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Secret Of Marble Formation in Mother Earth |
Geschrieben von: aop22sd - 30.03.2022, 02:06 - Forum: News
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Secret Of Marble Formation in Mother Earth
Marble is one of the greatest gifts of nature. Inimitably precious and irresistibly intriguing, marble is perceived as the most precious material that fascinates with its distinctive characteristics, colors, patterns, texture and finesse. The formation of marble involves a series of complex strides and processes. It begins at the deepest quarters and crust of our planet Earth and ends with the execution of remarkable interior designs and décor concepts. From extraction to installation, turning raw marble into a masterpiece requires rigorous contemplation.
Admired and revered for its brilliant aesthetics and supreme grandeur, the marble formation begins with the phenomena within the crust entailing the fusion of various elements, energies and forces.
To enlighten you about the complexities, intricacies and practices from creation to finalization of marble into a stunning masterpiece, we bring to you a short sequential guide illustrating the entire process.
How Marble is Formed?
The formation occurs due to a reaction when limestone is subjected to intensive heat and pressure. The composition of marble consists of various minerals such as clay minerals, quartz, pyrite, micas, iron oxides and graphite, etc. but primarily the calcite. The phenomena of metamorphism involves recrystallization of calcite in the limestone leading to formation of rock that is a result of collective amalgamation of calcite crystals.
Extraction of Marble
Extraction process of marble is executed at the quarries in the rocky mountains. To perform efficient sourcing and carriage operations, professionals with tremendous expertise and highly sophisticated equipment are deployed. The pre-extraction arrangements also includes preparation for safety and preservation.
Extraction of Marble
Extraction process of marble is executed at the quarries in the rocky mountains. To perform efficient sourcing and carriage operations, professionals with tremendous expertise and highly sophisticated equipment are deployed. The pre-extraction arrangements also includes preparation for safety and preservation.
Pre-dispatch Procedures
The vehicles with huge loading capacity are used for transportation of the material in large quantities to specific facilities depending upon the requirement for treatment or transformation into sheets.
The marble turned into slabs or sheets are further examined thoroughly for initiation of other imperative procedures like finishing, polishing and plastering for finalization of the same into an end deliverable. After detailed scrutiny and assessment, China marble is ready to be supplied to the market for selling.
WHITE MARBLE
White Marble represents purity and peace.
Many architects use white marble, either for cladding or flooring, in order to bring spaciousness and luminosity to a room. Another of the qualities of white is that it is timeless and therefore, always in fashion.
When it comes to matching, that is going to be easy. It works well with neutral tones (creams, blacks or greys), while combining it with other more eye-catching colours, such as red or green, makes it possible to soften ambiences.
The shades of White Marble are innumerable. We can find whites with streaks, very clean whites or more greyish. It is nature that provides its exclusive touch to each one of them.
Grey Marble Attributions to Architecture and Design
Grey marble attributions to architecture and design are to be discussed here.
Grey Marble Represents Depth
Pietra Grey Marble due to its ash tone creates depth. As grey comes in shades from near white all the way to dark charcoal, it’s easy to use it to create light and shadows. Subtle variation of the same color can add character and take a plain room to a multi-dimensional one, creating recesses and reliefs where there are none.
Grey Marble Represents Elegance
Pietra Grey Marble has an elegant toner. Grey can make almost any color smokier when blended in. Some examples are grey-blue, grey-green, or even dusky pinks and browns, such as clay-beige. In addition, it also marbles nicely with other neutrals to create complexity and tone down the harshness of a single color on its own.
Grey Marble Represents Formality
Grey is formal. We’ve mentioned that Pietra Grey is sophisticated and elegant. It is also a traditionally formal, conservative color. This may be why we often see grey as a popular choice for uniforms as well as for suits and wedding tuxedos. These suits represent balance, steadfastness, and dependability. While grey can also be whimsical when offset with vivid colors, grey’s cool elegance when coupled with silver and wood is the perfect marriage for your formal rooms.
Why beige marble is preferred in home flooring ?
We have all seen movies that exhibit luxury-defining grandeur in the interiors. There have been specific moments when the want to own a home that whispers our taste of opulence. Be it Baroque, Victorian, Neoclassical or the modern alternative, Minimalist styled interiors, when it comes to show-casing life king size, the shades and hues of beige take the front row. The colour beige brings out the perfect elegance that you desire of your interior and enhances interiors in ways other colours can only gawk in awe at.
The greatest architects and interior designers of our time have long since known the class that beige holds in itself and the rich excellence it generates when used intelligently. You can openly declare your love for beige as does the royal chateau of Palace of Versailles in France or you can use the subtle beige accents like the Belgium suite of Buckingham Palace in United Kingdom.
Wherever your interior inspiration spring from, be it movies, or a Broadway adaptation of a play, or your ambitious imagination while reading a book, or from the glazing leaflets of a designing magazine, beige marble in the interiors is all your ideas and prayers answered. When it comes to floorings, beige marble has proven itself to be the archetype of excellence and perfection.
Interiors So Lit!
Beige coloured floorings look demure. They reflect the light that falls on their gleaming surface with soft scattering-like effect that makes it amazingly easy on the eyes and essentially visually appealing. The aesthetics are an important part of interiors. They make your soul sing with adoration when you gaze upon a beautifully decorated home.
But, Oh! The Contrast!
Imagine magenta against beige, or textures of mahogany… envision pink flowers and violet drapes… visualise velvet green upholstered ottoman in front of a rocking chair in your favourite reading nook…
The point behind this imaginative mental exercise is that beige provides the best contrast there is. The regal front that it fosters is just a natural property of beige. Your furniture look outstanding, decorative objects and showpieces attain the right amount focus, and soft lights create a peaceful overall ambience.
You’ve Got It, You Flaunt It!
For people who love the modern styles of interior decoration, the clean and crisp styles with no over dose of gilded golden glitter scattered around in distracting fashion, like the contemporary and minimalist, beige floorings are perfect too. Flaunt the beauty of your home, you don’t need a rug for covering up floors that sparkle with magnificence.
Interiors So Lit!
Beige coloured floorings look demure. They reflect the light that falls on their gleaming surface with soft scattering-like effect that makes it amazingly easy on the eyes and essentially visually appealing. The aesthetics are an important part of interiors. They make your soul sing with adoration when you gaze upon a beautifully decorated home.
But, Oh! The Contrast!
Imagine magenta against beige, or textures of mahogany… envision pink flowers and violet drapes… visualise velvet green upholstered ottoman in front of a rocking chair in your favourite reading nook…
The point behind this imaginative mental exercise is that beige provides the best contrast there is. The regal front that it fosters is just a natural property of beige. Your furniture look outstanding, decorative objects and showpieces attain the right amount focus, and soft lights create a peaceful overall ambience.
You’ve Got It, You Flaunt It!
For people who love the modern styles of interior decoration, the clean and crisp styles with no over dose of gilded golden glitter scattered around in distracting fashion, like the contemporary and minimalist, beige floorings are perfect too. Flaunt the beauty of your home, you don’t need a rug for covering up floors that sparkle with magnificence.
Granite stone is often used in buildings, bridges, paving, monuments, countertops, tile floors, stair treads and many other design elements.The word granite has been derived from the Latin word ‘granum’ meaning grain. Granite is an intrusive, igneous rock with a granular and phaneritic texture, occupying 70-80% of the Earth’s crust. It is plutonic in origin, implying that it was formed deep underground. This rock is primarily composed of interlocking crystals of alkali feldspar (65% by volume), quartz (20% by volume), mica, amphiboles and other minerals. Depending on the mineral composition, the colour of granite can be red, pink, grey or white with dark mineral grains visible to the unaided eye. Granite is a hard and tough rock with an average density between 2.65 and 2.75 g/cm.
Location
It is found in abundance in all continents as part of the continental crust. This rock is found either in small, stock like masses spread over an area less than 100 km2 or as batholiths which are part of orogenic mountain ranges. Granite usually forms the base underground rock with other continental and sedimentary rocks resting over it. Granite also occurs in lacoliths, dikes and sills. Other rock variations, similar in composition to granite, are alpites and pegmatites. Alpites with finer grain size than granite, occur at the margins of granitic intrusions. Pegmatites with coarser grains than granite often share locations with granite deposits.
Formation
There are several controversial theories regarding the origin of granite. The most widely propagated ones are the magmatic theory and the hypermetamorphic theory. According to the magmatic theory, plutonic rocks like granite, which are often found associated with mountain ranges, originated from magma. It is believed that during the formation of mountains, when one continental edge subdues another one below it, the pressure and frictional forces generated by this phenomenon is sufficient to melt the rocks underneath the subdued continental edge. This melted rock or magma seeps up in the form of large globules or plutons. It takes an extremely long time for the plutons to arrive at the surface of the earth and to be converted into a surface rock, the pluton must be eroded by the weathering forces acting on the ground. This could be one of the processes by which granite formation takes place. The hypermetamorphic theory, however, disregards the magmatic theory and instead propagates that granite is the result of melting and re-crystallization of sedimentary rock instead of magma. However, as of yet, the precise method of granite formation, is still under research till a conclusive proof of formation of this rock is attained.
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The Benefits of Free Weights for your Training Routine |
Geschrieben von: aop22sd - 30.03.2022, 02:05 - Forum: News
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The Benefits of Free Weights for your Training Routine
When it comes to working out, there are so many tools, machines, and techniques. How do you know which one is best for you? The answer isn’t so simple since each one has their own unique advantages. However, fitness and health expert Emily Schromm shares some benefits of free weight training to help navigate the world of free weights vs machines.
Benefits of Free Weights
Decrease Imbalances- Using weight machines or barbells can lead to strength differences in each side of our body. When using these methods, it’s common for one side of the body to become more dominant and take on more of the work in an exercise. Free weight exercises allow us to load each side of our body equally, which prevents muscle strength imbalances. Often times, we don’t realize that strength imbalances are there until we incorporate free weights.
