Revisiting (some of) the Lasting Impacts of the Liberty Ships Via A Metallurgical Analysis of Rivets from the SS John W. Brown

During World War II, 2710 Liberty ships were built in the United States across 18 ship yards. The rate of production of these ships was at a scale not previously witnessed, reflecting a strategic marshaling of national assets critical to the war effort. For the metallurgist, metallurgical engineer, or materials scientist, these ships also struck commanding images regarding their catastrophic failures. The study of these failures led to increased understanding of brittle fracture, fracture mechanics, and ductile-to-brittle transition temperatures. The post-mortem studies of Liberty ships highlighted the importance of composition and microstructure in controlling the properties of steel in fracture-critical applications. This study examines a rivet from the SS “John W. Brown”, which was assembled in Baltimore, Maryland, and launched in September 1942, The “John W. Brown” was restored between 1988 and 1991. Classical metallurgical analysis of a rivet from the original 1942 vessel is compared with modern rivets used during its restoration. The rivets provide an analogue to the plate material used in these ships. A comparison of these materials is presented along with a discussion of the importance of composition–microstructure–property relationships that concomitantly evolved

The application of Trophic State Index (TSI) in the classification and assessment of ecosystem health of Three Rivers in southern Nigeria

The application of Trophic State Index (TSI) in the classification of three rivers in the Niger Delta region of southern Nigeria was carried out between January and June 2017 on monthly basis across wet and dry seasons. The purpose of this investigation was to ascertain the nutrient status of the three rivers which have hitherto been plagued with a lot of anthropogenic activities over the years. The findings from this study reveal that all the rivers are eutrophic, with the calculated Calson’s Trophic State Index CTSI) going over 70 for each of the rivers. The eutrophic state of the rivers was consistent throughout the study and was not affected by season but more of anthropogenic activities. Igbokoda River recorded the highest phytoplankton abundance of 558 with 22 phytoplankton species, followed by Ethiope River with abundance of 554 with 47 species and Warri River with abundance of 249 and 54 species. Bacillariophyta was the dominant group in all the rivers investigated. The high phytoplankton abundance recorded is not unconnected with the high phosphorus content recorded in the study. Pollution indicator species like Closterium, Nitzchia, Phormidium, Oscillatoria, were observed in all the rivers.Keywords: trophic, eutrophic, phytoplankton, pollution, river

Yogurt from Coconut and Tigernuts

Yogurt was produced from milk obtained from coconut and tigernuts, singly, or in combination with fresh cow milk, by fermentation using starter cultures of Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus (1:1 v/v) at 300C for 12h, and analyzed for its chemical, proximate and organoleptical qualities. The results obtained show that the pH of the various products ranged from 3.9-4.3; titratable acidity (% lactic acid) from 0.5-0.75, and crude protein (%) from 2.66-3.78. Yogurt produced from whole cow milk did not differ organoleptically (P> 0.05) from those produced from coconut + cow milk and coconut in all quality attributes (appearance, mouth feel, taste, aroma and sensory overall acceptability) but differed significantly (p < 0.05) from the other samples in appearance and sensory overall acceptability. This study has shown that it is feasible to prepare acceptable yogurt-like product from coconut and tigernuts, which should be of economic significance since cow milk is relatively expensive and highly perishable. The Journal of Food Technology in Africa Volume 5 Number 4 (October - December 2000), pp. 132-134 KEY WORDS: Coconut and tigernut yogurts, sensory qualitie

Optimization of ingredient and processing levels for the production of coconut yogurt using response surface methodology

In this study, response surface methodology (RSM) was employed to optimize the ingredient formulation and processing parameters of coconut milk yogurt production such as temperature, time, and amount of starter culture on the sensory evaluation responses. Besides, the physicochemical properties such as pH, titratable acidity, and viscosity of the yogurt were also analysed. The analyses show that the coconut yogurts have a pH from 4. 01 to 5. 79, acidity from 0. 461 to 2. 079 (%), and viscosity from 433 to 21,833 cp during the optimization process. From the analysis of variance, the R2 of all response variables is more than 0. 73 that indicates that a high proportion of variability was explained by the model. Based on the response surface 3D plot of the sensory evaluation, the optimum acceptability of the coconut yogurt processing parameter are at temperature of 37oC, 8 h of the fermentation duration, and 3%(w/w) of the starter culture

Revisiting (some of) the Lasting Impacts of the Liberty Ships Via A Metallurgical Analysis of Rivets from the SS John W. Brown

During World War II, 2710 Liberty ships were built in the United States across 18 ship yards. The rate of production of these ships was at a scale not previously witnessed, reflecting a strategic marshaling of national assets critical to the war effort. For the metallurgist, metallurgical engineer, or materials scientist, these ships also struck commanding images regarding their catastrophic failures. The study of these failures led to increased understanding of brittle fracture, fracture mechanics, and ductile-to-brittle transition temperatures. The post-mortem studies of Liberty ships highlighted the importance of composition and microstructure in controlling the properties of steel in fracture-critical applications. This study examines a rivet from the SS “John W. Brown”, which was assembled in Baltimore, Maryland, and launched in September 1942, The “John W. Brown” was restored between 1988 and 1991. Classical metallurgical analysis of a rivet from the original 1942 vessel is compared with modern rivets used during its restoration. The rivets provide an analogue to the plate material used in these ships. A comparison of these materials is presented along with a discussion of the importance of composition–microstructure–property relationships that concomitantly evolved.This article is published as M.D. Harris, W.J. Grogg, A. Akoma, B.J. Hayes, R.F. Reidy, E.F. Imhoff, P.C.Collins, “Revisiting (some of) the Lasting Impacts of the Liberty Ships Via A Metallurgical[CHC[1] Analysis of Rivets from the SS John W. Brown”, JOM: Volume 67, Issue 12 (2015), Page 2965-2975. ], doi:10.1007/s11837-015-1668-1bs/. Posted with permission.</p