Improving The Physical Properties of Young Teak Wood Through Phenol Formaldehyde Compregnation

Young teak wood exhibits inferior properties due to a high proportion of juvenile wood and sapwood. The modification through compregnation of phenol formaldehyde is required to improve wood qualities. Therefore, this study aimed to observe the possibility of improving the physical properties of young teak wood (15 years) using phenol formaldehyde compregnation at various concentrations (5%, 10%, 15%) and pressing times (15, 30, 60 minutes). The results showed that phenol formaldehyde concentration produced retention with a maximum value of 31.19 kg/m3. Based on wood without treatment (controls), the compregnation significantly increased the redness (a*) level by 45.57% and the specific gravity by 7.93%. The decreasing levels after treatment were observed in the brightness (L*) (by 36.56%), the yellowness (b*) (by 38.40%), and air-dried moisture contents by (by 5.44%). Furthermore, the reduction in hygroscopicity was observed in an equilibrium moisture content level in various relative humidity, as well as in increasing the stability dimension, though in a small magnitude.

Nutrient-Dense Crops for Rural and Peri-Urban Smallholders in Kenya—A Regional Social Accounting Approach

Kenya ranks among the countries with the highest micronutrient deficiency worldwide. Due to their high micronutrient content, African indigenous vegetables (AIVs) can be a solution to this problem, and urban areas in Kenya have seen a rise in demand for these crops in the previous decade. To fill the gap between supply and demand, programmes to promote AIV production have been implemented in rural and peri-urban areas. However, the effects of increased AIV production on income and food security in the regional economies are not clear. Thus, in this analysis, we first evaluate differences between the livelihoods of household groups with different levels of food security in rural and peri-urban Kenya using a two-step cluster analysis. Then, we generate a regional social accounting matrix (SAM) and calculate the direct and indirect income effects of AIVs and other crops grown in the area using a multiplier analysis. For the analysis, a total of 706 small-scale vegetable producers in four counties in Kenya were interviewed in 2015. Households in rural areas were more food insecure, especially with respect to the utilization and stability dimension of food security. Multiplier analysis showed increased indirect income effects of AIVs in the regional economy compared to those of many cash crops. We suggest further promoting the production of AIVs in rural and peri-urban Kenya.

Uji Perbandingan Kekuatan Kompresi Tumpatan Resin Komposit dengan Teknik Incremental Horizontal dan Teknik Bulk

Composite resin is one of the restoration material used in dental practice. Its strength and resistance factors toward usage and stability dimension lead to high compression strength to withstand mastication burden. This capacity has to be considered in choosing the composite resin as restoration material. This study was aimed to compare the compression strength of resin composites formed with horizontal incremental restoration technique and with bulk restoration technique. This was an experimental study conducted at Material Engineering Laboratory of the Faculty of Engineering Sam Ratulangi University Manado. There were six samples divided into 2 groups, each of 3 samples. The results showed that compression strength of resin composite formed with horizontal incremental technique was 199.45 MPa meanwhile of resin composite formed with bulk technique was 191.65 MPa. Conclusion: Compression strength of resin composite formed with horizontal incremental technique was higher than of resin composite formed with bulk technique.Keywords: resin composite, compression strength, incremental technique, bulk technique Abstrak: Resin komposit merupakan salah satu bahan restorasi yang sering digunakan di kedokteran gigi. Faktor kekuatan dan ketahanan terhadap penggunaan dan stabilitas dimensi memungkinkannya memiliki kekuatan kompresi yang besar untuk menahan beban kunyah. Hal ini merupakan salah satu keunggulan yang menjadi dasar pertimbangan saat memilih resin komposit sebagai bahan tumpatan. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui perbandingan teknik penumpatan incremental horizontal dan teknik penumpatan bulk untuk kekuatan kompresi resin komposit. Jenis penelitian ialah eksperimental yang dilakukan di Laboratorium Rekayasa Material Fakultas Teknik Universitas Sam Ratulangi. Sampel berjumlah 6 buah dibagi menjadi 2 kelompok, masing-masing terdiri dari 3 sampel. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa kekuatan kompresi tumpatan resin komposit dengan teknik incremental horizontal sebesar 199,45 MPa dan tumpatan resin komposit dengan teknik bulk sebesar 191,65 MPa. Simpulan: Kekuatan tekanan kompresi tumpatan resin komposit menggunakan teknik incremental horizontal lebih tinggi dibandingkan dengan menggunakan teknik bulk.Kata kunci: resin komposit, kekuatan kompresi, teknik penumpatan incremental horizontal, teknik penumpatan bulk

Bouncing Back: Building Resilience Through Social and Environmental Practices in the Context of the 2008 Global Financial Crisis

Even though organizational researchers have acknowledged the role of social and environmental business practices in contributing to organizational resilience, this work remains scarce, possibly because of the difficulties in measuring organizational resilience. In this paper, we aim to partly remedy this issue by measuring two ways in which organizational resilience manifests through organizational outcomes in a generalized environmental disturbance—namely, severity of loss, which captures the stability dimension of resilience, and time to recovery, which captures the flexibility dimension. By isolating these two variables, we can then theorize the types of social and environmental practices that contribute to resilience. Specifically, we argue that strategic social and environmental practices contribute more to organizational resilience than do tactical social and environmental practices. We test our theory by analyzing the responses of 963 U.S.-based firms to the global financial crisis and find evidence that support our hypotheses.