Strength Gains- Utilizing free weights to decrease imbalances will allow our weaker side to get stronger. Beyond that, free weight exercises require more control and balance. This means that more muscles are recruited to stabilize the weight which ultimately leads to more gains.
Injury Prevention- Free weight exercises are great at strengthening the body’s stabilizing muscles. These muscles play an important role in keeping your joints in place as well as supporting your body, so keeping them strong is a great way to prevent injuries.
Promotes Functional Fitness- The term functional fitness refers to exercises that have applications for everyday life activities. For example, doing exercises where you lift weights off the ground trains your body for similar movements. Performing activities like picking up a laundry basket or child becomes easier because your body is conditioned for it. Free weight exercises tend to have more real-life applications. Outside of the gym, most of the weight we lift is “free”, meaning our body needs to have strong stabilizing muscles to support the activity.
Free Weight Exercises
Free weights are ideal for working slow, controlled movements. Emily Schromm suggests incorporating exercises like dumbbell snatches, Turkish get ups, and windmills to get some of the benefits of free weights. Don’t stop there, free weights can be used to target any muscle group you want to work.
Free Weights vs Machines
Both free weight exercises and machines have their pros and cons. Weight machines can be useful for beginners for teaching proper form. Plus, weight machines can allow for higher weight volumes to be achieved. With any training routine, it’s about balance. You don’t need to go all in with free weights to take advantage of the benefits, just try incorporating some free weight training to your routine!
5 Benefits of Dumbbell Training
Most health clubs and gyms offer rows of cardio equipment, aisles of weight-training machines, stacks of free weights and specific stretch areas to help members pursue their individual goals. When it comes to fitness equipment, there is no one “best” piece of equipment. Different types of equipment are purposefully designed to achieve specific fitness outcomes.
For those with goals related to strength training, there are countless options for increasing lean muscle or adding strength. Choices include the traditional weight machines, barbells or dumbbells, as well as a wide variety of specialized equipment such as kettlebells, medicine balls, sandbags and even oversized tires. Some forms of resistance training equipment, such as barbells, are more effective for developing max strength, while weight-training machines can help increase muscle definition and lighter forms of resistance such as medicine balls and kettlebells can be useful for improving movement-specific power output. Dumbbells are often used for joint-isolation exercises such as biceps curls, chest flyes or shoulder raises. Using dumbbells for full-body, multiplanar movements, however, can provide a variety of different strength outcomes. It also offers many benefits for cardiorespiratory fitness and flexibility. To help you select the best equipment for your needs, here are five benefits of dumbbells:
Dumbbells can provide the two types of overload that lead to muscle growth: mechanic and metabolic. Mechanic overload is the result of damaged caused by muscle contractions, which stimulates the repair process and leads to an increase in muscle size. Metabolic overload occurs when a muscle is worked to fatigue, which leads to the adaptation of muscle cells being able to store more glycogen which can cause muscles to increase in size. Heavy dumbbells can generate mechanical overload, while moderate-weight dumbbells combined with high reps (to fatigue) can produce metabolic overload.
Dumbbell exercises can create both inter- and intramuscular coordination, leading to greater levels of muscle activation. Intermuscular coordination is the ability of a number of different muscles to work together to produce and stabilize joint motion. Intramuscular coordination is the amount of muscle motor units and their attached muscle fibers that are activated within a specific muscle. Using lighter dumbbells for compound, multijoint or multiplanar movement patterns improves coordination between different body segments. Using heavier dumbbells can increase the number of muscle fibers activated within a specific muscle.
Dumbbells can benefit both the contractile element and elastic component of muscle tissue. The contractile element is the specific actin-myosin muscle proteins responsible for sliding across one another to create concentric shortening actions or control eccentric lengthening. The elastic component is the fascia and connective tissue that attaches each individual muscle fiber and groups of fibers to one another. The elastic component stores mechanic energy as it is lengthened, which is then released during a rapid muscle-shortening action. Traditional exercises with heavy dumbbells can increase the force production capacity of the contractile element, while multiplanar movement patterns with light dumbbells can enhance the resiliency and strength of the elastic component.
Dumbbells can be used for a variety of exercises. Machines allow one motion in one specific movement pattern to place load on one muscle or muscle group. Due to their length, standard barbells are best used for compound movements in one specific plane of motion. Due to their size and the fact they can be held in each hand, dumbbells can be used to create a variety of different movement patterns to develop task- or movement-specific strength.
Dumbbells allow the user to focus on one arm or leg at a time, which is one way to initiate strength gains by using a heavy overload. A single dumbbell can be used for exercises such as a one-arm overhead press or a split-leg goblet squat to create overload in one limb at a time.
Weight plates make a great replacement for dumbbells and kettlebells, but using one also comes with a unique benefit: It improves grip strength because of the way you have to hold the plate (on the edges, with all fingers actively engaged) and core stability because of its positioning (typically in front of your chest). Plus, they can double as raised platforms for push-ups.
Case in muscle-building point: the total-body routine below, designed by says Eric Quarshie, a Tier 3 trainer at Equinox Yorkville in Toronto, Canada. “Together, these exercises work all of the body’s basic movement patterns and major muscle groups while also honing in on the stabilizer muscles, especially those of the core that also allow for rotation,” he says. Rotational power is critical to sports performance—whether you’re running, lifting, climbing, or performing martial arts.
The workout contains two four-move circuits. Perform 12 to 15 reps (per side, when applicable) of the first four exercises back to back. Rest for 30 seconds to 1 minute, then repeat for a total of 4 rounds. Follow the same format with the last four exercises. Do this workout at least three times per week for optimal results. Or, whenever the gym’s packed and you don’t have time to wait for the dumbbells and squat rack to free up.
There are a number of terrible reasons to love bumper plates. They are rubbery, bouncy and don’t smell like rust. They take up tons of room on the bar, creating the illusion of lifting lots of weight. You can even slam them down from overhead if you enjoy using a bent barbell. Most importantly, you mysteriously set PRs every time you deadlift with them after training with steel plates. I hate to be the one to burst your bumper plate bubble, but deadlifting with bumpers is significantly easier when compared to iron plates.
This doesn’t mean that your coveted PR no longer stands. It just means that you have introduced another variable to consider when measuring your strength. When you PR your deadlift using bumper plates, you obviously still lifted the weight. But were the conditions the same as the last time you hit a personal best? Did you really get stronger? Or did your equipment simply give you additional mechanical advantage? The real answer is probably some combination of the above. We can solve the mysterious case of the bumper plate PR with a little science and engineering.
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Understanding USB Cable Types and Which One to Use |
Geschrieben von: aop22sd - 30.03.2022, 02:04 - Forum: News
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Understanding USB Cable Types and Which One to Use
Most computers and electronic devices have some form of USB connection, and many devices also come packaged with a USB cable. What are all these different cables for, and why does it matter which one you use?
It can be somewhat complicated to wrap your head around all this. Here's everything you need to know about the USB standard, including how to identify various USB cable types and what they do.
6 Common USB Cable Types and Their Uses
USB is supposedly universal, but there are so many different types of USB cables and connections. Why is this? As it turns out, they each serve different functions, mainly to preserve compatibility and support new devices.
Here are the six most common types of USB cables and connectors:
Type-A: The standard flat, rectangular interface that you find on one end of nearly every USB cable. Most computers have multiple USB-A ports for connecting peripherals. You'll find them on game consoles, TVs, and other devices too. This cable only inserts in one way.
Type-B: An almost-square connector, mostly used for printers and other powered devices that connect to a computer. They're not very common these days, as most devices have moved onto a smaller connection.
Mini-USB: A smaller connector type that was standard for mobile devices a while back. While not that common today, you'll still see these on some devices, which are mostly from Sony. These include cameras, the PlayStation 3 controller, MP3 players, and similar.
Micro-USB: Another past standard, slowly declining in popularity, for mobile and portable devices. It's even smaller than mini-USB. While you'll still find micro-USB on some smartphones, tablets, USB battery packs, and game controllers, many have moved onto USB-C.
Type-C: This is the newest type of USB cable. It's a reversible connection that packs higher transfer rates and more power than previous USB types. It's also capable of juggling multiple functions. You'll see it on many modern laptops and smartphones, including MacBooks, Pixel phones, and controllers for the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series S|X. We discuss USB-C more below.
Lightning: This isn't a true USB standard, but is Apple's proprietary connector for the iPhone, AirPods, some iPad models, and more. It's a similar size to USB-C and comes standard on most Apple devices released since September 2012. Older Apple devices use the much larger 30-pin proprietary connector, and newer iPad Pro models use USB-C. We've covered more on cables, adapters, and ports for Apple devices if you're curious.
In most cases, you'll find USB cables have one standard type-A end and one type-B end of some sort. The type-A end powers the device, while the type-B end receives power. This is to prevent potential damage that would be caused by connecting two computers via USB-A, for example.
The Mini and Micro connectors are considered smaller forms of type-B, even though "type-B" is usually not in their name.
In general, the cables you'll use the most, and therefore need to replace, are micro-USB, USB-C, and Lightning.
USB Speed Standards
USB connection types are only half the story, as USB has also gone through multiple standards of varying data transfer speeds. The cable's connector doesn't necessarily mean that it uses a certain standard.
The main iterations of USB's speed are:
USB 1.x was the original standard, and is ancient by modern benchmarks. You're very unlikely to find devices using this standard nowadays.
USB 2.0 introduced many modern USB norms, including support for Mini and Micro cables, USB OTG (see below), and more. It's the slowest speed of USB still used today. You'll find it used on cheap flash drives, devices like mice and keyboards, and similar. Most computers still include a few USB 2.0 ports.
