Saturday 30 June 2018
Junk food adverts to be banned from London transport
Unhealthy food adverts are to be prohibited on all London buses, tubes and trains under brand-new plans from Mayor of London Sadiq Khan. The mayor of London said that the city faced an obesity "a ticking timebomb", with nearly 4 in ten children overweight by the time they leave primary school.I'm proposing
to ban adverts for harmful processed food from our entire Tube and bus network. I desire to lower the influence and pressure that can be put on children and families to make unhealthy choices. https://t.co/JReKiIOOM8!.?.!— Sadiq Khan(@SadiqKhan) May 11, 2018"Battle against youth obesity "Sadiq Khan has published proposals which mean posters for food and drink which is high in fat, salt or sugar would be banned from 16,000 advertising areas under draft strategies revealed by Transportation for London( TfL ). The mayor has also proposed a ban on takeaways opening within 400 metres of schools.Under the proposals, adverts for full-sugar Coca-Cola or a Big Mac would not be accepted, but adverts for Diet plan Coke and McDonalds salads would
overweight.Khan said:" The federal government has to step up and join this battle against child obesity, so we can achieve genuine development not simply in London but throughout the whole country." Downing Street has prepared nationwide curbs on
"Nationally, a 3rd of children are < a href=https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/childhood-obesity-a-plan-for-action/childhood-obesity-a-plan-for-action > overweight obese aged 2 to 15, however this effects those from lower-economic backgrounds harder; children aged 5 from the poorest earnings groups are twice as most likely to be overweight compared with their most well off counterparts.Read more from the i:'Kid be worthy of better': Children most disadvantaged by cuts to public health services Kids who watch junk food TV ads'consume to 500 extra treats a year''Up-selling'techniques encourage us to consume an extra 17,000 calories each per year
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Friday 29 June 2018
'Leaving bus services to the free enterprise has not worked'-- Burnham to shock Manchester's transportation system
Andy Burnham is set to become the first of England’s executive metro mayors to take up new powers granted by Parliament to drive forward a major overhaul of transport in Greater Manchester – starting in the New Year.
In a keynote speech to northern regional transport chiefs he said: “Concern about transport in the north is nothing new. The difference is it can no longer be ignored. We are at the beginning of a period of unprecedented change for the UK.”
Greater Manchester transport bosses have lobbied for years for a regulated bus system comparable with London – and the passage of the Bus Services Bill though Parliament earlier this year will at least partly meet that demand, allowing combined authorities to regulate bus franchising.
The move will bring to an end Margaret Thatcher’s decades-old policy which allowed private operators to set up along routes previously run by local authorities in every part of the country except London.
“Leaving bus services to the free market has not worked,” said Mr Burnham. “It has brought fragmentation and confusion. Two statistics provide evidence of failure: in unregulated Greater Manchester, 350 million bus journeys a year in the mid-80s have become just under 200 million today; in regulated London, bus usage growth is almost the mirror opposite.”
Visitors to Greater Manchester regularly complain about the confusing nature of our ticketing on buses and trams asking – reasonably – why we can’t operate an integrated system like London.
The Greater Manchester Mayor added that having been dealt this bad hand of cards, with no real control over bus or rail, there was real pride in what Transport for Greater Manchester has been able to achieve. Metrolink was the largest light rail network in the UK – catering for more than 40 million passenger journeys a year with fully-accessible stops and trams powered by green energy – and the pioneering Leigh Guided Busway with environmentally-friendly hybrid buses had proved more popular than anyone predicted with 62,000 journeys a week.
“We now need to spread this success to all parts of our transport system,” said Mr Burnham. “I have written to the Transport Secretary to notify him of our intention to establish a Greater Manchester Strategic Transport Board which I will chair together with Sir Richard Leese, and which will hold the whole system to account for the Greater Manchester public by monitoring performance, progress on improvements and ensure joined-up working between the different players.”
The mayor has also asked TfGM to assess the costs and benefits of moving to a 24/7 control room – similar to the model used by Transport for London – essential for any city with ambitions like ours. It will allow the board to be more proactive in preventing problems on our network and more responsive when problems do happen.
The biggest changes will affect the bus system which, despite decline in patronage over many years, still carry 75 per cent of all public transport passengers in the city region.
“The reasons for this [decline] are inevitably complex but it cannot help that in Greater Manchester we have over 40 different bus operators, with 160 different types of ticket available,” said Mr Burnham.
“We have too many communities receiving no service at all – or having their service taken away with minimal notice. And fares are simply too high – a single journey can cost £3 or more – compared to £1.50 in London.
“In some cases it is cheaper to travel by taxi or to drive into the city centre and pay for parking. As one of the responses to the Congestion Conversation said: ‘Sort out the extortionate bus fares. If I go to the city centre it’s cheaper to park than for a family for four to use public transport.’”
One of the ‘big wins’ to be gained from bus reform will be to integrate services with Metrolink and effectively operate as one system.
source http://taxi.nearme.host/leaving-bus-services-to-the-free-enterprise-has-not-worked-burnham-to-shock-manchesters-transportation-system/
We’re Top Rated by Toppit Transport
We like it when our customers keep coming back, and we like it much more when they offer us fantastic feedback! So a big thank you to Alan Moore from Toppit Transport for going to the trouble of writing to us with his compliments on the service he's received from Speedy Reg. He's a regular client, purchasing LEADING plates from us for the fleet of trucks he uses for his haulage organisation. If you're driving around County Fermanagh, do keep an eye out for the Toppit trucks with their TOP plates!He had these kind words to say about us ..."Speedy Reg are Leading Notch for TOP plates for my company Toppit Transportation. Constantly an enjoyment to deal with"Thanks so much Alan, we think you're an actually LEADING bloke!Fancy a TOP plate
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Thursday 28 June 2018
Wednesday 27 June 2018
Tuesday 26 June 2018
Monday 25 June 2018
Sunday 24 June 2018
Londoners 'will get nearly three times more transport cash than Northerners'
Londoners are set to get almost three times the cash spent on transportation in Northern England, according to research study that declares to drive a hole through Chris Grayling's guarantee that the Conservatives are closing the North-South infrastructure spending divide.Analysis by the IPPR North think-thank of Government figures for forecasted costs recommends London is set to receive ₤ 4,155 per person for transport-- 2.6 times more than the North. The space is nearly 5 times in between London and Yorkshire and the Humber, and the North East, inning accordance with the study.Despite the Transportation Secretary's current statements, London is still set to get practically three times more transport investment per individual than the North. This is indefensible.The news come 4 months after Mr Grayling countered throughout a check out to Manchester at allegations from civic and business leaders that he had" abdicated obligation" for northern transportation improvements and claimed figures by North-South funding gap were "deceptive". It followed Mr Grayling's support of another ₤ 30bn Crossrail line for London days after shunting rail electrification schemes in the North and somewhere else into
the sidings.The Federal government published its own regional breakdown before Christmas and wrote to MPs claiming it was reversing the historical spending divide.Luke Raikes, senior research fellow at IPPR North, stated:" Despite the Transportation Secretary's recent declarations, London is still set to receive nearly 3 times more transportation financial investment per person than the North. This is indefensible.
