How accurate must an official fat stability test be?

A tabulation summatizing the results of three years Committee testing of cooperative samples is discussed from the standpoint of the indicated precision, and it is shown that even with the liberal average tolerance of 17% of the value of the keeping times, the results of about one fourth of the laboratories reporting were outside of it. Throughout the series, four or about a third of the participating laboratories obtained consistently good results. These happened to be the laboratories which started using the method first. Of the others, two started getting good results after a bad first year, whereas two others failed to show agreement even after one or two year’s previous experience. In the light of these apparent short-comings of the method, it is discussed briefly from the standpoint of its suitability as an official method of the Society. This is suggested as being questionable, although the method in itself when used painstakingly and with especial regard to all necessary precautions has been shown to be inherently sound.     

Initial Stages in the Metal-dusting Process on Alloy 800

The initial stages of the metal-dusting process on Alloy 800 at 620 °C were investigated by light optical microscopy, RAMAN spectroscopy, atomic-force microscopy, Auger electron spectroscopy, transmission-electron microscopy and electron back-scatter diffraction. As it turned out the incubation period for metal-dusting is characterized by simultaneous formation of a heterogeneously growing oxide scale and deposition of carbon. The material surface shows different tarnish colors depending on the substrate-grain orientation with different susceptibility to the beginning of metal-dusting attack. “Low-index” grains were not attacked within the times investigated while the other grain orientations showed pitting. Carbon is evidently incorporated into the oxide scale from the very beginning of exposure with different intensities depending on the underlying substrate-grain orientation leading to differences in the tarnish colors. As a consequence carbides are formed even underneath “dense” oxide layers. Evidently metal-dusting attack starts at positions of the oxide scale where “higher carbon concentrations” are present.     

Computer optimization of trailer suspensionsOptimisation par ordinateur des suspensions de remorque

This paper presents an optimization procedure which has been developed to select appropriate suspension design parameters for a simple two wheel trailer. A modern approach to the optimization problem has been used applying non-linear programming to the constrained search for the minimum of an objective function. The acceleration response to roadway input of selected points on the load of the trailer has been designated for minimization. This acceleration has an important significance to the trailer design because of its effect on the stable and smooth ride of the trailer. Two computational procedures have been used and the results compared. The first approach involves the linear superposition of responses to a series of discrete sinusoidal inputs while the second applies more contemporary random vibration theory using power spectral density curves to simulate the actual road surfaces. The results of the optimization procedure are then compared with the response characteristics of the original trailer design and demonstrate that a substantial improvement has been made.     

Production and Electrostatic Precipitation of Combustion Nuclei by an Electrified Propane?Air Flame

The results are given of an investigation into the production and electrostatic precipitation of combustion nuclei by an electrified propane-air flame. The apparatus consisted of a burner with a dc potential applied which was supported inside a grounded metal combustion chamber where the generation and removal of particles could be studied. A mathematical and experimental analysis of transient combustion nuclei concentrations inside the combustion chamber was carried out to evaluate the nuclei precipitation and production rates as a function of flame potentials and air flow rates. Two new theoretical equations containing production, precipitation, and flow parameters are derived to describe these transient concentrations. The constants of the equations were determined by experiment. These lead directly to the important parameters of nuclei production and precipitation rates, which are difficult to assess individually using previously known techniques. The experiments show that the concentration of combustion nuclei in the exhaust gas can be significantly decreased by the simple electrification of the flame. For combustion processes that generate aerosols, the method has the advantage of using the flame itself to affect the removal of the particles from the exhaust gases. Since combustion nuclei are receiving increased attention as air pollutants, this study could have important practical applications.     

Vector Fields: an Interactive Tool for Animation, Modeling and Simulation with Physically Based 3D Particle Systems and Soft Objects

Vectorfields have traditionally been used in computer graphics as a means of visualizing models over time. This paper presents a system which extends the use of vector fields as an interactive tool for physically based three dimensional particle systems and soft objects. The techniques implemented in the system provide the user with new flexibility in animation, modeling and simulation. This paper describes bounded interactive vectorfields and how they can be used to manipulate particle systems and a class of soft objects. Applications to animation, modeling and simulation are also presented.     

A comparison of MODIS 250-m EVI and NDVI data for crop mapping: a case study for southwest Kansas

Multi-temporal vegetation index (VI) data from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) are becoming widely used for large-area crop classification. Most crop-mapping studies have applied enhanced vegetation index (EVI) data from MODIS instead of the more traditional normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) data because of atmospheric and background corrections incorporated into EVI's calculation and the index's sensitivity over high biomass areas. However, the actual differences in the classification results using EVI versus NDVI have not been thoroughly explored. This study evaluated time-series MODIS 250-m EVI and NDVI for crop-related land use/land cover (LULC) classification in the US Central Great Plains. EVI- and NDVI-derived maps classifying general crop types, summer crop types and irrigated/non-irrigated crops were produced for southwest Kansas. Qualitative and quantitative assessments were conducted to determine the thematic accuracy of the maps and summarize their classification differences. For the three crop maps, MODIS EVI and NDVI data produced equivalent classification results. High thematic accuracies were achieved with both indices (generally ranging from 85% to 90%) and classified cropping patterns were consistent with those reported for the study area (> 0.95 correlation between the classified and USDA-reported crop areas). Differences in thematic accuracy (< 3% difference), spatially depicted patterns (> 90% pixel-level thematic agreement) and classified crop areas between the series of EVI- and NDVI-derived maps were negligible. Most thematic disagreements were restricted to single pixels or small clumps of pixels in transitional areas between cover types. Analysis of MODIS composite period usage in the classification models also revealed that both VIs performed equally well when periods from a specific growing season phase (green, peak or senescence) were heavily utilized to generate a specific crop map.