USB 3.x is the current standard for USB speeds. It's much faster than USB 2.0, and thus recommended for devices like external hard drives. You can typically identify a USB 3.x port or connector by its blue coloring. Some USB 3.0 ports also have an SS symbol (which stands for Super Speed). Most new computers have at least one USB 3 port, and high-quality flash drives use this standard.
USB 4.0 is the newest standard, but at the time of writing it's not generally available. It will become the norm over the next several years, just like it took USB 3 a while to catch on.
What are DisplayPort Cables?
DisplayPort cables are used to provide video and audio connectivity between a host device (typically a PC) and a display. They are commonly used yet are relatively simple in design, with all DisplayPort cables featuring the same basic layout.
In the simplest terms, DisplayPort cables are designed to provide both audio and video signals via a single cable.
They are used to connect displays or monitors to a source device such as a PC or laptop and transmit the outputted audio and video data to the display.
DisplayPort connectors feature twenty pins fitted into an L-shaped connector. Many also include a locking mechanism to ensure a secure connection and prevent the connector from loosening or accidental disconnection.
How Does DisplayPort Differ from HDMI?
Both HDMI and DisplayPort are digital systems, originally designed to replace older analogue systems such as VGA. They both have the same purpose – to transmit high-definition digital audio and video to a display from a source device – but this does not mean that they are the same.
There are understandably some key similarities between the two, such as image quality, but their differences should not be overlooked. DisplayPort and HDMI cables are intended for different purposes, feature different connectors, and cannot be used interchangeably.
DisplayPort is primarily used on PCs, laptops, and tablets for video transmission. Unlike HDMI, it is very rarely used on consumer electronics. Another key difference is that DisplayPort is subscription-free for producers, whereas HDMI must be licensed by the manufacturer.
There are also several additional features which make it easier to differentiate between the two. DisplayPort offers the functionality to drive more than one display with a single cable, making it highly useful for professional applications. Conversely, HDMI can only drive a single display per cable. However, HDMI can support an ARC (Audio Return Channel) which allows sound to be sent from the display to the source device. DisplayPort does not offer this capability.
DisplayPort Cable Lengths
DisplayPort cables are available in a variety of lengths to suit different applications and user requirements. There is no specified DisplayPort cable length limit and no maximum length for these cables, meaning that it is possible to get cables up to 50m in length. Additionally, all cables up to two metres in length must support HBR2 speeds (21.6Gbit/s).
An incident where three men allegedly cut an undersea cables raises the question of how vulnerable the world's submarine internet cables are to damage, whether intentional or accidental.
An HDMI cable is just a conduit between your TV and media device, be it a DVD, Blu-ray, or 4K UHD Blu-ray player; media streamer; video game console; or PC. Different types of HDMI cables do exist, but their designations indicate how much data they can carry. (Spoiler: There’s really no such thing as a 4K HDMI cable.)
When pared down to the most basic information, the video resolution guidelines—as set by the HDMI Forum Technical Working Group that defines the specification—are:
Standard HDMI: Up to 720p or 1080i resolution at a 30Hz refresh rate
High Speed HDMI: Up to 4K resolution (including 1080p) at 30Hz
Premium High Speed HDMI: Up to 4K resolution with high dynamic range (HDR) at up to 60Hz
Ultra High Speed HDMI: Up to 10K resolution with HDR at a 120Hz refresh rate (4K video can refresh at up to 240Hz)
The more detailed versions of the guidelines matter if you want more than just a basic TV signal: If you play video games at more than 30 frames per second, for example, or you intend to make full use of an HDR TV, or you want an HDMI cable that can also carry data over ethernet (most people do not, but that bandwidth can be used for other things).
For these types of scenarios, you must take refresh rate (measured in cycles per second, stated as Hertz, and abbreviated as Hz), the level of color precision (aka color depth, measured in bits; e.g., 8-bit, 10-bit, or 12-bit), and color data compression (i.e., chroma subsampling) into consideration. The higher you go with refresh rate and bit depth—and the less color data compression you opt for—the more data that will be pushed to your TV.
Accordingly, you’ll need an HDMI cable that has adequate bandwidth. The chart below details the nuances that divide Standard HDI, High Speed, Premium High Speed, and Ultra High Speed HDMI. A Premium High Speed HDMI cable should cover the highest demands you’d ask of a 4K TV with a 60Hz refresh rate. If you bought a 4K TV with a true 120Hz refresh rate, like for use with a PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X, you should move up to an Ultra High Speed HDMI cable.
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Optimal Selection of Leveling Agent for Paints and Coatings |
Geschrieben von: aop22sd - 30.03.2022, 02:03 - Forum: News
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Optimal Selection of Leveling Agent for Paints and Coatings
Finding the right leveling agent is often a tedious process, considering all the parameters. It is important to check dosage and product variations to figure out the correct chemistry and fine tune the formulation. Make the selection of your leveling agents easy for your coating formulation by getting answers to most of your questions that arise during the selection process. Learn the role of solvents and other important factors in leveling and, thus, come up with the best coating product.
Dyeing auxiliaries are defined as chemicals or formulated chemicals which enables a processing operation in dyeing to be carried out more effectively. Dyeing auxiliary includes dye fixing agents, cationizing agent, dispersing & leveling agents etc. They help in stabilizing the dyeing bath to improve the exhaustion, achieve level dyeing and improve fastness properties.
Need for Leveling Agents
It is admitted for many paints that a perfect appearance means also a perfect leveling. Poor leveling (like orange peel or ghosting) may not influence significantly the paint parameters in time, as it is more aesthetic orientated. But the leveling agent itself may cause some severe issues.
A correct leveling agent helps in reaching the wanted leveling and final film finish. But a wrong choice may lead to surface defects such as craters, pinholes, loss of gloss or even inter-coat adhesion problems. Therefore, to understand the leveling, it is important to understand the influence of the surface tension on the paint and finding a balance is critical:
Too low surface tension may be good for the substrate wetting but may lead also to a wavy surface.
Too high surface tension can cause adhesion and surface wetting issues.
If you are exploring the factors that govern leveling in any formulation, it might be worth to begin with an in-depth understanding of leveling basics (surface tension, contact angle, test method, etc.) at first.
Which leveling agent is suitable for your formulation?
There are several base chemistries to choose from when selecting a leveling agent & lower the surface tension to the point just that you need for a desired application.
The most common types of leveling agents are listed below.
Silicone-based agents (Polydimethylsiloxane modified - PDMS)
Acrylate-based agents (Polyacrylate)
Fluorocarbon-based agents (Modified Fluorocarbons)
Hydrocarbon-based leveling agents: less efficient than previous families
Understand each chemistry in detail and see which one fits best for your formulation & end-application needs.
Silicone oils are important tools in vitreoretinal surgery and their introduction has represented a pivotal moment in the management of ophthalmic surgery as they are equipped with a combination of chemical and physical properties that have propelled their surgical use. Silicone oils are essentially used as intraocular tamponade thanks to their ability to maintain the adhesion between retina and retinal pigment epithelium (RPE).
The safe and effective use of tamponade substances means the knowledge of their physical and chemical properties because it is on the basis of this knowledge that surgeons have to decide what type of tamponade they should use.
What is the function of softener flake softener for textiles
Softener flake is an important finishing process in printing and dyeing. It is also a chemical substance that can change the static and dynamic friction coefficient of the fiber. So what is the effect of softer flake on textiles? Here is a brief introduction.
When the static friction coefficient of the fiber changes, the hand will feel the smoothness of the fiber, reduce the friction between the skin and the fiber, and it is easy to move on the fiber or fabric; when the dynamic friction coefficient of the fiber changes, the microstructure between the fibers It will move and deform, and you can feel that the dynamic and static friction coefficient changes smoothly.
In the textile processing process, after many treatments, the fabric and the machine will directly rub against, easily damage and wipe the fabric and fiber, making the fabric and fiber feel rough, the general synthetic fiber feels worse, especially the microfiber fabric.
In order to make the fabric soft, smooth and comfortable, the fabric needs to be finished. The widely used fabric is treated with softer flake, which can make the fiber itself soft and smooth, meet the processing conditions, and avoid damage during processing. Therefore, it is also an important auxiliary for textiles.
The above is an introduction to the effect of softer flake on textiles. Thank you for your patience to read. If you need it, you can contact us directly.
Acrylic Resins
Acrylic resins feature excellent transparency and durability, and are used in a broad range of applications from consumer items like lenses to industrial products like molding materials, coatings and adhesives.
About Acrylic Resins
Acrylic resins feature excellent transparency and durability, and are used in a broad range of applications from consumer items like lenses to industrial products like molding materials, coatings and adhesives. In addition, acrylic resins are also used in other areas, such as binders for paper/fiber processing, PC screens, display windows for cellular phones and light guide panels for liquid crystal display (LCD) backlights.
Due to their excellent durability and weatherability as coating materials, acrylic resins are used extensively in applications such as automotive, architectural and plastic coatings.
Acrylic resins have the below general characteristics.
? Appearance (gloss, build)
? Weather resistance
? Adhesion
? Transparency
? Hardness
? Heat resistance
? Chemical resistance
? Water resistance
? Workability
WHAT IS A DEGREASER?
A degreaser is a cleaner designed to remove grease, oils, cutting fluids, corrosion inhibitors, handling soils, fingerprints, and other contamination common in assembly, stamping and other metal fabrication in refineries, motor repair shops, airplane hangars, and factories, etc.. Degreasers go by a number of different names including precision cleaner, maintenance cleaner, as well as several specific for automotive repair such as carb cleaner or brake cleaner.
The objective for a degreaser is to remove the offending soil quickly, avoiding as much wiping and scrubbing as possible. Degreasing solvents are commonly packaged as an aerosol for convenience. Aerosols have the added advantage of providing a forceful spray that creates agitation and which penetrate small crevices.