"The think-tank states the Federal government's analysis excludes all costs which takes location after 2020/21 despite the facilities pipeline existing as a long-term preparation tool.It says almost ₤ 12bn of Transport for London spending is also omitted after
a deal in between Mr Grayling and London Mayor Sadiq Khan permitting London to keep its own service rates to invest in transport.According to IPPR North, the offer suggests London will not contribute to transfer costs in the remainder of the nation and stands to benefit by ₤ 240m next year and more in the following years.IPPR North states Londoners will get ₤ 4,155 per person, compared to ₤ 1,600 in the North-- a space of ₤ 2,555 per person. Yorkshire and the Humber will get ₤ 844 per person inning accordance with the figures and the North East ₤ 855, while the North West will get ₤ 2,439.
Regional body Transport for the North recently released a 30-year method to obtain the area moving and provide a ₤ 100bn boost to bridge the economic share London.' It's a scams'The extraordinary program of unity was ruined by Lord Prescott, who stormed out of a launch occasion in Hull screaming:"It's a fraud". He later on called for the body to be given more statutory powers.IPPR North stated the Federal government needs to provide Carry for the North the exact same decision-making powers as Transport for London including the ability to raise capital for infrastructure projects.More than 87,000 individuals in the North have signed a petition getting in touch with the Transport Secretary to give the area ₤ 59bn so it can "catch up "with the capital.Mr Raikes said:"The North has actually been underfunded in contrast to London for decades, and our figures show that ministers have actually stopped working to redress this imbalance. This failure will continue to hold back the North and the nation till the government acts." The federal government has actually enhanced their analysis of these figures however they have then excluded nearly half of the costs for which they are responsible. An out of proportion amount of that omitted cash is for London." Rather of disputing the figures the government has to purchase the big, transformative jobs being developed in the North such as Northern Powerhouse Rail."< p itemscope itemtype=http://schema.org/ImageObject itemprop=image > Londoners are set to get more cash than Northerners for transport, inning accordance with analysis.(Photo: Getty)
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Saturday 23 June 2018
Developing a Model for Chloride Ions Transport in Cement Concrete under Dynamic Flexural Loading and Dry-Wet Cycles
Abstract
Chloride ions attack is the main factor leading to the degradation of concrete durability, while the diffusion process would be significantly aggravated under the dynamic flexural loading and dry-wet cycles. In this paper, the influence coefficients of dynamic flexural loading on chloride/water diffusion coefficients were established, based on the relationship between the dynamic flexural loading and the chloride ions diffusion coefficient of concrete. Based on the model of chloride ions transporting in dry-wet cycle environment, the transport model of chloride ions in concrete under the dynamic flexural loading and dry-wet cycles was established. The effects of different factors on the chloride ions transport law in concrete were analyzed through laboratory test. The results showed that the model was in good agreement with the experimental results. The theory and assumptions proposed applied in the model of chloride ions transport in concrete under the dynamic flexural loading and dry-wet cycles had certain rationality and scientificity.
1. Introduction
Chloride ions could greatly harm the durability of reinforced concrete structures. In the area rich in chloride salt, concrete structures are not only exposed to chloride environment, but also subjected to the fatigue failure caused by repeated traffic loads. Under the dynamic flexural loading, the microcracks of concrete could easily sprout and expand. These microcracks not only constitute the transport channel of chloride ions, but also contribute to the water diffusion in concrete which increases the driving force of diffusion and convection. As for the concrete structure in tidal region, or areas where splash and water level change is prevailing, the concrete also suffers from dry-wet cycle of chloride solution. When concrete is in unsaturated state, the transmission of chloride ions in concrete is faster [1]. Due to the defect of design standard, the durability of concrete is insufficient. The cost of maintenance is increasing continuously which causes huge economic loss [2, 3]. Therefore, studying the effect of dynamic flexural loading and dry-wet cycles on chloride ions diffusion in concrete is of great significance for ensuring the safe operation of concrete works in the chloride enrichment area, and accurately predicting and improving the service life of the project. Chloride ions diffusion process in concrete has been studied by several researchers. Many of them [4–7] study the chloride diffusion characteristic in concrete based on Fick’s second law. The influences of different fatigue stress levels and temperature coupling on the chloride diffusion coefficient of concrete were investigated by Wang et al. [8, 9]. Ren et al. [10] had found that the chloride ions permeability coefficient and the fatigue stress level have an exponential relationship under the combined effect of fatigue load and chloride solution immersion. The combined action of loads with a chloride dry-wet cycle and freeze-thaw cycle on the flexural performance of reinforced concrete (RC) beams strengthened with textile reinforced concrete was studied by Yin et al. [11]. It had been found that the coupling of load and chloride ions caused sustained damage to the textile reinforced concrete (TRC) and reduced the durability of the TRC. The chloride penetration process in concrete with two different replacement ratios by supplementary cementitious materials, three different levels of flexural loading, and three different types of drying-wetting-carbonation exposure conditions was experimentally characterized by Ye et al. [12]. The result showed that the incorporation of supplementary cementitious materials makes concrete more vulnerable to chloride attack under a combined deterioration of cyclic drying-wetting and carbonation, since the deficiency of portlandite dominates the positive effects such as pore refinement. At present, the transmission model of chloride ions in concrete under different environmental factors or mechanical properties has been addressed by many researchers [13–16]. But little information is available about the experimental and theoretical analysis of chloride ions transport in concrete under the combined action of dynamic flexural loading and dry-wet cycle.
In this paper, transport behavior of chloride ions under the combined action of dynamic flexural loading and dry-wet cycles is considered as the effect of dynamic flexural loading on the chloride ions diffusion coefficient and water diffusion coefficient. The influence coefficients of dynamic flexural loading on chloride ions diffusion coefficient and water diffusion coefficient were established, respectively. And then according to the equation of chloride ions transport in concrete under the action of dry-wet cycle and the equation of chloride ions transport in concrete under the action of dynamic flexural loading, the equation of chloride ions transport in concrete under the combined action of dynamic flexural loading and dry-wet cycles was established. The rationality of the model was verified by comparing the experimental results and model results. The research results provide a reference for the design and life prediction of road concrete engineering under the interaction of dynamic flexural loading and dry-wet cycle in a salt rich environment.
2. Model for Chloride Ions Transport in Cement Concrete under Dynamic Flexural Loading
2.1. Characterization of Chloride Ions Diffusion Coefficient Based on Crack Area
In concrete, there are native microcracks and connected micropores. When concrete is subjected to chloride attack, the chloride ions will pass through the pores and defects into the concrete and spread to the depth. The dynamic flexural loading intensifies the initiation and propagation of microcracks in concrete. And the chloride ions diffusion channel and diffusion rate increase consequently. When dynamic flexural loading is applied to concrete, the microcracks in concrete would open, and the tip of the crack could generate a partial vacuum, resulting in the chloride solution entering the crack rapidly by pumping. When the load is unloaded, the closed crack would force salt solution spraying. In such a cycle, the chloride solution forms turbulent diffusion near the microcracks, which greatly improves the diffusion capacity of chloride ions.
Here, the concrete is divided into two parts: the matrix and the microcrack. The chloride ions diffuse into the concrete through the pores and microcracks of the matrix. The total diffusion flux of chloride ions into the concrete includes the matrix diffusion flux and microcrack diffusion flux, as shown below:where is the total chloride ions diffusion flux into the concrete; is the chloride ions diffusion flux into concrete through the matrix; is the chloride ions diffusion flux into the concrete through the crack; is the area of the concrete matrix; is the area of concrete cracks.