CHALLENGES AND RESPONSES TO ASIAN FOOD SECURITY

Food security is a complex phenomenon made up of multiple dimensions — food availability, physical access to food, economic access to food, food utilization — each of which has a stability dimension which underpins it. This review provides details on these dimensions and links them to two published indices which provide assessments of the state of food security in a country. The paper further provides analyses of the main supply and demand factors in the food security equation. Food security faces natural and anthropogenic threats such as loss of productive land and water, climate change and declining crop productivity, all of which are potentially amenable to solutions provided by science and technology. Demographic and accompanying diet changes further exacerbate the demands made on the natural resource base for food production. Finally, possible responses to the challenges confronting a secured food future are discussed from technological, policy and system level perspectives.

One- Through Six-Component Solutions from Ratings on Familiar English Personality-Descriptive Adjectives

We report solutions for one through six components for self-ratings (N = 559) on 449 familiar English personality-descriptive adjectives (see Lee & Ashton, 2008 ). The first unrotated component mainly contrasted desirable with undesirable characteristics. The varimax-rotated two-component solution contained dimensions closely resembling the Social Self-Regulation and Dynamism constructs of Saucier et al. (2014) . The three-component solution contained dimensions closely resembling the Affiliation, Dynamism, and Order constructs of De Raad et al. (2014) . In the four-component solution, an Emotional Stability dimension emerged, absorbing some variance from dimensions of the three-component solution. The five-component solution added an Intellect/Imagination/Unconventionality (Openness) component, and thus resembled the classic Big Five structure (e.g., Goldberg, 1990 ). In the six-component solution, the variance of the Big Five Agreeableness and Emotional Stability components was reorganized, producing components corresponding to HEXACO Agreeableness and to rotated variants of HEXACO Emotionality and Honesty-Humility. Solutions based on peer ratings (N = 303) were generally similar to those based on self-ratings, but showed a much larger first unrotated component.

Examining sleep, fatigue, and daytime sleepiness in pediatric multiple sclerosis patients

Background: About 2–5% of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) experience their first symptoms before age 18. Sleep disorders occur frequently in MS. The prevalence of sleep problems and their impact on fatigue and daytime sleepiness in pediatric MS is unknown. Objective: To determine whether pediatric MS patients have more sleep disturbances, fatigue, and daytime sleepiness compared with an age-, sex-, and race-matched control group. Methods: Patients and age-, sex-, and race-matched controls were surveyed to quantify daytime sleepiness via the modified Epworth Sleepiness Scale, sleep quality and hygiene through the Adolescent Sleep Wake and Hygiene Scale, respectively, and fatigue using the PediatricQL Multidimensional Fatigue Scale. Results: Pediatric MS patients ( n = 30) and age-, sex-, and race-matched controls ( n = 52) had similar levels of fatigue; however, when compared with previously published historical controls, both groups reported worse fatigue across all dimensions ( p < 0.05). Pediatric MS patients also had similar sleep quality compared with the matched controls, but reported better sleep hygiene on the ‘sleep stability’ dimension ( p < 0.05). In addition, pediatric MS patients had less daytime sleepiness than the matched controls ( p < 0.05). Conclusion: Although patients with MS reported similar levels of fatigue, they have better sleep hygiene, which could possibly account for the decreased amount of excessive daytime sleepiness. Also, when compared with historical controls, the MS and control samples reported more fatigue. Thus, caution must be taken when using published control data, especially when not properly matched.

Open-Ended Attributions for the Performance of the Elderly

The present study explored open-ended attributions for the success and failure of relatively younger and older men in social and academic situations using a between-subjects design. Attributions were collected from 109 college students and were coded using the Elig and Frieze scheme. Results showed that respondents were more likely to make attributions that combined age with other attributional categories (age-related attributions) than attributions solely to target's age. And, they made more ability-task interaction than ability attributions. Moreover, both attributions were as likely to be made for the elderly adult's success as his failure. Finally, differences also emerged in results from the stability dimension and those for age-related and ability-task attributions indicating that these parameters should be assessed independently in future research.

Cognitive Appraisal and Affective Reactions Following Physical Achievement Outcomes

This investigation examined the roles of intuitive (subjective performance perceptions) and reflective (causal attributions) appraisals in the generation of affective reactions to gymnastic performance. Both intuitive and cognitive appraisal were significant predictors of general affect, whereas self-related affects were predominantly influenced by intuitive appraisal and other-related affect by causal dimensions. The stability dimension evidenced the strongest relationship with both general and other-related affective reactions. Commonality analyses determined both types of appraisal to account for up to 14.7% of the cojoint variance in emotional reactions, suggesting that intuitive appraisal may well be perceived as causal attributions under certain circumstances. The findings are discussed in terms of the conditions under which attributions augment the emotion process and the importance of assessing perceptions of performance.