Search

The study investigates four paper-based materials designed for short-time wrapping of meat products by determining morpho-structure, capillary-hydroscopic, barrier and antibacterial properties, wettability and migration into food simulants. The paper-based materials are coded as RO, SP, IT and SLO. RO and SLO samples exhibit the best barrier properties against water vapors. The low solubility and contact angles of RO, IT and SLO in A simulant (distilled water) make them suitable for aqueous food storage. The extremely high solubility of SP and SLO in simulant B (acetic acid) shows that wax and hydrophobized starch, respectively are carried by the acidic media, thus these agents are unlikely to coat the paper designed to package acidic food. SLO inhibits E. coli, Salmonella enterica, Lysteria monocytogenes, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and fluorescens. Polyethylene coated on RO and IT surface and wax impregnated on SP have a lower antimicrobial activity in comparison with hydrophobized starch coated on SLO. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Poor response rate, self-selection bias, and item noncompletion negatively impact the generalization of results from surveys. This study examined differences in these factors between a paper and online survey among allied health clinicians. Clinicians within a large local health district were initially invited to complete the Research Capacity in Context Tool online via an e-mail link. Following a lower-than-expected response rate, potential selection bias, and item noncompletion, the survey was readministered in paper form to the same cohort of clinicians 6-12 months later. The response rate to the paper survey was higher than to the online survey (27.6% vs. 16.5%). Selection biases were evident, characterized by seniority and discipline: Junior clinicians responded at rates significantly less than expected to the online survey but as expected to the paper survey. Occupational therapists, speech pathologists, and podiatrists responded more highly to the online survey, while other disciplines responded more highly to the paper survey. The rate of item noncompletion was higher for online than paper survey (6.72% vs. 3.8% questions not completed, respectively), with patterns of noncompletion also differing. These data suggest paper surveys are likely to produce less biased and more generalizable data from allied health clinicians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study examines the communicative functions that handwriting (mode) and paper (medium) have come to serve in increasingly digital and intermedial environments. The study begins in museums, where handwritten documents are profusely on display nowadays, and where the display affordances and communicative functions of handwriting are productively explored. Three curatorial display strategies are outlined. These are arranged chronologically, and range from traditional displays, where paper documents are presented inside glass cases, through artistic installations, where documents and handwriting are aesthetically simulated, to interactives, where the audiences/users themselves generate documents on-site. Exploring these strategies illuminates the concept of display as an agentic amalgamation of showing and telling, which produces authentic performances of voice-as-participation. These performances facilitate a move from private to public spheres – in museums and online. The study then proceeds to examine public displays of handwritten documents outside museums, specifically on social network sites. It asks whether and how conceptual sensitivities and sensibilities that originated in displays of handwritten artifacts in museums can shed light on the newer communicative functions of paper in digital environments. It also asks what are the intermedial consequences of the juxtaposition of analogue and digital surfaces. The study points at the current resurrection of handwriting and paper. It argues that the popularity of paper and handwriting results from their evolution into ubiquitous resources for display on and off the web, specifically as authentic bearers of voice that index human action and agency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay examines the historical role of graphic maps and plans in the Parisian municipal bureaucracy during the nineteenth century. Maps and plans became an important means to consolidate and organize administrative activities related to the built environment. As recognition of the growing number of actors involved, laws were implemented requiring not only an image to build but requiring that they be orthographic. The emergence of orthographic images in building practices was not a consequence of the specific needs of construction per se but rather was informed by the social and political exigencies to standardize diverse practices, to coordinate a variety of actors, and to develop a centralized administrative structure to manage urban development. Yet, even with the strong motivation for conformity, maps and plans were impossible to fully standardize due to the particularities of each site. Accordingly, it was this tension that encouraged the production of ever more paperwork as the basis of an urban bureaucracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This introduction to this special section, "Cities on Paper: On the Materiality of Paper in Urban Planning," explores the vital role played by paper documents in the practice of urban planning linked to the shaping of modern cities in Europe and the United States during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This introductory essay considers recent literature on the materiality of paper to show the significance of examining the visual and written information