This study investigated character color changes on the current Oregon license plate in an attempt to rectify character recognition problems currently experienced with personalized license plates. Red-violet, brown, and purple were tested against the blue color currently used on the Oregon license plate's characters. Aesthetic-preference analyses were conducted to ensure that the potential character color changes maintained the appeal of the current plate. A standard recognition paradigm was used to test errors in letter recognition for the 4 colors. Fifty-four subjects with normal or corrected normal visual acuity and normal color vision were solicited from undergraduate psychology courses. All 54 volunteers participated in the first experiment which scaled preferences of the four character color alternatives using Thurstonian scaling. Fifty subjects were used in the second experiment which examined character recognition differences. The analyses focused on the center character of a 3- character string positioned with the central character on the green tree. Thurstonian scaling results indicated that the current blue character color was most preferred and brown was least preferred. ANOVA results found significant differences in character recognition between the four colors. The current blue color yielded the best character recognition, followed by red violet, purple and then brown. The findings were not congruent with Indow's (1988) study suggesting colors further removed from green on the color cognitive map should produce superior character recognition. A theoretical explanation of the results indicating that brightness differences, not hue, may have led to blue's superior performance is discussed.

Metal dusting is a kind of catastrophic corrosion phenomenon that can be observed in several of petrochemical processes. It occurs on iron-, nickel- and cobalt-base metals in carbonaceous atmospheres at high temperature when gaseous carbon activity is higher than one. The process is particularly rapid for ferritic alloys The aim of this project was to compare the dusting kinetics of pure iron and a 2.25Cr-1Mo alloy steel under CO-H2-H2O atmosphere at 650??C. Polished (3??m) samples of iron and the steel were exposed to flowing CO-H2-H2O gas atmospheres at 650??C, when the gases were supersaturated with respect to graphite. The partial pressure of CO was varied between 0.25 and 0.9 atm, and the carbon activity was varied from 2.35 to 16, in order to obtain a series of experimental conditions. In most experiments, pO2 was less than 7.37E-24 atm, and no iron oxide could form. However, Cr2O3 would always have been stable. When exposed to these gases, both iron and steel developed a surface scale of Fe3C which was buried beneath a deposit of carbon, containing iron-rich nanoparticles (the dust). Examination by Scanning Electron Microscopy allowed the observation of fine and coarse carbon nanotubes, and also spiral filaments. However, the morphology of the graphitic carbon was not sensitive to pCO and aC. Moreover, the carbon deposit was gas permeable, allowing continuing gas access to the underlying metal. At a fixed=4.5, the carburizing rate clearly increased with CO content from 0.25 to 0.68 atm. However, increasing the CO content to higher value led to decreased rates, indicating that carburizing rate reaches a maximum value at pCO=0.68 atm. When pCO was fixed at 0.25 atm and 0.68 atm, and carbon activity was varied. The induction period was extended by the formation of protective oxide layers at low values of carbon activity (aC= 2.35 and 2.55) where pO2 exceed the iron oxide formation value. For other reaction conditions, the carbon uptake rate for iron and steel did not increase with aC. The present work showed that the carbon deposition rates were not proportional to pCO or pCOpH2. Instead, the rate was affected by the partial pressure of all three reaction gases, and the carbon uptake rate for both materials could be expressed at r=k1pCOpH2+k2pCO2+k3pH22 and the rate constant k3 has a negative value, corresponding to coke gasification. From XRD analyses, it was found that cementite was the only iron-containing phase in the dusting product. The cementite particles acted as catalysts for carbon deposition from the gas. The same deposition process at the surface of the cementite layer led to its disintegration, thereby producing the particles. This disintegration process was faster on the steel than on pure iron. Consequently, the rates of both metal wastage and coke accumulation were faster for the steel. It is concluded that chromium and molybdenum do not stabilize the carbide but accelerate its disintegration process. It is suggested that Cr2O3 fine particles in the cementite layers provide more nucleation sites in the cementite layer on steel, explaining its more rapid dusting kinetics. However, appropriate methods of proving this assumption, such as TEM and FIB, are required.

