ANSI Standards Research Articles

Banana chips ( Musa acuminata ) as an alternative lignocellulosic raw material for particleboard manufacture

This study shows that it is feasible to make one-layer experimental particleboards from banana chips. Mechanical properties were easily satisfied at lower dosing rates, however thickness swelling remains a problem. The addition of 1% wax to the boards bonded with 14% resin resulted in improved thickness swelling and satisfied the EN 312 standard, but still it was not sufficiently low to satisfy the ANSI standard. It is suggested that combinations of banana chips with industrial wood chips, may be used in order to improve the thickness swelling of the particleboards. Also, the use of chemical modification of the banana chips with conventional urea formaldehyde resin may be an avenue for exploration in further investigations.

Tannin-based adhesive from Ceriops decandra (Griff.) bark for the production of particleboard

This study presents the extraction of tannins from the bark of a common mangrove species named goran (Ceriops Decandra (Griff.) Ding Hou) and the technical evaluation of the tannin-based adhesive for the production of particleboard. Extraction of tannins was performed by hot water extraction method at 80 ± 5 °C temperature for 3 h. Chemical analysis of the bark extract was carried out to determine the percentage of total phenols and total condensed tannins. Tannin-based adhesive was prepared by adding 0, 25, 50, 75 and 100% (w/w) tannin with the commercial grade urea–formaldehyde (UF) resin. Solid content, viscosity and pH of the adhesive solution was measured. Particleboards were manufactured from Albizia saman (Jacq.) wood particles and 8% adhesive (w/w basis). Physical and mechanical properties of the particleboards were evaluated according to the ASTM D-1037 standard. From the results, it was observed that the adhesive formulation containing 100% tannin showed the highest viscosity (512 cP), solid content (57.3%) and the lowest pH value (4.2) followed by adhesive formulation containing 75% tannin. The highest modulus of elasticity (MOE) and modulus of rupture (MOR) (948 and 18.4 MPa, respectively) were found for particleboards fabricated with 100% tannin-based adhesive. Though, the results indicate that tannin in combination with UF, even in pure form, is technically feasible to use as an adhesive for the production of particleboard. However, need to reduce the thickness swelling and improve MOE of the particleboards as these properties were not satisfactory for medium density particleboard grade according to ANSI standard. Therefore, further research on different ratios of tannin and UF/phenol formaldehyde (PF) and high temperature pressing of particleboard is recommended.

Safety Signs Perception and Adoption with the ISO and ANSI Standards

Background: One way of controlling hazards in the work environment is a use of safety signs. Safety signs are among the safe information group; hence, if these signs are not understood properly it could cause an injury or even death. Objectives: The aim of this study is surveying perception of safety signs and adoption with ISO and ANSI standards. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted during 2013 to 2014 in the 3 provinces of Khuzestan, Fars, and Tehran. The study population included 370 non-monochromatic employees working in the industries. For collecting information, the standard questionnaire of the international organization for standard (ISO 9186-1) and demographic information was used. A total of 13 safety signs were utilized for determination of perception. Stratified - Random sampling method was used, then, the obtained data were utilized using SPSS-16 software and applying descriptive statistics. Results: In this study, the overall rate of perception of safety signs was 78.4% with a standard deviation of 15.1%. The lowest percentage of perception was related to the sign “face shield must be worn” (53.5%). In the assessment of safety signs based on ANSI Z5353 and ISO 9186-1 standard, 62.5% and 69.2% of signs can be reached to limit of acceptable perception. Conclusions: The perception patterns of safety signs are different. Assessing perception of signs show a moderate level of perception in accordance with ISO standard; however, to reach ANSI standard, implementation of intervention programs (Judgment test) is suggested due to perceptual adaptation with target population and redesign of sign with low perception.

Acoustical Society of America Standards in Mechanical Shock and Vibration

The Acoustical Society of America maintains standards in several areas. We present the areas covered by ANSI/ASA S2: mechanical shock and vibration and ISO TC 108: mechanical shock, vibration, and condition monitoring. A brief description of each standard is given, with the overlap between ANSI and ISO standards. The work in each area is handled by committees and working groups that represent a diversity of opinions, which is crucial to creating a standard based on consensus of all interested parties. We also present the requirements for official participation in standards, that includes the rights to propose new standards, review and modify old standards, and vote. We present the reasonable fee structures for various types of organizations. Contact information for each committee and working group as well as the location of the information on the ASA Standards website are presented.

