Suction feeding by elephants

Despite having a trunk that weighs over 100 kg, elephants mainly feed on lightweight vegetation. How do elephants manipulate such small items? In this experimental and theoretical investigation, we filmed elephants at Zoo Atlanta showing that they can use suction to grab food, performing a behaviour that was previously thought to be restricted to fishes. We use a mathematical model to show that an elephant’s nostril size and lung capacity enables them to grab items using comparable pressures as the human lung. Ultrasonographic imaging of the elephant sucking viscous fluids show that the elephant’s nostrils dilate up to 30% in radius, which increases the nasal volume by 64%. Based on the pressures applied, we estimate that the elephants can inhale at speeds of over 150 m s⁻¹, nearly 30 times the speed of a human sneeze. These high air speeds enable the elephant to vacuum up piles of rutabaga cubes as well as fragile tortilla chips. We hope these findings inspire further work in suction-based manipulation in both animals and robots.     

Use of differential scanning calorimetry in measuring the thermal decomposition of mineral carbonates occurring in coal

Differential scanning calorimetry (d.s.c.) was used to measure in nitrogen the enthalpies of decomposition of mineral carbonates occurring in coal, namely magnesite, siderite, calcite, dolomite and ankerite. Measured values were compared with calculated values, and reasonable agreement was obtained provided that heat losses from the sample were minimized. In air, magnesite, dolomite, ankerite and calcite afforded large negative contributions to the calorific value of coals, whereas siderite produced a small positive calorific contribution.     

Ergonomics--costs and benefits

Ergonomics is primarily concerned with improving the performance of man or of man-machine systems. Although many applications have produced evident improvements, the terms of reference and the results are not often expressed in measures that are easily converted into financial savings. However, there is a growing demand for cost-benefit data of ergonomic improvements, and several examples in which the application of ergonomic principles has resulted in tangible benefits, are reviewed.Cases are cited of increases of productivity resulting from equipment redesign and of savings achieved from the reduction of accidents, and from improvements in the working environment. It is concluded that there is, as yet, no large body of well-documented cases of financial savings accruing from the application of ergonomics, due in many cases to the difficulties of costing actual changes in performance in the work situation. The need for further studies is debated, and it is suggested that the use of ergonomic data in a design programme should not necessarily be based on the prediction of financial benefits.     

Self-heating and kink effects in a-Si:H thin film transistors

We describe a new physics based, analytical DC model accounting for short channel effects for hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) thin film transistors (TFT's). This model is based on the long channel device model. Two important short-channel phenomena, self-heating and kink effects, are analyzed in detail. For the self-heating effect, a thermal kinetic analysis is carried out and a physical model and an equivalent circuit are used to estimate the thermal resistance of the device. In deriving the analytical model for self-heating effect, a first order approximation and self-consistency are used to give an iteration-free model accurate for a temperature rise of up to 100°C. In the modeling of the kink effects, a semi-empirical approach is used based on the physics involved. The combined model accurately reproduces the DC characteristics of a-Si:H TFT's with a gate length of the 4 μm. Predictions for a-Si:H TFT's scaled down to 1 μm are also provided. The model is suitable for use in device and circuit simulators     

Cookie- Versus Cracker-Baking—What's the Difference? Flour Functionality Requirements Explored by SRC and Alveography

The many differences between cookie- and cracker-baking are discussed and described in terms of the functionality, and functional requirements, of the major biscuit ingredients—flour and sugar. Both types of products are similar in their major ingredients, but different in their formulas and processes. One of the most important and consequential differences between traditional cracker and cookie formulas is sugar (i.e., sucrose) concentration: usually lower than 30% in a typical cracker formula and higher than 30% in a typical cookie formula. Gluten development is facilitated in lower-sugar cracker doughs during mixing and sheeting; this is a critical factor linked to baked-cracker quality. Therefore, soft wheat flours with greater gluten quality and strength are typically preferred for cracker production. In contrast, the concentrated aqueous sugar solutions existing in high-sugar cookie doughs generally act as an antiplasticizer, compared with water alone, so gluten development during dough mixing and starch gelatinization/pasting during baking are delayed or prevented in most cookie systems. Traditional cookies and crackers are low-moisture baked goods, which are desirably made from flours with low water absorption [low water-holding capacity (WHC)], and low levels of damaged starch and water-soluble pentosans (i.e., water-accessible arabinoxylans). Rheological (e.g., alveography) and baking tests are often used to evaluate flour quality for baked-goods applications, but the solvent retention capacity (SRC) method (AACC 56-11) is a better diagnostic tool for predicting the functional contribution of each individual flour functional component, as well as the overall functionality of flours for cookie- and/or cracker-baking.     

Nutrient minimisation in the pulp and paper industry: an overview.

