#It's named after that because the format was resource heavy for the time and similarly to kamikaze attacks had little regard for the future

[mintaka-iii]

obsessed with the name of the audio file format Ogg Vorbis it's just so fun to say

[herbalsupplementreview-blog]

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[itsgoodintention]

The Inbound Marketing Strategies of 2020

         Effective Inbound Marketing techniques will improve your company's revenue and overall growth. Implementing inbound Marketing Trends will help you attract, engage, delight and trust potential customers. You will depend on your reputation and expertise to bond and trust with your customers.

Efficient Inbound Marketing assists you in attracting your potential customers by using relevant and useful content to access your website, landing page or social media pages. As you can imagine, when carrying out an inbound marketing campaign there are various kinds tactics and strategies.The following will examine 10 actionable inbound marketing strategies you can leverage in 2020.

SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

Most marketers are familiar with

Search Engine Optimization

. However, as a refresher, SEO optimizes the content and layout of your website to earn organic, high-ranking search engine results placements, like Google. You can't find your company or solutions without a good SEO for your future customers. In 2020, seek to focus on internal links, local SEO and link building.

While SEO is a long process and takes time to achieve results, it is still the best way for you to create awareness of your brand and to get in brand new guests. Even when you have stopped most of your promotions.

Optimize for Voice Search

You need to optimize your website for voice search if you are trying to reach more people online. Begin with keywords to optimize your website. Usually people who have spoken use phrases and sentences to scan. Make sure that the highest length keywords for your product or service are used by your website and other content formats. Make sure your position is properly described when you are a local company.

Another way to optimize your voice search website is to ensure quick loading and no backend files slowing it down. your website loads fast. In order to view which of these are heavy files, you want to look at thematic files or added apps you built on your web site.

AI-Powered Marketing Automation

AI-Powered Marketing  is one of the leading trends in incoming markets in 2020. Through AI 's power, brands can build a more targeted campaign and personalize their commercial efforts to boost investment returns.

You can use AI-powered marketing tools to analyze customer data and automatically interact with customers at a particular level. This also includes marketing and sales funnel automation, which interacts with customers on the basis of specific prompts and conditions.

Relying on Organic Social Media

The content you created needs to be promoted and the social media industry benefits. Active social media accounts help to build and join conversations to support your brand, but it only goes so far today that you publish and engage your audience organically.

It is simple with paid social ads to complement and enhance your organic posting. Paid promotion with your targeted audience will improve your post exposure. When users of social media don't seem to be turned off on news channels by advertising.

The development of an online community is another choice to consider. After all, the purpose of engaging on

Social Media

with your audience is to build and link conversations that give value to your journey to purchase. An online community is a group of people with a mutual interest who come together for a shared reason in a specific online space. You are a resource for your audience and create trusty relationship with a non-promotional online community.

Personalization

Each of us expects a level of personal touch as a human in the world of today, including in our daily business. Personalization, which is a next step in conversational marketing, includes not only your name, but also your preferences and often addresses your needs. And it's in any company's hands. Why not use it, then?

Similarly, retargeting ads follow an audience which visited your site to remember your life and to establish a more personal touch. It is a different way for developers to become smarter and feel like we are getting.

The way people are adapted to new technologies is incredible, in particular when it improves our lives. Every year, we expect our experiences to change, from using websites to watching videos. Talking of video …

Off-page Content Marketing

The Creating of content which your audience values and is committed to is one of the best ways for you to follow loyally and increase your brand's overall awareness. When people begin to recognize your business name as an authority on certain issues, they are more likely to spend their money on you.

This strategy enables you to build content that will allow you to familiarize your audience and place your name in the minds of individuals who, either this week or next month, may not buy from you but will remember your name at last. This strategy can also influence

SEO tactics

, as a link to your domain, known as a backlink, can be found in a certain website that hosts content.

Content marketing helps you to build a network of links and related content that marks you as an expert in the community. The more authority that you have, the more forums and other websites that give you an even more credible forum to appeal to your target consumers are used to your opinion, of course.

SMS Marketing

SMS marketing is also useful both for consumers and for politicians, as you can carry out different promotions for both publics. For instance, text reminders of appointments or meetings may be sent to current customers. For guidance, you can send brand awareness campaigns or coupons that can encourage you to buy. The best thing? The beginning with SMS marketing is a breeze with a platform like SMSZap. You can set up your account in a few minutes, connect to your HubSpot contacts, and send personalized, engaging messages.

Mobile Friendly Pages

You need to mobilize your website – and your blog, too. Internet searches on mobile devices are conducted more than ever. In fact , the majority of internet requests are made on mobile devices – not on computers or servers. Therefore, your pages on smartphones and other pocket apps will be easy to use and open to everyone. A mobile-friendly website reduces the frictions of the users and increases the satisfaction of the customer with their buys and your business.

Work with Influencers

One effective way to attract visitors is to work with influencers as you concentrate on your social media campaign. Figure out which influencers are popular with your target population, while considering age , gender, location and other factors. Then, join in and promote your company or product with these influencers.

The use of B2B niche influence campaigns is particularly effective, because they are usually supported by fans who admire and trust their opinions, and these followers probably trust their appreciation of your product , brand or company. This is why working with a B2B niche influencer to produce a guest blog post about difficult people who read the blog's influencers would dramatically increase the likelihood of your call to action.

Website Design Effectiveness

It is crucial that your website is attractive and easy to navigate before you can start to attract visitors. It's time for refurbishment if your website is not a helpful partner to attract, connect and impress prospective customers.

Qualnex

agency offer expert and data-based redesign services.

[holytheoristtastemaker]

Golang, also known as Go, is an open-source programming language created by Google developers Robert Griesemer, Ken Thompson, and Rob Pike in 2007. It was created for ease, and many developers praise it for building simple, reliable programs. Since its release, Golang has gained increasing popularity. In 2009 and 2016, it was pronounced the language of the year. It was given the 10th place ranking in 2018, and it continues to move its way into major organizations. This language has a lot to offer. Anyone wanting to work at Google should know this language. That’s why today, I want to walk you through a deep-dive tutorial to the Go programming language. Today we will discuss:

Overview of Golang features

Basic terms and concepts of Go

Intermediate concepts of Go

Advanced concepts of Go

Resources

Overview of Golang features

This general-purpose programming language includes many great features from other programming languages. It is compiled, simple, concurrent, statically-typed, and efficient. Go improves upon these aspects of programming languages and simplifies the working environment for developers. Go is essentially an imperative language that accommodates concurrency concepts. It brings some of the great features of object-oriented programming, like interfaces, but does not include some of the pitfalls. Go was intentionally designed to exclude the more “heavy-weight” features of OOP. In that respect, Go is hybrid, utilizing the best features of many languages with a clear, expressive type system while remaining lightweight and easy to learn. Go can be used for all kinds of software development solutions such as a system programming language, a general programming language, or general support. It can handle heavy server-centric web services, text-processing problem, and heavy-duty distributed applications.

Why learn Golang?

Familiar and easy to learn. Go belongs to the C-family, so it shares many beloved syntactic similarities to languages like Java and C++, but Go offers a more concise syntax, so it’s easier to learn and read. Similar to Python and Ruby, it also integrates many features of dynamic programming. Meets developer needs. Go attempts to meet some common needs that developers face. It speeds up the software development process while not compromising on efficiency. Go aims to support the developing market with network communication, memory management, and speed. Simplicity of server-side. Go makes it easy to work with the server-side of your code. The standard Go library provides the standard HTTP protocol. Now that we have a sense of what Go is and what it brings to the table, let’s jump into the basics. Today, we will be introducing the major concepts and core constructs of the Go programming language to get you started. As always, a more robust course is needed to teach you all the ins-and-outs. Let’s jump in.