xii, 205 leaves : photos., diags., tables ; 30 cm. / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 1978

In this Thesis, the problem of the Free Vibrations Analysis of Doubly Stiffened Composite, Orthotropic and/or Isotropic, Base Plates or Panels (with Orthotropic Stiffening Plate Strips) is investigated. The composite plate or panel system is made of an Orthotropic and/or Isotropic Base Plate stiffened or reinforced by adhesively bonded Upper and Lower Orthotropic Stiffening Plate Strips. The plates are assumed to be the Mindlin Plates connected by relatively very thin adhesive layers. The general problem under study is considered in terms of three problems, namely Main PROBLEM I Main PROBLEM II and Main PROBLEM III. The theoretical formulation of the Main PROBLEMS is based on a First Order Shear Deformation Plate Theory (FSDPT) that is, in this case, the Mindlin Plate Theory. The entire composite system is assumed to have simple supports along the two opposite edges so that the Classical Levy&#039 / s Solutions can be applied in that direction. Thus, the transverse shear deformations and the rotary moments of inertia of plates are included in the formulation. The very thin, yet elastic deformable adhesive layers are considered as continua with transverse normal and shear stresses. The damping effects in the plates and the adhesive layers are neglected. The sets of the systems of equations of the Mindlin Plate Theory are reduced to a set of the Governing System of First Order Ordinary Differential Equations in the state vector form. The sets of the Governing System for each Main PROBLEM constitute a Two-Point Boundary Value Problem in the y-direction which is taken along the length of the plates. Then, the system is solved by the Modified Transfer Matrix Method (with Interpolation Polynomials and/or Chebyshev Polynomials)which is a relatively semi-analytical and numerical technique. The numerical results and important parametric studies of the natural modes and the corresponding frequencies of the composite system are presented.

In this thesis, the treatments of MEA and the special structures within carbon fiber bunch unipolar plates on the performance of PEMFC are studied. At first, the factors affecting on the water content within MEA will be studied. A passive HFC stack usually exposes in the ambient no matter that it works or not. However, the ambient is far from saturated. The water within MEA will vaporize continuously. Especially, if the stack is shutdown for a long period, there is no water generation in the cathode and then the membrane will be short in water. If it occurs, the conductivity of H+ will decrease greatly, and the electrode of MEA is also possible to separate from its membrane. This separation will make the performance of the stack an unrecovered decay. On the other hand, in order to improve the performance of a air-breathing HFC, the inner structure within cathode carbon fiber bunch unipolar plates is modified. The structure of the unipolar plates is modified in the following three aspects: 1. Increasing soft end height of carbon fiber bunch, 2. Increasing the number of silver-coated wires in carbon fiber bunch, 3. Cutting several serrated slots on the soft end of carbon fiber bunch. In the MEA treatment, firstly, a MEA is boiled in 80oC, 0.5M H2SO4 solution and then boiled in 80oC DI water for an hour, respectively. When the single-cell HFC operates in hydrogen inlet pressure 0.1 bar, air-breathing, and room temperature, experimental results display that the power density of this HFC with the aforementioned treatments and the special structure of unipolar plates can reach a value about 185mW/cm2. This value is about 130% higher than that of the untreated MEA and about 50% higher than that of the treatment of MEA only immersed in DI water. In addition, the comparison of the performance of HFC between with carbon fiber bunch unipolar plates and with graphite unipolar plates are also studied. The experimental result displays that the performance of HFC with the carbon fiber bunch unipolar plates is superior to that with graphite unipolar plates, especially the fuel cell operating under low gas inlet pressure.

Thèse de doctorat--Géologie--Grenoble 1, 2004. / Bibliogr. p. 140-143 p. Résumé en français et en anglais.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2000. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 133-139).

Thesis--University of Florida, 1970. / Manuscript copy. Vita. Description based on print version record. Bibliography: leaves 171-183.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Lehigh University, 2003. / Includes vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 188-191).

Thesis (M.C.E.)--University of Delaware, 2009. / Principal faculty advisor: Jennifer Righman McConnell, Dept. of Civil & Environmental Engineering. Includes bibliographical references.