According to the diffusion theory, diffusion flux is the product of the diffusion coefficient of ions by the ion concentration gradient, as follows:where is the mass concentration of chloride ions; is the diffusion direction of chloride ions; is the total diffusion coefficient of chloride ions in concrete; is diffusion coefficient of chloride ions through concrete matrix; is diffusion coefficients of chloride ions through cracks.
Then (2) are taken into (1) and deformed:
Equation (3) is the diffusion coefficient of chloride ions characterized by the crack area. The chloride diffusion coefficient is the result of the integration of chloride ions diffusing through the connected pore and crack. It is an equivalent diffusion coefficient and it can be tested according to the Nordic standard NT BUILD 443-The immersion test.
For ordinary concrete, the crack area is very small and the matrix area is much larger than the crack area, so (3) can be simplified as
If the dynamic flexural loading is applied to the concrete, the dynamic flexural loading will cause the fatigue cumulative damage to the concrete. The crack area will increase and the chloride ions diffusion coefficient will also increase. The chloride ions diffusion coefficient can be expressed as below after the damage:where is the chloride diffusion coefficient after fatigue damage of concrete; is the crack area of concrete after fatigue damage.
The crack area consists of two parts, the initial crack area and the extended crack area:where is the change of crack area of the concrete after fatigue damage.
Then (6) is taken into (5), obtainingwhere is the equivalent chloride ions diffusion coefficient tested according to the Nordic standard NT BUILD 443-The immersion test or other methods; is the maximum diffusion coefficient of chloride ions in concrete cracks.
Equation (7) is the characterization of chloride ions diffusion coefficient based on crack area and initial diffusion coefficient after the fatigue damage.
2.2. Effects of Fatigue Damage on Crack Area
The bottom of middle part of concrete beam and pavement slab is under the maximum flexural tensile stress. Under the combined action of cyclic bending stress and chloride diffusion, the bending deformation of this part is the largest and the structure is the weakest. It will lead to the fastest rate of chloride ions penetration. A unit is selected from this part as shown in Figure 1. Three hypotheses are made as follows:The concrete is homogeneous and the chloride ions diffuse in the concrete unit in one dimension;The initial microcracks are evenly distributed in the concrete;The damage of concrete is only the expansion of microcracks during fatigue damage.
Figure 1: One-dimensional diffusion of chloride ions in concrete.
On the basis of the above assumptions, the following three steps can be done as shown in Figure 2:An interface perpendicular to the direction of diffusion is selected. Microcracks in this interface are evenly distributed.This interface is evenly divided into microarea units, so that each microarea unit contains a microcrack.The irregular crack in the microarea unit is simplified into a rectangle so that the area of the rectangle can be equal to the initial crack area.
Figure 2: Equivalent simplification of concrete microcrack.
According to the equivalent simplification shown in Figure 2 of the crack area, the length and width of the simplified rectangle are ,, respectively. The initial crack area is where is the number of microarea units to be divided.
After fatigue damage occurs, the growth of microcracks is the growth of crack length and crack width. After expansion, the length and width of cracks arewhere is the fatigue cumulative damage of the concrete.
Then, after the damage, the crack area in the concrete is
The change of the crack area is
Equation (11) is taken into (7), obtaining
Making = Initial microcrack area/matrix area, then (12) can be converted into
It can be seen from the definition of that it represents the initial microcrack density of the concrete. The vacuum epoxy dipping method and the fluorescent liquid displacement method can be used to measure the initial microcrack density of the concrete [17, 18]. It can be seen from (13) that the chloride ions diffusion coefficient of fatigue-damaged concrete can be expressed by the initial microcrack area density and fatigue cumulative damage.
2.3. Introduction of Dynamic Flexural Loading
Dynamic flexural loading causes damage to concrete. Fatigue damage accumulates with the number of loading times increasing. According to the linear fatigue cumulative damage theory [19], the fatigue damage of concrete is proportional to the number of loading times:where is the time of dynamic flexural loading; is fatigue life of concrete.
The time of dynamic flexural loading is the product of the load frequency and load times:where is the frequency of the dynamic flexural loading; is times of action of dynamic flexural loading.
According to the fatigue equation of concrete [20], the fatigue life of concrete has a semilogarithmic relationship with the maximum stress:where is the maximum stress level under dynamic flexural loading; , are test constants related to materials.
Equations (15) and (16) are taken into (14), and then (17) is available:
Equation (17) is taken into (13), and then (18) is available:
Equation (18) is the expression of the influence of dynamic flexural loading on chloride diffusion coefficient of concrete. The influence of stress level, frequency, and the action time of dynamic flexural loading on the diffusion coefficient of chloride ions can be analyzed quantitatively.
3. Model for Chloride Ions Transport in Cement Concrete under Dry-Wet Cycles
The flux of chloride ions into the concrete under dry-wet cycle is mainly divided into two parts which are diffusion flux and convection flux, respectively:where is the diffusion flux; is the convection flux.
Chloride diffusion flux can be expressed by Fick’s first law as shown in (20):where the negative sign indicates that the chloride ions diffusion is opposite to the concentration gradient; is the water content of concrete, %; is the chloride ions diffusion coefficient, m2/s; is the chloride concentration in the pore liquid, kg/m3.
The chloride ions diffusion coefficient is related to concrete age, chloride ions adsorption effect, ambient temperature, and concrete saturation. The chloride ions diffusion coefficient decreases exponentially with the age of concrete [21]:where is the chloride ions diffusion coefficient at time ; is the chloride ions diffusion coefficient at age , generally taking 28 d; is the time attenuation coefficient, which could be 0.65 for ordinary Portland cement in the marine environment; tide and splash area is 0.37 and underwater area is 0.30 [22].
As for concrete which has a greater saturation, the diffusion of the chloride ions could be accelerated in a higher manner. Guimarães et al. [23, 24] found that the chloride diffusion coefficient had a good correlation with the quadratic function of concrete saturation:where is the diffusion coefficient of saturation ; is the chloride ions diffusion coefficient in saturated state; ,, and are fitting constants.
The higher the temperature is, the greater the diffusion coefficient of chloride ions would be. The relationship between temperature and the chloride ions diffusion coefficient is [25]where is the chloride ions diffusion coefficient at temperature ; usually takes 293 K; is gas constant; is activation energy of chloride diffusion in concrete, J/mol. When water cement ratio is 0.4, is 41800 J/mol. When water cement ratio is 0.5, is 44600 J/mol. When water cement ratio is 0.6, is 32000 J/mol.
Based on the (21), (22), and (23), considering the effect of the age of concrete, environment temperature and concrete saturation on the chloride diffusion coefficient, chloride ions diffusion coefficient iswhere is chloride ions diffusion coefficient at temperature , 28 d age, and saturated state. It can be measured according to the Nordic standard NT BUILD 443-The immersion test.
Thus, the chloride diffusion flux into the concrete can be expressed as
The chloride ions flux caused by convection iswhere, is the velocity of water seepage, m/s.
The velocity of water seepage in concrete accords with Darcy’s law:where, is seepage coefficient, m/s [26]; is the viscous coefficient of pore fluid, Pa·s; is pressure head, .
Making , (27) can be expressed as
is water diffusion coefficient in concrete. It is a function of water content in concrete. Water content in concrete is related to porosity and saturation of concrete. Therefore, water diffusion coefficient is a function of porosity and saturation of concrete. It is assumed that the porosity of concrete is a time-irrelevant constant, so
In dry-wet cycle process, the diffusion coefficient of water is different at different stages of wetting and drying:
Lin et al. [27] considered the influence of concrete age, saturation, and temperature on water diffusion coefficient and established the relationship between water diffusion coefficient and the three factors:where is the water diffusion coefficient in concrete when saturation is 1; is water diffusion coefficient in concrete at initial saturation; is transport activation energy of water in concrete, kJ/mol; , , are constant (, , ); is constant, .