Water-based degreasers are common in a trigger sprayer, or in gallon or drum containers for immersion or batch system cleaning.
Specialized equipment like ultrasonic or vapor degreasers are available for more automated cleaning. These processes are repeatable, so better suited for more critical cleaning applications, like aerospace or medical appliance maintenance.
Techspray offers a large selection of degreasers and maintenance cleaners under the G3?, E-LINE?, PWR-4?, and Precision-V brands, which range from economical heavy-industry cleaners to high precision solvents for sensitive components.
WHY DO I NEED A DEGREASER?
Dust, dirt, grease, and oxidation contamination can cause corrosion, slipping hazards, overheating, increase electrical resistance in contact areas, and many other issues. Degreasing may be required to prep for down-stream processes like painting or plating.
Cleaner Degreasers can clean oil, grease, oxides and handling contamination from equipment and assemblies that include:
- Metal and fiber optic cable splices
- Motors and transformers
- Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs)
- Pneumatic and hydraulic assemblies
- Electronics and electrical equipment
- Meters/measurement devices
Industrial-strength degreasers are needed to remove grease, tar, asphalt, oil, and grime in these kinds of applications:
- Clutches, armatures, generators, and compressors
- Electrical motors and equipment
- Bearings, chains, cables, pulleys and gear drives
- Brakes, springs, and flywheels
WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A DEGREASER AND A CONTACT CLEANER?
Degreasers are intended to remove oil, grease, oxides and handling contamination from equipment and assemblies, while a contact cleaner does the same thing specifically for electrical contacts.
A contact cleaner (also called electrical cleaner, switch cleaner, electrical contact cleaner, and (specific for automotive repair) battery terminal cleaner removes contamination from electrical contacts, the conductive surfaces of connectors, switches and other electrical and electronic components with moving surface contacts.
WHAT DO I LOOK FOR WHEN SELECTING A DEGREASER?
There are several factors that can have a big impact on performance and safety in choosing the proper degreaser for a given application in an environment:
Flammability – Degreasers often contain very flammable alcohols and hydrocarbon solvents. They can be cheap and effective, but can be dangerous without proper ventilation, or around open flames, sparks (e.g. from welding), or hot surfaces. Nonflammable degreasers avoid these safety issues but are generally more expensive. In addition, some nonflammable cleaners can be very toxic, containing hazardous solvents like Perchloroethylene, trichloroethylene or n-propyl bromide. High flashpoint (often called “high flash”) solvents have vapors that are less likely to combust in normal ambient temperatures (say below 140°F/60°C).
Dielectric strength – If you plan to work on powered equipment, or need to switch it on before the solvent has flashed off, consider a degreaser with a high dielectric strength. Make sure you know the amperage and voltage of the circuits you are trying to clean before spraying anything onto the circuits, and evaluate the suitability of any cleaner in your application. Dielectric strength is the maximum electric field that the material can withstand before its insulating properties break down. The lower the dielectric strength, the more likely it will breakdown and allow electricity to flow through and short out.
Plastic / rubber compatibility – Care needs to be taken when cleaning plastic or components, rubber gaskets and seals. If the degreaser is incompatible with the plastic, it can craze (create small cracks), embrittle, or soften the material. Rubber seals may swell, shrink, or dissolve. A new degreaser should always be tested before being used broadly.
Toxicity – N-Propyl Bromide (nPB), Trichloroethylene (TCE) and Perchloroethylene (Perc) are highly toxic chemicals commonly used in degreasers to provide cleaning performance in a nonflammable formula. There are documented court cases where workers suffered major health effects when exposed to high levels of these chemicals. Workers reported headaches, dizziness, and even loss of full body control. There are also possible links to reproductive problems and cancer. All of this has caused maintenance facilities to reconsider their solvent choices, especially with manual cleaning when exposure tends to be higher.
Environmental issues – Volatile organic compounds (VOCs), solvents that add to smog, or solvents with high global warming potential (GWP) have been a focus of regulators. Some state (e.g. CARB, the California Air Review Board), municipal, and even industry-specific regulations restrict the use of high VOC or high GWP materials.
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Why you shouldn’t wear slippers while you’re working from home |
Geschrieben von: aop22sd - 30.03.2022, 02:01 - Forum: News
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Why you shouldn’t wear slippers while you’re working from home
Having a presentable set of pajamas to hang around in is key—so why should your slipper game be any different? One of the biggest accessory trends of the spring 2021 season was the slipper shoe, so now is as good a time as any to complete your at-home loungewear look with a pair of luxurious slip-ons from one of these six styles of the best slippers for women.
You may have already invested in a pair of house shoes, but those who have yet to pamper themselves—and their feet!—with a warm and toasty slip-on might consider snagging one of these this holiday season. Think of it as a retreat for your feet, and there’s a handful of slipper personalities for the homebody at heart.
How about a luxurious pair of sherpa mules or plush slides, which are perfect for those with no plans to leave the house at all, or perhaps ultra-chic suede slip-ons from Khaite or Charvet—two styles so chic you’ll want to wear them out of the house.
You can also mentally escape from your home and check in to Hotel Loro Piana with its fabulously luxe checked version of the hotel-inspired slipper. Fashion maximalists might gravitate toward Bottega Veneta’s spongy bath slides, while the minimally minded would be more than happy in Everlane’s quilted duvet slippers. Or play dress-up with a pair of pom-pom-adorned smoking slippers or boudoir-inspired satin slip-ons. All of which would make equally great holiday gifts.
Whether it’s before bed, weekend mornings, or all day (we won’t judge), give your feet the comfort they deserve in one of these pairs of the best women's slippers.
You might want to give your working-from-home uniform – sweatpants on the bottom, Zoom-appropriate on top, slippers on feet – a tweak.
An expert has warned against wearing slippers day-in, day-out while working from home, suggesting your indoor shoes could damage your posture, pain, and overall health.
Eleanor Burt, also known as Posture Ellie, is a posture alignment therapist. She tells Metro.co.uk that going barefoot is the best thing you can do for your feet in lockdown.
She explains: ‘While slippers will certainly cause you fewer problems than the restrictive, supportive and heeled shoes most people wear most of the time (the majority of ‘normal’ high street shoes and trainers are all three of these things), slippers still serve a role in switching off the muscles and proprioceptors of the feet. This contributes to lazier and less balanced feet.
‘This essentially means the foundations of your body are off and this then feeds up the rest of the body and impacts how the rest of your body moves too.
‘We are all very indoctrinated into the rhetoric that our feet ‘need support’ and ‘need protection’, but actually by supporting and protecting our feet, we create extremely weak, stiff feet that don’t move as they are designed to.
‘This really has a significant impact that shouldn’t be scoffed at.
‘You know when you see older people shuffling around in their slippers, barely able to lift their feet off the floor? A big contributor to that will have been their footwear choices (and chair sitting).’
What Is a Shoe Rack?
A shoe rack is a storage unit designed for holding shoes. Shoe racks may be free-standing to place inside a closet or may be built into a closet organizer system. The right type of rack for you depends on the number of shoes you have to store and where in your home you want to store shoes.
Many people who have a large shoe collection have built-in racks in their bedroom closets. Each rack may hold several pairs of shoes. Some shoe racks are slanted wooden boards that have a strip running across the back to rest the heels of the shoes on so that the shoes are displayed for easy selection.
Other types of shoe holders are white metal stackable shelves that are either part of a closet shelving system or are a part of a free-standing rack. With the shelf type, you can just place pairs of shoes on the shelves side by side. Some kinds of shoe racks have curved wire loops that you place the shoes over.A shoe rack is an alternative to shoe boxes. Clear acrylic shoe boxes that each hold one pair of shoes can be stacked anywhere and some people prefer to use these for shoes not worn too often. Shoe boxes may be stored up high in a closet, while the racks are usually on the floor or at eye level to allow easy access to the shoes.
Why Non-woven bags is Eco- Friendly ?
Now that everyone has understood that plastic bags are non-biodegradable, the use of non-woven bags have become of primary importance. Even a non-woven bags manufacturer would tell you that it would be best to opt for these bags instead of plastic bags as they are eco-friendly. So what is exactly the reason ? Let's find out.
1) No harmful soot while burning
When you burn a normal bag, you notice there are a lot of soot and ash and also the smell of smoke. With non woven bags, there will not be any kind of toxic contaminants when you burn them. Since they are biodegradable in nature, the leftovers of the burn will get dissolved in the soil.
2) Recycle and reuse
Non-woven bags are known for this feature and you can safely use these bags over and over again.
3) Very cost effective
The simpler the bags, the better it is for the environment. Additionally, you should also consider the fact that these bags can be recycled and reused. So, even if you invest in the bag, it will be a one-time investment as you can recover the cost by reusing it.
4) Greater durability
The easiest way to understand the concept of reuse is by observing the number of times you can use the product without having to spend on something similar. Non-woven bags are just the perfect example of that. They are extremely durable making them easily reusable for further needs. Unlike plastic or other bags, the chances of these bags to wear down with age is quite slim.
The good news is that CaCO3 Filler Masterbatch can be used for Non-woven bags, which can be added up to 65%, help to reduce resin significantly.
Many major cities and corporations are cracking down and banning plastic bags in an effort to reduce pollution and save our oceans. But is that really the best approach? While plastic bags are “almost certainly the worst” of all options in terms of ocean pollution, according to Quartz, the issue gets a little murkier when you take other environmental issues into consideration.
As it turns out, canvas bags might be less eco-friendly than plastic bags because they’re often made of cotton, which requires more energy and water to produce. According to one study from 2011, a cotton bag’s carbon footprint is 598.6 pounds of CO2, compared to 3.48 pounds for a standard plastic bag made from high-density polyethylene. Researchers concluded that it might actually be better to reuse those plastic bags you get from the supermarket, then recycle them once they’re no longer viable.
