วันศุกร์ที่ 6 เมษายน พ.ศ. 2555

TenCate Geotube® Project Profile

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วันจันทร์ที่ 2 เมษายน พ.ศ. 2555

Distant Eyes

dragon (drag.on) 1.a fabulous monster variously represented, generally as a huge winged reptile with crested head and terrible claws, and often spouting fire. 2.(now rare) a huge serpent or snake. 3.(in the Bible) a large serpent, crocodile, a great marine animal, or jackal. 4.a name for Satan. 5.a fierce violent person. 6.a severely watchful woman; a duenna. 7.any of the small flying lizards of the East Indian region. 8.(botany) any of various araceous plants, as the jack-in-the-pulpit. 9.a short musket, carried by a dragon (def.2) in the 16th and 17th centuries. 10.(astronomy) the northern constellation Draco. (eye) 1.the organ of sight or vision. 2.all the structures situated within or near the orbit which assist the organ of vision. 3.this organ with respect to the color of the iris: blue eyes. 4.the region surrounding the eye: a black eye. 5.sight; vision. 6.power of seeing; appreciative or discriminating visual perception: an eye for color. 7.(often pl.) look, glance, or gaze: to cast one's eye on a thing. 8.(often pl.) attentive look, close observation, or watch: to keep an eye on a person, to be all eyes. 9.regard, respect, view, aim, or intention: to have an eye on one's own advantage, with an eye to win favor. 10.(often pl.) manner or way of looking at a thing, estimation, or opinion: in the eyes of the law. 11.mental view: in my mind's eye. 12.a center of light, intelligence, influence, etc. 13.something resembling or suggesting the eye in appearance, shape ...



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วันพฤหัสบดีที่ 29 มีนาคม พ.ศ. 2555

The Exceptional Cognitive Abilities of Dolphins

Dolphins are perhaps the most intelligent aquatic mammal on Earth. With their self-awareness and abilities to communicate, reason, express emotions, adapt, and perform altruistic acts, they have spread across every ocean and many freshwater rivers in the same way humans have populated every continent. The cognitive abilities of dolphins are exceptional. Below is a close examination of this mammal's brain size, structure and remarkable cognitive abilities.

I. Brain Size/Structure:

Dolphins have a large, folded brain with an exceptional intellectual capacity. As a result, they learn extremely quickly and possess the ability to produce creative responses.

Although their cerebral cortex is 40% larger than that of humans, it is shallower, resulting in a neocortical volume that is 80% of that of humans. Nonetheless, both possess comparative cerebral hemispheres and folding to process sensory information and stimuli.

The average bottlenose dolphin brain weighs 1.7 kg (.4 kg more than the average human brain). When comparing brain size to body size - the Encephalization Quotient (EQ), the average dolphin brain registers between 4 and 5 (second to the 7 EQ of the average human brain and significantly higher than the EQ of any other type of animal including the great apes). This indicates a close proximity to human cognitive abilities.

In comparison to humans and other land mammals, a dolphin's brain has five versus six layers in their neocortex, with no functional segregation. This likely permits humans to focus on greater detail and dolphins to process sensory information at greater speeds, which may be more critical in a 3-dimensional water-based environment with few distinguishable landmarks where sound travels 4-5 times faster than on land.

In addition, relative to brain size, a dolphin's brain has a significantly larger cerebellum than a human. This is likely since an aquatic environment places greater need on motor control. Furthermore, a dolphin's cerebellum is also larger due to the absence of functional specialization, since it is likely used for cognitive processing.

Unlike the human brain, a dolphin's brain includes a paralimbic lobe to enhance integrated information and emotional processing. It is likely that emotions play a greater role in a dolphin's life than a human life.

Dolphins generally sleep in a semi-alert state by closing one eye and resting one side of the brain at a time. They usually alternate, closing one eye for 5-10 minutes and then the other. Within a 24-hour period, dolphins generally rest each eye and each side of the brain between 3-4 hours.

This is necessary so that dolphins can keep a lookout for potential predators - usually large sharks and killer whales. Remarkably, many dolphins in captivity, having recognized the absence of potential predators, rest both sides of their brain simultaneously, sleeping with both eyes shut.