Basics terms and concepts of Go

Filenames, keywords, identifiers

The Go source code is stored in .go files. All filenames are lowercase, and you can use _ to separate multiple words. As with most filenames, you cannot use spaces or special characters. Keywords in Go function similarly to most programming languages. These are reserved words that carry special meaning to use in your code. Unlike Java or C++, Go has far fewer keywords, making it easier to use and learn. These keywords are:

Identifiers are similar to keywords, but you make these as the programmer. You can assign a name to elements like variables, templates, etc. And like most programming languages, identifiers are case sensitive. They must begin with a letter or an underscore and are followed by digits. The blank identifier _ can be used in declarations or variable assignments. There are also 36 predeclared identifiers, which are:

Basic structure

Programs in Go are built up of keywords, operators, types, functions, and constants. Code is structured in statements, but it does not need to end with a ; like many other C-family languages. If multiple statements are written on one line, you must separate them with ;. Go uses similar punctuation characters to other languages, including . , ; : and .... Go uses three delimiters in its code: ( ) [ ] and { }.

Data types and variables

Like many programming languages, variables contain different types of data that define the set of values or operations that can act upon those values. In Go, there are four main data types you can work with:

Elementary (aka. primitive): int, float, bool, string

Structures (aka. composite): struct, slice, map, array, channel

Interfaces: describe the behavior of a type

In Go, a structured type has no inherent value but rather the default value nil. A variable is a value that can be changed during execution. To declare a variable, we use the var keyword.

var identifier type = value

In this example, identifier is the name of the variable, and type is the type. Unlike other C-family languages, we write type after the variable identifier. When we declare a variable in Go, memory is initialized. We must also give a value to our variables using the = operator. This process is called assigning a variable. There is also a shorthand for declaring variables.

f := "fruit" fmt.Println(f) }

Operators

Like in many programming languages, operators are built-in symbols that perform logical or mathematical operations. There are three types of operators in Golang, arithmetic, logical, and bitwise. Logical operators are similar to other programming languages. Go, however, is very strict about the values that can be compared. These operators include:

Equality operator==

Not-Equal operator!=

Less-than operator <

Greater-than operator >

Less-than equal-to operator <=

Greater-than equal-to operator >=

Bitwise operators work on integer variables that have bit-patterns of equal length. Some of the bitwise operators are:

Bitwise AND operator &

Bitwise OR operator |

Bitwise XOR operator ^

Bit CLEAR operator &^

Bitwise COMPLEMENT operator ^

Arithmetic operators include + / % and *. These perform common arithmetic operations, and there are even some shortcuts. For example,

b = b + a

can be shortened as

b += a

Strings

Strings implement functions to manipulate UTF-8 encoded strings. They are UTF-8 encoded by default, so they can contain characters from any language. These are defined between double quotes “ “, can include a sequence of variable-width characters, and are immutable. Go strings are generally better than strings in other languages because they use less memory, and you don’t need to decode them due to the UTF-8 standard. There are two kinds of string literals in Golang, interpreted and raw. Interpreted strings are surrounded by quotes, and raw strings are surrounded by backticks. To declare a string, we use the string keyword. Look at the example below to see how it’s done.

package main import "fmt" func main() { var s string = "Hello, World" fmt.Printf(s) }

Output: Hello, World You can loop over characters in a string to access individual elements. We use the for loop, which we will discuss more later.

package main import "fmt" func main() { var s string = "Hello, World" for index, character := range(s){ fmt.Printf("The character %c is in position %d \n", character, index) } }

Output: The character H is in position 0 The character e is in position 1 The character l is in position 2 The character l is in position 3 The character o is in position 4 The character , is in position 5 The character is in position 6 The character W is in position 7 The character o is in position 8 You can also use string to form a string from a slice of byte values. Look at the example to see how it’s done.

package main import "fmt" func main() { myslice := []byte{0x48, 0x65, 0x6C, 0x6C, 0x6f} mystring := string(myslice) fmt.Printf(mystring) }

Output: Hello

Times and dates

In Golang, the package time provides the ability to measure and display time. For example, we can use time.Now( ) to display the current time, and t.Day ( ) to obtain smaller parts. There are many useful features of Go’s time package, such as the function Since(t Time), which returns the time elapsed since t. You can make your own time formats as well.

t := time.Now() fmt.Printf("%02d.%02d.%4d\n", t.Day(), t.Month(), t.Year()) // e.g.: 29.10.2019

For more on Go's time package, check out the documentation.

Keep the learning going.

Learn Golang without scrubbing through videos or documentation. > Educative's text-based courses are easy to skim and feature live coding environments - making learning quick and efficient. The Way to Go

Intermediate concepts of Go

Control structures

Control structures are similar to that of C, but they are generally more simplified and flexible. There are no do or while loop; instead, Go uses flexible for and switch loops. There are also new control structures, such as a type switch and select. We do not use parentheses, and the bodies are brace-delimited. Let’s take a deeper look at Go control structures. if-else: this construct tests for a conditional statement, either logical or boolean. If a statement is true, the body between the { } is executed. If it is false, the statements are ignored, and the statement after the if is executed. Keep in mind that the braces are mandatory even if there is only one statement in the body. switch-case: this structure is used instead of long if statements that compare variables to values. This statement makes it easy to transfer-flow of execution in your code.

switch is generally more flexible than other languages. It takes this general form.

switch var1 { case val1: ... case val2: ... default: ... }

Like the if construct, a switch can also contain an initialization statement.

switch initialization; { case val1: ... case val2: ... default: ... }

select: this statement means we can wait on multiple channel operations, which we will discuss more later. for-range: in Go, this statement allows us to iterate over an expression that evaluates to an array, slice, map, string, or channel. The basic syntax is below.

for index, value := range mydatastructure { fmt.Println(value) }

index: the index of the value we want to access.

value: the value on each iteration.

mydatastructure: holds the data structure whose values we are accessing in the loop.

Keep in mind that this example is a generalization. To learn more about case-by-case examples, take a look at the EdPresso shot on the for-range loop here

Functions

Functions are the basic building blocks of Golang, as it shares many features of functional languages. As I mentioned before, functions are data since they have values and types. A Go program is built up of several functions. It is best to start with main( ) function and write them in calling, or logical, order. Functions break down problems into smaller tasks and enable us to reuse code. There are three types of functions in Go. All of them end when they have executed their last statement before } or when it executes a return statement.

Normal functions that use an identifier

Anonymous or lambda functions

Methods

We write functions using this syntax, and we call them with this general format.

func g() { // VALID ... }

and we call them with this general format.

pack1.Function(arg1,arg2,...,argn)

Here function is a function in pack1, and arg1is the argument. When we invoke a function, it makes copies of the arguments, which are passed to the called function. Let’s take a look at an example of a function to see Go in action. Here, we will dive into the printf( ) function in Golang. The print function allows you to print formatted data. It takes a template string that contains the text we will format and some annotation verbs that tell the fmt functions how to format.

fmt.printf("Sample template string %s",Object arg(s))

Conversion characters tell Golang how to format the data types. Some common specifiers are:

v – formats the value in a default format

d – formats decimal integers

g – formats the floating-point numbers

b – formats base 2 numbers

Say we wanted to print a string. The %s conversation character can be used in the template string to print string values. Look at the code below. There are many other cases where we can use the print function. To see more, take a look at the EdPresso shot on the Golang print function.

package main import "fmt" func main() { var mystring = "Hello world" fmt.Printf("The string is %s", mystring) }

Output: The string is Hello World

Maps

Maps, also called hashes or dicts in other programming languages, are a built-in data type in Go. The name explains their purpose: a map maps keys to values. Think of a map as a way to store key-value pairs.

You can use these for fast lookups, retrievals, or deletion of data based on keys. We declare a map using the following syntax

var m map[KeyType]ValueType

m is the name of the map variable

KeyType is the option data type of the keys in the map. This can also be declared at the time of initialization.

ValueType is the data type of the value in the key-value pairs.

