Daytona Beach Research Articles

Paleohydrological modeling of penesaline reflux dolomitization: Avon Park Formation (Middle Eocene), East Central Florida

Previous geochemical, petrological, and sedimentological investigations of the Middle Eocene Avon Park Formation (Middle Eocene) of Florida suggest that dolomitization occurred in the Eocene from normal to hypersaline seawater. Reflux of penesaline water (i.e., seawater evaporatively concentrated below evaporite mineral precipitation) is the most likely mechanism to supply the required magnesium. Density-dependent solute-transport modeling was performed to evaluate whether penesaline reflux under known or inferred Middle Eocene paleohydrological conditions could have provided enough magnesium to account for the mass of dolomite present in three cores of the upper part of the Avon Park Formation from the City of Daytona Beach. Rather than a simple down and out flow pattern, the modeling results indicate that an initial rapid vertical convection-dominated flow regime first occurs in which native groundwater is displaced by refluxed brine, and followed by a longer-duration regime dominated by steady-state lateral flow. Dolomitization from a brine with a 89.6 ppt TDS concentration would require an average minimum reflux (at 100% dolomitization efficiency) on the Florida Platform of about 8130 m3 per m2 to provide the required magnesium. Modeling results indicate that such reflux could occur over 0.7–3 million years, depending upon the aquifer hydraulic parameter values. Longer time periods would be required for the reflux of lower salinity brines and lower dolomitization efficiencies. Penesaline reflux is thus hydrologically plausible for the dolomites of the upper Avon Park Formation.

Preliminary Assessment of a Previously Unknown Fault Zone beneath the Daytona Beach Sand Blow Cluster near Marianna, Arkansas

ABSTRACT We collected new high‐resolution P ‐wave seismic‐reflection data to explore for possible faults beneath a roughly linear cluster of early to mid‐Holocene earthquake‐induced sand blows to the south of Marianna, Arkansas. The Daytona Beach sand blow deposits are located in east‐central Arkansas about 75 km southwest of Memphis, Tennessee, and about 80 km south of the southwestern end of the New Madrid seismic zone (NMSZ). Previous studies of these sand blows indicate that they were produced between 10,500 and 5350 yr B.P. (before A.D. 1950). The sand blows are large and similar in size to those in the heart of the NMSZ produced by the 1811–1812 earthquakes. The seismic‐reflection profiles reveal a previously unknown zone of near‐vertical faults imaged in the 100–1100‐m depth range that are approximately coincident with a cluster of earthquake‐induced sand blows and a near‐linear surface lineament composed of air photo tonal anomalies. These interpreted faults are expressed as vertical discontinuities with the largest displacement fault showing about 40 m of west‐side‐up displacement at the top of the Paleozoic section at about 1100 m depth. There are about 20 m of folding on reflections within the Eocene strata at 400 m depth. Increasing fault displacement with depth suggests long‐term recurrent faulting. The imaged faults within the vicinity of the numerous sand blow features could be a causative earthquake source, although it does not rule out the possibility of other seismic sources nearby. These newly located faults add to a growing list of potentially active Pleistocene–Holocene faults discovered over the last two decades that are within the Mississippi embayment region but outside of the historical NMSZ.

(Invited) Atmospheric Corrosion of Zinc Magnesium Aluminum Coated Steel

Hot dip galvanized steel and zinc alloyed coated steel such as ZnAl and ZnAlMg (ZM) are used in the building industry and in the automotive industry. However, In the case of zinc coated steel with Al and Mg, there is still relatively scarce information on the long term performance under atmospheric weathering conditions. Although large efforts have been made to study the corrosion products formed on zinc under atmospheric weathering conditions (see for instance reference 1 and 2), very few data exist on HDG and zinc alloyed coated steel [5]This work is a part of a larger research program were steel with different zinc coatings are exposed on a worldwide basis on well characterized exposure sites in Europe, Asia and North America, see table 1. Corrosion rates of hot dip galvanized steel and zinc magnesium aluminum (e.g. 2% w% of Al and 2w% of Mg) coated steel were determined after 1, 2 and 4 years of exposure under different climatic conditions. The formation and development of corrosion products was followed by detailed analysis of samples exposed 0.5, 1, 2 and 4 years using XRD, FTIR-spectroscopy and SEM-EDS. For HDG the sulphate/carbonate ratio was highly dependent on the exposure site (with low values at marine sites and high values at industrial sites). A model of initiation and propagation of local corrosion on HDG has been proposed. The analyses of corrosion products on ZM coated steel revealed higher sulphate/carbonate ratio compared to HDG. This may be linked to the corrosion rate of the coating with less formation of hydrozincite.The data are discussed in view of current knowledge in atmospheric corrosion of zinc, HDG and ZM coated steel materials [1-6] Table 1. Test sites in the exposure program Code Name Country Distance to Sea(m) A Brest France <5 B Bohus-Malmön (I) Sweden <5 C Bohus-Malmön (II) Sweden 300 D Ijmuiden Netherlands 2600 E Cadiz Spain 750 F Jiangjin China ̴900 km G Ostrawa Czech Republic ̴500 km H Dubai UAE 2000 I Daytona Beach USA 100 J Quindao China 10 K Wanning China 100 L Bangkok Thailand 35 km M Sattahip Thailand 10 N Singapore SIngapore 10 References1-I. Odnevall, C. Leygraf, Corros. Sci. 34 (1993) 1213–1229.2- I. Odnevall, C. Leygraf, Corros. Sci. 36 (1994) 1551–1567.3- N. Le Bozec, D. Thierry, M. Rohwerder, Dan Persson, G. Luckeneder and L. Luxem, Effect of CO2 on the atmospheric corrosion of ZnMgAl coated steel, Corrosion Science, 74, pp 379-386, 2013 4- E. Diller, B. Lescop, S. Rioual, G Nguyen, D. Thierry and B. Rouvello, Initial formation of corrosion products on pure zinc and MgZn2 examined by XPS: Corrosion Science 79, pp 83-88, 2014.5- D. Persson, N. Le Bozec, T. Prosek, D. Thierry, G. Luckenader , Corrosion Science Vol 90, pp 276-283, 2015.6- D. Persson, D. Thierry, N. Le Bozec: Corrosion products formation on Zn55Al upon exposure in marine atmosphere, Corrosion Science, 720, 2011.