II. Social Setting:

Dolphins are exceptionally social animals, consistent with humans, great apes and other creatures displaying high levels of intelligence. They occupy home ranges and live in pods or schools known as fission-fusion societies based on subgroups of age and sex-related individuals with size varying dramatically from about 6 to up to several thousand. At times, when there is an abundance of food, pods can join with each other forming superpods.

Although membership in pods is flexible and fluid, members of a pod form strong bonds with each other. Some pods are long lasting while others are merely temporary associations of individuals formed for a common goal. Nevertheless, dolphins refuse to abandon injured or ill individuals, assisting them to stay afloat to breathe if necessary. In addition, mother dolphins are known to take loving care of their young while entire pods will risk their safety to protect a mother and her calf from harm.

Within these pods, dolphins maintain intricate social networks. Each dolphin has a few close associates and additional more casual relationships with others within the pod. Dolphins breathe together, hunt together, coordinate their movements to capture prey, and take turns ingesting such prey. In addition, dolphins frequently alert others when large amounts of prey are discovered enabling others to get more food while enhancing safety with their greater numbers since potential predators may be interested in the same food source. Dolphins work exceptionally well during times of danger.

Dolphins are among the few species known to teach their young survival skills and culture. Mother dolphins teach their young to hunt through playful-looking movements, pointing gestures, and repetition. When teaching a calf to hunt, mother dolphins consistently take 8 times longer to capture and ingest their prey - often capturing and releasing it so that their calves can learn through observation and repetition. This transfer of knowledge is called "theory of mind."[1]

In addition to learning to hunt, young dolphins undergo extensive training. They learn about the rules of the pod, are disciplined when they act inappropriately, are taught about collaboration and cooperation, and about the identities and personalities of each member. Furthermore, to assist with the tasks, mothers share responsibilities and often take turns watching over hyperactive calves.

Dolphins are also taught to communicate through sound imitation. At this time, dolphins are the only non-human mammal to display strong evidence of vocal mimicry, vocal learning,[2] and learning of body movements through imitation.

In May 2005, it was discovered that the Indo-Pacific Bottlenose Dolphin passed on cultural behavior by teaching their young to break off sponges and cover their snouts with them while foraging for food. At the same time, it was discovered that some male dolphins in Brazil taught their young to use weeds and sticks as part of their sexual rituals.

Like other creatures of higher intelligence, dolphins at times engage in acts of aggression using their teeth and snouts as weapons. These disputes likely arise over competition for mates. At times these acts are so intense that targeted dolphins leave the pod or unfortunate calves fall victim to infanticide.

While sexual acts between dolphins are usually brief, foreplay can be lengthy and sexual acts can be repeated many times in a short timespan. In addition, dolphins may engage in sexual activity for pleasure and among different species, producing hybrids. However, at times, sexual activity can be violent with male dolphins displaying aggression towards both females and other males.

Complex play is also an important part of a dolphin's life. Dolphins occasionally perform acrobatic tricks, play with seaweed and other food, produce bubble rings that they then observe and even bite, and play-fight among themselves. They also enjoy surfing waves and even interacting with boats and other creatures such as whales and humans.

III. Multi-modal Sensory Perception:

Dolphins primarily use four senses to perceive the world around them. These senses, used in simultaneity and conjunction with each other, are vision, echolocation, taste, and touch. Together they are used to integrate information from their surroundings. Such information is processed at high speeds. Yet despite the multi-modal nature of dolphins, it appears that they have no sense of smell.

Dolphins have acute vision both in and out of water. In addition, their eyes possess both rods and L-Cones enabling them to see in dim and bright light, and possibly colors within the red and green light spectrums. Dolphins, however, cannot see blue coloring except under certain light conditions when both the rods and L-cones, which have a very low sensitivity for blue light, are active. However, with 7,000 times as many rods as the human eye, dolphins can see extremely well in dark conditions such as murky water.

In addition, dolphins can move their eyes in different directions at the same time. One eye can look to the side while the other looks up enabling them to have two fields of vision with a 300° panoramic view. These two fields of vision can also overlap.