The length of a map doesn’t need to be known at declaration, so it can grow dynamically. The value of an uninitialized map is nil. Let’s look at a specific example of a map in Golang to see how they are made:

package main import "fmt" func main() { var mapLit map[string]int // making map var mapAssigned map[string]int mapLit = map[string]int{"one": 1, "two": 2} // adding key-value pair mapCreated := make(map[string]float32) // making map with make() mapAssigned = mapLit mapCreated["key1"] = 4.5 // creating key-value pair for map mapCreated["key2"] = 3.14159 mapAssigned["two"] = 3 // changing value of already existing key fmt.Printf("Map literal at \"one\" is: %d\n", mapLit["one"]) fmt.Printf("Map created at \"key2\" is: %f\n", mapCreated["key2"]) fmt.Printf("Map assigned at \"two\" is: %d\n", mapLit["two"]) fmt.Printf("Map literal at \"ten\" is: %d\n", mapLit["ten"]) }

Output: Map literal at "one" is: 1 Map created at "key2" is: 3.141590 Map assigned at "two" is: 3 Map literal at "ten" is: 0

Arrays and slices

Arrays in Go are similar to Python, but they aren’t very common in Go code because they are inflexible and have a fixed size. Instead, slices are far more common and provide greater power. Slices in Go build off of arrays, since it is an abstraction of Go’s array type. To declare an array, we use the following syntax:

var identifier [len]type

An array is fixed in size since its length is part of its type. For example [5]int represents an array of five integers. A slice allows us to overcome some of the challenges of arrays and work with sequences of typed data without using additional memory. A slice is a reference to a continuous section of an array, called the underlying array. A slice is dynamically sized and flexible. A slice is formed when we specify two indices, separated by a colon. We use the type specification [ ]T. T is the type of elements in the slice. We declare a slice using the following syntax:

letters := []string{"a", "b", "c", "d"}

To declare the type for a variable with a slice, we use [ ] with the type of elements for the slice.

package main import ( "fmt" "reflect" ) func main() { var intSlice []int var strSlice []string fmt.Println(reflect.ValueOf(intSlice).Kind()) fmt.Println(reflect.ValueOf(strSlice).Kind()) }

A slice, unlike an array, can change during execution. Additionally, slices come with the built-in append, which can return a slice that contains one or more new values. The syntax of the append method is:

slice = append(slice, elem1, elem2, ...)

Take a look at how it's done.

package main import "fmt" // Helper function to. print slices func printSlice(s []int) { fmt.Printf("length=%d capacity=%d %v\n", len(s), cap(s), s) } func main() { var slice []int // Create an empty slice of type int. printSlice(slice) // Append works on nil slices. slice = append(slice, 0) printSlice(slice) // Slices can be appended to as many times. slice = append(slice, 1) printSlice(slice) // We can add more than one element at a time. slice = append(slice, 2, 3, 4) printSlice(slice) }

Output: length=0 capacity=0 [] length=1 capacity=1 [0] length=2 capacity=2 [0 1] length=5 capacity=6 [0 1 2 3 4] Now that we have a sense of some of the intermediate Go concepts, let’s move onto some of the important advanced things that Golang brings to the table. Keep in mind that there is a lot more to learn. Some other intermediate concepts include:

Recursive functions

Higher order functions

Structs and methods

Interfaces and reflection

and more

Advanced concepts of Go

Error handling

Go does not have an exception-handling mechanism. We use the built-in interface type error. It’s zero value is nil, so we know that there were no errors if it returns nil. The most common way to handle errors is to return the error type as the last return value of a function call to check for nil. Let’s take a look at some code to see how it’s done.

package main import "fmt" import "errors" // Import the errors package. func divide(x int, y int) (int, error) { if y == 0 { return -1, errors.New("Cannot divide by 0!") } return x/y, nil } func main() { answer, err := divide(5,0) if err != nil { // Handle the error! fmt.Println(err) } else { // No errors! fmt.Println(answer) } }

Output: Cannot divide by 0!

Goroutine

Go comes with built-in support for concurrent applications. These are programs that execute different pieces of code simultaneously. The basic building blocks for structuring concurrent programs are goroutines and channels. Unlike Java, concurrency support is baked into the language with specific types (chan), keywords (go, select) and constructs (goroutines). Go emphasizes concurrency rather than parallelism because Go programs may not be parallel by default. Only a single core or processor is used for a Go program, regardless of the goroutines running.

So, what are goroutines? They are methods or functions that run alongside other methods or functions. These are determined by how we call them. Think of these like threads, but they are much easier and more lightweight. We use the keyword go to create a goroutine, so when we call a function or method with that prefix, a goroutine is executed. If you want a more robust introduction to Goroutines, check out the article Anatomy of goroutines in Go. You can use the variable GOMAXPROCS to tell the run-time how many goroutines can execute. GOMAXPROCS must be set to more than the default value 1, or else all goroutines will share the same thread. Let’s look at an example.

package main import ( "fmt" "time" ) func main() { fmt.Println("In main()") go longWait() go shortWait() fmt.Println("About to sleep in main()") time.Sleep(10 * 1e9) // sleep works with a Duration in nanoseconds (ns) ! fmt.Println("At the end of main()") } func longWait() { fmt.Println("Beginning longWait()") time.Sleep(5 * 1e9) // sleep for 5 seconds fmt.Println("End of longWait()") } func shortWait() { fmt.Println("Beginning shortWait()") time.Sleep(2 * 1e9) // sleep for 2 seconds fmt.Println("End of shortWait()") }

Output: In main() About to sleep in main() Beginning longWait() Beginning shortWait() End of shortWait() End of longWait() At the end of main() Here, the program indicates the part of the execution phase that the program is in. The functions main( ), shortWait( ), and longWait( ) start as independent processing units and then work concurrently. Channels are used with goroutines to enable communication between them. These are typed message queues that transmit data. Think of it as a conduit that you can send typed values through. This way, we can avoid shared memory between goroutines. A channel can transmit one datatype, but we can make them for any type.

To declare a channel, we use the following format

var identifier chan datatype

A channel is also a reference type, so, to allocate memory, we use the make( ) function. Below, see how to declare a channel of strings and its instantiation.

var ch1 chan string ch1 = make(chan string)

The Standard Library and Packages

The Go-distribution includes more than 250 built-in packages, and the API is the same for all systems. Each package introduced different functionalities to your Go code. See the documentation here. Let’s introduce some common packages to see what it has to offer.

os/exec: gives the possibility to run external OS commands and programs.

syscall: this is the low-level, external package, which provides a primitive interface to the underlying OS’s calls.

archive/tar and /zip – compress: contains functionality for (de)compressing files.

fmt: contains functionality for formatted input-output.

io: provides basic input-output functionality, mostly as a wrapper around os-functions.

bufio: wraps around io to give buffered input-output functionality.

path/filepath: contains routines for manipulating filename paths targeted at the OS used.

strconv: converts strings to basic data types.

unicode: special functions for Unicode characters.

regexp: for string pattern-searching functionalities.

There are also external third-party Go packages that can be installed with the go get tool. You need to verify that the GOPATH variable is set, otherwise, it will be downloaded into the $GOPATH/src directory. Check that out here. There are more than 500 useful projects that you can introduce to your Go program. When introducing new functionality to an existing project, it’s good to incorporate a pre-existing Go library. This requires knowledge of the library’s API, which constraints the methods for calling the library. Once you know the API, call the library’s functions and get started. Let’s look at the complete code of importing an external library.

package main import ( "fmt" "time" "github.com/inancgumus/myhttp" ) func main() { mh := myhttp.New(time.Second) response, _ := mh.Get("https://jsonip.com/") fmt.Println("HTTP status code: ", response.StatusCode) }

Now we have a sense of some of the advanced concepts in Go. There is a lot more to learn, including:

Interfaces and Reflection

Error testing

Anonymous channel closure

Networking, templating, and web-applications

Best practices and pitfalls

and more

Resources

Golang is an exciting language that speeds up development and accommodates your real-world needs. Luckily, there are dozens of useful resources to learn, practice, and share Go with the world. Take a look below to get started.