Here, considering the influence of concrete age, saturation, and environment temperature on the diffusion of water in concrete, the convection flux of chloride ions in concrete can be expressed as
Equations (25) and (32) are taken into (19), and then chloride flux entering concrete through diffusion and convection under dry-wet cycle is
According to the conservation of total mass of chloride ions:
Equation (33) is taken into (34):
Water content of concrete can be expressed aswhere is the porosity of concrete, %.
Equation (36) is taken into (35) available:
Because chloride ions can only transport through the pores inside the concrete and the chloride concentration in the pores is difficult to measure, so the chloride ions concentration in pores is converted to the concentration where chloride ion occupies the mass of concrete ratio, %.where is the density of concrete, kg/m3.
Equation (38) is taken into (37):
The porosity of concrete decreases with the increase of concrete age. The effect of concrete age on chloride diffusion coefficient and water diffusion coefficient is considered. So the change of porosity with time and space is neglected in (40) forWhen the binding of chloride ions was considered, the left side of (40) is the change of the total chloride ions concentration with time, and the right side is the free chloride ions flux; then (40) can be transformed into
And the total concentration of chloride ions entering the concrete is the sum of free chloride ions concentration and combined chloride ions concentration aswhere is the total concentration of chloride ions, %; is combined chloride ions concentration, %; is free chloride ions concentration, %.
The left side of (41) is changed as
Making , is the influence coefficient of binding of chloride ions, which is related to the type of cement. So (44) can be simplified in one dimension:
Equation (45) is the convection-diffusion model of chloride ions transport in concrete which is taken into account of the difference between dry and wet environment and the influence from concrete age, saturation, ambient temperature, and adsorption effect.
There are two variables in (45) which are chloride ions concentration and water saturation . The diffusion model of water saturation of concrete can be expressed as
Considering simultaneous Equations (45) and (46) combined with initial conditions and boundary conditions, the chloride ions concentration distribution of concrete under dry-wet cycles can be solved.
4. Chloride Ions Transport Model in Concrete under the Combined Action of Dry-Wet Cycling and Dynamic Flexural Loading
4.1. Establishment of Influence Coefficient of Dynamic Flexural Loading on Chloride Diffusion Coefficient and Water Diffusion Coefficient
According to the influence of dynamic flexural loading on the microcrack of concrete, the chloride diffusion coefficient of concrete under the dynamic flexural loading is established. So a conversion is carried out about (18). As shown in (47):
This makeswhere is the influence coefficient of dynamic flexural loading on chloride diffusion coefficient, which represents the expansion factor of the dynamic flexural loading on the chloride ions diffusion coefficient. It is related to the initial diffusion coefficient of chloride ions.
Equation (48) characterizes the influence of microcrack propagation on chloride ions diffusion coefficient. Analogies are made between the influence coefficient of microcrack on water diffusion coefficient and influence coefficient of microcrack on chloride diffusion coefficient. The influence coefficient of dynamic flexural loading on water diffusion coefficient is
Equation (49) represents the fact that is related to water initial diffusion coefficient.
4.2. Diffusion Flux of Chloride Ions
Based on (24) that expresses chloride diffusion coefficient which takes concrete age, saturation, and temperature into account and (48), the effect of dynamic flexural loading on the chloride ions diffusion coefficient, the chloride ions diffusion coefficient of concrete under the combined action of dynamic flexural loading and dry- wet cycle can be expressed as
Therefore, the chloride ions diffusion flux into the concrete under the combined action of dynamic flexural loading and dry-wet cycle is
4.3. Convection Flux of Chloride Ions
Based on the effect of concrete age, saturation, temperature on water diffusion coefficient (31), and the effect of dynamic flexural loading on the water diffusion coefficient (49), diffusion coefficient of water transport in concrete under the combined action of dynamic flexural loading and dry-wet cycle can be expressed as
Therefore, the convective flux of chloride ions entering concrete under the combined action of dynamic flexural loading and dry-wet cycle iswhere is as shown in (52).
Therefore, the total flux of chloride entering the concrete under the combined action of dynamic flexural loading and dry-wet cycle is
According to the law of conservation of mass of chloride ions:
Then (54) is taken into (55), obtaining
Then, chloride concentration is changed into chloride ions accounting for the mass percentage of concrete, and the adsorption effect of chloride ions is considered. Equation (56) is simplified and transformed. Then in one-dimensional direction the chloride ions transport equation is
Equation (57) is the convection-diffusion model of chloride ions transport in concrete under the combined action of dynamic flexural loading and dry-wet cycle.
5. Solution of Chloride Ions Transport Equation of Concrete under the Combined Action of Dynamic Flexural Loading and Dry-Wet Cycle
The convection-diffusion model of chloride ions transport in concrete under the combined action of dynamic flexural loading and dry-wet cycle (57) contains two variables, respectively, chloride ions concentration and water saturation . It cannot be solved independently. The water diffusion coefficient (46) should be introduced into (57) and the water diffusion coefficient is shown in (52). Considering simultaneous Equations (57) and (46), the distribution of chloride ions in concrete can be obtained by combining initial conditions and boundary conditions.
5.1. Initial Conditions
Initial saturation of concrete is , and the initial chloride concentration is as follows. The amount of chloride ions invading into sample during the preparation is small and is usually regarded as 0.
5.2. Boundary Conditions
In dry-wet cycle environment, the concrete is under two stages which are drying stage and wetting stage. The boundary condition is different in different environment. When concrete is in wetting stage, the surface of concrete is in its saturation when soaked in the chloride solution. The concentration of surface pore solution is the same as that of the chloride solution as follows:where is the percentage of chloride ions content in concrete, which can be calculated from the concentration of chloride ions and equation .
As for drying stage, assuming that the concrete surface saturation instantly becomes a constant at the beginning of drying stage, the chloride ions in the surface will not flow out with water:
Equation (61) is the boundary conditions of chloride transport equation in drying process.
As can be seen the equation of chloride ions transport in concrete under the combined action of dynamic flexural loading and dry-wet cycle is a nonlinear partial differential equation; the analytic solution of it cannot be found, so the numerical solution is appropriate to solve the problem. Firstly, the Crank-Nicolson scheme with high accuracy in the finite difference method is used to numerically discretize the model equation, the initial condition, and the boundary condition. Then the model is programmed with MATLAB; chase method is used to solve the equation.
The solution process is as follows:According to the initial conditions and boundary conditions of water transport equation, the distribution of water saturation in the concrete is calculated. Since the water transport model is a nonlinear partial differential equation, the solution is iterated to ensure the accuracy, and the saturation of the same spatial position of the adjacent time step is satisfied: where is the accuracy requirement.According to the distribution of water saturation, the initial conditions, and boundary conditions of chloride ions transport, the catching method was used to solve the concentration distribution of chloride ions in concrete.According to step and step the distribution of water saturation and the boundary conditions, the distribution of water saturation, and the distribution of chloride ions are solved. Step and step are cycled until the end of time.