Dolphins generally hear tones within the frequency range of .25 to 150 kHz versus the average human auditory range of .02 to 17 kHz. In echolocation (the ability to see with their ears, in which the dolphin receives sound waves in the form of nerve impulses that are interpreted into a visual depiction of the object), dolphins may emit up to 700 clicks per second at between 40 to 150 kHz to detect the size and location of an object hundreds of meters away. In fact, dolphin echolocation is so sensitive that it can detect a 3-inch steel ball from approximately 90 meters away. Echolocation is also valuable in detecting echo signatures of potential prey.

Dolphins possess the ability to taste and differentiate between salt, bitter, sweet, and sour. This can be useful for navigation (ocean currents may have distinct chemical traces), orientation, discovering food, locating other dolphins, reproduction, and even stress sensitivity.

Dolphins also are extremely sensitive to touch which can be useful in sensing water movement and utilizing it to their advantage. The reason dolphins have such acute touch is because unlike human skin that possesses an epidermal layer of dead cells, a dolphin's outer layer of skin is composed entirely of live cells.

IV. Shape Recognition:

Studies have shown that dolphins can match simple and complex shapes with precision. In an early study, dolphins were able to match a cube, pyramid, and rectangular prism with high accuracy based on vision and echolocation.

In another study, a dolphin's ability to match 16 pairs of complex shapes and designs was tested through vision, echolocation, and multi-modal (vision and echolocation used in conjunction with each other) perception. The results were astonishing. During this experiment, an 8 year-old female bottlenose dolphin, Ebele was able to match 94.6% of the pairs through echolocation to vision (detected the pairs which hidden in a box through echolocation and then matched them through vision with pairs suspended in the water), 97.1% of the pairs through vision to echolocation (detected through vision pairs suspended in water and matched them with pairs hidden in boxes through echolocation) in a sample consisting of 384 trials. The results were even equally astonishing when Ebele's multi-modal skills were tested. When tested to match pairs projected over a television screen (for which echolocation cannot be used) with pairs suspended in the water that allowed Ebele to use vision and echolocation simultaneously, she was able to identify 95.8% of the pairs in a sample consisting of 24 trials.

V. Mirror Self Recognition (MSR):

The ability to possess sentience or self-awareness to think about oneself in the physical and mental realms illustrates a complex level of abstract thinking that is rare among animals. Studies have shown that dolphins possess this self-awareness.

Studies have shown that dolphins can recognize themselves in a mirror and investigate their own bodies. They have also shown that dolphins are aware of their own behavior and body parts as well as their feelings of doubt when subjected to difficult memory tests.

During the MSR tests, dolphins proved that they possessed selective attention in that they could pay attention to themselves in a mirror and were aware that they were viewing themselves instead of another animal.

When dolphins were marked with non-toxic ink or water markers consisting of no ink, they immediately swam over to a mirror or the most reflective object (when a mirror was not present) to inspect themselves. Furthermore, when dolphins had been marked by non-toxic ink, they spent more time in front of the mirror, carefully examining the marking on their bodies.

With their self-awareness, dolphins can also form analogies between their bodies and those of another, even improvising when the body of another species looks nothing like their own body. For example, if a person raises a leg, a dolphin may raise its tail.

In another example of self-awareness as well as understanding of cause and effect, dolphins have been observed to splash water on people who have approached their tanks and then raise themselves out of the water to determine the response their actions had elicited.

Dolphins can also discern the difference between reality and television. When observing others being fed on television, they initially swam up to the TV to check for fish. Afterwards, upon realizing that televisions projected depictions of reality, dolphins swam to their feeding areas when they saw others being fed on television, in anticipation that they too were about to be fed.

VI. Language and Communication:

Being among the most vocal of animals, dolphins are capable of producing a broad range of sounds ranging from whistles (their primary means of communication), burst-pulsed sounds (primarily used to convey a dolphin's emotional state ranging from pleasure to distress), and clicks (primarily for echolocation).

