NOIRS 2011

"The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), in partnership with the Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety (LMRIS) and the National Safety Council (NSC), hosted the fifth National Occupational Injury Research Symposium (NOIRS) on October 18-20, 2011 at the Waterfront Place Hotel in Morgantown, West Virginia. NOIRS is the only national forum focused on the presentation of occupational injury research findings, data, and methods. This symposium served numerous objectives aimed at preventing traumatic occupational injury through research and prevention. They included: presenting current research findings; fostering collaboration among researchers from a broad range of disciplines, perspectives, and topic areas; identifying 'best practices' for the prevention of work-related injuries; exploring the cost-effectiveness of injury prevention strategies and interventions; showcasing innovative and high technology approaches to research and prevention; and continuing to promote the implementation of the National Occupational Research Agenda (NORA). Questions addressed included: What are the latest traumatic occupational injury research findings? What are emerging problems and research areas in workplace trauma? How is prevention through design being applied to occupational injury research and prevention? What activities are being done to implement research to practice in the area of traumatic occupational injury? What are the best practice intervention and prevention strategies? What are the economic costs of traumatic occupational injuries and are the prevention strategies cost-effective? What are the trends in traumatic occupational injury and fatality incidence? In research tools, techniques, and methods? In prevention? What specific workplace risks are faced by adolescents, older adults, foreign-born workers, non-English-speaking workers, low-literacy workers, and other special populations? How can researchers and practitioners in different sectors and disciplines better collaborate and coordinate their activities to reduce traumatic occupational injuries? What methods are available to assess, quantify, and compare traumatic occupational injury risks? Occupational injury researchers from all disciplines attended and shared their research. We encouraged participation by all interested individuals, including: safety researchers; safety practitioners; health care professionals; administrators; epidemiologists; engineers; manufacturers; communication researchers; regulators; employers; policy makers; insurers; students; advocates; workers; educators and trainers; and others interested in attending. The symposium consistd of contributed oral presentations in concurrent sessions and a poster session." - NIOSHTIC-2Welcome -- Symposium information -- Agenda at a glance -- Meeting facilities-main floor -- Acknowledgements -- Full agenda -- List of opening and closing plenary speakers -- List of pre-registered participants -- Abstracts -- Poster abstracts -- Abstract reviewers"October 2011.""This year's symposium theme, Future directions in occupational injury prevention research. NOIRS would not be possible without the support of our co-sponsors: the National Safety Council and the Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety." - p. [1]Available via the World Wide Web as an Acrobat .pdf file (1.64 MB, 190 p.)

Design Considerations for Remote High-Speed Pressure Measurements of Dynamic Combustion Phenomena

As gas turbine combustion systems evolve to achieve ultra-low emission targets, monitoring and controlling dynamic combustion processes becomes increasingly important. These dynamic processes may include flame extinction, combustion-driven instabilities, or other dynamic combustion phenomena. Pressure sensors can be incorporated into the combustor liner design, but this approach is complicated by the harsh operating environment. One practical solution involves locating the sensor in a more remote location, such as outside the pressure casing. The sensor can be connected to the measurement point by small diameter tubing. Although this is a practical approach, the dynamics of the tubing can introduce significant errors into the pressure measurement. This paper addresses measurement errors associated with semi-infinite coil remote sensing setups and proposes an approach to improve the accuracy of these types of measurements

Design, Construction, and Quality Control Guidelines for Stress-Laminated Timber Bridge Decks

