Ethnobotanical investigations were conducted in Fundong Central Subdivision in the Northwest Region of Cameroon to identify trees growing in the area and collect information on their uses by the local people. This research covered a period of 12 months from May 2007 to April 2008. Ethnobotanical information was collected through the show-and-tell/semi-structured method and personal interviews d...

Warming and drought will occur with increased frequency and intensity at high latitudes in the future. How heat and water stress can influence tree mortality is incompletely understood. The aim of this study was to evaluate how carbon resources, stem hydraulics, and wood anatomy and density determine the ability of black spruce saplings to survive daytime or night-time warming (+ 6 °C in compar...

the growing interest in using natural fibers as reinforcing agents of polymer-based composites is mainly due to their advantages such as lower cost, lower density, ease of preparation, lower energy requirements for processing, biodegradability, wide availability and relative non-abrasiveness over traditional reinforcing fibers such as glass and carbon. in this study, wood-plastic composite (wpc...

Wood contains the majority of the nutrients in tropical trees, yet controls over wood nutrient concentrations and their function are poorly understood. We measured wood nutrient concentrations in 106 tree species in 10 forest plots spanning a regional fertility gradient in Panama. For a subset of species, we quantified foliar nutrients and wood density to test whether wood nutrients scale with ...

The possibility of using water insoluble fraction from biomass pyrolysis oil as additive in synthesis of Wood-Plastic novolac has been proved by using Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) and Fourier Transformed Infra Red (FT-IR) spectroscopy. Synthesis of novolac with different concentrations (10, 20 and 30 wt %) of water insoluble fraction were performed. It was found that mechanical p...

Acacia is a fast-growing plant that has high potential in commercial plantations in tropical areas. It is already being grown as a plantation crop for building and industrial raw materials, as well as for reforestation of difficult sites. Extensive cultivation of this promising tree would enrich the natural resources besides being useful for industrial raw material, waste land management, and a...

Global energy sources such as coal and oil are limited, and the burning of such fossil resources creates pollution problems. Wind energy offers one of several promising clean alternatives to carbon-based fuels. However, the composite materials currently available for producing wind turbine blades cannot accommodate the scale-up of wind energy due to their high price and disposal challenges (e.g...

Occupational exposures to wood dust have been associated with an elevated risk of sinonasal cancer (SNC). Wood dust is recognized as a human carcinogen but the specific cancer causative agent remains unknown. One possible explanation is a co-exposure to; wood dust and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). PAHs could be generated during incomplete combustion of wood due to heat created by use...