Similarly, a 2018 recent study from Denmark found that low-density polyethylene bags wreaked the least damage on the planet of all the different types of bag studied. (However, it’s important to note that ocean pollution was not taken into account in that particular study, and that plastic can still severely harm marine life and ecosystems.) Representatives of Denmark's Ministry of Environment and Food determined that conventional cotton bags would have to be reused 7100 times to match the cumulative environmental performance of a plastic bag. Organic cotton bags are even worse, because those would need to be reused 20,000 times.
Backpacks were once considered casual and suited only for travel or for students who needed to lug books by the kilos. It was a hard-working bag meant for the wearer’s comfort.
But as offices become more mobile with laptops and assorted gadgetry (chargers, tabs, power banks and mobile phones), a backpack has become the goto workbag. Add to this the rise of a casual corporate culture, where athleisure is kosher at the workplace and sneakers are subbing in for high heels for women and dress shoes for men, and backpacks are strictly formal now.
Making and selling backpacks and travel bags — of burlap and vegan leather — is how Samriddh Burman, Karuna Parikh and Rewant Lokesh of Kolkata came together to start The Burlap People.
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SHOULD YOU BUY PLASTIC PENS O?R METAL PENS? |
Geschrieben von: aop22sd - 30.03.2022, 02:00 - Forum: News
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SHOULD YOU BUY PLASTIC PENS OR METAL PENS?
Pens offer a useful and cost-effective way to promote your business, organization or event. Unlike sticky note cards or can coolie, pens slip into a person's pocket and see constant use.
Plus, using pens to take notes actually helps people remember pertinent details.
Of course, even buying pens can prove a process filled with decisions. One of the main choices you'll face is whether to get metal pens or plastic pens.
Both kinds are readily available and have pros and cons.
So let's jump in and see if we can't make choosing a little easier for you.
COST OF METAL PENS
Most people jump to cost as the first factor in their decision making, so we'll start there.
On a per pen basis, you can get a basic plastic pen for around $0.44 and a metal pen for about $1.22. The catch is that most companies only sell in bulk and insist on minimum order quantities. 100 pens is a fairly standard minimum order size.
So your base cost for 100 pens will run around $44 for plastic and $122 for metal ones. At close to three times the cost, metal loses this battle. That's assuming that price is the only concern.
Plastic makes sense if a business owner just wants something her employees can write with that has the business name on it. Shelling out three times the cost doesn't make any sense.
When cost isn't the primary concern, metal often makes more sense because the pens offer better durability. Say you're throwing a retirement party. Then you might opt for metal so your colleagues will have a keepsake to remember you by.
PURPOSE
The intended purpose of the pens also plays a role in the plastic vs metal pen decisions.
For example, pens make a good promotional object to send out in mailers. They're small, light and fit in most size envelopes. You can put your logo, business name and website address on it.
If you plan to send out 50-100 mailers to affluent leads, it's practical to pay the extra for economical metal pen. It creates a subliminal connection between your business and quality without putting a hurt on your wallet.
If you plan to send out 5000 mailers to promote a sale at a retail outlet, plastic pens are far more practical. There's no need to create the subliminal connection. Retail products are commodity products, so there's no prestige issue.
Using the per pen cost from above, metal would run you $6100 to plastic's $2200. Saving close to four grand on a retail sales promotion is the smart move.
A different scenario is if you're buying pens for your personal use. Most people develop preferences for particular styles and materials in their pens.
Some people prefer the heft of a fountain pen or a good metal one. Other people like cheap plastic ones they can lose without feeling bad. In those cases, comfort should drive your choice.
BRANDING
Strong businesses constantly seek ways to help cement their brands in customer minds. A brand is a strange combination of story, text, visual cues, and abstract ideas.
The text and visual cues often go hand-in-hand, such as pairing up brand specific colors and taglines or logos. You've probably seen this in action with promo items that slap a logo onto a brand-color coffee cup.
You can do the same thing using pens.
This can prove a little hit or miss. The company you want to buy from may not have the exact shade of blue you use or may not offer color combos. Your logo and slogan offer salvation here.
The whole point is to provide enough cues to trigger brand recall in the person. Pairing your logo and slogan with your business name a close color should prove enough to remind them of you.
The more often someone gets reminded of your business, the faster they'll recall it when they need your services.
The metal vs plastic pen debate comes up a draw here. It all boils down to which material you think sends the right brand message.
A store that sells magic tricks won't get much brand mileage out of metal pens. An investment firm might lose brand value from plastic pens.
IMPRESSION
An area of concern that's related to branding is impression building.
Let's say that you're a young lawyer. You got hired by a respectable, but unremarkable law firm. There are two levels of branding at work now.
The firm has a brand that it wants to support and largely expects you to support. Within reason, you need to operate inside those expectations.
Then there is your personal brand. It's entirely possible that you want your brand to be distinct from the firm's brand.
Let's say that the firm issues plastic pens with firm's name on it to everyone. Those send the message of practical and affordable.
A simple way to set your brand apart from firm's brand is to order metal pens with your name and the firm's name on it. That sends the impression that you offer a higher level of quality.
A tactic like that keeps you inside the bounds of the firm's branding. At the same time, it lets you start creating a separate brand identity of your own.
On the other hand, let's say you work at a business that doesn't use branded pens. Plastic pens that note your name, position and phone number set you apart without stepping on the business brand.
For impression building, the choice between metal pens and plastic pens is all about context. You want to offer something that makes you a little more memorable without stepping on toes.
PARTING THOUGHTS ON PLASTIC VS METAL PENS
The choice between plastic and metal pens doesn't offer many certain answers.
If the price is the final deciding factor, plastic pens will always be cheaper. If a feeling of quality is the deciding factor, metal typically wins. Beyond that, the decision becomes a matter evaluating the context.
You need to consider which material sends the right message for the audience. Does it support your personal branding effort? Does the perceived benefit of one material outweigh the difference in cost?
Once you can answer those questions, though, you should know which to buy.
Ballpoint Pen
A ballpoint pen is a writing instrument which features a tip that is automatically refreshed with ink. It consists of a precisely formed metal ball seated in a socket below a reservoir of ink. As the pen is moved along a writing surface, ink is delivered. Even though ballpoint pens were first patented in the late nineteenth century, they only started to reach commercial significance in the early 1950s. Now, ballpoint pens dominate the writing instrument market, selling over one hundred million pens each year worldwide.
History
While the idea of a ballpoint pen had been around for many years, it took three different inventors and almost 60 years to develop this modern writing instrument. The first patent for this invention was issued on October 30, 1888, to a man named John J. Loud. His ballpoint pen consisted of a tiny rotating ball bearing that was constantly coated with ink by a reservoir above it. While this invention worked, it was not well suited for paper because it leaked and caused smearing. Two other inventors, Ladislas Biro and his brother Georg, improved on Loud's invention and patented their own version, which became the first commercially significant ballpoint pen. These pens still leaked, but not as badly. They became popular worldwide, reaching the height of sales in 1944. The next year another inventor, Baron Marcel Bich, finally solved the leakage problem and began manufacturing Bic pens in Paris. Over the years, many improvements have been made in the technology and quality of the various parts of the pen, such as the ink, the ball, the reservoir, and the body.
Background
The ballpoint pen was developed as a solution to the problems related to writing with a fountain pen. Fountain pens require the user to constantly refresh the pen by dipping its tip in ink. This is not necessary with a ballpoint pen because it is designed with its own ink reservoir, which uses capillary action to keep the ink from leaking out. At the tip of the pen is a freely rotating ball seated in a socket. Only part of this ball is exposed; the rest of it is on the inside of the pen and is constantly being bathed by ink from the reservoir. Pressing the tip of the pen on the writing surface causes the ball to roll. This rolling action then transfers ink from the inside of the pen to the writing surface.
While different designs of ballpoint pens are available, many of the components are the same. Common components include a ball, a point, ink, an ink reservoir or cartridge, and an outer housing. Some pens are topped with a cap to prevent it from leaking or having its point damaged. Other pens use a retractable point system for the same reason. Here a small spring is attached to the outside of the ink reservoir, and when a button is pushed, the point is either exposed or retracted. Still other varieties of ballpoint pens have multiple ink cartridges, making it possible to write in different colors using one pen. Other pens have refillable ink cartridges. One type of pen has a pressurized cartridge that enables the user to write underwater, over grease, and in space.
Raw Materials
A variety of raw materials are used for making the components of a ballpoint pen, including metals, plastics, and other chemicals. When ballpoint pens were first developed, an ordinary steel ball was used. That ball has since been replaced by a textured tungsten carbide ball. This material is superior because it is particularly resistant to deforming. The ball is designed to be a perfect sphere that can literally grip most any writing surface. Its surface is actually composed of over 50,000 polished surfaces and pits. The pits are connected by a series of channels that are continuous throughout the entire sphere. This design allows the ink to be present on both the surface and interior of the ball.
The points of most ballpoint pens are made out of brass, which is an alloy of copper and zinc. This material is used because of its strength, resistance to corrosion, appealing appearance, and ability to be easily formed. Other parts, like the ink cartridge, the body, or the spring can also be made with brass. Aluminum is also used in some cases to make the pen body, and stainless steel can be used to make pen components. Precious metals such as gold, silver, or platinum are plated onto more expensive pens.
The ink can be specially made by the pen manufacturer. To be useful in a plastic ballpen, the ink must be slightly thick, slow drying in the reservoir, and free of particles. These characteristics ensure that the ink continues to flow to the paper without clogging the ball. When the ink is on the paper, rapid drying occurs via penetration and some evaporation. In an ink formulation, various pigments and dyes are used to provide the color. Other materials, such as lubricants, surfactants, thickeners, and preservatives, are also incorporated. These ingredients are typically dispersed in materials such as oleic acid, castor oil, or a sulfonamide plasticizer.