Use of noise cancellation earphones in out-of-booth audiometric evaluations

Objective: To assess the utility of noise cancelation earphones (NCE) in audiometric evaluations. Design: Degree of noise reduction of Bose QuietComfort 15 NCE was assessed through probe-microphone measures and sound-field audiometry. Occlusion effects from NCE were assessed for potential effects on bone-conduction thresholds. Study sample: Twenty participants were tested to determine average occlusion effect values during bone-conduction testing with and without NCE. Noise reduction values of the NCE were assessed on a single subject through probe-microphone measures and sound-field testing. Results: NCE sufficiently reduced ambient noise to levels acceptable for air-conduction testing as well as for bone-conduction testing for most patients when adding minimal adjustment to acceptable levels as outlined by the ANSI S3.1-1999 standard. In addition, NCE did not create a clinically significant change in the occlusion effect for bone-conduction testing. Conclusion: NCE placed over insert earphones provide a sound pressure level at the tympanic membrane that is below ANSI standards for routine air-conduction testing and result in sufficient ambient noise reduction for bone-conduction testing with most patients. There is no clinically significant occlusion effect from NCE during routine bone-conduction audiometry. These findings support the utility of using NCE for offsite audiometric testing.

Bayesian Inference in Action in EMC—Fundamentals and Applications

The scope of this study is to introduce the reader to Bayesian inference applied to the evaluation of measurement uncertainty and conformity assessment in the field of radiofrequency (RF) and electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) measurements and testing. The advantages stemming from the use of Bayesian inference with respect to the consolidated theoretical framework provided by the Guide to the Expression of Uncertainty in Measurement (widely known as the “GUM”) are emphasized, also in order to appreciate the reasons behind the ongoing revision of the same GUM. An important result of Bayesian inference has been already implemented in two guides to the evaluation of EMC measurement uncertainty, namely, the IEC TR 61000-1-6 and the standard ANSI C63.23. Further, it is here shown that through Bayesian inference mathematical tools can be derived for the assessment of conformity of distribution of values, such as the electric field over a surface, taking into proper account both the intrinsic variability among the values of the distribution and the measurement uncertainty of each value. The theoretical background is first introduced and then two applications of Bayesian inference to measurement uncertainty and conformity assessment in the field of RF and EMC measurements and testing are thoroughly described.

Uncertainty in tone quantification methods of background noise for enclosed spaces

The noticeable tones in background noises can annoy and disturb human listeners. The noise community has been developing methods to quantify perception of tones and lately trying to propose new tone guidelines to regulate the maximum level of tones in noise. Prior to proposing guidelines, the reliability of existing tone quantification methods should be examined. Thus, this paper investigates uncertainty of the tone quantifying methods from ANSI or ISO standards including Tonal Audibility, Prominence Ratio, and Tone-to-Noise Ratio. This study will discuss major causes of uncertainty in measuring the tones from using the methods. It will cover definitions of tones in each method, how these metrics separate tones and broadband noises, and how they analyze signals in time and frequency domains. Lastly, this paper will also investigate effects of room modes on the measured tonality in indoor environments. The variances of the measured tonality across measurement positions for the assorted metrics will be pres...

ACOUSTICAL STANDARDS NEWS

American National Standards (ANSI Standards) developed by Accredited Standards Committees S1, S2, S3, S3/SC 1, and S12 in the areas of acoustics, mechanical vibration and shock, bioacoustics, animal bioacoustics, and noise, respectively, are published by the Acoustical Society of America (ASA). In addition to these standards, ASA publishes a catalog of Acoustical American National Standards. To receive a copy of the latest Standards catalog, please contact Neil B. Stremmel. Comments are welcomed on all material in Acoustical Standards News. This Acoustical Standards News section in JASA, as well as the National Catalog of Acoustical Standards and other information on the Standards Program of the Acoustical Society of America, are available via the ASA home page: http://acousticalsociety.org.

ACOUSTICAL STANDARDS NEWS

American National Standards (ANSI Standards) developed by Accredited Standards Committees S1, S2, S3, S3/SC 1, and S12 in the areas of acoustics, mechanical vibration and shock, bioacoustics, animal bioacoustics, and noise, respectively, are published by the Acoustical Society of America (ASA). In addition to these standards, ASA publishes a catalog of Acoustical American National Standards. To receive a copy of the latest Standards catalog, please contact Neil Stremmel. Comments are welcomed on all material in Acoustical Standards News. This Acoustical Standards News section in JASA and other information on the Standards Program of the Acoustical Society of America are available via the ASA home page: http://acousticalsociety.org.