transcribed on its surface in concert with assessing how it has been assembled, organized, reproduced, circulated, distributed, and archived. By exploring such uses of paper documents in urban planning practices, such cartography, arboriculture, maintenance, and the production and dissemination of expert knowledge, the five essays in this section demonstrate the relevance of the material culture of paper within the municipal and national bureaucracies that spearheaded dramatic urbanization campaigns in modern cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Variations in wood properties such as basic density, tissue proportion, fibre dimensions and their derived indices, cellulose and lignin content of Melia dubia at five age gradations were examined to evaluate the suitability of the species for pulp and paper production. The study showed that basic density, fibre proportion, fibre length, cell wall thickness, slenderness ratio, solids factor, cellulose and lignin content increased with tree age. However, vessel proportion, fibre width and lumen width decreased. Most of the wood properties were found suitable for making good quality pulp and paper at the age of 4 and 5 years in comparison to other hardwood species among five age gradation. Hence, harvesting at fourth and fifth year of age is suggested in M. dubia for high pulp yield and better paper quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Raman spectroscopy and micro-Raman mapping have been used to study the distribution of different chemical components at the surface of coated papers. The paper coatings contain organic nanoparticles with a structure of poly(styrene-co-maleimide) and encapsulated vegetable oils. Raman spectroscopy is able to differentiate between various types of oil, i.e., polyunsaturated, monounsaturated, or saturated, and indicates that the degree of imidization and reactivity of the oil (amount of free oil) complement each other. The surface mapping over large areas (5 × 5 mm2) illustrates good homogeneity of the coating layer and even surface coverage. The imide and oil are homogeneously distributed within the coating itself without a tendency for agglomeration. The covered areas of imide and oil mostly overlap for polyunsaturated oils, while larger amounts of oil occur outside the imide zones for monounsaturated and saturated oils. The latter indicates that the oil is partly "free" within the coating and acts as a continuous binder phase. The surface mapping over smaller areas (1 × 1 mm2) shows the coating and cellulose covered areas are complementary. The surface maps confirm that interaction between the coating and paper substrate happens through hydrogen bonding. Heterogeneities in the coating are due to the presence of remaining ammonolyzed maleic anhydride precursors forming amic acid moieties. The organic phase, oil phase, and cellulose substrate can also be differentiated by principal component analysis of the surface maps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article suggests that accountants and auditors use alkaline paper for those records that may be needed for more than 25 years. An experiment that simulated the aging of paper showed that most papers are acidic and become more acidic as they deteriorate. Accounting firms need two kinds of permanent paper: stationery for correspondence, minutes and other agreements; and accounting work papers which are lined and ruled with numbered columns. Current papers that are deteriorating can be photocopied on alkaline paper.

Peer review has been the principal way of evaluating scientific articles, ensuring that publications meet standards of methodology, integrity, and ethics. Occasionally, however, reviews are suboptimal, especially those by inexperienced reviewers. Therefore, this article offers suggestions on how to review a scientific article. Some of the most important suggestions include submitting the review in a timely fashion without undue delay, not breeching confidentiality, focusing mainly on the methodology, following specific format, and avoiding embarrassing comments to the authors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Having generated data, an important part of the research process is to effectively communicate your findings to the scientific community. Traditional routes for doing this include publishing an abstract, presenting a poster, giving an oral presentation or publishing a peer-reviewed original research paper. Understanding your audience and delivering a clear message are key elements for effective communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Giving paper and polymer photochromic properties under laser irradiation is challenging due to the low resistance of these materials to heat, their flexibility, and their possibly irregular structure. However, we could successfully deposit TiO2/Ag/ TiO2 layers stacking on flexible white glossy paper and transparent polyethylene terephalate (PET) substrates using a reactive magnetron sputtering technique, and tailor coloration changes after laser irradiation, alternating visible and ultraviolet (UV) wavelengths. The sample colors are characterized by a panel of chromas depending on the irradiation conditions. We demonstrate that these chroma changes are due to morphological changes of Ag nanoparticles (NPs) after visible laser irradiation of the colored as-deposited sample. The process exhibits a good reversibility after subsequent UV irradiation due to the growth of new metallic Ag NPs. The colors displayed in diffuse reflection by the paper samples are more saturated than the ones displayed in regular transmission by PET samples. We demonstrate the efficiency of the photochromic process on such support by printing high resolution patterns exhibiting different colors depending on