6. Validation of Chloride Ions Transport Model in Concrete under Dynamic Flexural Loading and Dry-Wet Cycles
In order to verify the rationality of the chloride ions transport model in the concrete under the combined action of the dynamic flexural loading and dry-wet cycle, indoor test was designed to simulate actual project to accelerate the ion diffusion environment, verify the model, and analyze the effect of dynamic flexural loading and dry-wet cycle on chloride ions transmission in concrete.
6.1. Experimental Program
6.1.1. Materials
Ordinary Portland cement was used in this research and its physical and mechanical properties are shown in Table 1. Limestone gravel was used as coarse aggregates, whose particle size was 5 mm–20 mm and apparent density was 2.71 g/cm3. River sand was used as fine aggregates, whose fineness modulus and apparent density were 2.8 and 2660 kg/m3, respectively. Polycarboxylic acid water reducing agent was used. The chloride content of water reducing agent was less than 0.01%, which can be neglected. Tap water was used.
Table 1: Chemical composition of 42.5 ordinary Portland cement.
6.1.2. Mix Proportions
The water cement ratio is 0.4 of the concrete mixtures. The details of mix proportions are given in Table 2.
Table 2: Mix proportions.
6.2. Test Procedures
6.2.1. Chloride Ions Transport Test of Concrete under Dynamic Flexural Loading and Dry-Wet Cycle
Based on literature studies [28–30], in order to simulate the actual working environment of concrete structure of road engineering and speed up the rate of chloride transport for saving test time, in this paper, the chloride ions transport test was conducted under dynamic flexural loading and dry-wet cycle, of which the two maximum stress levels were 0.6 and 0.4 and the minimum stress level was 0.1. Drying and wetting time of the specimen were both 24 h, which made a cycle time of 48 h. The dynamic flexural loading frequency was 400 times/d. The concentration of NaCl solution was 8%.
Specimens of 100 mm × 100 mm × 400 mm were prepared. After 28-day curing ages, six surfaces of specimens except two surfaces of 100 mm × 400 mm were coated with anticorrosion material so that the chloride ions was one-dimensional diffusion. The coated specimens were cooled for 30 min before soaked into water for 24 h. A self-developed device which can assess ion transport characteristics in concrete under dynamic flexural loading and dry-wet cycle was used, and the mechanism of this device could be found in Figure 3. Firstly, the specimen was put on the test stand. Then specified concentration of chloride solution was poured into the container where the specimen was in it. Then dynamic flexural loading was applied to the specimen whose load frequency was 400 times/day. The load spectrum of dynamic flexural loading is shown in Figure 4.
Figure 3: Device which can test ion transport in concrete under dynamic flexural loading and dry-wet cycle.
Figure 4: Load spectrum of dynamic flexural loading.
6.2.2. Chloride Ions Concentration Test
The chloride ions concentration of concrete was measured in accordance with the specification (JGJ/T 322-2013). When chloride ions diffusion time reached 30 d, 60 d, and 90 d, the specimen was taken out from the container and air dried for 24 h at least. Powders from a hole which was drilled at the bending and ion diffusion surface of the specimen were used to test the chloride ions concentration.
6.3. Comparison of Model Results with Experimental Results
6.3.1. The Value of the Model Parameter
Model length was equal to 0.1 m. Distance step was equal to 0.0005 m and time step was 1 h. Main parameters of the calculation model during dry-wet cycle process were shown in Table 3 which referred to Li [31].
Table 3: Parameters of the calculation model during dry-wet cycle process.
During dynamic flexural loading process, assuming that there was no chloride ions entering the concrete when the specimen was prepared, the initial chloride ions concentration . The chloride concentration in porosity of the surface is the same as external environmental chloride ions concentration, so chloride concentration in porosity of the surface can be expressed as , where is the percentage of chloride ions content on concrete surface; C is mass concentration of chloride solution, kg/m3; is concrete saturation, when the concrete was completely soaked in the solution; is initial porosity of concrete, %; is concrete density, kg/m3. The diffusion coefficient of chloride in concrete is calculated according to Life-365 [32] American standard design program. Maximum diffusion coefficient from Yan [33] was adopted as diffusion coefficient of chloride ions in concrete cracks . Crack area density was adopted from the test result of Kustermann et al. [17]. The specific values of the parameters in the model are shown in Table 4.
Table 4: Specific values of the parameters in the model.
6.3.2. Comparative Analysis between Model Results and Experimental Results
The comparison of model results with experimental results is illustrated in Figure 5 from which it is evident that there is a good relationship between the model results and test results, especially when mm. The test results points are all near the calculation curve when mm. However, when mm, the model results are quite different from the experimental results. The cause might be that when the specimen was prepared, there was a layer of cement paste on the surface. The porosity of cement paste was large. The chloride ions gathered in the pores of cement paste on the surface. On the other hand, long drying time will cause chloride redistribution on the surface of concrete. With the drying time gradually extended, moisture on the surface of concrete gradually evaporates into the air but chloride did not evaporate with water into the air, which led a small amount of chloride particles to accumulate on the surface, increasing the concentration of chloride ions on the surface. However, these chloride particles quickly dissolve in water during the wetting process, so the diffusion rate of chloride ions in concrete will not increase. It also can be seen from the results that the concentration of chloride ions was increased with time going on. The longer the concrete soaked in the chloride solution, the more the chloride ions entering the concrete. The application of dynamic flexural loading on the concrete leads the crack growing up. As the stress level increases, the crack propagation deepens which leads to the chloride ions entering concrete deeply. The cracks crack more with dynamic flexural loading time increasing, so the chloride ions entered concrete fast.
Figure 5: Distribution of chloride ions concentration in concrete under dynamic flexural loading and dry-wet cycle.
7. Conclusions
The main objective of this study was to establish the transport model of chloride ions under the combined action of dynamic flexural loading and dry-wet cycles. Laboratory tests were conducted to verify the rationality of the model. Based on the findings of the study, the following conclusions can be drawn.
The concrete was divided into two parts: matrix and crack. Diffusion coefficient of chloride ions was characterized by initial crack area of the concrete. The damage of concrete is assumed to be the initial crack propagation. The calculation model of cumulative fatigue damage and chloride diffusion coefficient of concrete was established. The influence of dynamic flexural loading on the diffusion coefficient of chloride ions was established by introducing the stress level and the load frequency into the chloride diffusion coefficient.
Based on Fick’s second law, the transmission model of chloride ions in unsaturated concrete under dynamic flexural loading was established.
The influence of concrete age, saturation, and ambient temperature on the transport of chloride ions and water in concrete and the adsorption effect of chloride ions were taken into consideration to establish the convection-diffusion model of chloride ions in concrete under dry-wet cycles. The iteration and chasing methods were used to solve the model with MATLAB programming. The results of the model are in good agreement with the experimental results.
Conflicts of Interest
There are not any conflicts of interest related to this paper.
Acknowledgments
The authors wish to thank the National Key R&D Program of China (2017YFB0309903), the Qinghai Provincial Natural Science Foundation (2017-ZJ-764 and 2017-ZJ-763), Traffic Construction Project of Science and Technology of Shaanxi Province (16-16K), Traffic Construction Project of Science and Technology of Qinghai Province (2013-04), National Natural Science Foundation of China (51308062 and 51608046), and the Special Fund for Scientific Research of Central Colleges, Chang’an University (nos. 310831172201 and 310831163501).