Courses

The Way to Go: the definitive place to learn the core constructs and techniques of Go with hands-on practice

Introduction to Programming in Go: detailed instruction for beginners

Mastering Concurrency in Go: for intermediate Go learners looking to upskill

Documentation and Guides

Tour of Go: official Go tutorial

Official Golang Documentation: dive deeply into the code

GitHub Go Bootcamp: learn by practicing, for beginners

[kadobeclothing]

Types of Blogs that Make Money in 2020

Blogs are all about you — what you want to write about, create, and share with the world. That’s probably the best part about them:the opportunities are endless.

You’ve probably come to this post because you know you want to start a blog, but have no idea what you want to write about, how your blog can stand out, or which software should host your blog.

From music to marketing, the type of blog you create should be one catered to your interests. Without that motivation, it’s unlikely that you will continue to update it. Here, we’ve cultivated a list of some of the more popular topics for blogs, as well as a section on blogs that typically make more money, to help you find inspiration to get started with your own blog.

Blog Categories

Food Sports Travel Lifestyle Parenting Gaming Fitness B2B/Marketing

1. Food As a self-proclaimed foodie, food blogs are my favorite types of blog. They usually follow a similar content format of categorically-organized recipes. Some have videos to pair with those recipes, as well as social media channels that all connect to the blog in some way.

Image Source Above is an example of one of my favorite food blogs, Minimalist Baker. Note how the title of the post contains information that might pull a foodie in — “5 minutes,” and “plant-based”. This recipe will appeal to anyone who searches for easy, no-fuss cooking. 2. Sports Sports blogs exist for every type of sport imaginable — even squash. If you have a passion for ESPN and love writing, this may be the perfect intersection for you. From covering games to giving player insights, sports blogs are an important source for fans to catch up on what they missed.

Image Source Like this screengrab from ESPN, sports blogs also report on news going on in the industry — these two stories are about the Super Bowl. So if you’re thinking about doing a sports blog, you have options. You can either focus on a specific sport, or take a more holistic approach, like ESPN. 3. Travel If you love to go on trips and capture the moments, a travel blog might be right up your alley. There’s something about travel blogs that are so relaxing, in my opinion — seeing pictures of gorgeous destinations is always a treat. That’s why, if you’re thinking of launching a travel blog, you might want to invest in a nice camera.

Image Source For instance, look at this vibrant, colorful photo of the Charles River. (I’m probably a little biased, considering I live in Boston and commute over this river daily). To rank highly on the SERPs, you’ll want to have high-quality images so travel enthusiasts are compelled to view your posts. 4. Lifestyle Lifestyle blogs are probably the most versatile of blog types. Aptly named, lifestyle blogs are about a person’s life. What they like to do, where they like to eat and shop … think of a lifestyle blog as a website for influencers. Check out this lifestyle blog, Love Taza, as an example:

Image Source A number of influencers use blogs as a way to market themselves and build a more solid following. Oftentimes, businesses will look for an influencers’ blog or website to find out more information on them (as well as contact information) if they’re interested in cultivating a partnership. If you’re interested in becoming an influencer or simply want to share more of your life with friends and family, this might be the right blog for you. 5. Parenting This is another guilty pleasure blog type of mine, mostly because parenting blogs have incredible interior decorating going on (another blog type, FYI). Parenting blogs usually give advice and share relatable stories to other parents, or those expecting.

Image Source Parenting blogs can be a great resource to new parents, as well as a way to branch out into other outlets. Plenty of parenting blogs have added a YouTube channel to keep content fresh, more engaging, and expand into new target markets For instance, Happily Eva After, the parenting blog shown above, now has a thriving YouTube channel. 6. Gaming Gaming has turned into an industry that now typically happens online. Between downloadable content (DLCs) and games that depend on an internet connection, it’s hard to be a gamer if you’re not online. Because of that, gaming blogs are extremely popular. From game announcements to corporate sponsorships, gaming blogs can go a couple of different ways. They can include game reviews, walkthroughs, cheat codes, or content codes. Since gaming YouTube channels attract a lot of fans, this type of blog can also grow into a YouTube channel all its own. Additionally, it’s a good space for gamers to connect with each other, especially if you create opportunities for your readers to engage (like in the comments section of your blog). 7. B2B/Marketing You’ve probably guessed — this blog that you’re currently reading is an example of the B2B/Marketing category. I want to make it clear that marketing isn’t the only industry represented by B2B blogs. Instead, it’s more of an example of the type of B2B blogs you can find out there. If you’re in a different industry, you can definitely use that as a cross-section for a B2B blog. For more information about B2B marketing and how a blog would look in that industry, check out our ultimate guide here. 8. Fitness You may have heard of “Fitstagrams” (Instagram accounts dedicated to fitness journeys) but fitness blogs are also a dime and a dozen. These blogs recommend workout tips, healthy recipes, and sometimes offer full workout plans in a “How-to” format, like this post from Nerd Fitness.

Image Source Fitness blogs can be a great companion to those looking to embark on their fitness journey. They’re usually geared towards a holistic view on healthy living in general, not just working out. Readers might be interested on perfecting their fitness routine, finding new ways to make healthy eating exciting, or looking for motivation to stick to their fitness lifestyle. Recall that this is not an expansive list. If you have an idea, see what can come of it. The good thing about blogs is that you can take it wherever you want, and if the content is compelling for a certain readership, money and notoriety comes after. If you’re getting into blogging strictly to make money, however, this post has tips for that, too. Read on to find out more about the types of blogs most likely to become profitable. Types of Blogs That Make Money When you’re thinking about creating a blog that earns money, there’s some different ways you can go about it, whether it be affiliate links, sponsorships, or content offers. Affiliate links are a partnership, in which a company puts their website links on yours, so when anyone clicks on the link, you earn a percentage and so does that company. Next, in blog sponsorships, generally, companies ask that you write a review of their product for a fee or a portion of the product’s sales. Finally, content offers are a way for you to leverage any content resources you have and monetize them. So content like an ebook or template can be turned into a call-to-action to entice readers to find out more.

Types of Blogs

Health and Fitness (Interviews and Guides) Social media (Thought Leadership) Consumer Technology (Reviews, Affiliates) B2B (Content offers) Ecommerce (Lead generation)

1. Health and Fitness (Interviews and Guides) Fitness blog Love Sweat Fitness, started by Katie Dunlap, is an expansive fitness blog offering content ranging from workouts, planning templates, healthy recipes, and travel tips. Among these categories is a lifestyle one, offering workout playlists and a beauty section. In this category, readers can find posts like fashion obsessions, back to school looks, makeup tutorials, and more. It also has sponsorships, like the one shown below with Vooray. The two brands collaborated on a gym bag in 2017, releasing it on the LSF blog and website:

