Determination of Heat Loss from the Feet and Insulation of the Footwear

This study compared the methods of determining footwear insulation on human participants and a thermal foot model. Another purpose was to find the minimal number of measurement points on the human foot that is needed for insulation calculation. A bare foot was tested at 3 ambient temperatures on 6 participants. Three types of footwear were tested on 2 participants. The mean insulation for a bare foot obtained on the participant and model were similar. The insulation of warm footwear measured by the 2 methods was also similar. For thin footwear the insulation values from the participants were higher than those from the thermal model. The differences could be related to undefined physiological factors. Two points on the foot can be enough to measure the insulation of footwear on human participants (r = .98). However, due to the big individual differences of humans, and good repeatability and simplicity of thermal foot method, the latter should be preferred for testing.     

A Comparison of Two Methods of Determining Thermal Properties of Footwear

The present European Standard for footwear testing (Standard No. EN 344:1992; European Committee for Standardization [CEN], 1992) classifies footwear thermally by a temperature drop inside the footwear during 30 min at defined conditions. Today, other methods for footwear thermal testing are also available. The aim of this study was to compare EN 344:1992 with a thermal foot method. Six boots were tested according to both methods. Additional tests with modified standard tests were also carried out. The methods ranked the footwear in a similar way. However, the test according to standard EN 344:1992 is a pass-or-fail test, whereas data that is gained from the thermal foot method gives more information and allows further use in research and product development. A change of the present standard method is suggested.     

Effect of Sweating on Insulation of Footwear

The study aimed to find out the influence of sweating on footwear insulation with a thermal foot model. Simultaneously, the influence of applied weight (35 kg), sock, and steel toe cap were studied. Water to 3 sweat glands was supplied with a pump at the rate of 10 g/hr in total. Four models of boots with steel toe caps were tested. The same models were manufactured also without steel toe. Sweating reduced footwear insulation 19–25% (30–37% in toes). During static conditions, only a minimal amount of sweat evaporated from boots. Weight affected sole insulation: Reduction depended on compressibility of sole material. The influence of steel toe varied with insulation. The method of thermal foot model appears to be a practical tool for footwear evaluation.     

The Effect of Protective Gloves on Manual Dexterity in the Cold Environments

This article presents a study on the effect of different protective gloves (which are commercially available and commonly used in the cold) on manual dexterity in cold environments. The experiments compared statistically four different types of gloves and two different types of gloving (outer or double) at +19 °C and -10 °C. Performance was determined both objectively and subjectively using two manual dexterity tasks: bolt-nut and pick-up tasks. The response measured was the time of performing each task. Statistical analysis showed that all independent factors such as glove type, participant, object size, and temperature had significant effects on the hand cooling reaction. A significant difference in the performance between the gloves was found in the bolt-nut task. It was also found that outer-inner combination gloving may be an approach to use for precision tasks.     

Production and fate of copepod fecal pellets across the Southern Indian Ocean

The vertical distribution of copepods, fecal pellets and the fecal pellet production of copepods were measured at seven stations across the Southern Indian Ocean from productive areas off South Africa to oligotrophic waters off Northern Australia during October/November 2006. We quantified export of copepod fecal pellet from surface waters and how much was retained. Furthermore, the potential impact of Oncaea spp. and harpacticoid copepods on fecal pellets degradation was evaluated and found to be regional substantial. The highest copepod abundance and fecal pellet production was found in the western nutrient-rich stations close to South Africa and the lowest at the central oligotrophic stations. The in situ copepod fecal pellet production varied between 1 and 1,000 μg C m⁻³ day⁻¹. At all stations, the retention of fecal pellets in the upper 400 m of the water column was more than 99% and the vertical export of fecal pellets was low (<0.02 mg m⁻² day⁻¹).     

