Land-Use Planning’s Role in Urban Forest Strategies: Recent Local Government Approaches in Australia

Many urban development processes, supported by land-use planning, negatively impact urban trees. Urban forest strategies are one approach local governments take to protect and increase urban trees. We evaluate connections between urban forest strategies and land-use planning to achieve tree cover on private property, through a review of 18 Australian local government strategies. We highlight the importance of state-level policies for local land-use planning, and conclude that if state-level land-use planning is to aid the protection and enhancement of urban trees, more active engagement with and explicit links to urban forest strategies at both local and state levels is needed.     

Arrestment of male twospotted spider mite caused by female sex pheromone

A glass slide bioassay was used to evaluate male twospotted spider mite,Tetranychus urticae Koch, arrestment caused by quiescent deutonymph extract. Males that were guarding quiescent deutonymphs prior to being tested were arrested by a 3-mm-diameter circle of quiescent deutonymph extract; nonguarding males and adult females were not arrested. Extracts of allT. urticae instars tested caused male arrestment, but mean arrestment duration was longest with quiescent deutonymph extract. Arrestment by volatile perception of pheromone and upwind orientation to point sources of extract were not observed. The mono- and sesquiterpene alcohols previously identified as components of the pheromone did not arrest males. HPLC separation of extract resulted in four active fractions; a subtractive bioassay showed that three were essential to elicit maximum male response.     

Endometrial thickness: individual and mean growth profiles for different hormone replacement regimens

Currently, there is a paucity of data describing endometrial growth, with most studies concentrating on endometrial thickness immediately prior to implantation or embryo transfer. This study looked at the individual and combined growth profiles of 67 volunteers receiving three different hormone replacement regimens. Each treatment regimen was in excess of that considered necessary for optimal growth, and all promoted an endometrial thickness that would be considered satisfactory for embryo transfer. Three patterns of growth were identified, but overall there was a decrease in the rate of endometrial growth with duration of treatment. As expected, analysis of variance did not show a significant difference between the mean growth profiles for the three hormone replacement regimens. The correlation (r = 0.45, P < 0.0001) between rank order on day 3 and day 10 of treatment indicates that interim analysis during early treatment cannot accurately predict later thickness, but a doubling of endometrial thickness can be expected in most cases. A relationship between endometrial thickness and either the treatment dose or serum concentrations of oestradiol was not found. These findings suggest that manipulation of endometrial growth is not possible by adjustment of either the treatment dose or serum concentration. The findings indicate that treatment beyond 12 days does not promote either a clinically significant increase in endometrial thickness of an excessive thickness, suggesting that maintenance of an oocyte recipient in a pseudo-follicular phase is unlikely to be disadvantageous to implantation.     

Review of Thermal Boundary Resistance of High-Temperature Superconductors

Solid-solid thermal boundary resistance plays an important role in the thermal stability of many electronic circuits, microdevices, and superconducting devices. The thermal boundary resistance (R _b ) at any interface causes a temperature discontinuity, which can result in heat accumulation on one side of the boundary and raise the temperature much above the stable region, causing device failure. With the advent of high-critical-temperature (high-T _c ) superconductors, it is possible to make superconducting devices at practically achievable temperatures. As the current trend goes toward the development of more and more high-T_c superconducting devices, the need for a better understanding of the thermal boundary resistance of high-T_c superconductors becomes mandatory. This paper compiles all the theoretical and experimental work to date onR _b in high-T_c superconductors, both in thin-film and bulk forms, and provides a critical review of the cited works. This paper also describes the possible effect of the superconducting state onR _b for high-T _c superconductors, based on the experiments for both high-T_c and low-T_c bulk superconductors, and a possible explanation for these data based on the existing theory for low-T _c superconductors.     

The 5′‐AG5CC‐3′ Fragment from the Human CPEB3 Ribozyme Forms an Ultrastable Parallel RNA G‐Quadruplex

An unusually thermostable G‐quadruplex is formed by a sequence fragment of a naturally occurring ribozyme, the human CPEB3 ribozyme. Strong evidence is provided for the formation of a uniquely stable intermolecular G‐quadruplex structure consisting of five tetrad layers, by using CD spectroscopy, UV melting curves, 2D NMR spectroscopy, and gel shift analysis. The cationic porphyrin TMPyP4 destabilizes the complex.     

Characterization of Reflective Defects in Fabry–Pérot Laser Diodes Through the Power Transmission Spectrum

Reflective defects in Fabry-Peacuterot (FP) laser diodes are characterized through the power transmission spectrum based on the Fourier transform method. From a single measurement, the defect reflection, transmission coefficients and the cosine value of the defect phase shift, are calculated through equations built on the intensities of the peaks associated with defects in the Fourier transformed transmission spectrum. Gain dispersion which is unavoidable in semiconductor laser diodes is taken into account in the calculations. Extensive numerical simulations are made which show that the calculated defect characteristics are not influenced by the defect length and position and better results are obtained as the round-trip gain of the FP laser is relatively low. The simulation also shows that the underestimation of the gain caused by insufficient resolution of the measurement system degrades the calculated parameters. A deconvolution process is accordingly introduced, which is able to greatly reduce the resolution influence. Amplified spontaneous emission from FP laser diodes with a single slot very close to the laser front facet are measured and used to characterize the slot. The slots act as reflective defects in the laser diode and are produced by etching a rectangular well into the laser waveguide. For two lasers on the same bar with nominally the same slot, good agreement in the calculated reflection coefficient and cosine value of the slot phase shift is obtained, but the slot transmission coefficients calculated are different, which is due to the round-trip gain difference observed in the two lasers under the same current injection     

Experimental and numerical assessment of using coconut oil as a phase-change material for unconditioned buildings

The efficacy of integrating organic coconut oil (co-oil) phase-change material (PCM) into an unconditioned building with a lightweight envelope is explored experimentally and numerically for heat gain reduction. In what we think is the first test of its kind for co-oil PCM, twin side-by-side single-room buildings (with and without PCM) are constructed and studied experimentally under ambient weather conditions. The effects of the co-oil on the thermal performance of the buildings are investigated with respect to the window orientation (east, west, north and south). Furthermore, numerical simulation of the buildings is carried out to evaluate the contribution of the co-oil to their thermal performance and to determine the effect of the co-oil layer thickness on the heat storage capacity. Moreover, by employing a simplified heat transfer analysis, an approximate relation for the optimal thickness of co-oil PCM layer is developed. Experimental and numerical results show that co-oil PCM can be a promising solution to improve the indoor thermal environment. It is found that with a south-facing window equipped with co-oil PCM, the indoor temperature is lowered by 23.8% compared to the case without PCM, when an optimal PCM layer of ~4 cm in thickness is embedded in the wall.     

Socioeconomic impacts of heat transfer research

Heat transfer research affects almost every sector of the economy, yet its impacts have not been well studied or communicated to date. To address this issue, this article evaluates recent heat transfer research trends and which parts of the economy are likely to be affected by it. Analysis is done through keywords in heat transfer journals, US NSF awards, US patents, and trends in US economic sectors. This study indicates that if heat transfer research helps to attain a 10% conversion efficiency gain in all relevant sectors of the US economy, ~ 110 billion dolars of annual value added could be generated.