1School of Materials Science & Engineering, Chang’an University, Xi’an, Shaanxi 710061, China
2School of Transportation, Southeast University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210096, China
3Qinghai Research Institute of Transportation, Qinghai 810008, China
Received 23 August 2017; Revised 5 November 2017; Accepted 28 November 2017; Published 24 December 2017
Copyright © 2017 Bo-wen Guan et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Source
http://www.hindawi.com/journals/mpe/2017/5760512/
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Scottish transport giant knocks back United States takeover method
The declaration came after the FirstGroup share cost rose more than seven percent in trading on the London market today. The stock closed up 7p at 101.8 p.
In a declaration launched after the market closed, the business said: "The board of FirstGroup has actually considered the proposal in detail and believes that it fundamentally undervalues the business and is opportunistic in nature. Accordingly, the board of FirstGroup has all declined the proposal."
No details was supplied on the worth of the Apollo method. Based on its share cost at the close of trading tonight, FirstGroup has a market worth of around ₤ 1.2 billion.
Under takeover guidelines, Apollo has until 5pm on May 9 to make an offer for the company or stroll away for at least six months.
FirstGroup, which runs First Bus in Scotland and the Greyhound coach service in the United States, added:" There can be no certainty that any firm offer will be made nor regarding the terms on which any offer may be made. A more statement will be made in due course if when proper."
The proposition for FirstGroup originated from Apollo Management IX LP, a department of Apollo Global Management which at December 27 had overall possessions under management of around $249 billion, according to its site.
Apollo explains itself on its site as "contrarian, value-oriented investors in personal equity, credit and real properties, with substantial distressed knowledge."
It adds: "We run our service in an integrated manner which our company believe distinguishes us from other alternative investment supervisors."
FIRSTGROUP, the Aberdeen - based bus and rail giant, has actually rebuffed a takeover method from a significant United States investment firm.
The transport giant, which runs bus and rail services in the UK and The United States and Canada, validated to the stock exchange that it had actually received a "preliminary and extremely conditional indicative" proposition from Apollo Global Management connecting to a possible money offer for the business.
Source
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/16152811.Scottish_transport_giant_knocks_back_US_takeover_approach/
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Friday 22 June 2018
Thursday 21 June 2018
Wednesday 20 June 2018
How to prevent getting bacteria when on public transportation
Travelling can be a problem for all sorts of factor, delays, expense, but exactly what do you do when all your fellow commuters are coughing all over you?
Individuals can be quite grim, they sneeze and cough everywhere when on public transport without taking others into account, however there are methods to stop these spreading out further.
The University of Nottingham conducted a research study that discovered you are six times more most likely to end up at the doctors with an acute rhinitis if you have just recently used public transportation.
The research found that the link in between public transport and becoming unhealthy is potentially important when it concerns upsurges.
Patient.info has actually offered this guidance:
If someone near you coughs or sneezes near to you, attempt not to breath in for a couple of seconds. Research study has found that a person sneeze could contaminate approximately 150 commuters within five minutes.
Take your vitamins and eat healthy - If you are in shape and well then you are less most likely to become unhealthy. It is the exact same with sleep and typically staying fit.
Handles, buttons and hand rails are key places for cold viruses and depending for how long the infection has actually been on the surface area depends how it will impact the person who catches it. Touching your eyes or nose are the fastest method to capture a virus.
If you see somebody weak and touching a surface, don't touch it.
Be conscious of escalator handrails, ticket machines, maps, etc too, not just the hand rails on the bus or Tube.
Scientists have likewise shown that face masks are ineffective on public transportation.
Carry antiseptic wipes with you and wash your hands if you feel you have remained in a location that is particularly unclean.
If you are prone to catching viruses then you could consider getting a flu-jab to prevent contaminating others.
Source
http://newsshopper.co.uk/news/16199565.Coughing_and_spluttering_on_public_transport_-_how_to_avoid_catching_the_bug/
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Tuesday 19 June 2018
Transportation chiefs pledge to get rid of Queensferry Crossing lines
TRANSPORT bosses are ready to take additional steps to enhance traffic flow on the techniques to the Queensferry Crossing if the increased 70mph speed limit fails to figure out congestion.Edinburgh Western Liberal Democrat MSP Alex Cole-Hamilton states Transportation Scotland acknowledges there are issues about motorists being slowed down by the roadway layout as they head for the new ₤ 1.35 billion bridge.And after satisfying them for talks, he stated they were currently preparing
some improvements.It was struck by long queues when it opened in September and Mr Cole-Hamilton confesses traffic is still being decreased at the point where the A90 from Edinburgh joins the M90 moving towards the new Queensferry roundabout before the bridge.He said:"Till recently a lot of the attention has focused on the 'snagging'problems and generating the 70mph limit, however there are considerable
concerns popular to people who live near the crossing or use it frequently not yet resolved." He said meeting with Transport Scotland was constructive, including:" They recognise the Queensferry junction just prior to the bridge is triggering tailbacks at the A904. They want to see exactly what occurs with the speed limit at 70mph, which may ease the pressure on that roundabout. If it continues they are ready to think about a box junction, where the road is marked with a yellow grid which drivers can enter just if the exit is clear."He said they also acknowledged the problem of combining traffic bringing down the ambient speed of traffic on the main drag and technology due to be brought into operation in January
ought to assist reduce that.A system called" ramp metering "uses detectors under the road which will immediately activate traffic control to the bottom of the slip roadways on the instant method to the bridge.
The same technology will be used to assist manage the Intelligent Transport System(ITS )on the M90, spotting boosts in traffic circulations and changing the variable necessary speed limits on the overhead ITS gantries to assist traffic circulation and improve safety.Mr Cole-Hamilton also voiced issue about access in and out of South Queensferry now the old Echline roundabout is not available. He said:" You can go through Dalmeny, but that is putting a large number of cars on to roads not developed to support that volume of traffic. "He stated Transport Scotland had actually acknowledged there was "excessive pressure"on the roads however discussed the roundabout might not be reopened due to the fact that it was now the gateway to the general public transportation passage over the old Forth Roadway Bridge, Grant Sangster, transport convener for Queensferry and District Community Council, said there had been a lot of congestion when the bridge first opened however the situation seemed to have enhanced."A Transport Scotland spokesperson said:"We invited the conference Mr Cole-Hamilton to go over concerns raised by local residents."We are keeping the efficiency of the whole plan and surrounding roadways under evaluation and can consider any proper changes provided they are safe, practical and in keeping with the original goals of the job."
Source
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Negotiations.
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Birthplace of Jesus: Church of the Nativity and the Pilgrimage Route, Bethlehem
Overview From the World Heritage inscription: Bethlehem lies 10 kilometers south of the city of Jerusalem, in the fertile limestone hill country of the Holy Land. Since at least the 2nd century AD people have believed that the place where the Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem, now stands is where Jesus was born. One particular …
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Monday 18 June 2018
Sunday 17 June 2018
London one of worst capitals in Europe for tidy, safe transportation, study shows
followed by Amsterdam, Oslo and Zurich. London comes third from bottom, performing much better than Rome and Moscow but worse than lots of other leading European cities consisting of Madrid, Paris and Berlin.Paul Morozzo, from Greenpeace which commissioned ecological experts at the Wuppertal Institute in Germany to bring out the study, said: "London has a reputation as a fast-moving city, but its efforts to improve clean, safe and economical transport are trundling behind other EU capitals. [London mayor] Sadiq Khan has revealed genuine dedication in dealing with air pollution-- now more has to be done to make cycling safer and public transportation better and less expensive."