Image Source This gym bag and its design were chosen by Dunlap and Vooray. With brand partnerships, companies usually seek out heavy hitters in their industry (like Vooray did with LSF) and offer the brand the ability to design a product exclusively for base pay and a percentage of the profits. And, while this happens a lot in the beauty industry, it’s definitely not an industry-specific idea. 2. Social media (Thought Leadership) LinkedIn’s blog is one of the ways a bigger company can monetize their content: by making sure their blogs are written in a high-quality way that appeals to and helps their audience. From a quick look at the blog’s homepage, it’s easy to see that LinkedIn’s target reader is one on the job hunt. With that in mind, the company can leverage its resources to produce high-quality content that will make an impact on its readers. This approach works for LinkedIn because they’ve built a solid reputation as the place people should go for hiring and networking. A LinkedIn member that’s found success on the site would see the blog and think, because LinkedIn has worked for them, that the blog will be helpful, as well.  3. Consumer Technology (Reviews, Affiliates) Affiliate links work a lot like sponsorships. Generally, if a reader clicks on an affiliate link on a blog, the affiliate earns a profit, and the website itself gets a percentage, as well. On the gaming website PC Gamer, for instance, one of their affiliates is Amazon.  This is a post about the best personal computers to buy for gaming, updated for 2020. The post brings readers suggestions about which computers are best for PC gaming, and nearly every product has an Amazon link. Why those links are important is because the website has an affiliate link with Amazon. Every time a user clicks on the Amazon link, the website earns a profit, as well as Amazon, which is one way the website can fund its expansive listicles. 4. Ecommerce (Lead Generation) Another way blogs can make money is by partnering with influencers, similarly to partnering with another company. Influencers use their industry and following to bring traction to your site, which is monetizeable. Lauren Conrad’s blog is a lifestyle and fashion blog, and primarily reports on trends and product launches: Image Source This piece highlights another fashion influencer, Jessi Burrone, the model for the photos in this post. LC and Burrone partner together on numerous shoots for the website.  If seen sporting a brand’s fashion, like Burrone is (she’s wearing LC clothes in the photos), some followers might see that and say to themselves, “Well, now I need this sweater if Jessi has it.” 5. B2B (Content offers) If your blog is a side project of a bigger product, spotlight that content in different ways. If your blog is one of your largest sources of traffic, it makes sense to use it as a lead nurture tool.. For instance, take a look at Buffer’s blog post about Instagram Stories, below: Image Source At the top of the post, there is an embed for Buffer’s podcast about social media trends and topics, which ties in directly to the theme of the post. The idea here is most likely that readers who enjoy the post will also enjoy the podcast, bringing that content more recognition and notoriety. Blogs are a powerful content resource, especially for product promotion. If you don’t have the budget for ads, blogs can be sort of a “built-in ad” for you, and depending on how you host your website, you can track the results of your blog in real time. HubSpot’s CMS provides a full-service blogging feature that can help you get up and running, as well as check progress. Whether your blog is a bedroom project to get your feelings out or the core function of your day job, the opportunities know no bounds as to the type of blog you can have. Because technology is so embedded into our world, nearly every industry can benefit from a digital presence, so picking the type is completely up to you. The hardest part is beginning to write.

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[juniperpublishersajop]

Wettability Properties of Biochar Added Wood/Polypropylene Composites-Juniper Publishers

JUNIPER PUBLISHERS- Academic Journal of Polymer Science

Abstract

In an attempt to comprehend the outdoor application potential of biochar reinforced wood and polypropylene composites, their wettability properties were investigated. The localised water affinity was measured through drop shape analysis in a Goniometer whereas the comprehensive susceptibility towards water was done through a thickness swell test. The results indicate that the addition of 12wt% of wood waste (Pinus radiata) biochar to a wood and polypropylene composite had the highest resistance towards water among the three component composites. In general, the predilection towards water increased with an increase in the amount of biochar in the composites. It is recommended to produce the biochar with low pyrolysis temperature (yielding a more hydrophobic biochar) to develop composites with acceptable water opposing properties.

Keywords: Wood; Polypropylene; Biocomposites; Biochar; Wettability; Goniometer

    Introduction

Increased environmental awareness and diminishing natural resources have together provided the impetus to explore and use materials that are waste based. These motivations coupled with regulation-based impetus enforced by government and regional councils have led to the research and development of innovative waste-derived products [1,2]. Biochar is a renewable material which can be produced by valorising any organic biomass (e.g. forestry, crop residue, poultry waste, dairy manure) in an oxygen free environment by a pyrolysis process [3]. Until now, the application of biochar was limited to soil amendment, filtration and contaminant/heavy metal removal [4]. In order to make its application diverse, the biochar derived from organic wastes was incorporated with conventional wood and polymer composites to yield wood polymer biochar composites (WPBC) [5-7]. Through these works, the authors have demonstrated that biochar could be applied as reinforcement in wood polymer composites to improve their mechanical, thermal and fire properties as well as to reduce the use of costly coupling agents. The development of wood polymer and biochar composites requires the knowledge of its physico-mechanical properties. The mechanical, chemical and thermal properties of the WPBC were evaluated by Das et al. [5] However, prior to the application of this composite, it is critical to comprehend the endurance of WPBC towards external environment. Similarly, to other wood polymer composites (WPCs), WPBC can be applied in making decking material, windows and door panels and automotive parts [8]. These types of applications may expose the WPBC to rainfall and humid conditions, hence, the wettability properties of WPBC should be investigated.

WPBC consists of three distinct constituents (biochar, wood and polymer) that differ in their interactions with water. The physical and chemical properties of the different constituents of WPBC may stay distinct macroscopically in the final product while exhibiting synergistic material properties [9]. As a result, individual components would have an additive effect on the final physico-chemical nature of the composites. This would consequently affect the overall wettability properties of WPBC.

The main objective of the study was to investigate the resistance of WPBC towards water in general and specifically how different loading amounts of biochar in the composite affected the resulting wettability.

    Materials and Methods

The detail description of the process and methods used to develop biochar added wood and polymer composites can be found in Das et al. [5]. Briefly, the constituents were dry blended, then melt blended in an extruder and finally compression moulded to manufacture the samples. Six different samples were manufactured containing 0, 6, 12, 18, 24, and 30 wt% biochar, which was produced by pyrolysis of waste pine wood. The samples were named WPC (control, 0 wt% biochar reinforcement), WPBC 6; WPBC 12; WPBC 18; WPBC 24 and WPBC 30, based on the weight percentage of biochar in them. After manufacturing of the WPC and WPBCs, wettability properties were investigated.

Localised wettability was measured in a Goniometer (KSV instruments, Finland, Model: CAM101, software: Attension Theta) through drop shape analysis. The contact angles of deionised (D.I.) water (volume= 4μl) was measured (mean of right and left contact angles) on a flat sample surface at an interval of 60 s for a period of 20min. Swelling tests were carried out according to ASTM D-7031-04 protocol. Three specimens of each formulation were selected at random and bone dried in a convection oven for 24h at 105 °C. This was followed by cooling the samples to room temperature in a desiccator. The specimens were then immersed in D.I. water for 24h at room temperature. The excess water on the surface was wiped off by tissue paper. The values of the thickness swelling in percentages were calculated using the following equation:

where,

TS= Thickness swell in percentage

T(f)= Final thickness

T(i)= Initial thickness

    Results and Discussion

Figure 1 shows the localised water absorption of the WPC and WPBCs measured with a Goniometer. Figure 1a shows the changes in contact angles of water on the composite’s surface with respect to time, whereas, Figure 1b shows the difference in initial and final contact angles for each sample. The initial contact angle at 1min was not indicative of the samples’ affinity (i.e. degree of absorption) towards water. The noteworthy observation is how the contact angle changed i.e. became smaller with respect to time. It can be observed from Figure 1a that all the composites follow a similar pattern when wettability towards water is concerned: with time, the contact angle decreased representing the movement of water into the surface of the composite and evaporation.

The composites’ affinity towards water can be understood by the change in the initial and the final contact angle of water droplet. The higher the difference is between the final and the initial value of contact angle, the higher is the affinity towards water. It is clear from the Figure 1b that the composites having higher amount of biochar (WPBC 18, 24 and 30) had a higher affinity towards water. This is attributed to the lower amount of the hydrophobic polymer (i.e. polypropylene) in the blends. WPBC 30 had the highest affinity towards water, as the polypropylene content was the lowest among all blends. Though biochar can be hydrophobic provided they are made at lower pyrolysis temperature (<400 °C) [10], the one used in this study was made at 450 °C. As the pyrolysis temperature is raised, the volatiles escape creating pores on biochar surface. Water can be absorbed into these pores through capillary action. Hence, the higher temperature biochar’s inherent affinity towards water and the lower content of the hydrophobic polypropylene made the composites with higher amount of biochar more susceptible to water. Additionally, the increase in the amount of biochar also increased the proportion of wood in each blend [5,11]. The prominence of the wood component further made the composite samples containing higher amounts of biochar more susceptible to wetting. This is because the wood is naturally hygroscopic due to formation of hydrogen bonds between wood biopolymers and the water molecules [12].

