgemäss?

Abstract Borates are used in wood preservatives for a long time. In technical approvals issued by the building authorities they are characterised as slowly acting. Due to ongoing discussions about the effectiveness of boron as well as reports about failures in practice their effectiveness was again reviewed. It was found that world-wide a huge amount of laboratory tests have been conducted, which need to undergo a re-evaluation under today’s point of view. The results show that for the eradication of insects and fungi a concentration of 3 kg Boric acid /m³ is effective (0.6% BAE). For preventive protection 1 kg (0.2% BAE) would be enough. Thereby penetration and distribution within the wood have to be taken into account. With deeper penetration the larvae in the wood are reached faster. Due to their characteristics as stomach insecticides single insects can survive in the wood even 1-2 years after treatment and emerge at the treated surface. However, there is no risk of a new attack. This is prevented by the boron on the treated surface. Under ecological aspects the disadvantage of the slow effectiveness of boron can be seen as an advantage regarding health aspects.     

Experimental and theoretical study on the piezoelectric behavior of barium doped PZT

An experimental and theoretical study of the ferroelectric and piezoelectric behavior of PZT doped with barium is presented. Ab initio perturbed ion calculations was carried out. The properties, such as remnant polarization, coercive field and the coupling factor of the PZT at constant sintering temperature was compared with the Zr⁴⁺/Ti⁴⁺ ions dislocation energy and the lattice interaction energy. An agreement between the experimental and theoretical results, with a decrease of the interaction energy and an inversion of the energy stability from tetragonal to rhombohedral phase was observed.     

Sediment Diversion through Irrigation Outlets

To avoid sediment deposits in the downstream portion of irrigation channels, the outlets must extract a concentration equal to or higher than the one in the channel. In Pakistan, although channels have been designed in that way, the present management leads to a general deposition of sediments. A few concentration measurements and the use of a 3D model of one outlet suggest that the sediment discharge in the outlet is close to the one contained in the current tube entering the outlet. Finally, a simple model with one parameter is proposed to compute the sediment concentration in the outlet.     

Nonlinear electro-thermal modeling and field-simulation of OLEDs for lighting applications I: Algorithmic fundamentals

Large area OLEDs aimed at lighting applications should provide homogeneous luminance—homogeneity is one of the quality metrics of such devices. Local light generation depends on both the local temperature and the local voltage drop across the light emitting polymer(s) in the device. Therefore the thermal and electrical engineering of OLEDs aimed at lighting applications is critical. Due to the large area of these devices the coupled electrical and the thermal simulation problem is of distributed nature. Electrical characteristics of organic semiconductor materials used in OLED devices are highly nonlinear, and their nonlinear temperature-dependence is significant. In our present approach to distributed electro-thermal field simulation we address special needs of OLEDs, which is not yet the case with widely used, commercially available simulation tools. In this paper we present the latest version of our SUNRED electro-thermal field solver algorithm capable of handling coupled, non-linear electro-thermal problems. The new features of the algorithm are demonstrated by modeling some research OLED samples available to us in the Fast2Light project—this way simulation results are compared against measured data.     

A reusable structural design for mobile collaborative applications

Architecting mobile collaborative applications has always been a challenge for designers. However, counting on a structural design as a reference can help developers to reduce risks and efforts involved in system design. This article presents a reusable architecture which helps modeling the communication and coordination services required by mobile collaborative applications to support collaboration among users. This architecture has been used as a basis for the design of several mobile systems. Two of them are presented in this article to show the applicability of the proposal to real world collaborative systems.     

Sustainability in bridge construction processes

Sustainability must be seen as a global issue. In order to achieve that goal, it is necessary to apply its principles to all industrial activities, including those that are not traditionally engaged with such guidelines, which is the case of Bridge Construction. This paper evaluates the consumption of steel and energy and the emissions of carbon dioxide due to the use of movable scaffolding systems (MSS) in the Bridge Construction industry. The values obtained considering the use of conventional MSS are compared with the ones obtained using a new sustainable technology which is herein synthetically described—the organic prestressing system (OPS). In order to compare the sustainability of the two systems, a prediction of the material and energy consumptions, and CO₂ emissions for traditional MSS and for MSS equipped with OPS is performed until 2025.     