The study evaluated a variety of elements-- from the share of the population walking, cycling and utilizing public transport to road safety for cyclists and pedestrians in addition to air contamination.
London scored well on "movement management"-- consisting of cars and truck sharing, low-emission zones and a public transportation phone app-- but badly on roadway security. The analysis found the UK capital was the second most unsafe city to stroll or cycle in, with 251 mishaps per 10,000 bike trips, against 113 in Paris and just 14 in Madrid.Copenhagen came initially in
roadway safety, second in air quality behind Oslo and initially in movement management. London transportation compared with other cities Click the headings to see where London ranks. Recently it emerged that London mayor, Sadiq Khan, is considering presenting car-free days in the capital and will set out prepare for the ultra low emissions zone to charge the most contaminating cars imminently. However he has actually been criticised for pressing ahead with the new ₤ 1bn Silvertown tunnel under the Thames which critics say will increase air pollution.The research study said it ranked cities on offered information and did not take"innovative policies "or the" commitment of city leadership" into account.Shirley Rodrigues, London's deputy mayor for environment and energy, said Khan was"presenting a few of the most ambitious steps of any major city worldwide."" However the mayor cannot tackle this alone. The federal government has to show some genuine aspiration. They need to freeze the fares they manage, lift the ban on London accessing the national clean air fund, and provide City Hall the powers to tackle other sources of air pollution."The UK federal government has been commonly criticised for failing to act decisively on air
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Schools are economic powerhouses.
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Why a Hawaiian Volcano Is Sprouting Golden 'Goddess Hair'
Hawaii's Big Island recently got a little bit hairier. Golden filaments resembling human hair measuring up to two feet in length are draped across parts of the island—an unusual effect of the ongoing eruption from Kīlauea volcano. These strands may look like biological matter, but they're actually made of glass. Known as Pele's hair, or goddess hair, the fibers are produced when gas bubbles within lava burst at its surface, reports Live Science.
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Saturday 16 June 2018
Uber intends to butter up Brit transport chiefs with lots of beautiful data - The Register
Much reviled not-a-taxi biz Uber has vowed to hand over travel information to Carry for London.In a quote to flatter the regulator that is currently considering whether to restore its licence in the UK's capital, Uber has today released laxative-sounding Uber Motion "tool" in the capital.The move follows a
missive from TfL last month that -along with setting out guideline for private-hire companies that wish to operate in the city - recommended they should also share their data.This is essential for the body due to the fact that it is under pressure to reduce traffic in the centre and improve air quality throughout the city, however Uber and others comprise a portion of movement that they can't track.Uber stated it
was opening up the data based upon "feedback" from the cities it runs in, however it becomes part of significant efforts to rebrand the biz after the mass information breach and issues over traveler safety. The biz likewise today altered the app so passengers are informed that Uber London is the operator which their chauffeur is accredited by TfL.The Movement tool assures to slurp up data from journeys and is pitched as a method "to assist urban planners deciding about their city".
"Our tool likewise permits people to see how journey times in various parts of the city are impacted by things like significant occasions, road closures or facilities investment," Fred Jones, Uber's head of UK cities stated. To show its usage, Uber looked at how the closure of Tower Bridge for upkeep between October and December 2016 affected traffic circulations around the city.For circumstances,
Uber's appeal versus TfL's September choice not to reinstate its licence is due to begin on April 30.
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Uber intends to butter up Brit transport chiefs with great deals of lovely information - The Register
Much reviled not-a-taxi biz Uber has vowed to hand over travel data to Transport for London.In a quote to flatter the regulator that is presently considering whether to renew its licence in the UK's capital, Uber has today introduced laxative-sounding Uber Motion "tool" in the capital.The move follows a
missive from TfL last month that -as well as setting out ground rules for private-hire firms that desire to operate in the city - recommended they must likewise share their data.This is important for the body since it is under pressure to reduce traffic in the centre and improve air quality across the city, however Uber and others make up a piece of motion that they cannot track.Uber stated it
was opening up the information based upon "feedback" from the cities it operates in, but it belongs to significant efforts to rebrand the biz after the mass data breach and concerns over traveler security. The biz also today altered the app so travelers are informed that Uber London is the operator which their motorist is certified by TfL.The Motion tool promises to slurp up data from journeys and is pitched as a way "to assist metropolitan organizers deciding about their city".
"Our tool also enables people to see how journey times in various parts of the city are affected by things like major events, road closures or infrastructure investment," Fred Jones, Uber's head of UK cities said. To show its use, Uber looked at how the closure of Tower Bridge for upkeep between October and December 2016 impacted traffic flows around the city.For instance,
Uber's appeal versus TfL's September choice not to restore its licence is because of start on April 30.
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Friday 15 June 2018
MULTIMODAL 2018 The UK and Ireland's leading logistics and transport show
Multimodal 2018, the UK and Ireland's leading logistics and transportation program, is tailoring up to be the most significant and most effective in case's 11-year history, with a record-breaking crowd of more than 10,000 supply chain executives anticipated at the freeto- attend program.
Three days of networking, new service chances, and panel disputes take place at the NEC Birmingham from 1st-- 3rd May 2018, and The UK Warehousing Association (UKWA) has once again partnered with Multimodal to deliver a series of interactive and topical seminars and workshops at the event.Also hosting are
the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport(CILT), and the Freight Transportation Association(FTA ). The UKWA is hosting the Awdry Space on Tuesday 1st May, and Chief Executive Officer (CEO)Peter Ward will be leading a series of discussions on the warehouses of the future, altering patterns of global trade, and the blurring lines in between retail and logistics.The future of warehousing will be debated in a session signed up with by Kevin Mofid, Director of Research Study at Savills, and Tim Ward, Handling Director at Chetwoods, who will each offer an insight into what will drive the area and design of warehouses moving forward. John Munnelly, Head of Operations at John Lewis, and Lucas Dawe, Commercial Director at Gist will sign up with Peter to discuss whether Amazon and Alibaba are merchants, technology companies, or logistics providers.By looking at the increasingly blurred lines and the opportunities for 3rd party logistics
suppliers the panel will discuss who the enablers of dexterity and versatility are in the quest for closer distance to the customer."With disruptive new technologies impacting the traditional supply chain model, it is now more crucial than ever to pay attention to and gain from the specialists, "said Robert Jervis, Logistics Portfolio Director, Clarion Events." We will offer an unique platform for industry leaders to share insight and
understanding and learn new ways to run slicker supply chains at this vital time of change." Exhibitors consisting of Associated British Ports, Heathrow Airport, Kuehne+Nagel, Maritime Transportation, and Mediterranean Shipping Business(MSC) are currently confirmed to appear at the show.Now in their 4th year, the FTA Multimodal Awards reward best-in-class throughout air, roadway, rail, and maritime services, in addition to a young logistics professional, environmental best practice, and a new classification for shipper of the year.Entries are now closed, and you can position your vote in each category by going to awards.multimodal.org.uk/ awards-voteenter.
The winners will be revealed at a gala dinner on First May 2018 at the VOX in Birmingham, at the close of the very first day of Multimodal 2018, where visitors will commemorate with a three-course dinner and special home entertainment on the night.Hosted by Welsh international rugby union referee Nigel Owens MBE, over 800 visitors are anticipated to attend the Awards evening in Birmingham.
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Thursday 14 June 2018
Wednesday 13 June 2018
Driving transport innovation: is the UK lagging behind?
Anomalously low figures for UK patent applications in the transportation sector are a signal of cause for issue, writes Ed Round.