Data Distribution Service (DDS) based implementation of Smart grid devices using ANSI C12.19 standard

Today's power grid has so many challenges in terms of centralized power generation, limited flow of information, limited support for distribution, poor management of peak loads and power disruptions. Due to these limitations several organizations are working on Smart grid. Smart grid consists of numerous kind of heterogeneous devices that increase the complexity and inefficiency. To cope with heterogeneity and provide interoperability among the communication of these devices, middleware is considered to be the best approach. There are so many middlewares that have been proposed so far but Data Distribution Service (DDS) middleware provides high level of reliability and efficiency by addressing more performance metrics and several QoS policies especially in real time and mission critical applications. We have considered Smart grid standard ANSI C12.19 based DDS deployment in transmission and consumption sides. Data structures are obtained for topics formation over RTI Connext to establish communication and to conduct experimental study for the analysis of interoperability and other performance metrics to prove that DDS is better solution for Smart grid data interoperability and high reliability.

On Generating High-Quality Random Numbers

Random numbers are highly used in applications like computer simulation, gambling, statistical sampling and cryptography. Only a high-entropy random source can produce a better quality of random data. In this paper, we work on the generation of high-quality random numbers based on cellular automata (CA). We propose three-dimensional (3D) CA to generate a random sequence. We also propose various enhancements to CA-based pseudorandom number generator (CA-PRNG) and discuss its five variants by using two-dimensional (2D) and 3D CA. We analyze the switching between 2D and 3D CA for the same sequence to achieve high-quality randomness. We provide the architectures, CA rules and the algorithms for all the proposed variants with respect to 2D and 3D cell structures. We have done a software implementation of all the proposed variants and tested their produced sequences by using the internationally accepted standard for random numbers known as DIEHARD. The analysis of our results is made as per the recommendations of ANSI standards. A very similar criteria are applied to compare all the methods. Based on our results we are able to find the best CA-PRNG for producing high-quality random sequence.

ACOUSTICAL STANDARDS NEWS

American National Standards (ANSI Standards) developed by Accredited Standards Committees S1, S2, S3, S3/SC 1, and S12 in the areas of acoustics, mechanical vibration and shock, bioacoustics, animal bioacoustics, and noise, respectively, are published by the Acoustical Society of America (ASA). In addition to these standards, ASA publishes a catalog of Acoustical American National Standards. To receive a copy of the latest Standards catalog, please contact Neil Stremmel. Comments are welcomed on all material in Acoustical Standards News. This Acoustical Standards News section in JASA and other information on the Standards Program of the Acoustical Society of America are available via the ASA home page: http://acousticalsociety.org.

Standard methods for measuring the effects of special hearing protectors on auditory performance

Traditional hearing protectors attenuate noise via passive and or active technology. The advent of special hearing protectors, i.e., those that provide communications capability, ambient listening/situation awareness function, and/or level dependent attenuation of continuous and/or impulsive noise, has generated additional needs for performance measurement and characterization. ANSI Standards, representing the consensus of the U.S. scientific community, provide accurate, reliable, and repeatable methods for measuring performance. Current standards address the measurement of passive noise attenuation, active and level dependent insertion loss, impulsive peak insertion loss, and speech intelligibility. However, a need exists for a standard measurement method/s to characterize sound localization ability and auditory situation awareness. The presentation will address the application of current standards as well as a framework for a new standard describing three possible methods to measure sound localization performance and auditory situation awareness.

Review of the 2016 Edition of ANSI S12.6 and its place in the panoply of standards on the measurement of real-ear attenuation at threshold since 1957

The American standard specifying the procedure for the measurement of real-ear attenuation at threshold (REAT), often termed the gold standard in measuring hearing protector attenuation, was recently approved as an updated version, ANSI 12.6-2016. REAT was first standardized worldwide in the late 1950s in an American standard ANSI Z24.22-1957 and the method has evolved with time. Changes have affected the electroacoustic requirements for the sound field, instrumentation, audiometric method, and permissible background noise, but more importantly have also improved the specification of how the experimenter works with and fits the test subjects. So too, estimates of uncertainty are now included, and in the 2016 version they have been clarified and brought into harmony with ISO 4869-1. The author, who has been the chair since 1985 of the ANSI working group responsible for S12.6, will compare and contrast the various methods and present representative data as well as a discussion of the expanded uncertainties that are specified. Those values, for the 1/3-octave band test bands from 125 Hz to 8000 Hz, vary from approximately 1.5-2 dB for earmuffs and 2-3 dB for earplugs for within-laboratory testing, to 4-6 dB for earmuffs and 6.5-8 dB for earplugs for between laboratory measurements.