Ontic openness: An absolute necessity for all developmental processes

The physicist Walter M. Elsasser is mostly known for his work on the Earth's magnetism. Less attention has been paid to his efforts toward identifying what are the real differences between physical and biological systems. One essential distinction he recognized was that physical systems are largely homogenous while biological systems always revealed what he called ordered heterogeneity. Calculation of the possible configurations of such heterogeneous systems almost always leads to combinatorial explosions and to what Elsasser referred to as immense numbers. Such calculations have the consequence that any such systems are necessarily unique - mathematically speaking they represent one-sets.Another consequence is that immense numbers automatically introduce enormous uncertainty and indeterminacy into the system. Such systems are said to be ontically open. Applying this perspective to the genome and employing the notion of informational entropy reveals a common drive behind all development. This means that both conventional Darwinian evolution as well as the genomic mistakes that are believed to lie behind processes like aging and diseases can be interpreted against the background of one and the same process.At the same time the approach demonstrates how Darwinian evolution encompasses other notions such as Kauffman's “adjacent possible” ( [Kauffman, 1995] and [Kauffman, 2000]) and Eldrege's and Gould's “evolution via punctuated equilibria” (e.g., [Eldredge and Gould, 1972] and [Gould and Eldredge, 1977]).     

How to Consider the Value of Farm Animals in Breeding Goals. A Review of Current Status and Future Challenges

The objective of this paper is to outline challenges associated with the inclusion of welfare issues in breeding goals for farm animals and to review the currently available methodologies and discuss their potential advantages and limitations to address these challenges. The methodology for weighing production traits with respect to cost efficiency and market prices are well developed and implemented in animal breeding goals. However, these methods are inadequate in terms of assessing proper values of traits with social and ethical values such as animal welfare, because such values are unlikely to be readily available from the product prices and costs in the market. Defining breeding goals that take animal welfare and ethical concerns into account, therefore, requires new approaches. In this paper we suggest a framework and an approach for defining breeding goals, including animal welfare. The definition of breeding goals including values related to animal welfare requires a multidisciplinary approach with a combination of different methods such as profit equations, stated preference techniques, and selection index theory. In addition, a participatory approach involving different stakeholders such as breeding organizations, food authorities, farmers, and animal welfare organizations should be applied. We conclude that even though these methods provide the necessary tools for considering welfare issues in the breeding goal, the practical application of these methods is yet to be achieved.     

Sample based estimation of landscape metrics; accuracy of line intersect sampling for estimating edge density and Shannon’s diversity index

A recent trend is to estimate landscape metrics using sample data and cost-efficiency is one important reason for this development. In this study, line intersect sampling (LIS) was used as an alternative to wall-to-wall mapping for estimating Shannon’s diversity index and edge length and density. Monte Carlo simulation was applied to study the statistical performance of the estimators. All combinations of two sampling designs (random and systematic distribution of transects), four sample sizes, five transect configurations (straight line, L, Y, triangle, and quadrat), two transect orientations (fixed and random), and three configuration lengths were tested, each with a large number of simulations. Reference was 50 photos of size 1 km², already manually delineated in vector format by photo interpreters using GIS environment. The performance was compared by root mean square error (RMSE) and bias. The best combination for all three metrics was found to be the systematic design and as response design the straight line configuration with random orientation of transects, with little difference between the fixed and random orientation of transects. The rate of decrease of RMSE for increasing sample size and line length was studied with a mixed linear model. It was found that the RMSE decreased to a larger degree with the systematic design than the random one, especially with increasing sample size. Due to the nonlinearity in the definition of Shannon diversity estimator its estimator has a small and negative bias, decreasing with sample size and line length. Finally, a time study was conducted, measuring the time for registration of line intersections and their lengths on non-delineated aerial photos. The time study showed that long sampling lines were more cost-efficient than short ones for photo-interpretation.     

Growth of plankton algae as a function of N-concentration,measured by means of batch technique

Employing a special batch technique which involves extremely low concentrations of the alga Selenastrum capricornutum, it is shown that a growth rate of ca. 75% of optimum growth occurs at a concentration of 0.02 g-at N(NH₄ ⁺) l^-1. The low concentrations of this N-source in the oligotrophic parts of the oceans (ca. 0.06 g-at l^-1) thus give rise to a borderline deficiency. As the half-saturation constant (K _S) for growth was recorded at 0.05 g-at N(NO₃ ^-), this ion can hardly be of much importance at the low concentrations present in these parts of the oceans. It is wrong to assert that N is the primary limiting nutrient. Phosphate also is found at concentrations giving rise to a borderline deficiency.