Figure 2 shows the shape of the water droplet, as seen through the goniometer telescope, on the flat surfaces of each samples at intervals of 1, 3, 5, 10, 15, and 20min. WPC (control) was most resistant to water compared to all the composites containing biochar. Similar to the observation made from Figure 1a and 1b, the contact angles drastically decreased in the WPBC samples containing more biochar (WPBC 6, 18, 24, and 30). An exception was WPBC 12, where the amounts of wood, biochar and polymer were optimal to provide it with maximum resistance towards water. WPBC 12 and WPC had an almost similar resistance towards localised water absorption. This observation corroborates the results of Figure 1b.

Figure 3 shows the percentage thickness swell of the samples after immersion in water for 24h. It can be seen that, in general, there was a gradual increase in the thickness swell as the amount of biochar increased in the samples of WPBC (not considering WPBC 6). This trend is attributed to the increased amount of less hydrophobic biochar, decreased amount of hydrophobic polypropylene and increased contribution of hydrophilic wood [5]. The thickness swell value for WPBC 6 was the highest among all WPBCs and this was probably due to the presence of voids formed during its manufacturing [5]. The voids acted as pockets for the increased collection of water and consequently increased in size leading to WPBC 6’s overall high thickness swell. Theoretically, WPBC 30 should have had the highest swelling value but from Figure 3 it can be observed that both WPBC 6 and 30 have identical swelling values (13.8 and 13.8%, respectively). Hence, it becomes clear that the presence voids from manufacturing are detrimental for the wettability properties of composites having biochar additive. On the other hand, the composite WPBC 12 had the lowest swelling value (12.7%) among all WPBCs, which is in agreement with the observation made in Figure 1 & 2.

The swelling of any WPBCs was higher than the control (WPC). This is not favourable when application of WPBC in field conditions is considered. However, to make a composite resistant to the swelling, it is recommended to use biochars that are made at lower pyrolysis temperatures (<400 °C). Biochars made at lower temperatures have pores that are clogged by the tar, which is unable to escape during pyrolysis. Due to the presence of tar, these biochars exhibit hydrophobic aliphatic groups on their surface [13]. This clogging also makes the number of pores and the surface area smaller. Hence, the collective effect of hydrophobic tar on the surface and pore clogging lowers the affinity of the biochar towards water [14]. On the other hand, biochar made at lower pyrolysis temperatures tend to have a lower content of elemental carbon and lower hardness [4,15], which consequently reduces the quality and reinforcement ability of this biochar. In order to make a high-quality biocomposite, an optimal production temperature of biochar should be chosen to obtain a hydrophobic biochar containing a high amount of elemental carbon and having an increased hardness.

    Conclusion

From the investigation conducted on the wettability properties of wood and polypropylene composites having a biochar additive, the following conclusions can be drawn:

i. The addition of 12wt% of biochar in a wood and polymer composite bestows it the highest resistance towards water.

ii. The increase of biochar content in the composite makes it more susceptible to water

iii. High production temperature of biochar increases its affinity towards water (absorption through capillary action of pores); hence such biochar type is not recommended for reinforcing composites aimed for the robust hydrophobicity.

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[newsnigeria]

Check out New Post published on Ọmọ Oòduà

New Post has been published on http://ooduarere.com/news-from-nigeria/world-news/irans-qods-force-and-modern-proxy/

Iran’s Qods Force And Modern Proxy Wars

Based on the analysis prepared by Dennis M. Nilsen, PhD exclusively for SouthFront

The Qods Force is the irregular warfare unit of Iran’s Corps of Guardians of the Islamic Revolution (Sepah-e Pasdaran-e Enghelab-e Eslami).  Created during the Holy Defense to augment the capabilities of the Sepah to include irregular warfare, it has since become one of the chief means of expanding Iranian ‘soft power’ within the Middle East and throughout the world.  Carrying the Persian name for Jerusalem, it is emblematic of the eschatological significance of the Islamic Republic’s regional military strategy.  More has come to light about this secretive organization since its inception, but precious little of its organization, personnel, weaponry and operations is known, and comes to light only in the wake of its suspected activities.

The close of the Holy Defense in 1988 saw the completion of the first chapter of the history of the Islamic Republic – conventional war.  The peace which followed left the new government intact but the population war-weary; the government needed to turn its attention to rebuilding the infrastructure and bringing orderliness to the disrupted lives of its people. The armed forces – both the Artesh and the Sepah – though rich with battle experience, had been worn down and desperately need this peace.

If this war taught the Iranian leadership anything, the lesson was: prevent another conventional attack by pushing the frontier for possible conflict as far as possible from the border.  To safeguard the home of the Revolution – which Khomeini and his followers viewed, and still view, as the only legitimate Islamic government, and the one which is meant to prepare the way for the return of the Mahdi – a sizeable buffer had to be constructed to allow for its endurance.  While Iran had not been defeated in the Holy Defense, it had been severely wounded by Saddam’s army with Western backing. At end of the war, Iran was in shortage in key resources and finance. The war clearly exposed the weaknesses of both the Iranian economy and the armed forces. The mujtahid rulers needed to create and perfect a national defense based upon self-reliance in order to turn Iran into a fortress for Islam from which calls for Islamic unity in the face of Zionist and Western imperialist influence could issue.  Having survived this baptism of fire intact, and with geopolitics still centered around the bipolar contest between the United States and the Soviet Union, the time for such a reconstruction appeared optimal.

The Sepah was created immediately after the Revolution in order to counter threats from armed opposition groups inside Iran such as the MKO (the Mojahedin-e Khalq or People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran) and to protect the ideological integrity of the new political system. Originally a paramilitary formation, during the Holy Defense it necessarily took on a military character while shouldering with the Artesh the burden of fighting.  During the war, in addition to the many conventional battles fought against the Iraqis, the Iranians also deployed special forces to the front line in the mountainous terrain of the north, and behind the lines to support the Kurdish struggle in northern Iraq against Saddam Hussein regime. To mirror this unit within the Artesh, the Sepah created the Qods Force to engage in all aspects of irregular warfare. Thus, the role of Quds force in the establishment of Hezbollah’s Islamic Resistance (al-Muqawama al-Islamiyya) in 1982 during the Lebanese Civil War was inevitable; following this it was used to support the operations of the Hezbe Wahdat Shia mujahedin in Afghanistan during the Soviet occupation.

By supporting Hezbollah and the Hezbe Wahdat, Iran was able to counter, respectively, the American/Zionist coalition and the Soviets, thereby keeping these two groups from threatening the territorial integrity of the Islamic Republic.  When Khomeini died in 1989 and was succeeded by Ali Khamenei, who oversaw the transition from a war to a peace economy, Qods was able, along with its parent Sepah, to maintain its level of funding and even to increase its relative importance within the military strategy of Iran.