Transportation has traditionally been one of the UK's leading sectors for filing patent applications, inning accordance with the European Patent Office's (EPO) rolling log of patents submitted and granted. The most recent statistical release from the EPO however, taking a look at patent filing data from 2017, reveals that transportation is not the UK's top filing sector, with more patents applications from the UK submitted in the medtech category in 2017.
< img src =https://s3-eu-central-1.amazonaws.com/centaur-wp/theengineer/prod/content/uploads/2014/10/02161400/automotive-line.jpg alt= transport width=448 height=336 > A total of 8217 patent applications were filed at the EPO in the transportation category in 2017, down from 8577 in the previous year so the decline in UK transportation filing is in line with EPO filing as a whole. With the HS2 job about to begin in earnest, and other major facilities and transportation jobs such as Crossrail now well advanced, these figures might seem counterintuitive.Is the UK's transport sector really ending up being less innovative?The picture is more complex than a straight reading of the figures would recommend. The modest decrease in transportation patent applications in the UK and the EPO as a whole must be seen within the context of an upward trend in transport sector figures over the last decade equivalent to approximately 2 percent each year. They should also be seen within the context of an abnormally big boost in application filing between 2015 and 2016, which would have been unrealistic to expect to continue.Despite the decrease we have actually seen this year, the pattern is still towards a gradual increase in patent application filings in the transport sector. While the picture is a complicated one, this would indicate that innovation in the transport sector continues apace.There are several other issues which may be impacting the number of filings coming out of the transport sector.
As the race to provide practical driverless cars and trucks continues, and with technology making vehicles-- as with everything else-- ever smarter, increasing volumes of the patentable technology entering into next generation transport jobs may not fall under conventional'transport' filing categories. Sophisticated on-board innovation, sensing units for safer driving and the intricate algorithms that underpin self-driving lorries, will all be filed under categories more related to software application and computing than engines and drivetrains. Machine learning too is a technology with significantly broad applications in whatever from traffic coordination to rail and air traffic control service and again is something that will not be captured in the'transport'category at the EPO.As such, a lot of the patent application filing being done by innovators in the transportation sector is not reflected in the figures as they are presently compiled.While the dip in transport patent applications is far from indicative of a sector that isn't purchasing the future, there are things to think about, specifically with regard to applications from the UK. While the pattern in the UK approximately follows that of the EPO as a whole, if we take a look at varieties of patent applications submitted in any given year, the UK lags far behind some of our closest competition, such as France and Germany. For the UK's 322 patent applications in the transportation classification in 2017, France got an overall of 1044 while Germany made an application for 1877, almost six times more than the UK!While the UK prides itself on innovation, particularly in state-of-the-art areas such as transport control and information processing, this innovation is not always being caught in patent applications currently.With competition to deliver the next generation of tech-enabled transport growing ever more fierce, the UK's patent application filing figures relative to those of rivals like France and Germany could be represented by businesses choosing care by safeguarding development by means of trade secrets, instead of through patents. The danger with this technique is that a disruptive brand-new entrant to the market opts to file the patents initially, hence pulling the carpet from under the more established companies.While patent application filing figures need to be taken with a pinch of salt, and using at the EPO is just one route for securing IP among a number of, it is reasonable to include them in the range of analytical steps readily available to business strategists. Anomalously low application filing figures, such as those from the UK, must be seen as part of the total
image. While it would be unwise to base choices just on this set of information, it would also be imprudent to disregard them. In transportation as in other industries, copyright accounts for a huge amount of the worth in a service, so protecting it is vital.Ed Round is a Chartered( UK)and European Patent Attorney at Marks & Clerk The post Driving transportation development: is the UK lagging behind? appeared initially on The Engineer.
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Coco de Mer
The seed of the Coco de Mer is the largest in the world. Each one weighs about the same as three bowling balls. When foragers harvest the fruit early—while the seed is still forming—it contains a milky jelly that tastes like a sweet, slightly citrusy coconut with the texture of soft Turkish delight. And yet, for something so delicious, only a handful of people have ever eaten it.
Coco de Mer palms are incredibly rare, growing naturally on just two islands in the Seychelles, an archipelago off the coast of East Africa. The government strictly monitors these trees, which the IUCN classifies as endangered. People with a Coco de Mer palm growing on their land must follow rules: the seeds may be given as gifts, traded, or eaten, but money cannot be exchanged.
The few shops that are licensed to sell the seeds receive just a limited quantity. Even then, they're not sold as food—they're decoration. Vendors saw the seeds in half, hollow them out, and glue the husks back together. Why are the seeds a popular ornament? They have a distinctly suggestive shape, bearing a striking resemblance to buttocks on one side and female genitalia on the other, even down to a tuft of hair in the expected place. (It is hardly surprising that some people consider them a powerful aphrodisiac.)
In 2014, the Seychelles island of Praslin held its first culinary and arts festival, with the Coco de Mer taking center stage. Chefs mixed it into ice cream, bread, mousse, and other treats. The use of this rare ingredient attracted both Seychelles residents and visitors from all over the world. Though there was another festival in 2015, the Coco de Mer was not advertised as part of the menu. It may be a long time before the world has another opportunity to taste the forbidden fruit.
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Yelling is bad public relations strategy.
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Tuesday 12 June 2018
Yelling is bad public relations strategy.
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Why Is It So Hard to Paint Lightning?
William Nicholson Jennings, of Philadelphia, spent most of his days photographing wrecked or damaged infrastructure for the Pennsylvania Railroad. When it got dark and stormy, though, he pointed his camera up and tried to record bolts of lightning as they crackled across the sky.
What the 19th-century commercial photographer saw up there didn’t look like what he remembered from paintings or stage sets, where lightning was usually depicted as a series of a few sharp, jagged spears. Up there, on the bigger canvas of the sky, Jennings saw something much more complicated, and he wanted to capture it.
More than a century after Jennings raised questions about the fidelity of artistic depictions of lightning, a team of researchers from the Environmental Optics Laboratory at Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest set out to answer it.
The researchers used software to compare 400 photographs of lightning storms to 100 paintings with lightning in them, made between 1500 and 2015. They found some consistent differences, which they describe in a new paper in the Proceedings of the Royal Society A. Compared to real bolts, painted lightning tends to have fewer branches—no more than 11, the authors found, while the photographs depict as many as 51.
To venture a guess about why these differences might have emerged, the researchers also brought some humans into the lab and flashed images of lightning in front of them for a second or less. The subjects had to guess how many branches the lightning had, and the researchers found that they were only able to reliably do so when there were no more than 11 branches. It seems painters were representing what they had the capacity to perceive with the naked eye.
It is easy to paint lightning, it is just hard to paint it right. Photographing it would provide an accurate representation, but it was difficult to do—especially in the days of bulky cameras and long, long exposures. Jennings was determined to do it. He clambered up to his roof whenever a storm blew in, and in 1882, he finally got it: a photograph of lightning tracing a ragged path across the sky, branching like a root system. (In an even earlier daguerrotype, taken by Thomas Martin Easterly in St. Louis in 1847, the bolt looks like a river winding across a map.) Jennings’s work was later published in Scientific American and in the U.S. Weather Bureau’s monthly bulletin. And in the years since—and especially since 2000, the Eötvös Loránd team found—artists have been depicting lightning with more faithfulness to the real, wondrous thing. Because, it stands to reason, they'd seen it frozen in a photograph.
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