High-Performance Corrosion-Resistant Materials: Iron-Based Amorphous-Metal Thermal-Spray Coatings: SAM HPCRM Program ? FY04 Annual Report ? Rev. 0 - DARPA DSO & DOE OCRWM Co-Sponsored Advanced Materials Program

The multi-institutional High Performance Corrosion Resistant Materials (HPCRM) Team is cosponsored by the Defense Advanced Projects Agency (DARPA) Defense Science Office (DSO) and the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management (OCRWM), and has developed new corrosion-resistant, iron-based amorphous metals that can be applied as coatings with advanced thermal spray technology. Two compositions have corrosion resistance superior to wrought nickel-based Alloy C-22 (UNS No. N06022) in very aggressive environments, including concentrated calcium-chloride brines at elevated temperature. Corrosion costs the Department of Defense billions of dollars every year, with an immense quantity of material in various structures undergoing corrosion. For example, in addition to fluid and seawater piping, ballast tanks, and propulsions systems, approximately 345 million square feet of structure aboard naval ships and crafts require costly corrosion control measures. The use of advanced corrosion-resistant materials to prevent the continuous degradation of this massive surface area would be extremely beneficial. The Fe-based corrosion-resistant, amorphous-metal coatings under development may prove of importance for applications on ships. Such coatings could be used as an 'integral drip shield' on spent fuel containers, as well as protective coatings that could be applied over welds, thereby preventing exposure to environments that might cause stress corrosion cracking. In the future, such new high-performance iron-based materials could be substituted for more-expensive nickel-based alloys, thereby enabling a reduction in the $58-billion life cycle cost for the long-term storage of the Nation's spent nuclear fuel by tens of percent

Factors Influencing Teachers\u27 Use of an Outdoor Classroom

The development of an outdoor classroom as an extension of the school campus has increased in recent years. The Missouri Department of Conservation has provided grant monies to schools in Missouri through the Show-Me Conservation Outdoor Classroom Grant Program to aid with development costs. This research examined the factors that may be influencing the frequency of teachers\u27 use of an outdoor classroom when there is one available to them. The Missouri Outdoor Classroom Survey (MOCS) was designed to begin to understand these influencing factors. Two parts, influencing factor domains and demographics, were designed to assess their influence on the frequency of use. There were five influencing factor domains: appropriateness of setting, safety concerns, teacher confidence, student concerns, and administrative constraints. Respondent demographics included grade level, subject discipline, frequency of personal outdoor recreation, attendance at a class/workshop on nature/environment, education, age, gender, teaching experience, and length of the outdoor classrooms\u27 presence at the school. Results indicated that numerous factors were influencing how often teachers used an outdoor classroom. Respondents were enthusiastic about using an outdoor classroom as an educational tool and felt their students would benefit from it. The teacher\u27s grade level, subject discipline, frequency of personal outdoor recreation, and attendance at a class/workshop on nature/environment were shown to be significant influences

Element concentrations in the lichen Pseudevernia furfuracea (L.) Zopf transplanted around a cement factory (S Italy)

Abstract Samples of the lichen Pseudevernia furfuracea (L.) Zopf collected from an unpolluted area were transplanted for 3 months at 60 sites around a cement factory in S Italy and then analysed by ICP-MS for their Al, Ca, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, Na and V contents. These elements have the highest emission factors during cement production. Data were processed using both univariate and multivariate statistics, i.e. ANOVA, Bray–Curtis analysis and multi-response permutation procedure (MRPP). All these elements accumulated in the transplanted lichens, with Ca being the most abundant element. The Bray–Curtis analysis identified 10 groups of sites along axis 1, which accounted for 88.5% of the total variance. The \{MRPP\} results supported the results of the Bray–Curtis analysis. The groups at the two ends of axis 1 were those least affected (group 10) and most affected (group 1) by air pollutants from the cement factory. In view of the element concentrations measured in group 10, it was considered an “internal control” and then compared to the other groups to detect statistically significant differences (ANOVA). This data analysis revealed spatial trends suggesting that the cement factory contributed to the Fe, Al and V enrichment in the exposed lichens. Moreover, the sites in group 10 showed values comparable to or even lower than those of unexposed samples for all elements except vanadium, further supporting this element's role in air pollution monitoring