Highlights from the 31st Clinical Virology Symposium

The debate over whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) should regulate laboratory developed tests continues to divide experts in the clinical diagnostics community. However, this issue was but one of many under lively discussion during the 31st annual Clinical Virology Symposium (CVS), held last April in Daytona Beach, Fla.

31st Annual Meeting of the Pan American Society for Clinical Virology and Clinical Virology Symposium, Daytona Beach, FL, USA, 26–29 April 2015

The 31st annual meeting of the Pan American Society for Clinical Virology and Clinical Virology Symposium was held in Daytona Beach, FL, USA on 26–29 April 2015. This year the symposium was jointly cosponsored by the American Society for Microbiology, the France Foundation and the Pan American Society for Clinical Virology. The event was chaired by Steven Specter and Richard Hodinka.

Sensitivity Analysis of Optimum Tutor Staffing Schedule using Discrete Event Simulation

This study utilized the discrete-event simulation (DES) approach to optimize the daily tutor cost for the Unified Tutoring Center, located at the Daytona Beach campus of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. The simulation model was built using Arena version 12, and the objective of the study was to determine an optimum tutor staffing schedule to reduce operating costs, while also servicing as many students as possible and with the students experiencing a minimal wait time. Data was collected by videotaping four weeks (or 20 nights) worth of evening tutoring sessions. Two models, the General Study Room and the Physics & Chemistry Lab, were validated by comparing the observed tutor utilization with the model’s output utilization. A sensitivity analysis was conducted on both models based on average waiting time, maximum waiting time and maximum tutor utilization. A more practical tutor staffing schedule was found for the General Study Room and the Physics & Chemistry Lab, yielding an overall decrease in the weekly operational cost of tutors by $178.50.

Accelerated Atmospheric Corrosion Testing of Ag

Corrosion behavior of Ag in atmospheres containing humidity and ozone (O3), with sodium chloride (NaCl) surface contamination and ultraviolet (UV) illumination, has attracted strong interest recently because of the failure of ASTM B117 testing for Ag. This paper further investigates the effects of these parameters on Ag corrosion by laboratory exposure in a home-built environment chamber. Corrosion products were identified by x-ray diffraction (XRD) and quantified by galvanostatic reduction after exposures in different environments. The corrosion rate of Ag decreased as relative humidity (RH) increased in the presence of O3 and UV. The morphology of exposed Ag was also affected by RH. UV causes both photoreduction of silver chloride (AgCl) back to metallic Ag as well as an increase in the Ag corrosion rate because of O3 photolysis. Fuzzy analysis indicates that RH is a more significant factor affecting Ag corrosion than O3 or UV. The corrosion rate of Ag at Daytona Beach, Florida, also was predicted successfully by artificial neural network fitting of lab exposure results.