Aramid, steel, and glass: characterization via cut performance testing, of composite knitted fabrics and their constituent yarns, with a review of the art

Aramid, glass, and steel have been compared for their performance in composite forms in protective applications, which are not the most usual ones. After underlining the importance of cut protection, a rather extensive review of the art in the domain of cut performance reveals that a good basis has been established, still leaving space for the study of non-coated, less uniformly interlocked composite yarn assemblies in the form of knitted structures or woven ones. Slightly departing from the traditionally friction-driven cut mechanism, those structures are distinguishable. This offers some elements for the long-awaited clarification of normalized test differences. Statistically, relevant families of commercial or semi-commercial products have been selected to address simultaneously the variability and the performance boundaries of those materials using instrumented ASTM cut equipment to obtain a “smarter” response of the material performance during its testing and to perform a “more sophisticated” data analysis beyond usually specified ones. The attempts to analyze more localized physical events open the door to micro or nanoanalysis of the fracture mechanism during the cut event which may differ from the traditional friction analysis. The contribution of meltable companion fillers, although not being the core of the study, could be translated to applications where those fillers become functional elements further improving the performance and synergism of the three basic elements, aramid, glass and steel. Previous study on the tribological properties of Kevlar^? (DuPont’s registered trademark) composite fabrics stands as a natural prolongation of this study when applied to the knitted composite structures of this study.     

The Feasibility of Navigation Algorithms on Smartphones using J2ME

Embedded systems are considered one of the areas with more potential for future innovations. Two embedded fields that will most certainly take a primary role in future innovations are mobile robotics and mobile computing. Mobile robots and smartphones are growing in number and functionalities, becoming a presence in our daily life. In this paper, we study the current feasibility of a smartphone to execute navigation algorithms and provide autonomous control, e.g., for a mobile robot. We tested four navigation problems: Mapping, Localization, Simultaneous Localization and Mapping, and Path Planning. We selected representative algorithms for the navigation problems, developed them in J2ME, and performed tests on the field. Results show the current mobile Java capacity for executing computationally demanding algorithms and reveal the real possibility of using smartphones for autonomous navigation.     

The role of myocardial apoptosis in the development of heart failure

Heart failure can result from a variety of causes, including volume or pressure overload and contractile disturbances of the myocardium. Loss of myocytes is an important mechanism in the development of cardiac failure. In general, myocyte death resulting in progressive deterioration of myocardial function is attributed to necrosis, but recently the involvement of programmed cell death (mainly apoptosis) has been suggested. The authors review the possible role of myocardial apoptosis in developing of heart failure. Subcellular genetic regulatory processes as well as the pharmacological susceptibility of programmed cell death are also discussed. In heart failure, significant amount of cardiac myocytes undergoes apoptosis, that unlike necrosis can be prevented. Specific inhibition of this process could mean a considerable part of cardioprotection after thorough understanding of the underlying cellular mechanisms.     

Multifilter rotating shadowband radiometer calibration for spectral aerosol optical depth retrievals over S?o Paulo City, Brazil

Multifilter rotating shadowband radiometer (MFRSR) calibration values for aerosol optical depth (AOD) retrievals were determined by means of the general method formulated by Forgan [Appl. Opt.33, 4841 (1994)] at a polluted urban site. The obtained precision is comparable with the classical method, the Langley plot, applied on clean mountaintops distant of pollution sources. The AOD retrieved over S?o Paulo City with both calibration procedures is compared with the Aerosol Robotic Network data. The observed results are similar, and, except for the shortest wavelength (415 nm), the MFRSR's AOD is systematically overestimated by approximately 0.03.