From a very young age, dolphins learn to produce a signature whistle (likely their name) based on imitation of a mother's signature whistle. This signature whistle allows others to identify the individual. In addition, dolphins also learn to imitate another's signature whistle so that they can likely address other dolphins by name, a key component of any functional language. They often whistle and respond to whistles to let others know where they are. In addition, a mother and calf who become separated, whistle frequently to locate each other until they are reunited. It is also believed that dolphins use whistles to refer to prey and objects. However, the extent is not known.

At the same time, it is known that dolphins use pulsed yelps during courtship, pulsed squeaks when in danger, and a rapid series of buzzing clicks when angry or involved in a confrontation.

In addition, dolphins also use body language as a means of communicating. This body language ranges from arching their bodies, bubble blowing, swimming with joined pectoral fins, flexing, head movement, nuzzling, jaw clapping, and even ramming and head butting.

Sufficient evidence exists that dolphins communicate information about "what," "where," and "who" while there is no substantive evidence of them communicating about "when," "how" or "why."[3] Furthermore, studies have shown that dolphins communication like that of humans, is intentional, the core purpose of developed languages. This communication ranges from playful, excited chatter to more serious conversation, for which the depth and content is not fully understood. A vivid example of dolphins' intentional communication occurred in an aquarium in Hawaii. When a mother and her two-year-old calf were placed in separate tanks that were connected via audio link, both mother and calf were observed chirping at each other as they rapidly exchanged information over a telephone link.

In addition, studies have shown that dolphins are capable of understanding symbols and hand gestures (mainly from American Sign Language), can learn associations between symbols, sounds, and objects without specific reinforcement or direct intervention, and can classify relationships between events. In fact dolphins have proven to be as proficient as humans when it comes to comprehending constructed sentence structures with a strong understanding of syntax (knowledge that word order makes a difference and changes the meaning of a sentence, for example dolphins know they cannot fetch a person and put him or her on a surfboard) and semantics (comprehension of words and symbols). In addition, experiments have shown that dolphins can also discern between numerical values. They can comprehend if two or three objects are available and can also determine with little effort if something is absent. For example when a dolphin is asked to retrieve a Frisbee in the water, it does so with little effort when such a Frisbee is present. However, when asked to place a Frisbee that is present in the water on a surfboard that is absent, dolphins have been shown to respond that they cannot do so since the surfboard is not present.

VII. Memory:

Studies have shown that dolphins have excellent memory systems. This has been proven by dolphins' abilities to learn sentence structure and meaning, retain human vocabularies of approximately 40 words in which thousands of sentences can be constructed, to memorize objects seen (matching them against new pairings consisting of pairs and triplicates of objects) and sounds heard (ranging from high frequency to long duration and match them against lists of between two to six different types of sounds) and by their ability to learn specific behaviors that can result in either adverse or rewarding experiences.

However, despite their excellent memory systems, the core of cognitive learning, dolphins appear to have a short-term memory that is more acute than their long-term memory. They were able to identify objects seen and sounds heard with a higher accuracy based on recency of effect.

VIII. Emotions:

Dolphins utilize vocal sounds and swimming patterns to express emotions in lieu of facial expressions.

Dolphins are generally affectionate creatures that show emotions towards their own kind as well as other species. They show concern for ill or injured members of their pod, they fiercely protect a mother and her young from predators, mourn for deceased members, and show excitement and joy when reunited with long lost members for which they had developed a bond. In addition, dolphins have displayed the capacity to show fear and concern and been shown to possess not only emotions that last for a short duration but also moods that could last for longer durations.

IX. Altruism:

Stories date back thousands of years about the altruistic, selfless nature of dolphins. Dolphins are not only altruistic towards their own kind but other species as well. Many examples of intra- and interspecies altruism exist. At times, dolphins have sounded an alert heard 10 kms away to call other dolphins to assist in saving a human being. This interspecies altruism is likely the result of a dolphin's strong emotional feelings, self-awareness, "theory of mind," consciousness, and perhaps even the existence of a conscience in that they could not bear to see a human being perish anymore than a person could bear to see a dolphin or cat or dog perish. As a result, they transpose feelings of anguish, hurt, and loneliness onto others producing the same feelings of compassion that humans have for another. In essence, dolphins possess an openness and caring for other species.