Optimal Energy Management for Stable Operation of an Islanded Microgrid

This paper presents a methodology on the design of an optimal predictive control scheme applied to an islanded microgrid. The controller manages the batteries energy and performs a centralized load shedding strategy to balance the load and generation within the microgrid, and to keep the stability of the voltage magnitude. A nonlinear model predictive control (NMPC) algorithm is used for processing a data set composed of the batteries state of charge, the distributed energy resources (DERs) active power generation, and the forecasted load. The NMPC identifies upcoming active power unbalances and initiates automated load shedding over noncritical loads. The control strategy is tested in a medium voltage distribution system with DERs. This control strategy is assisted by a distribution monitoring system, which performs real-time monitoring of the active power generated by the DERs and the current load demand at each node of the microgrid. Significant performance improvement is achieved with the use of this control strategy over tested cases without its use. The balance between the power generated by the DERs and the load demand is maintained, while the voltage magnitude is kept within the maximum variation margin of $\pm 5\%$ recommended by the standard ANSI C84.1-1989.

Influences of Relative Humidity on the Electric Field and Potential on Suspension Insulator String

This paper described to study the influences of relative humidity on the electric potential and electric field around the suspension insulators string which used in the 115 kV transmission system associated with ANSI standard. The suspension insulators string was used by Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA) in Thailand. Thailand is located in the tropics near the equator. It is hot and humid all year covered unless the area is in the central region and up. Relative humidity is lower in winter and summer. The summer Relative humidity is the lowest ebb in years. In such an average relative humidity is 72-74 percent, and down to 62-69 percent in the summer. The Finite Element Analysis (FEA) program was used to simulate the electric potential and electric fields. This simulation was compared the characteristic of suspension insulator due to different humidity between 75-80%RH. The Relative Humidity was based on mean of 5-year, average from 2010-2014 relative humidity by region since 2010-2014. The combination of humidity of the fog, rain, or dew and pollutant conductivity may cause insulator flashover. So, moisture thus influencing the behavior of the dielectric insulators has been investigated to reduce the impact of the system. This paper reports the simulation results on the investigation on the effects of humidity on potential and electric field of suspension insulator.

ACOUSTICAL STANDARDS NEWS

American National Standards (ANSI Standards) developed by Accredited Standards Committees S1, S2, S3, S3/SC 1, and S12 in the areas of acoustics, mechanical vibration and shock, bioacoustics, animal bioacoustics, and noise, respectively, are published by the Acoustical Society of America (ASA). Comments are welcomed on all material in Acoustical Standards News. This Acoustical Standards News section in JASA, as well as the national catalog of Acoustical Standards, and other information on the Standards Program of the Acoustical Society of America, are available via the ASA home page: http://acousticalsociety.org.

Steady State Analysis Of The Power System Of A Building Incorporating A 6kw Photovoltaic System Interconnected To The Grid

This work describesasteady state analysis of a building with a 6 kW photovoltaic system interconnected to the grid. Thebuilding is“Centro de Investigacion de los Programas de Ingenieria – CIPI” at Universidad de Bogota Jorge Tadeo Lozano, in Bogota, Colombia. The photovoltaic system is installed on the building’s roof and it has been operating properly since the month of January 2015. Steady state analysis is performed using the ETAPTM software, with which the following types of analyzes were performed: power flow, short circuit study and harmonic analysis. The results indicate that the active power and reactive power of bus 1are within the permitted limits (48 kW, 30 kVAR); short circuit tests meet the standard ANSI C37/UL489 and the total harmonic distortion%THD does not exceed the limits permitted by the standard IEE 929-2000.

ACOUSTICAL STANDARDS NEWS

American National Standards (ANSI Standards) developed by Accredited Standards Committees S1, S2, S3, S3/SC 1, and S12 in the areas of acoustics, mechanical vibration and shock, bioacoustics, animal bioacoustics, and noise, respectively, are published by the Acoustical Society of America (ASA). In addition to these standards, ASA publishes a catalog of Acoustical American National Standards. To receive a copy of the latest Standards catalog, please contact Susan B. Blaeser. Comments are welcomed on all material in Acoustical Standards News. This Acoustical Standards News section in JASA, as well as the National Catalog of Acoustical Standards and other information on the Standards Program of the Acoustical Society of America, are available via the ASA home page: http://acousticalsociety.org.

ACOUSTICAL STANDARDS NEWS

American National Standards (ANSI Standards) developed by Accredited Standards Committees S1, S2, S3, S3/SC 1, and S12 in the areas of acoustics, mechanical vibration and shock, bioacoustics, animal bioacoustics, and noise, respectively, are published by the Acoustical Society of America (ASA). In addition to these standards, ASA publishes a catalog of Acoustical American National Standards. To receive a copy of the latest Standards catalog, please contact Susan B. Blaeser. Comments are welcomed on all material in Acoustical Standards News. This Acoustical Standards News section in JASA, as well as the National Catalog of Acoustical Standards and other information on the Standards Program of the Acoustical Society of America, are available via the ASA home page: http://acousticalsociety.org.