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3 pp. / This article gives information about fire protection in rural areas and explains how a homeowner can protect his home. It provides tips for evacuating one's home and defending it.

Revised; Original Published: 2002 / 4 pp.

Face velocity is the standard variable used to test the performance of laboratory fume hoods. A quantitative testing method developed by Caplan & Knutson involves the measurement of tracer gas leakage out of a hood. Use of that method identified parameters other than face velocity that seemed to affect hood performance. In this study, a new testing method (Scott Method) was developed to incorporate hood parameters identified by Caplan & Knutson with face velocity measurements to generate a more comprehensive hood performance test method. The Scott Method consists of a semi-quantitative rating scheme that assesses the effects of traffic, diffuser velocity, equipment in the hood, and variation in face velocity on hood performance. The performance of 10 laboratory fume hoods was measured by the three methods; the Caplan & Knutson method was used as the measurement standard. The study hypothesis was that the Scott Method would yield a better prediction of hood performance than face velocity alone. This study suggests that prediction of hood performance by the Scott Method was not significantly improved relative to the use of face velocity alone.

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No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

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United States Department of Defense (DoD) autonomous vehicle efforts have concentrated research in areas that support development of unmanned ground and air battlefield vehicles. Little attention has been paid to applying robotics to automate routine tasks. A robotic solution consisting of a prototype holonomic vehicle is proposed to search for, detect, and remove debris that could cause foreign object damage (FOD) to turbine-engine aircraft operated from ships. Holonomic, or omnidirectional, motion was realized by solving the system of equations governing the vehicle's motion atop a plane surface. Translational motion without chassis rotation was achieved through motion control using a single board computer, a pulse width modulation (PWM) and optical isolation circuit, and a low-cost inertial measurement unit (IMU). Obstacle detection and avoidance was realized by constructing a microprocessor-controlled scanning ultrasonic sonar detector head and controller circuit. The sonar detector demonstrated 360 (degrees) coverage and centimeter resolution. Rudimentary autonomous operation and wireless manual control via a Java graphical user interface (GUI) were achieved in an indoor environment. / US Navy (USN) author.