A little about the plastic in our pens
With pens it's hard to avoid not using plastic, so we've done our research and made sure that the plastic we use has the least damage to the environment. An eco pen club pen is up to 85% less plastic than a traditional pen.
Our plastic is safe & easy to recycle
The majority of plant-based plastics who claim to be 'biodegradable' only break down in very strict conditions. Our plastic can be placed in household recycling bins.
Our plastic is easy to sort in recycling plants
Plant-based plastics (which we don't use) are not easy to sort in recycling plants and shouldn't be put in mixed plastic recycling bins.
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Why One Should Go For Outdoor LED Screen Rental |
Geschrieben von: aop22sd - 30.03.2022, 01:59 - Forum: News
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Why One Should Go For Outdoor LED Screen Rental
The rental led display screen is becoming popular day by day because of its features such as brightness, ambiance, and long-range visibility. Are you wondering to rent an LED screen for entertainment? If yes, then let me tell you, this article is dedicated to you.
Today we are going to discuss the benefits of renting an LED screen. The overview of today’s article is listed below. Note it down away!
Easy to set up
Brightness
They are reliable
Let us discuss them in detail:
Easy to set up: LED screens are not only easier to set up but also turn on fast. It is best for the businesses who want to give their visitors the best outdoor experience but with little effort.
Brightness:Commercial LED display doesn’t suffer from a decrease in vibrancy. It attracts the attention of visitors due to its bright color.
They are reliable: Regardless of the weather condition, a high-quality outdoor LED screen rental will be able to withstand tough weather conditions such as heavy rain and winds. They will even display crystal clear pictures and sound that your audience will enjoy.
If both answers are definite, I recommend you read this article so that you know what you need to consider for the indoor rental led display for events.
First of all, it is to differentiate between outdoor or indoor LED screens and LED screens with LED feedback. LCD screens are like computer monitors, while LED screens for events are panels of light-emitting diodes that can form words, images and videos. An example is the panels that you can find on the stage of a concert or the information panels of the highways.
But what quality can these screens offer?
The quality of these electronic LED signs is perfectly valid for events, both indoors and outdoors. In the different activities and shows, the LED screens, which are generally large, work as video walls but with higher quality, brightness and brightness. Without a doubt, they will capture the attention of all the spectators. If you are thinking of preparing a fair or a congress, the indoor rental led display is a wise option, since you can reproduce all the content of your company, from videos to graphics animations and high-resolution videos.
What screen should we choose?
There are several aspects that we must take into account when choosing an appropriate screen or, otherwise, our event may not have all the success we expect. The first thing to determine is whether we need indoor or outdoor LED displays. The second thing we have to know is the distance between the screen and the viewers. The higher the distance, the greater the screen surface. A three-meter screen located in height is not the same as a smaller screen located one meter away from the public. The resolution of the screen, that is, the distance between the LEDs is different, and with this, the sharpness of the image varies.
Another aspect that you must choose is the type of protection that the screen will have, in the case that it is an external event, so that it does not suffer damage and to guarantee, at the same time, the correct visibility by all the spectators.
Besides, we cannot forget the complementary equipment, such as projectors and mandatory auxiliary equipment that are necessary to achieve optimum reproduction of the images.
Usually, companies are specializing in the indoor rental led display, transport and mount them adapting to the needs of each client and scheduled event. Therefore, the only thing that the organizing company or the final customer should worry about knows what they want to communicate and project. Leaving in the hands of professionals the advice first and the execution later, you have to worry about focusing the content and thus guarantee the success of the event.
How Indoor Fixed LED Display Benefits You
The indoor fixed LED display is such a display that it is immovable, fastened. And it fixed at a particular place in such a position that it cannot move on its own. These LED displays are also a great source of advertisement using indoor as well as outdoor applications. In the article, we will discuss how an indoor fixed LED display benefits you thoroughly. These LED displays are usually made up of individual panels that impact a brighter display. Moreover, these LED panels are a form of lighting used for basic illumination and various fulguration tasks.
It does not matter whether you mean to present a standard, basic and straightforward color message or a vast, effectual or dynamic electronic message. An indoor led display will provide you with enough options to share your brand message to the targeted audience and masses.
These panels are suitable for small, minute displays or can be used in large-screen displays. There are different panels in the category of LED displays, such as conventional LEDs, surface-mounted panels, and others. However, most indoor LED displays are made on the principle of mounted panels which provides them uniqueness. A major proportion of indoor LED displays use SMD technology.
The SMD LED Display technology is generally used to create a brighter and colorful impact and create a backdrop of design. They make a more vibrant effect than normal LCD screens.
Before we further get into the details about the indoor fixed LED displays obtaining favor and acceptance from the people for being contemporary and distinctive, we must know what actually these indoor LED displays are, what makes them significant from others, and how it really benefits you.
What is an indoor fixed LED display?
The indoor fixed LED display is a screen made up of high-quality material for exhibiting and presenting various demonstrations. In other words, a LED display is a video display screen and a fine ornament to the area where it is kept, whether it be an office room or any other area. It is usually installed and supported using a standard iron cabinet with a durable build and lightweight.
Indoor LED displays are one of the most straightforward screens to install. The LED display is carefully developed with high quality, and versatile brand SMD LED chip. As mentioned above, due to this SMD chip technology, the luminescence and brightness of the screen increase drastically while providing a better, colorful, sharper and more evident impact than any other LED displays.
The highly reliable SMD technology is popularly known for its super-wide viewing angle for the LED screen. Moreover, there are numerous benefits of the MSD technology that makes the indoor LED display stand out in the crowd, such as higher contrast ratio, stable video deliverance, vibrant non-flickering images, high quality and vivid color performance. And it has higher refresh rate, high pixel density, super uniformity in color and most importantly, it is meager budget.
The indoor fixed LED displays are made to be highly transportable and convenient to place anywhere. You can easily set these LED displays in gyms, stores, meeting rooms, airports, banks, hotels, hospitals, nurseries, supermarkets, conference rooms, or even in the theaters, etc.
How indoor fixed LED display benefits you?
In this rapidly developing world, innovative and efficient projects are taking over. Similarly, with the constant upheaval and progress of technology, betterment and improvement in visual technologies can also be seen. The best example of fast progression in visual technology is the LED displays. It has now become quite profitable and rewarding to own a LED display, whether indoor or outdoor. Nobody ever thought that with these LED displays sharing information with audiences can get this convenient.
LED screens are a tremendous encouraging source that can help boost your business by advertisement and displaying. However, it is also crucial to know that the LED screens are only viewed from a shorter distance than outdoor LED display screens.
Aside from that, some of the benefits of using indoor LED displays are as follows:
1. Thin and light panel:
The indoor LED display is mainly developed to be portable. Therefore, it has a thin and lightweight panel that makes transportation quick, convenient, and straightforward. The indoor fixed LED display can be easily placed on a cabinet that has a sturdy structure.
2. Better visibility:
The indoor LED display can offer many purposes with increased and better visibility. It uses high-quality technology the increases the sharpness, picture resolution and provides better pixels for remarkable visual deliverance. These display screens also hold the ability to view the action from different angles. The LED display comes with ultimate clarity and vibrancy that it can be additionally used in a concert, conference, any festival, or special occasion.
3. Seamless connection:
The LED displays are so widely used and needed that the innovation in the display field is unstoppable. With the increased demand for indoor LED displays, improvements were made rapidly. However, the most common drawbacks of the indoor LED display were the brightness and seams. Therefore, when you put the Uniview LED display screen collectively as an enormous LED video wall with a larger modular size of LED and brightness variations, you have an ideal choice for a seamless connection. It ultimately results in decreased video glitches.
4. Safe installation and maintenance:
The indoor LED display is effortless to install and maintain. It is made in a way to install and maintain it safely. The LED display is usually established by removing four corners modules. Thus, the LED display’s whole thickness is basically the thickness of the cabinet.
In terms of maintenance, all the parts of the LED display can be maintained, for example, power supply, receiving cards, LED modules, and cables, with the magnets attached to the LED’s backside’s modules.
5. Flexibility size:
The high-quality indoor fixed LED display screens to offer the option of flexibility in their size whether you want a display that is square or rectangular, small or large, flat or curved. All the sizes of these LED screens are attainable by requiring size or shapes. A lot of such indoor fixed LED display screens are good heat dissipated and customizable, and lightweight.
6. Versatility:
The LED displays are versatile and the only electronic product that does not need extra protection, effort, and hassle to be installed. It develops a significant focus of the people on the big screen. It also creates a better reputation and publicly announces your product, brand, or business by a constant presentation.
7. Highly durable:
Usually, LED displays are made up of durable materials such as solid plastic for increasing the screens’ durability more than the standard and common lighting resources present around. These LED screens are not made up of thin layered glass. Thus, they are not prone to frequent breakage. Furthermore, the LEDs can last about 100 000 hours.
8. Good value of money:
The indoor fixed LED display is a good value of money. It is because it offers a variety of benefits and is a long-lasting product. It consumes and wastes less energy and is very easy to install and maintain. The size of the LED display is customizable, which makes it even convenient for the buyer.
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Kochbekleidung kaufen? |
Geschrieben von: Wagner - 29.03.2022, 20:18 - Forum: Allgemein
- Antworten (1)
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Hallo zusammen,
ich bin gerade auf der Suche nach einem Geschenk für meinen Bruder, der bald 27 Jahre alt wird. Da wir seit unserer Kindheit den alten Streich gemacht haben, uns gegenseitig wie Köche aussehen zu lassen, überlege ich ihm solch einen Kochoutfit zu kaufen. Ob das ein gutes Geschenk ist, weiß ich nicht so recht... aber ich bin auch nicht gerade der beste Geschenkekäufer. Was ihr schon sehen könnt xD
Ich habe diese Website gefunden, die so etwas verkauft.