A dolphin reportedly saved Telemachus, the son of Odysseus when he fell into the sea and nearly drowned as was written by Homer (c. 850 BC). In gratitude, Odysseus placed the figure of a dolphin on his shield.

Roman scientist Plinius (AD23-AD79) wrote about a dolphin that befriended a little boy. The boy fed the dolphin each day. One day when the dolphin did not see the boy, it searched for him. Upon discovering that he had drowned, the dolphin pushed his body onto a beach, laid next to him and died. Roman mosaics also show men playing with dolphins.

In the 18th century, a pod of dolphins saved Vietnamese sailors after their boat was sunk by hostile invaders.

In 1996, Martin Richardson was saved from a shark attack in the Red Sea when pod of dolphins encircled him and created turbulence to scare away the shark. The dolphins did not leave until Mr. Richardson was rescued.

In 2004, a group of New Zealand lifeguards were saved by dolphins that had formed a protective ring around them. The dolphins maintained the ring for about 40 minutes until 3 m-long shark had left. The lifeguards then swam to shore.

In 2007 a pod of dolphins saved surfer Todd Endris from a great white shark that had attacked him.

In March 2008, a dolphin came to the rescue of two pygmy sperm whales, a mother whale and her calf that were stranded on a New Zealand beach upon hearing the whales' distress calls. The dolphin led the whales 200 m along the beach and safely out to sea. This was similar to a 1983 incident at Tokerau Beach, New Zealand when a pod of dolphins herded a group of between 76 to 80 pilot whales and guided them safely out to sea.

Dolphins have been known to support a sick member of their pod and to standby an injured or ill companion regardless of the danger to themselves. They also work cooperatively in groups, assist each other in obtaining a mate, and put themselves at risk to defend a mother and her calf.

X. Conclusion:

Based on the exceptional cognitive abilities of dolphins, the existence of cognitive convergence (in which brains of separate species share remarkable abilities to process sensory information and input from their surroundings and to communicate and comprehend language), one can hope for the day when interspecies communication is possible so that all species may develop a greater understanding of the world, greater appreciation for each other, and most importantly collaborate for joint solutions to preserve our wonderful planet. When or if interspecies communication is made possible through technology (e.g. computer links - dolphins have already been proven to understand computer-generated bars and disks that symbolize words and phrases in sign language) and greater understanding, from what can we learn better about what it takes to and is like living in all the oceans of the world regardless of temperature, depth, and chemical content, and anecdotal evidence of marine world issues than dolphins?

____________________

[1] Dolphins and the evolution of teaching.  World Science.  7 August 2008.  17 January 2009. http://www.world-science.net/exclusives/080807_dolphin.htm

[2] Diana Reiss, Brenda McCowan and Lori Marino.  Communicative and other cognitive characteristics of bottlenose dolphins.  Trends in Cognitive Science. Vol. 1, No. 4.  Elsevier Science, Ltd.  July 1997. p. 2.

[3] Margaret Klinowska.  Brains, Behaviour and Intelligence in Cetaceans (Whales, Dolphins and Porpoises).  26 September 1994.  17 January 2009. http://www.highnorth.no/library/myths/br-be-an.htm

Additional Reference:

Adam A. Pack and Louis M. Herman.  Sensory integration in the bottlenosed dolphin: Immediate recognition of complex shapes across the senses of echolocation and vision.  Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.  Acoustical Society of America.  1 August 1995. pp. 726, 729-730.

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วันจันทร์ที่ 26 มีนาคม พ.ศ. 2555

Are Cats Smarter Than Dogs?

For as long as I can remember I have heard that dogs are much smarter than cats.

However, I have felt that just because a dog will do tricks and most cats don't, is not reason enough to say cats are not smart.

My theory has always been that cats are so smart that they won't learn any tricks unless they want to.

It is not something they have to do.

Dogs by nature are social animals and their main goal in life besides eating, is to please their people.

Cats on the other hand lack the "gene" that makes it important to please anyone, but themselves.

Why have I brought this subject up?

Well I read an article that discussed feline intelligence in Cat Watch, a magazine put out by Cornell's School of Veterinary Medicine.