DTFH61-90-00067This publication is part of a collection of three booklets of the study "Education and Technology Transfer", under the Timber Bridge Research Program. The other two booklets are: FHWA-RD-92-044 - Corrosion Protection of Steel Hardware Used in Modern Timber Bridges; and FHWA-RD-93-024 - Timber Substructures for Bridge Applications.Under the U.S. National Timber Bridge Initiative Program, sponsored by Congress in 1989 and administered by the United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, approximately 130 modern timber bridges are currently in service in 41 participating States. Most of these bridges use stress-laminating technology. Considerable research on stress-laminating technology has been completed in the USA and has provided design, construction, and inspection guidelines for timber bridge decks. Guidelines for the design of stress-laminated timber decks have been published by AASHTO, but they do not provide comprehensive information on materials, construction, and inspection. Therefore, this document presents: (1) background information on timber bridge materials and their quality control; (2) a comprehensive step-by-step design procedure based on the 1991 AASHTO Guide Specification; and (3) guidelines for construction, field monitoring, inspection, and maintenance procedures. Potential fabrication problems are discussed, and an inspection checklist is included

Environmental amenities and the location of industrial activity

Discussion of the impacts of perceived risk on decisions to locate business activity in areas likely to host noxious facilities has become an important part of socioeconomic impact analysis. The paper reviews the literature and presents empirical evidence, and shows that amenities are only a significant location factor for certain types of business activity. Policies to offset the potential loss of businesses through perceived risk in communities hosting waste facilities, should, therefore, carefully consider the sensitivity to environmental amenities of the types of business activity present or likely to locate

West Pearl Queen CO2 sequestration pilot test and modeling project 2006-2008.

The West Pearl Queen is a depleted oil reservoir that has produced approximately 250,000 bbl of oil since 1984. Production had slowed prior to CO{sub 2} injection, but no previous secondary or tertiary recovery methods had been applied. The initial project involved reservoir characterization and field response to injection of CO{sub 2}; the field experiment consisted of injection, soak, and venting. For fifty days (December 20, 2002, to February 11, 2003) 2090 tons of CO{sub 2} were injected into the Shattuck Sandstone Member of the Queen Formation at the West Pearl Queen site. This technical report highlights the test results of the numerous research participants and technical areas from 2006-2008. This work included determination of lateral extents of the permeability units using outcrop observations, core results, and well logs. Pre- and post-injection 3D seismic data were acquired. To aid in interpreting seismic data, we performed numerical simulations of the effects of CO{sub 2} replacement of brine where the reservoir model was based upon correlation lengths established by the permeability studies. These numerical simulations are not intended to replicate field data, but to provide insight of the effects of CO{sub 2}

Determination of Coal Permeability Using Pressure Transient Methods

Coalbed methane is a significant natural resource in the Appalachian region. It is believed that coalbed methane production can be enhanced by injection of carbon dioxide into coalbeds. However, the influence of carbon dioxide injection on coal permeability is not yet well understood. Competitive sorption of carbon dioxide and methane gases onto coal is a known process. Laboratory experiments and limited field experience indicate that coal will swell during sorption of a gas and shrink during desorption of a gas. The swelling and shrinkage may change the permeability of the coal. In this study, the permeability of coal was determined by using carbon dioxide as the flowing fluid. Coal samples with different dimensions were prepared for laboratory permeability tests. Carbon dioxide was injected into the coal and the permeability was determined by using pressure transient methods. The confining pressure was variedto cover a wide range of depths. The permeability was also determined as a function of exposure time of carbon dioxide while the confining stress was kept constant. CT scans were taken before and after the introduction of carbon dioxide. Results show that the porosity and permeability of the coal matrix was very low. The paper presents experimental data and theoretical aspects of the flow of carbon dioxide through a coal sample during pressure transient tests. The suitability of the pressure transient methods for determining permeability of coal during carbon dioxide injection is discussed in the paper

Gasification combined cycle: Carbon dioxide recovery, transport, and disposal

Initiatives to limit carbon dioxide (CO[sub 2]) emissions have drawn considerable interest to integrated gasification combined-cycle (IGCC) power generation. This process can reduce C0[sub 2] production because of its higher efficiency, and it is amenable to C0[sub 2] capture, because C0[sub 2] can be removed before combustion and the associated dilution with atmospheric nitrogen. This paper presents a process-design baseline that encompasses the IGCC system, C0[sub 2] transport by pipeline, and land-based sequestering of C0[sub 2] in geological reservoirs.The intent of this study is to provide the C0[sub 2] budget, or an equivalent C0[sub 2]'' budget, associated with each of the individual energy-cycle steps. Design capital and operating costs for the process are included in the full study but are not reported in the present paper. The value used for the equivalent C0[sub 2]'' budget will be 1 kg C0[sub 2]/kWh[sub e]