Vielleicht könnte ich sowas wie ein Bündel machen und es bestellen...
Gibt es noch andere Websites, die ihr mir empfehlen könnt?
Danke!
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Intelligent Injection Molding on Sensing, Optimization, and Control |
Geschrieben von: aop21sd - 29.03.2022, 02:24 - Forum: News
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Intelligent Injection Molding on Sensing, Optimization, and Control
The term quality has become a “catch all” term used in describing the various characteristics of an object. It is nearly impossible to define the term consistency. The quality is any particular or specific characteristics of a product development design object that contains or relates information about the object. This is primarily a chunk of geometry distinguished by its ability to perform a function with one or more other. In this primary processing conditions are studied from concept development to manufacturing of the product. Effect of different factors studied on the basis of processing parameters. Since quality and productivity are the two important contradictory objectives in any machining process. Some extent of quality has to be compromised while assurance giving for high productivity. Similarly productivity will be decreased while the efforts are channelized to enhance quality. To ensure high quality and productivity, it is necessary to optimize machining parameters. Various responses of quality of injection moulding process has been studied on the basis of performance parameters and methods. This paper aims to present plastic injection moulding process conditions. The processing conditions satisfied quality based product manufacturing.
Temperature control prevents quality issues such as shrinkage, warping and stresses from developing in the injection-molding processes.
From manufacturing personal items like toys and toothbrushes to industrial parts like plastics utilized in automobiles, injection molding is one of the most relevant manufacturing techniques in use today. This article will define what injection molding is, outline the steps involved, and explain the need for temperature control in the process.
Injection molding is a specialized manufacturing technique used for fabricating plastic parts and items. It allows for the mass production of several thousand — or even millions — of identical parts of a specific dimension and quality.
Plastic injection molding involves injecting molten plastic into a mold (or cavity), which defines its molded part’s shape after it solidifies. The basic requirements for the process are the injection-molding machine, raw plastic material and the mold.
The injection-molding machine consists of a hopper, through which pelletized plastics are fed into the machine; a heating barrel with a reciprocating screw; and an injection nozzle. The most common thermoplastics utilized in injection molding are nylon (PA), polycarbonate (PC), polypropylene (PP) and acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS). Molds used can be single- or double-cavity type, depending on the application.
Tooling Investment Costs. When a electric car mould part is being manufactured for the first time, the design is first prototyped with a test material to ensure accuracy using techniques such as 3D printing or CNC machining. The mold tool is made of steel or aluminum material and must be designed to precise dimensions.
Prototyping and Testing. With injection molding, manufacturing companies must carry out extensive testing and prototyping of the entire system using replicas. Any subsequent modifications to the final design will require either modifying the tools or scrapping them completely — both of which could add significant costs to the production budget.
Size and Thickness Limitations. Because injection-molding machines and molds typically have limited sizes, injection molding may not be suitable for designing large plastic parts. Also, injection molding tends to create mostly molded parts of a uniform thickness. This characteristic may be undesirable to some manufacturers that require variation in this aspect. This is because injection-molded parts must be created with a sufficient wall thickness (at least 1 mm) to prevent problems with filling the mold.
Many manufacturers use cooling tower water to cool the small channels within the mold with a temperature regulator attached to the injection-molding machine, regulating its temperature. While this technique is effective and incurs a lower operating cost, the mold will be prone to contamination. Cooling towers are open-loop systems. By contrast, an industrial chiller can be used to regulate the temperature via closed-loop cooling, ensuring a higher degree of product purity.
When plastics for the injection-molding process are being heated and mixed inside a machine, a specific temperature limit must be maintained as the temperature of the process will directly impact the quality of the final mixture.
If the temperature is too low, the components may not mix properly. Alternately, when the temperature is too high, the mixture might become burned. Thus, there is typically an ideal point, or a prescribed temperature at which the process must be maintained.
Mold Temperature. The temperature of the precision mold is another essential consideration that affects the quality of the injection-molded part. Getting the best quality mold is a balance between heating the mixture sufficiently to create a homogeneous mixture and cooling it down at an ideal rate. Anything else would be undercooling or overcooling.
Undercooling and Overcooling Issues. Improper polymer flow is a direct consequence of under- or overcooling issues in plastic injection mould. When the mixture is not cooled sufficiently, it may not solidify completely before being ejected. This may leave residual plastic in the mold.
Conversely, excessive cooling causes a lack of uniformity in the plastic material. This may cause further problems down the line such as shearing, cracking and cavities that do not fill up completely. Maintaining the mold temperature at a set temperature will yield the most optimum results.
Temperature Control with an Industrial Chiller System
Close tolerance temperature control units can be used with industrial chiller systems to provide close temperature tolerances for process water. When combined with a compatible and suitably sized industrial chiller, the temperature control unit can maintain the process temperatures at ±0.5°F of the set 33°F value, ensuring a stable injection-molding process without catastrophic freezing failures.
The close tolerance temperature control units come in varying flow variations and configurations and standard models have a pump and heat exchanger with a jacketed tank or a heat exchanger.
Plastic moulding is the process of pouring liquid plastic into a certain container or mould so that it hardens in that customized shape. These plastic moulds can then be used for a wide range of purposed. There are 5 types of plastic moulding that is considered to be the most effective and most popular.
These 5 types are extrusion moulding, compression moulding, blow moulding, injection moulding and rotational moulding. We will look at the details pertaining to each of these methods so that you can decide which one will be the most effective for you to use.
1. Extrusion Moulding
With extrusion moulding, hot melted plastic is pressed through a shaped hole to create a lengthy shaped plastic part. This customizable shape that the liquid plastic gets pressed through is called a die. This die is custom made for the particular outcome that is desired. It is almost like pressing dough through a press to make shaped cookies.
The other forms of plastic moulding also use extrusion so get the raw liquid into the commodity mould, the difference here is that other methods use the moulds to make the desired shape and here the extrusion itself is making the shape with the use of the die’s shape.
When using this method your outcome product will continuously have the same shape along the length of it. These can be things like straws or PVC pipes. These types of parts can be made at very high volumes because it can just keep producing the same shape without end.
In comparison, this type of moulding is low cost because the equipment is fairly simple and can have high productivity. The downside to this method is that you are very boxed in when it comes to the variety of parts you can make.
Injection molding is one of the most significant material processing methods for mass production of plastic products. It is widely used in various industry sectors, and its products are ubiquitous in our daily life. The settings and optimization of the injection molding process dictate the geometric precision and mechanical properties of the final products. Therefore, sensing, optimization, and control of the injection molding process have a crucial influence on product quality and have become an active research field with abundant literature. This paper defines the concept of intelligent injection molding as the integral application of these three procedures—sensing, optimization, and control. This paper reviews recent studies on methods for the detection of relevant physical variables, optimization of process parameters, and control strategies of machine variables in the molding process. Finally, conclusions are drawn to discuss future research directions and technologies, as well as algorithms worthy of being explored and developed.
The Society of the Plastics Industry (SPI) has reported that, in the United States, the plastics industry is the third largest manufacturing industry. In 2017, the US plastics industry accounted for $432.32 billion in annual shipments and directly employed nearly one million people [1]. Hence, the plastics industry has a large contribution to the nation’s economy. Plastics are now among the most widely used materials and their use covers the entire spectrum of industries worldwide [2]. Injection molding is regarded as the most important and efficient process used to manufacture plastic products. It accounts for approximately 80% of the plastic merchandise in the modern plastics industry [2], and as such, it is one of the important pillars of the manufacturing industry. As a highly complicated process, plastic injection molding can be divided into three stages: filling, packing, and cooling. During the entire process, the polymer is subject to large and dynamic changes in pressure and temperature. The whole process is complicated because the process variables are strongly coupled and hard to analyze accurately. For now, manufacturing of qualified products by injection molding still mainly relies on manual operation and trial-and-error methods [3–5]. Obviously, this traditional approach has disadvantages of low production efficiency, poor reliability and repeatability, and dependence on prior experience. Therefore, it is imperative and crucial to develop an advanced injection molding method that is science based and technology oriented.
Recently, much attention has been focused on intelligent (smart) manufacturing, which represents an in-depth integration of next-generation artificial intelligence (AI) technology and advanced manufacturing technology. It runs through every link in the full life cycle of design, production, product, and service [6]. Intelligent injection molding refers to the production process that employs AI technology—such as extracting information from production, computer optimization methods, and control strategies—to develop an online production optimization system. Through the comprehensive use of sensing, optimization, and control methods, the intelligent injection molding production process can increase production efficiency and product quality.
During the production process, when material and mold are preselected, an intelligent injection molding method is required to obtain high quality and stable production. As shown in Figure 1, intelligent injection molding contains three phases—sensing, optimization, and control—all of which are interrelated. Process sensing is first needed to realize real-time detection of variables from the injection-molding process and further on to diagnose and guide the manufacturing process. Moreover, optimal process parameters should be determined by process optimization since it is the key to obtaining high-quality injection molded products with high precision. Finally, sufficient machine control accuracy and repeatability—which means robust control over machine parameters—are required. Furthermore, advanced control strategies will help to conserve energy in manufacturing [7]. Integrating these three phases into an effective online quality control model, which is the section in the dotted-line frame in Figure 1, is one of the major goals of intelligent injection molding. It has attracted extensive attentions from many researchers in the field of injection molding.
In a 2005 review article, injection molding control [8] after process setup was classified into three levels—machine control, process control, and quality control. Due to the lack of quality sensors and the process and quality relationship model, there is a potential opportunity for advancement in the optimization and control of the product quality in injection molding. Moreover, with further development of science and technology in injection molding, and the fact that there has been very little review of process sensing, this paper aims to review and summarize the research on intelligent injection molding in recent years. It will focus on sensing, optimization, and control so that readers will be able to obtain useful information and an overview of the intelligent injection molding process. This paper is outlined as follows. Section 1 provides a brief introduction of intelligent injection molding. Sections 2, 3, and 4 discuss sensing, optimization, and control methods for the injection molding process and present up-to-date developments in these fields. The last section provides a summary of and future directions for intelligent injection molding.