It went on to say, at Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine, researchers have found that the structure of a cat's brain and that of a human brain are very similar.

To quote the article "the physical structure of our brain and that of cats are very similar: they have the same lobes in the cerebral cortex (the seat of intelligence) as we do. Our brains function the same way, conveying data via identical neurotransmitters."

What that means, is our cats take in data from the 5 senses and process it just like we do.

Hmmmmm, thinking cats. Who would ever believe that?

But, it is true, cats process things in a way similar to our way of thinking. They actually make decisions.

Animal Discovery.com says that cats are: "incredibly resourceful and self-reliant, the species has survived thousands of years in radically different environments and living conditions. Even domestic cats show a crafty, strong-willed and versatile nature."

There is so much about cats that we take for granted or if the truth be known, we don't even think about.

When we see a cat sitting in a doorway or staring off into space, we just laugh at it, not realizing that the cat is actually thinking about what it is going to do next.

The cat is surveying the situation, using its 5 senses to determine whether it is safe or not to move onward.

We think of a cat as a somewhat anti-social animal because it is solitary by nature, but cats can adapt to conditions just as we do.

"The fact that a cat can adapt to different situations is a sign of intelligence, that goes beyond conditioning or instinct," says Dr. Julia Albright of Cornell's Veterinary School.

Cats do socialize with each other, if the situation warrants it: such as meeting at an eating or drinking place (the barn, fishing pier or where someone feeds stray cats.)

Did you know that domesticated female cats and lions are the only two species of cat that will raise their young in a group with other mothers, if it is necessary?

Cats also learn by observation.

Just because kitty is sitting there staring into space does not mean it is daydreaming. It may be learning, by watching you, how to open the cupboard door.

Kittens that are raised without their mother or other cats to observe, do not do a lot of things we consider normal behavior for cats.

Cats also retain memory, they are smart enough to know when they are scolded not to do that behavior in front of you again. They will wait until your back is turned.

Dogs on the other hand will repeat a bad behavior several times, before it finally sinks in that they are not supposed behave that way.

We will all agree that dogs are easier to train to do tricks than cats, but dogs have the predisposition to please and learning tricks is one way to please.

Cats can learn tricks, but it is harder to get them to do things, unless you provide a reward that is really appealing.

There is also the thought that dogs have been selectively bred for certain behaviors, cats have been cats forever.

There has not been a time when a cat has been selectively bred to hunt, catch birds or play only with blue yarn balls.

I agree that the particular breeds of cat have been kept as pure as possible, but have you ever heard of a cat species being bred to do a chore such as "rounding up mice."

In truth I guess it is impossible to say which species is smarter, dogs or cats, but I will leave you with this thought, "dogs have masters, cats have staff."

Need I say more?

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วันศุกร์ที่ 23 มีนาคม พ.ศ. 2555

Toshiya Tsunoda - LF IV

Toshiya Tsunoda | Low Frequency Observed At Maguchi Bay | Hibari Music | 2007 | Photo: Low Frequencies Observed at Maguchi Bay Installation in Säulenhalle, 3 July 2011 | From an interview in The Wire, January 2011: 'One CD that [Tsunoda] is particularly fond of is Low Frequency Observed At Maguchi Bay, released on Hibari in 2007. It contains a rare example of processed sound in his work -- the filtering out of almost the entire audio signal on half of the album. There are eight tracks, sourced from four contact mic field recordings. The odd-numbered tracks contain the original recordings, and the even numbered tracks replay the identical material with all sound above 20 Hz (ie the threshold of human hearing) removed. Listening to it, one becomes aware of something there but not-there, as the throbbing speakers seem to try to express something under extreme duress. "Maguchi Bay is a very ordinary fishing bay in Japan, a quiet place," he recounts. "But the place was mysterious for me. There are many piers and breakwaters at the bay. When a contact mic is attached to one of the smallest and oldest piers, a huge amplitude of very low frequency sound is spread there. It was an unusual case in my field work. I discovered the low frequency about ten years ago. The mysterious thing for me is that this low-frequency vibration doesn't relate to any sound that one hears in the air. First, I thought that it was the effect of the wind shaking the pier. But then it happened when there ...