Scale formation on Ni-based alloys in simulated solid oxide fuel cell interconnect environments

Recent publications suggest that the environment on the fuel side of the bi-polar stainless steel SOFC interconnects changes the oxidation behavior and morphology of the scale formed on the air side. The U.S. Department of Energy Albany Research Center (ARC), has examined the role of such exposure conditions on advanced nickel base alloys. Alloy formulations developed at ARC and commercial alloys were studied using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Raman spectroscopy. The electrical property of oxide scales formed on selected alloys was determined in terms of areaspecific resistance (ASR). The corrosion behavior of ARC nickel-based alloys exposed to a dual environment of air/ H2 were compared to those of Crofer 22APU and Haynes 230

Durable Zinc Oxide-Based Regenerable Sorbents for Desulfurization of Syngas in a Fixed-Bed Reactor

A fixed-bed regenerable desulfurization sorbent, identified as RVS-land developed by researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's National Energy Technology Laboratory, was awarded the R&D 100 award in 2000 and is currently offered as a commercial product by Sued-Chemie Inc. An extensive testing program for this sorbent was undertaken which included tests at a wide range of temperatures, pressures and gas compositions both simulated and generated in an actual gasifier for sulfidation and regeneration. This testing has demonstrated that during these desulfurization tests, the RVS-1 sorbent maintained an effluent H2S concentration of <5 ppmv at temperatures from 260 to 600 C (500-1100 F) and pressures of 203-2026 kPa(2 to 20 atm) with a feed containing 1.2 vol% H{sub 2}S. The types of syngas tested ranged from an oxygen-blown Texaco gasifier to biomass-generated syngas. The RVS-1 sorbent has high crush strength and attrition resistance, which, unlike past sorbent formulations, does not decrease with extended testing at actual at operating conditions. The sulfur capacity of the sorbent is roughly 17 to 20 wt.% and also remains constant during extended testing (>25 cycles). In addition to H{sub 2}S, the RVS-1 sorbent has also demonstrated the ability to remove dimethyl sulfide and carbonyl sulfide from syngas. During regeneration, the RVS-1 sorbent has been regenerated with dilute oxygen streams (1 to 7 vol% O{sub 2}) at temperatures as low as 370 C (700 F) and pressures of 304-709 kPa(3 to 7 atm). Although regeneration can be initiated at 370 C (700 F), regeneration temperatures in excess of 538 C (1000 F) were found to be optimal. The presence of steam, carbon dioxide or sulfur dioxide (up to 6 vol%) did not have any visible effect on regeneration or sorbent performance during either sulfidation or regeneration. A number of commercial tests involving RVS-1 have been either conducted or are planned in the near future. The RVS-1 sorbent has been tested by Epyx, Aspen Systems and McDermott Technology (MTI), Inc for desulfurization of syngas produced by reforming of hydrocarbon liquid feedstocks for fuel cell applications. The RVS-1 sorbent was selected by MTI over other candidate sorbents for demonstration testing in their 500-kW ship service fuel cell program. It was also possible to obtain sulfur levels in the ppbv range with the modified RVS-1 sorbent

Xenia Simons as a Child

Xenia was born in Morgantown, Indiana on July 9, 1917. Her parents were Luther and Nellie Simons, ran a furniture making business. Xenia was the youngest of four children, and she got her name from her father’s travels through Xenia, Ohio.Xenia was born in Morgantown, Indiana on July 9, 1917. Her parents were Luther and Nellie Simons, ran a furniture making business. Xenia was the youngest of four children, and she got her name from her father’s travels through Xenia, Ohio.Destination Indiana - Xenia Simons Miller Journe