Mycologg: a new accelerated test method for wood durability above ground
If not properly handled, selected and protected, wood will be degraded by bacteria, fungi and also insects. In order to ensure service life, durability tests are needed. Most accelerated laboratory tests on wood durability are focused either on fungi attacks or the uptake of moisture. Accelerated field tests in ground contact are of limited use since they could be difficult to reproduce and are sensitive to the characteristics of the soil in which the wood is placed. In addition, the results cannot be directly transferred to wood in use above ground because such wood is subjected to different set of conditions. The Mycologg is a new accelerated test method for estimating the durability of wood in above ground applications. The Mycologg allows the test panels to be subjected to the discolouring fungi and different RH (relative humidity) cycles simultaneously. Every 30 min, the temperature, the RH, and the moisture content in each test panel are measured and saved in special software. This allows for a constant update of the moisture patterns during a fungi attack. A trial was made with Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) heartwood samples, where fungal growth after 6, 8 and 10 weeks in the Mycologg were compared to weather exposure of duplicate samples after 12, 16, and 26 months. The results showed that 10 weeks into the Mycologg accelerated test method corresponds well to real-time weather exposure with respect to fungal discolouration.
Separating Norway spruce heartwood and sapwood in dried condition with near-infrared spectroscopy and multivariate data analysis
Norway spruce [Picea abies (L.) Karst.] heartwood and sapwood have differing wood properties, but are similar in appearance. An investigation was made to see whether near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) could be used with multivariate statistics for separation between heartwood and sapwood in dry state on tangential longitudinal surfaces. For classification of wood into sapwood and heartwood, partial least square (PLS) regression was used. Orthogonal signal correction (OSC) filtering was used on the spectra. This study shows that a separation of sapwood and heartwood of spruce is possible with NIR spectra measured in a laboratory environment. The visible-wavelength spectra have significant influence on the predictive power of separation models between sapwood and heartwood of spruce. All 44 specimens in the calibration set were correctly classified into heartwood and sapwood. Validation of the model was done with a prediction set of 16 specimens, of which one was classified incorrectly.
Foundations of Despotism: Peasants, the Trujillo Regime, and Modernity in Dominican History
This book explores the history of the Dominican Republic as it evolved from the first European colony in the Americas into a modern nation under the rule of Rafael Trujillo. It investigates the social foundations of Trujillo's exceptionally enduring and brutal dictatorship (1930-1961) and, more broadly, the way power is sustained in such non-democratic regimes. The author reveals how the seemingly unilateral imposition of power by Trujillo in fact depended on the regime's mediation of profound social and economic transformations, especially through agrarian policies that assisted the nation's large independent peasantry. By promoting an alternative modernity that sustained peasants' free access to land during a period of economic growth, the regime secured peasant support as well as backing from certain elite sectors. This book thus elucidates for the first time the hidden foundations of the Trujillo regime.