The sensing of the injection molding process is focused on the temperature, pressure, position, speed, etc., which reflect the physical state of the process. Temperature and pressure are the two fundamental physical variables that are the most important in the injection molding process. Furthermore, among various sensing technologies, temperature and pressure sensors are the most well developed and the most widely utilized. By means of sensing the temperature and pressure, one can obtain abundant information about the mold and polymer melt. With continuing technology development, some new methods have emerged in the field of injection molding. Some of them are capable of characterizing more variables besides temperature, pressure, position, and speed. This section will briefly introduce the conventional and emerging methods used in injection molding processes and the up-to-date research progress. Finally, a conclusion and analysis will be put forward and discussed.
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The science of street lights: what makes people feel safe at night |
Geschrieben von: aop21sd - 29.03.2022, 02:23 - Forum: News
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The science of street lights: what makes people feel safe at night
Winter is coming: the nights are drawing in and in the Northern Hemisphere the hours of darkness already outnumber the hours of daylight. Research has shown that darkness produces a big fall in the number of people out walking – and a major reason for this is that people feel less safe walking in the dark.
There may be an evolutionary explanation for why people feel less safe at night – we can’t see as well, and this may have exposed our ancestors to greater threat from predators. Nowadays, it’s not so much the prospect of being eaten by a savage beast that concerns would-be pedestrians, but the fear of being mugged or victimised.
Some studies suggest that new outdoor lighting can reduce crime rates in an area, but there is conflicting evidence on this. A large review of research found a link between new lighting and reduced crime rates, but improvements were seen in daylight as well as darkness, suggesting that solar led street light is not the only factor. This review has also been criticised by other researchers, and a large statistical analysis found no link between crime rates and switching off or dimming street lighting at night.
Street lights may or may not have an effect on crime, but one thing’s for sure – brighter levels of light do make people feel safer when walking at night. This can lead to a significant increase in the number of minutes people spend walking each week. It can also reduce the number of people who avoid leaving their homes at night, reduce social isolation, improve physical and mental well-being and increase community pride.
Street lighting can improve the quality of neighbourhood life by making people feel safer – but, even so, it would be unwise to flood our streets with light at night. Street lighting costs money: the UK’s annual bill is estimated at around £220m. Artificial light at night may also have a negative impact on wildlife and the natural world, for example by stunting the growth of frogs and toads and preventing them from laying their eggs.
The skyglow from street lights also means we rarely get to see the true wonder of the night sky, frustrating astronomers and limiting our appreciation of the natural environment. For these reasons, lighting should be used selectively and efficiently – and this requires good guidance to help those responsible for installing and maintaining our street lighting.
The guidelines for street lighting in the UK and many other countries are currently based on questionable evidence. That’s why our lighting research group at the University of Sheffield undertook a programme of research to find out how lighting relates to feelings of reassurance after dark, and improve the evidence on which lighting guidelines are based.
Illuminating evidence
In one recent experiment, we asked people to walk along a number of streets in the city of Sheffield at night and rate how safe they felt. We also asked these people to walk and rate the streets in the day, to create a baseline measure of safety and to account for biases that may occur if safety ratings were taken only after dark.
The difference in safety ratings between the day and night walks told us something about the lighting on that street – the smaller the difference between day and dark ratings, the safer people felt due to the lighting. We compared our participants’ different ratings against measures of the lighting on each street, including the average illuminance (amount of light falling on the street surface) and uniformity (how evenly spread out the lighting was).
Today, average illuminance is the main measure used when installing and evaluating led street light. But we found that, while increasing average illuminance was linked with improved feelings of safety, uniformity was more important for making people feel safe. So it might be more important to have evenly distributed lighting, rather than bright lighting, to make people feel safer.
Local authorities are undergoing major changes to their lighting, as they replace the traditional orange sodium lamps with new LED lighting. These new LEDs are more energy efficient, which saves taxpayers’ money. They also give councils greater control over the lighting they provide, for example by dimming and switching off when there are no pedestrians about.
Used properly, street lights can improve people’s lives and help neighbourhoods come alive at night. But there’s still a lot to discover about how people respond to street lighting and the impacts it has on society and the environment – experiments such as these can help to light the way.
Financial and carbon reduction incentives have prompted many local authorities to reduce AIO Solar LED Street Light at night. Debate on the public health implications has centred on road accidents, fear of crime and putative health gains from reduced exposure to artificial light. However, little is known about public views of the relationship between reduced street lighting and health. We undertook a rapid appraisal in eight areas of England and Wales using ethnographic data, a household survey and documentary sources. Public concern focused on road safety, fear of crime, mobility and seeing the night sky but, for the majority in areas with interventions, reductions went unnoticed. However, more private concerns tapped into deep-seated anxieties about darkness, modernity ‘going backwards’, and local governance. Pathways linking lighting reductions and health are mediated by place, expectations of how localities should be lit, and trust in local authorities to act in the best interests of local communities.
Electric street lighting has been a feature of urban and suburban settlement since the end of the nineteenth century. Indeed, the electrification of lighting has in many ways defined the modern city, in extending the visibility of its public spaces, inhabitants and itinerants beyond the hours of natural daylight (Martland, 2002, Otter, 2002) and changing the meanings of the night for city dwellers (Schlör, 1998). However, in many areas of England and Wales, as in other countries, the taken-for-granted assumption that streets and public spaces will be lit at night has been disrupted in recent years. Many local authorities responsible for LED Street Lighting Solar have reduced street lighting at night, a policy primarily driven by requirements to reduce costs and carbon emissions under the Climate Change Act 2008 (Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DeFRA), 2011), but also with considerations of contributing to reductions in environmental light pollution (The Royal Commission of Environmental Light Pollution, 2009). A rapid growth of technological innovations over the last 20 years has enabled greater control over the colour, intensity and switching on schedules of public lighting stock (Shaw, 2014a), and local lighting authorities across England and Wales have adopted a wide range of interventions. These include: removing, or switching off lanterns in street light columns (‘switch off’); reducing the number of hours that they are switched on (‘part-night lighting’); replacing sodium lanterns by ‘white’ LED light; and ‘dimming’ lanterns through centrally managed systems. Some of these interventions reduce the amount, or duration of, artificial light at night. Switch off and part-night lighting result in dark streets which were once lit, at least for some of the night time hours.
Changes which reduce lighting, particularly ‘switch off’ and part-night lighting in urban areas, have attracted considerable public and media concern, centring on crime, fear of crime, perceptions of safety, and road safety. These are all important determinants of health and wellbeing: directly in the case of road safety; and indirectly, in that fear of crime, for instance, has multiple pathways that impact on mental health (Lorenc et al., 2012). To date, empirical research on fear of crime and perceptions of safety have focused largely on improvements to lighting, with the assumption that more lighting will improve security, and reduce fear of crime (Lorenc et al., 2013). However, empirical findings on the impact of improved lighting on perceptions of crime, personal security and road injury have been mixed, with no clear conclusions on how increased lighting does improve these health outcomes (Atkins et al., 1991, Painter and Farrington, 1997; Pain et al., 2006). A systematic review of the effects of increased street lighting on crime (Welsh and Farrington, 2008), including 13 controlled before and after studies, concluded that improved street lighting in public spaces did not reduce crimes at night any more than was observed during the day. The authors suggest that the protective mechanism of street lighting may therefore act more through increasing pride in the locality or social control, rather than directly increasing surveillance to deter crime. As Koskela and Pain (2000), suggest, ‘fear of crime’ is a complex outcome of the political and social meanings of space, including gendered meanings, and is unlikely to be deterministically tied to isolated environmental conditions such as public lighting. On road traffic injuries, Beyer and Ker’s (2009) systematic review also noted the poor methodological quality of research to date, and suggested more high quality evaluations were needed to adequately determine the effectiveness of street lighting for reducing the incidence of road traffic injury.
If research on how improved lighting impacts on health outcomes is inconclusive, that on reduced lighting is almost non-existent. There are no good grounds for assuming that the removal of a public good will have the reverse effects to those of providing or improving it. In addition, there are some rather different health outcomes that become the focus of reductions in artificial lighting. These relate to how reductions might mitigate the negative health impacts some have claimed from a growth in, and changing frequencies of, artificial light in the environment (Hölker et al., 2010, Falchi et al., 2011). Although the evidence base to date is weak (Vohra, 2013), a growing concern with light pollution as a potential hazard to health draws on studies of animals (Shuboni and Yan, 2010) and shift workers to identify disruptions in circadian rhythms and endocrine processes, which can affect sleep (Navara and Nelson, 2007) and, theoretically, health outcomes such anxiety, depression, obesity and even cancer incidence (Pauley, 2004, Fonken et al., 2009, McFadden et al., 2014). Broader public health concerns also include the more existential wellbeing effects of being able to see the night sky, and longer term environmental impacts of reduced carbon emissions (Claudio, 2009). The amount, and quality, of light at night has thus become a public health as well as political issue.
There have been some qualitative studies of public views of street lighting, identifying mixed and reflective views on the relationship between light and fear of crime, for instance (Pain et al., 2006). To date, though, there has been little research that directly addresses public views on the possible relationships between street lighting reductions and health more generally. To address this gap, this study therefore aimed to explore public views of the potential health and wellbeing impacts of reduced street lighting. We aimed to explore public understanding of the possible pathways through which street lighting might impact on health and wellbeing, and how reductions in street lighting were understood as impacting on health and wellbeing outcomes.
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