Integrated management of termites damaging wooden structures

Fibre Bragg Gratings for the Monitoring of Wooden Structures

The aim of this work was to develop and validate an experimental methodology suitable for analysing on-site the behaviour of fibre-reinforced wooden structures. The proposed measurement method is based on the application of fibre Bragg grating (FBG) strain sensors. An analysis of adhesive behaviour was performed preliminarily, which provided indications for choosing the type of adhesive and for...

Portascan: a New Instrument for Nde of Wooden Structures

Some years ago, the author had designed and built a portable computed tomography instrument called PortaCat for imaging wooden power poles. Independent trials in 1998 demonstrated that among a range of techniques available, PortaCat images provided the best estimates of parameters such as available bending moments. However, in spite of an urgent requirement of the power industry to adopt non-de...

Termites

Termites (Isoptera) are plagued by bad press. They destroy the livelihood of tropical farmers, literally eat their way through our homes, and even threaten our cultural heritage, including assaults on the Statue of Liberty in New York, the ancient books of the Vatican, or the historical city of Isfahan in Iran. One estimate from 2005 put the annual damage at about US$ 50 billion worldwide, with...

Damaging the Integrated HIV Proviral DNA with TALENs

HIV-1 integrates its proviral DNA genome into the host genome, presenting barriers for virus eradication. Several new gene-editing technologies have emerged that could potentially be used to damage integrated proviral DNA. In this study, we use transcription activator-like effector nucleases (TALENs) to target a highly conserved sequence in the transactivation response element (TAR) of the HIV-...

Endpoint Management: Non-damaging Laser Therapy of the Macula