the observation conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In an age where the world is becoming ever more aware of paper consumption, educators are turning toward technology to cut back on paper waste. Besides the environmental reasons, a paperless music classroom helps students develop their musicianship in new and exciting ways. This article will look at the considerations for setting up a paperless music classroom by examining hardware, software, and hybrid models for the music classroom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last fifteen years scholarship on postcolonial literatures has increasingly turned to readers as the focus of empirical study. While such research has helped make visible the agency of postcolonial readers in global literary exchanges, it has tended to overlook the many ways in which postcolonial subjects’ encounters with texts can exceed or circumvent literal reading. The Asian-African-Canadian novelist M.G. Vassanji has been particularly attuned to the physicality of paper, most definitively in two of his novels set in East Africa, The Gunny Sack (1989) and The Book of Secrets (1994). In this article I analyse how Vassanji’s characters, both literate and illiterate, engage paper’s physical properties to ground their everyday practices of memory, valuation, and interpretation. By attending to paper’s materiality in Vassanji’s work postcolonial studies can situate its own reading practices in the context of material ways of doing things with texts. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The surface quality of papers impregnated with a mimosa tannin resin and a MUF resin for application as surface coating on wood panels was compared. The impregnated papers were conditioned to 23% and 10% moisture contents and pressed on to beech plywood. Moisture content of the impregnated papers before pressing was found to influence the abrasion resistance for both mimosa tannin resin and MUF resin impregnated papers. Colour measurements were carried out to relate the different paper colours to the two different moisture contents at pressing. Mimosa tannin impregnated papers at 23% moisture content had a lighter shade compared to impregnated papers with mimosa tannin resins at 10% moisture content. Impregnated papers with mimosa tannin resin gave excellent results for water vapour resistance, cross-cut test and abrasion resistance compared to papers impregnated with MUF resin according to relevant standards. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Questionnaires are often used to quantify the subjective aspects of illness such as disability, coping strategies, or symptoms of depression. Most questionnaires were validated in a paper-based format, but direct entry into a computer is becoming commonplace. The aim of this study was to assess differences in outcome of questionnaires pertinent to hand and upper extremity illness when they were administered in a computer or paper format. Methods: Ninety-nine patients completed both paper and web versions of the short forms of the Disabilities of Arm, Shoulder, and Hand; the Pain Catastrophizing Scale; the Short Health Anxiety Index (SHAI-6); the Patient Health Questionnaire Depression Scale; and a pain scale and the Pain Self-Efficacy Questionnaire sequentially during a single visit. We alternated starting with the paper or the web version after every five patients. Results: The cohort consisted of 46 females and 53 males with a mean age of 49 years. There were significant differences in SHAI-6 and the pain scale, but not in the other measures. The intraclass correlation was high. Conclusions: The use of these questionnaires in electronic format is valid provided that the small differences we observed are not important to the primary study question. In our opinion, for most studies, the advantages of using an electronic format outweigh the small additional variation that might be introduced in the measures in an electronic format. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, a study concerning the composition of Italian papers from the seventeenth to the twentieth centuries was carried out using energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (EDXRF), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and scanning electron microscopy coupled to energy dispersive spectrometry (SEM-EDS). The analyzed samples consisted of papers employed for drawing, writing, printing, and absorbance. Observations carried out by SEM magnified the typical paper morphology. EDXRF in combination with XRD and SEM-EDS allowed the determination of calcite, gypsum, kaolin, talc, magnesite, and dolomite, used as fillers in the production of the papers studied herein. The inks present in the handwritten and printed papers, investigated by SEM-EDS and μ-EDXRF, were synthetic, Fe based, and iron gall inks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates the effect of mode of administration of the Raven Standard Progressive Matrices test on distribution, accuracy, and meaning of raw scores. A random sample of high school students take counterbalanced paper-and-pencil and computer-based administrations of the test and answer a questionnaire surveying preferences for computer-delivered test administrations. Administration mode effect is studied with repeated measures multivariate analysis of variance, internal consistency reliability estimates, and confirmatory factor analysis approaches. Results show a lack of test mode effect on distribution, accuracy, and meaning of raw scores. Participants indicate their preferences for the computer-delivered administration of the test. The article discusses findings in light of previous studies of the Raven Standard Progressive Matrices test. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]