Having discussed the ideological and strategic origins and purposes of the Qods Force, let us look at its structure and methods of warfare.  Apart from its three senior commanders, no names can be attributed to either its leadership or the remainder of the force.  Major General Pasdar Qassem Soleimani, presently the most well-known Iranian soldier, has commanded the Qods Force since 1997, and his two deputies are Brigadier General Pasdar Ismail Qaani and Brigadier General Pasdar Ahmad Sabouri.  Because all members of Qods are taken from the larger Sepah, one can presume that it retains the same rank structure as its parent, although it is impossible to verify or deny this.  Similarly, although the size of the Qods Force can be approximated, its small-level tactical organization can only be guessed at based upon the arrangement of other comparable military units.  As indicated previously, Qods has two missions: advising and training of foreign military and police, and clandestine operations.  Teams of men for either type of mission may be formed ad hoc out of the service pools of each of the eight directorates suspected to exist.  According to the United States Joint Chiefs of Staff, Qods is divided into the following eight directorates:

Iraq

Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Oman, Yemen (Persian Gulf)

Israel, Lebanon, Jordan (Middle East)

Afghanistan, Pakistan, India

Turkey

Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldovia, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia (former-Soviet Union)

Central and Western Europe and the United States and Canada

North Africa

Further, US military intelligence suggests that Qods is divided into several branches of specialization:

Intelligence

Finance

Politics

Sabotage

Special operations

Because however its operations are unconventional, there is no reason to think that the Qods Force has an organization remarkably different from other secret services.  For its clandestine operations, something approaching a commando team of varying size (anywhere from 5 to 15 men led by one or two officers) seems reasonable.  Also, there could be organic, permanent units of Qods assigned to each directorate, each with a different operational specialty, and these would invariably be combined-arms units but with the component men varying depending upon what needs to be accomplished.  For the advisory and training missions, arguably what constitutes the greatest percentage of Qods assignments, one can imagine an officer/NCO structure corresponding to the level of the ranks needing training; e.g. so many officers of such a rank to train their peers or lower ranking officers, and likewise so many NCOs to train their peers or enlisted men.  As a side note, it has been suggested that Qods trains most of its clients in either the Sudan or in Iran itself.

For all of these missions, the officer/NCO ratio is necessarily higher than in the rest of the Sepah.  For this reason, it can be argued that officers and NCOs comprise a large majority of the Qods Force personnel, seeing that enlisted men would not be used to train or advise their superiors.

Where does the Qods Force carry out its clandestine operations?  From reasonable conjecture regarding the structure, the reach of Qods is world-wide.  It has been suspected of involvement in South America (e.g. in supporting the government of Venezuela), of continuing to intervene in Afghanistan against the American presence, of constituting a permanent training and advisory role to the Islamic Resistance of Hezbollah, of supporting the Syrian government since the conflict of 2011, and most of all of involvement in Iraq since 2003. Since 2008, the Qods Force has been given control of all military operations in Iraq, and it formed and currently oversees the three primary Shi’ite paramilitary organizations which work in conjunction with the Iraqi military: Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq (“League of the Righteous”) with 10,000 members, Kata’ib Hizb Allah (“Brigades of the Party of God”) with 30,000+ members, and the Saraya al-Salam (“Peace Companies”) with anywhere from 10,000 to 50,000 members.  This theatre of operations, provided indirectly to Qods by the Americans, gives the most continual experience to its members through the training and directing of these militias.  In the theatre of the Persian Gulf, the recent attacks against oil tankers bear the mark of what Qods is capable of, but the Iranian Government has consistently denied responsibility.  Conversely, American and Israeli special forces possess the capability to carry out such false-flag attacks and their histories give plenty of examples.  Currently, the most important missions which Qods directly or in which it participates are:

Missile shipments to Hezbollah

Arming and directing of Shi’ite militias in Iraq

Support of Syrian Government

Support of Houthis

As to types of weapons, the Qods Force probably uses the same species as other special forces (e.g. United States Green Berets, Russian Spetsnaz, British SAS), that is:

Handguns (e.g. PC-9 ZOAF)

submachine guns (e.g. MPT-9, KL-7.62mm)

heavy machine guns (e.g. MGA3)

portable MANPADs (e.g. Soheil)

rocket-propelled grenade launcher (e.g. Raad, RPG-29)

anti-tank weapons (e.g. Saeghe 1/2)

portable mortars (e.g. 37mm Marsh mortar)

plastic explosives (e.g. C4, Semtex)

The use of heavy equipment does not correspond to its missions.

In terms of size, the active personnel of Qods has been estimated to be anywhere from 5,000 to 20,000, although the most common number given is 15,000.  Globalsecurity.org asserts that in 2008, the Iranian Supreme National Security Council authorized an increase in the size of the group to 15,000, but this cannot be presently confirmed.  By comparison, the Russian Spetsnaz has a strength of roughly 5,000, the United States Green Berets 7,000, the British SAS 400 to 600.

Moving to consider its place in the Iranian political ideology of Twelve Shiism, Qods Force bears great eschatological significance.  A fact which receives barely any coverage in the Western press, the founding of the Islamic Republic was clearly stated by Ayatollah Khomeini to coincide with the approach of the end of the world.  As Twelver Shias, Khomeini and his successors are convinced that the maintenance of velayat-e faqih is critical to the return of the Twelfth Imam, Mohammad al-Mahdi.  The eschatology of the Jafari School of Jurisprudence (the official legal teaching in Iran, named after the Sixth Imam Ja’far al-Sadiq) names Jerusalem as central to the return of the Mahdi and to the establishment of Islamic government throughout the world; i.e. the golden age of Islamic rule as promised by the Prophet Mohammed. According to Sunni and Shia prophecies, the army foreordained to conquer Jerusalem is to be comprised of mostly people from the region of Iran with Iranians having a great and important role in the event. Thus, the naming of the special operations subset of the Sepah after the Persian name for the Holy City of Jerusalem should show the rest of the world just how important to the Iranians is the maintenance of their system of government by all means possible.  Currently, the use of Qods to engage in asymmetrical warfare against the American-Israeli alliance is the best means to ensure this end.  Presently, Qods can be seen as forming a ‘shield-forward’ for the Islamic Republic from a strategic point of view; this gives eschatological importance to their continued support of Hezbollah in Lebanon and to their great commitment in men and material to ensure the continuance of the Syrian government. They believe that when Imam Mahdi returns, Zionism, which Shia regard as one of the main tools in the struggle between Good and Evil, will be defeated in the final great battle for Jerusalem. Therefore they are approaching as close as possible to Israel, serving at the front line. They have succeeded in giving Iran a reasonable amount of protection, if at the expense of their allies who are physically closer to Israel.  The American Navy remains a threat in the Persian Gulf, but the wider Sepah, to whose vigilance this theatre is committed, are confident they can close the Strait of Hormuz if necessary.  The strategic balance is currently in favor of Iran and they have thus fulfilled what they believe to be their role in preparing for the Mahdi’s return.

Of those who believe in the eschatological purpose of the Islamic Republic, the Qods Force is unquestionably the vanguard of the coming march on Jerusalem, and the Western press ignores this to their own peril and the continued ignorance of their audiences.

From military and political standpoints, Qods has been very effective.  Iranian strategy has, since the 1979 Revolution, been to keep the American-Israeli alliance and its proxies at bay.  As stated previously, due to Iran’s inability to wage a full-scale war against both countries, the use of unconventional warfare has made the Qods Force come into prominence within Iran’s national defensive strategy.  Through both its advisory/training roles and its clandestine operations, Qods is used to prevent Iran’s two chief enemies from realizing strategic objectives in the Middle East and Persian Gulf and to make their continued presence within Iran’s immediate zone of security as costly and unpleasant as possible.

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Wettability Properties of Biochar Added Wood/Polypropylene Composites-Juniper Publishers

JUNIPER PUBLISHERS- Academic Journal of Polymer Science

Abstract

In an attempt to comprehend the outdoor application potential of biochar reinforced wood and polypropylene composites, their wettability properties were investigated. The localised water affinity was measured through drop shape analysis in a Goniometer whereas the comprehensive susceptibility towards water was done through a thickness swell test. The results indicate that the addition of 12wt% of wood waste (Pinus radiata) biochar to a wood and polypropylene composite had the highest resistance towards water among the three component composites. In general, the predilection towards water increased with an increase in the amount of biochar in the composites. It is recommended to produce the biochar with low pyrolysis temperature (yielding a more hydrophobic biochar) to develop composites with acceptable water opposing properties.

