The Value of Cittaslow as an Approach to Local Sustainable Development: A New Zealand Perspective

Cittaslow is an Italian-inspired global network of towns that collectively resist globalization and mainstream corporate-centred development through planning and urban design that prioritize each town's local, unique and historic resources. Internationally, Cittaslow's regulations-for-action approach has assisted towns to more effectively implement sustainable development principles. This paper presents research from three New Zealand case-study towns, to assess the potential application of Cittaslow principles to aid sustainable development and economic growth in small towns. The findings revealed that planners and community members generally perceived Cittaslow as a superfluous ‘brand’ that imposed additional unnecessary regulations and an approach that lacked general community support.     

Comparison of treatment of mastitis by oxytocin or antibiotics following detection according to changes in milk electrical conductivity prior to visible signs

Mastitis was induced in dairy cows by infusion of 500 cfu of Streptococcus uberis into the mammary gland. Most infections developed to clinical disease, and the majority were predicted by changes in the electrical conductivity of the foremilk. The benefits of clinical prognosis and bacteriological cure were determined for cases that were treated when predicted to develop into clinical mastitis and compared with cases that were allowed to develop until milk clotted or until pyrexia before intramammary antibiotic treatment was used. Treatment prior to clinical mastitis included use of intramammary antibiotic or intramuscular oxytocin to allow stripping of residual milk to remove bacteria. All infections in which treatment was delayed resulted in clinical mastitis that was cured clinically and bacteriologically by sustained treatment using a broad-spectrum intramammary antibiotic preparation once daily but requiring a mean treatment time of 10 d. It was possible to prevent clinical mastitis from developing and to eliminate all infections in cows that were treated early when the developing disease was predicted by changes in the electrical conductivity of quarter foremilk and was treated aggressively by administering an intramammary antibiotic at each milking for 3 d. Treatment of 20 IU of oxytocin at six successive milkings of cows that were predicted to develop disease eliminated 25% of the infections, but 75% of the cows developed clinical mastitis. Those cases were resolved by sustained daily treatment using the same intramammary antibiotic. Elimination (100% clinical and bacteriological cure) of all infections caused by Strep. uberis was possible with early and aggressive or sustained use of the intramammary antibiotic. The early intervention using an intramammary antibiotic, when infection was first indicated by changes in the electrical conductivity of milk, was the most efficient method to achieve cure and led to quicker recovery of milk quality to a saleable standard.     

Flip chips and acoustic micro imaging: An overview of past applications, present status, and roadmap for the future

Acoustic Micro Imaging has been used over the past years to successfully evaluate the quality of flip chip underfill and interconnect bonds. Flip chip technology is steadily progressing toward smaller devices and higher IO count which leads to smaller bumps and bonds. In many instances the small bumps are in close proximity to the edge of a relatively thick silicon chip which leads to information being obscured by edge effects. This is driving AMI technology to provide higher resolution images with improved clarity of information at the edges in order to evaluate the devices. This paper will present an overview of AMI flip chip applications from the inception to the present and include a roadmap for future AMI developments to meet the challenges presented by changes in the design and manufacturing of flip chips.     

Studies of a membrane aerated bioreactor for wastewater treatment

This study was undertaken specifically to collect engineering and process performance information on the behaviour of a membrane supported bio-film in a well-characterised bioreactor. A novel membrane aerated bioreactor has been tested in the laboratory on synthetic sewage, and also piloted for the treatment of primary effluent at a local municipal wastewater treatment plant. The reactor's design employs gas-permeable, hollow-fibre membranes that are submerged in the wastewater. Air is blown through the inside of the fibres. Aeration costs for such a reactor are likely to be lower than conventional systems because gas compression is not required. Thick bio-films grow on the outside of the fibres and effectively treat the wastewater. The bio-films grown in this manner are capable of biological oxygen demand (BOD) removal, nitrification, denitrification, and simultaneous sludge digestion. The character of the bio-film is very different from conventional bio-films grown on inert surfaces, since in this case the bio-film receives its oxygen and the wastewater components from different directions. In pilot studies, a reactor having a hydraulic residence time of 6.5 h and equipped with no sedimentation tank achieved 70–75% BOD and nitrogen removal, and produced an effluent containing less than 30 mg/l total suspended solids.     

The reaction of kaolin with fluorides: I. Effect of neutral and acid sodium fluoride solutions

The reaction between kaolinite and neutral and acid sodium fluoride solutions was investigated at different temperatures and over the acid pH range. The stoicheiometric replacement of hydroxyls in the kaolinite crystal lattice by fluoride ions, as reported by earlier workers, was not confirmed. The release of hydroxyl ions into solution was due predominantly to the disruption of the kaolinite crystal lattice. In the presence of sodium ions and at pH < 7, sodium fluoro-silicate and cryolite were found as solid phases. At pH > 7, only cryolite was found as a solid phase. Small, spherical, particles were observed in all cases. These particles were believed to be amorphous silica, formed as an intermediate phase in the disruption process.     

The reaction of kaolin with fluorides. II. Effect of aqueous hydrofluoric acid

The dissolution of kaolinite in aqueous solutions of hydrofluoric acid was investigated at different temperatures and fluoride concentrations. The percentage dissolution of kaolinite was greater than was to be expected from a theoretical consideration of the reaction. The percentage dissolution was less for Na-kaolinite than for a H-kaolinite under the same experimental conditions. Two reaction rates were observed. The relative intensities of the 001 and 002 basal reflections decreased with reaction time, temperature and hydrofluoric acid concentration. The decrease was probably due to an amorphous phase. Although kaolinite samples after treatment at the lower temperature showed very little change in their infra-red absorption spectra, a marked change in the spectra was observed at the higher temperature. The disruption of the kaolinite crystal lattice is believed to be due to the preferential extraction of aluminium from the lattice leaving an intermediate silica phase, which dissolves to form fluorosilicic acid.     

Characterization of the Microstructure of Ceramics Used in Multilayer Ceramic Capacitors by Means of the Scanning Laser Acoustic Microscope

Analytical data obtained by the scanning laser acoustic microscope (SLAM) on multilayer ceramic capacitors can be correlated to microstructural elastic properties of the dielectric and electrode materials, to the quality of bonding between the layers, and to construction variables, such as materials thicknesses, number of layers, etc. These data can be used to build up predictive models of high-quality and poor-quality components, which is very important for nondestructive screening of high-reliability parts. Although SLAM screening of multilayer capacitors (such as specified in MIL-C-123) is quite straight forward and in current use for quality control, dilemmas can occur in which batches of nominally identical parts demonstrate widely different ultrasonic transmission and widely different SLAM images. These differences correspond to elastic property differences which may affect reliability. In this paper the authors discuss materials characterization aspects of acoustic microscopy as it pertains to multilayer ceramic capacitors. [Key words: capacitors, multilayer, ultrasonics, electrical properties, lasers.]