This paper reviews nutrient issues within the pulp and paper industry summarising: nitrogen and phosphorus cycles within treatment systems; sources of nutrients within pulping and papermaking processes; minimising nutrient discharge; new approaches to nutrient minimisation; and the impact of nutrients in the environment. Pulp and paper industry wastewaters generally contain insufficient nitrogen and phosphorus to satisfy bacterial growth requirements. Nutrient limitation has been linked to operational problems such as sludge bulking and poor solids separation. Nutrients have been added in conventional wastewater treatment processes to ensure optimum treatment performance. Minimising the discharge of total nitrogen and phosphorus from a nutrient limited wastewater requires both optimised nutrient supplementation and effective removal of suspended solids from the treated wastewater. In an efficiently operated wastewater treatment system, the majority of the discharged nutrients are contained within the biomass. Effective solids separation then becomes the controlling step, and optimisation of secondary clarification is crucial. Conventional practice is being challenged by the regulatory requirement to reduce nitrogen and phosphorus discharge. Two recent developments in pulp and paper wastewater treatment technologies can produce discharges low in nitrogen and phosphorus whilst operating under conventionally nutrient limited conditions: i) the nutrient limited BAS process (Biofilm-Activated Sludge) which combines biofilm and activated sludge technologies under nutrient limited conditions and ii) an activated sludge process based on the use of nitrogen-fixing bacteria. Aerated stabilisation basins often operate without nutrient addition, relying on settled biomass in the benthal zone feeding back soluble nutrients, or the fixation of atmospheric nitrogen. Thus effective nutrient minimisation strategies require a more detailed understanding of nutrient cycling and utilisation. Where it is not possible to meet discharge constraints with biological treatment alone, a tertiary treatment step may be required. In setting nutrient control guidelines, consideration should be given to the nutrient limitations of the receiving environment, including other cumulative nutrient impacts on that environment. Whether an ecosystem is N or P limited should be integrated with wastewater treatment considerations in the further design and development of treatment technology and regulatory guidelines. End-of-pipe legislation alone cannot predict environmental effects related to nutrients and must be supplemented by an effects-based approach.     

Analysis of bias stress on unpassivated hydrogenated amorphoussilicon thin-film transistors

Both the subthreshold slope and the threshold voltage in inverted-staggered amorphous silicon thin-film transistors (a-Si:H TFTs) are vulnerable to metastable changes in the density of states (DOS) due to Fermi level displacement. In previous work, we have used passivated and unpassivated TFTs to distinguish between the effects of bulk states and interface states at the top passivating nitride interface. Here we report the results of experimental measurements and two-dimensional (2-D) simulations on unpassivated TFTs. Since there are no top interface states, all the observed changes are due solely to the bulk DOS. The subthreshold current activation energies in a-Si:H TFTs are compared for n-channel nonpassivated TFTs before and after bias stress. The experimental results agree well with the 2-D simulations, confirming that the dependence of subthreshold current activation energy on gate bias reveals the distribution of the DOS in energy but cannot resolve the magnitude of features in the DOS. This type of analysis is not accurate for TFTs with a top passivating nitride, since the activation energies in such devices are affected by the interfere states     

The performance of a nitrogen-fixing SBR.

A laboratory study has successfully demonstrated that a nitrogen deficient thermomechanical pulping wastewater can be effectively treated in a sequencing batch reactor (SBR) operated under conditions of biological nitrogen fixation (the N-ViroTech process). In comparison to continuous stirred tank reactor activated sludge (CSTR-AS) configurations operated under either nitrogen fixing or nitrogen supplemented conditions, slightly lower removals of dissolved organic material were observed in the SBR. However, this was largely offset by significantly better suspended solids removal in the SBR, which contributes to the overall COD discharge. The settleability and dewaterability of sludge produced by the SBR was significantly better than that obtained from the nitrogen fixing CSTR-AS reactors, and comparable to that of a nitrogen supplemented system. Consistently low total and dissolved nitrogen discharges from the N-ViroTech systems demonstrated the advantage of this system over ones requiring nitrogen supplementation. The feast-famine regime of an SBR-type configuration has significant potential for the application of this technology in the treatment of nitrogen deficient waste streams, particularly those in which conventional single-stage systems may be susceptible to sludge bulking problems.     

Coefficient of friction of ptfe-impregnated porous bronze versus temperature

The coefficient of friction in vacuum of DU (a composite material consisting of sintered bronze, impregnated primarily with polytetrafluorethylene (PTFE), mounted on a steel backing) on hard anodized aluminum coated with DU was shown to double as the temperature was lowered from 60 to ?20°C. The expression μ = 1.33 exp(?0.01092T) was derived to describe this behavior. The derivation was made with the expression μ = s/p as a basis, where s is the shear strength of PTFE and p the hardness of bronze. The resulting equation for μ fits the data excellently, thereby demonstrating the validity of the adhesion theory of friction for this material.