Keywords: Wood; Polypropylene; Biocomposites; Biochar; Wettability; Goniometer

    Introduction

Increased environmental awareness and diminishing natural resources have together provided the impetus to explore and use materials that are waste based. These motivations coupled with regulation-based impetus enforced by government and regional councils have led to the research and development of innovative waste-derived products [1,2]. Biochar is a renewable material which can be produced by valorising any organic biomass (e.g. forestry, crop residue, poultry waste, dairy manure) in an oxygen free environment by a pyrolysis process [3]. Until now, the application of biochar was limited to soil amendment, filtration and contaminant/heavy metal removal [4]. In order to make its application diverse, the biochar derived from organic wastes was incorporated with conventional wood and polymer composites to yield wood polymer biochar composites (WPBC) [5-7]. Through these works, the authors have demonstrated that biochar could be applied as reinforcement in wood polymer composites to improve their mechanical, thermal and fire properties as well as to reduce the use of costly coupling agents. The development of wood polymer and biochar composites requires the knowledge of its physico-mechanical properties. The mechanical, chemical and thermal properties of the WPBC were evaluated by Das et al. [5] However, prior to the application of this composite, it is critical to comprehend the endurance of WPBC towards external environment. Similarly, to other wood polymer composites (WPCs), WPBC can be applied in making decking material, windows and door panels and automotive parts [8]. These types of applications may expose the WPBC to rainfall and humid conditions, hence, the wettability properties of WPBC should be investigated.

WPBC consists of three distinct constituents (biochar, wood and polymer) that differ in their interactions with water. The physical and chemical properties of the different constituents of WPBC may stay distinct macroscopically in the final product while exhibiting synergistic material properties [9]. As a result, individual components would have an additive effect on the final physico-chemical nature of the composites. This would consequently affect the overall wettability properties of WPBC.

The main objective of the study was to investigate the resistance of WPBC towards water in general and specifically how different loading amounts of biochar in the composite affected the resulting wettability.

    Materials and Methods

The detail description of the process and methods used to develop biochar added wood and polymer composites can be found in Das et al. [5]. Briefly, the constituents were dry blended, then melt blended in an extruder and finally compression moulded to manufacture the samples. Six different samples were manufactured containing 0, 6, 12, 18, 24, and 30 wt% biochar, which was produced by pyrolysis of waste pine wood. The samples were named WPC (control, 0 wt% biochar reinforcement), WPBC 6; WPBC 12; WPBC 18; WPBC 24 and WPBC 30, based on the weight percentage of biochar in them. After manufacturing of the WPC and WPBCs, wettability properties were investigated.

Localised wettability was measured in a Goniometer (KSV instruments, Finland, Model: CAM101, software: Attension Theta) through drop shape analysis. The contact angles of deionised (D.I.) water (volume= 4μl) was measured (mean of right and left contact angles) on a flat sample surface at an interval of 60 s for a period of 20min. Swelling tests were carried out according to ASTM D-7031-04 protocol. Three specimens of each formulation were selected at random and bone dried in a convection oven for 24h at 105 °C. This was followed by cooling the samples to room temperature in a desiccator. The specimens were then immersed in D.I. water for 24h at room temperature. The excess water on the surface was wiped off by tissue paper. The values of the thickness swelling in percentages were calculated using the following equation:

where,

TS= Thickness swell in percentage

T(f)= Final thickness

T(i)= Initial thickness

    Results and Discussion

Figure 1 shows the localised water absorption of the WPC and WPBCs measured with a Goniometer. Figure 1a shows the changes in contact angles of water on the composite’s surface with respect to time, whereas, Figure 1b shows the difference in initial and final contact angles for each sample. The initial contact angle at 1min was not indicative of the samples’ affinity (i.e. degree of absorption) towards water. The noteworthy observation is how the contact angle changed i.e. became smaller with respect to time. It can be observed from Figure 1a that all the composites follow a similar pattern when wettability towards water is concerned: with time, the contact angle decreased representing the movement of water into the surface of the composite and evaporation.

The composites’ affinity towards water can be understood by the change in the initial and the final contact angle of water droplet. The higher the difference is between the final and the initial value of contact angle, the higher is the affinity towards water. It is clear from the Figure 1b that the composites having higher amount of biochar (WPBC 18, 24 and 30) had a higher affinity towards water. This is attributed to the lower amount of the hydrophobic polymer (i.e. polypropylene) in the blends. WPBC 30 had the highest affinity towards water, as the polypropylene content was the lowest among all blends. Though biochar can be hydrophobic provided they are made at lower pyrolysis temperature (<400 °C) [10], the one used in this study was made at 450 °C. As the pyrolysis temperature is raised, the volatiles escape creating pores on biochar surface. Water can be absorbed into these pores through capillary action. Hence, the higher temperature biochar’s inherent affinity towards water and the lower content of the hydrophobic polypropylene made the composites with higher amount of biochar more susceptible to water. Additionally, the increase in the amount of biochar also increased the proportion of wood in each blend [5,11]. The prominence of the wood component further made the composite samples containing higher amounts of biochar more susceptible to wetting. This is because the wood is naturally hygroscopic due to formation of hydrogen bonds between wood biopolymers and the water molecules [12].

Figure 2 shows the shape of the water droplet, as seen through the goniometer telescope, on the flat surfaces of each samples at intervals of 1, 3, 5, 10, 15, and 20min. WPC (control) was most resistant to water compared to all the composites containing biochar. Similar to the observation made from Figure 1a and 1b, the contact angles drastically decreased in the WPBC samples containing more biochar (WPBC 6, 18, 24, and 30). An exception was WPBC 12, where the amounts of wood, biochar and polymer were optimal to provide it with maximum resistance towards water. WPBC 12 and WPC had an almost similar resistance towards localised water absorption. This observation corroborates the results of Figure 1b.

Figure 3 shows the percentage thickness swell of the samples after immersion in water for 24h. It can be seen that, in general, there was a gradual increase in the thickness swell as the amount of biochar increased in the samples of WPBC (not considering WPBC 6). This trend is attributed to the increased amount of less hydrophobic biochar, decreased amount of hydrophobic polypropylene and increased contribution of hydrophilic wood [5]. The thickness swell value for WPBC 6 was the highest among all WPBCs and this was probably due to the presence of voids formed during its manufacturing [5]. The voids acted as pockets for the increased collection of water and consequently increased in size leading to WPBC 6’s overall high thickness swell. Theoretically, WPBC 30 should have had the highest swelling value but from Figure 3 it can be observed that both WPBC 6 and 30 have identical swelling values (13.8 and 13.8%, respectively). Hence, it becomes clear that the presence voids from manufacturing are detrimental for the wettability properties of composites having biochar additive. On the other hand, the composite WPBC 12 had the lowest swelling value (12.7%) among all WPBCs, which is in agreement with the observation made in Figure 1 & 2.

The swelling of any WPBCs was higher than the control (WPC). This is not favourable when application of WPBC in field conditions is considered. However, to make a composite resistant to the swelling, it is recommended to use biochars that are made at lower pyrolysis temperatures (<400 °C). Biochars made at lower temperatures have pores that are clogged by the tar, which is unable to escape during pyrolysis. Due to the presence of tar, these biochars exhibit hydrophobic aliphatic groups on their surface [13]. This clogging also makes the number of pores and the surface area smaller. Hence, the collective effect of hydrophobic tar on the surface and pore clogging lowers the affinity of the biochar towards water [14]. On the other hand, biochar made at lower pyrolysis temperatures tend to have a lower content of elemental carbon and lower hardness [4,15], which consequently reduces the quality and reinforcement ability of this biochar. In order to make a high-quality biocomposite, an optimal production temperature of biochar should be chosen to obtain a hydrophobic biochar containing a high amount of elemental carbon and having an increased hardness.

    Conclusion

From the investigation conducted on the wettability properties of wood and polypropylene composites having a biochar additive, the following conclusions can be drawn:

i. The addition of 12wt% of biochar in a wood and polymer composite bestows it the highest resistance towards water.

ii. The increase of biochar content in the composite makes it more susceptible to water

iii. High production temperature of biochar increases its affinity towards water (absorption through capillary action of pores); hence such biochar type is not recommended for reinforcing composites aimed for the robust hydrophobicity.

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