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วันอังคารที่ 20 มีนาคม พ.ศ. 2555

Underground Ducting - Colours Explained

Plastic Ducting has now become by far the most commonly used way of protecting pipes and cables that are laid underground, both in domestic houses and gardens and in commercial installations such as under roads or playing fields. Whilst clay ducts are still often used in certain larger commercial projects, it is equally likely that larger bore plastic pipes will be found in today's construction sites. Providing ducting is laid correctly, it offers a number of benefits to an underground installation. Ducting primarily gives protection to the cable or pipe within from ground movement and animal activity, but it also alerts any future installation to the presence of a pipe or cable, often preventing costly damage and remedial works. It also makes it far easier to replace existing cables, or even add more, without the need for large excavation works.

Although water supply pipes have to be laid at depths governed by strict guidelines, other services vary greatly - there are actually few rules governing other services. Whilst it is usual for most services to be found at depth of at least 300mm, it is quite possible to find a duct laid just below ground level, particularly near to the external walls of a house. It is therefore equally likely that you may well discover such a duct whilst carrying out property maintenance or gardening, and therefore it would be helpful to understand which service cable or pipe is being carried within.

Black duct is generally used to carry electricity. The voltage of a cable laid in black duct should be low (less than 250V) or medium (less than 500V). Higher voltage cables (greater than 500V) are to be found in red ducts and should never be found near the surface.

Yellow duct contains gas pipe. This pipe would usually be made of polyethylene, and is used to supply the gas to incoming side of the gas meter.

Blue duct is made to carry potable (drinkable) water. In most instances this would be MDPE (medium density polyethylene) water mains pipe.

Grey duct is used by telecoms providers to carry their cables. A more recent addition to the colour spectrum is green, which is the standard used by cable television companies. During the cable television boom of the 1990's many miles of green ducting were laid in the UK's towns and cities.

Orange duct is reserved for commercial use, and carries cabling for traffic signals. This is used in both highway and railway applications, but is most commonly used by railway maintenance contractors. This should not be mistaken for standard foul and surface water underground drainage pipe, which is a golden brown colour. The ducting that is used for traffic signals is a much brighter orange colour.

The other colour of duct that is now commonly visible is purple, usually seen when motorway maintenance is being carried out. Purple duct is used to carry cable for lighting and overhead gantries.

Ducting is generally available from Builders Merchants and Civil Engineering suppliers. Most types of duct come in standard lengths of 6 metres, with a male and female end for easy push -fit jointing. Smaller sizes of duct for domestic use are also supplied in coils, of usually 50m in length

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วันเสาร์ที่ 17 มีนาคม พ.ศ. 2555

Kamov Coaxial helicopters (History)_chunk_2.avi

Translation - Electronic About film: For 60 years of the history the helicopter the civil engineering firm "Kamov" by the right became national property of Russia and has obtained a world recognition. Today rotary-wing machines with an emblem "КА" are maintained in 25 countries. Its founder - Nikolay Ilich КА-МОВ - has created unique design school on designing and development of helicopters of the coaxial scheme. Nowadays in an active "Kamovs" which are headed by the Hero of Russia Sergey Mikheyev, more than 20 types of rotary-wing devices. The greatest popularity have got fighting: well-known shock Ка-50 " the Black shark ", fighting Ка-52 "Alligator" and transport Ка-60 "Kasatka" - "triad" of army aircraft; ship resistance to boats saving Ка-27, radar-tracking patrol Ка-31. But these helicopters have also civil updatings. Among them are allocated with the unique characteristics: small Ка-226, load-lifting Ка-32 and high-speed Ка-62. The nearest 20 years the rotary-wing aircraft of Russia will replenish with new perspective helicopters of firm, including machine Ka-92 with unprecedented earlier in the speed for devices of such class - over 500 kilometers at an o'clock. They will be irreplaceable both for needs of defense of the country, and for development of transport system in areas of the Far East and the Far North. О фильме: За 60 лет своей истории вертолётостроительная фирма "Камов" по праву стала национальным достоянием России и получила мировое признание. Сегодня ...



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