The Westside Regional WRF (City of Daytona Beach, Florida) Utilizes a Supplemental Carbon Source (glycerol) in a Unique Application to Enhance Biological Phosphorous Removal

The Westside Regional WRF (City of Daytona Beach, Florida) Utilizes a Supplemental Carbon Source (glycerol) in a Unique Application to Enhance Biological Phosphorous RemovalThe Westside Regional WRF is a 56,782 m3/d (15 million gallon per day) (mgd) average annual daily design flow advanced water reclamation facility that is located in Daytona Beach, Florida and discharges a combination of reclaimed water for reuse and treated effluent into the Halifax River. The treatment facility was upgraded in 2000 to include low level nitrogen and phosphorous removal...Author(s)Gary R. JohnsonChristopher J. WallRobert TerpstraTami MinighMichael SaundersSourceProceedings of the Water Environment FederationDocument typeConference PaperPublisherWater Environment FederationPrint publication date Oct, 2013ISSN1938-6478DOI10.2175/193864713813668196Volume / Issue2013 / 18Content sourceWEFTECCopyright2013Word count283

Slugging and Snubbing: Hugh Casey, Ernest Hemingway, and Jackie Robinson—A Baseball Mystery

Slugging and SnubbingHugh Casey, Ernest Hemingway, and Jackie Robinson—A Baseball Mystery Steven P. Gietschier (bio) “The hardest thing in the world to do is to write straight honest prose on human beings. First you have to know the subject. . . . ” Ernest Hemingway By-Line: Ernest Hemingway, Selected Articles and Dispatches from Four Decades Spring comes early to baseball. For most people living in the Northern Hemisphere, spring arrives officially on or about March 21, but for professional baseball players it starts in February when they gather to begin training for the upcoming season. Nowadays, major-league clubs train in Florida or Arizona, but years ago, trips to more exotic places were not unusual. Thus it was that in 1947, the Brooklyn Dodgers and their top minor-league club, the Montreal Royals, found themselves training in Havana, Cuba. This was not the Dodgers’ first excursion to the island nation. After making brief visits to Cuba in 1900, 1913, 1921, and 1931, they had trained there full-time in 1941 and 1942. But this trip was unusual, with a purpose much greater than getting players into shape.1 The 1947 Dodgers were on the verge of doing something truly historic. Just before Opening Day, April 15, Brooklyn’s president, Branch Rickey, announced that Jackie Robinson was being promoted from Montreal to the parent club, making him the first African American to play major-league baseball since 1884. The Dodgers had signed Robinson to a contract in the fall of 1945 and assigned him to the Royals. In 1946, both Brooklyn and Montreal had trained in Florida: the Dodgers in Daytona Beach, a relatively progressive southern city thanks to the heroic work of civil rights pioneer Mary McLeod Bethune, and the Royals in Sanford, a small town forty miles south and considerably less enlightened. Despite Rickey’s hopes, the Montreal club ran into legal segregation every step of the way. Law enforcement officials cancelled a number of Royals games in several Florida cities and also in Savannah and Richmond [End Page 12] as the team traveled north to open the season in Jersey City. Robinson encountered few problems once he and his wife Rachel reached Montreal. They were welcomed into the community, and he had a terrific season. His manager, Mississippian Clay Hopper, and his teammates adjusted. They had little choice.2 Rickey wanted 1947 to be different. He kept Robinson on the Montreal roster, but he knew that the former ucla student and Army veteran would be a Dodger when the season began. Aiming for spring training to be free from racial strife, he picked Cuba, a country where he believed the color of a player’s skin would not be an issue. Still, when the players arrived in Havana, they noticed a peculiar housing arrangement. The players on the major-league roster stayed at the Hotel Nacional, a stately structure designed in an Andalusian-Moorish style and built in 1930. White members of the minor-league club stayed at the nearby Havana Military Academy. But Robinson and three other black players trying to make the Montreal roster were housed separately, away from their white teammates, in “a musty, third-rate hotel in the heart of town.” Robinson, catcher Roy Campanella, and pitchers Roy Partlow and Don Newcombe endured this humiliation together. Robinson at first blamed the Cuban government for the segregated housing, but he soon learned that the idea was Rickey’s. “I can’t afford to take a chance and have a single incident occur,” said the Dodgers executive. “This training session must be perfectly smooth.” He was wary, he said, that some white Royals new to the club or American tourists staying at the Nacional might raise a stink. “I wasn’t even allowed to go in the lobby of the Nacional to see Mr. Rickey on baseball business,” Newcombe remembered. “I had to get permission from the bellhops. In fact, one [white] bellhop put me out of the lobby.”3 Rickey also wanted spring training to make a profit. He enticed three other major-league clubs—the Boston Braves, New York Yankees, and St. Louis Browns—to come to the Caribbean for exhibition games. Brooklyn played the...

Using a Business Process Model as a Central Organizing Construct for an Undergraduate Weather Forecasting Course

For the last five years, the author has employed a business process model as a central organizing construct for the senior-level Forecasting Techniques course at Embry- Riddle Aeronautical University's Daytona Beach, Florida, campus. The process model allows weather analysis and forecasting to be examined as both a scientific process and a business operation, with emphasis on employing a user-focused approach. The use of the model arose from the need for an organizing context for the students, mostly seniors applying their knowledge from previous coursework, most of whom are learning to make their first weather forecasts. The process model used in the present version of the course evolved from one originally developed by the U.S. Air Force to describe weather information's value-added contributions to daily operations. The model consists of two major interrelated components: the weather information processing cycle (WIPC) and the provider–user relationship (PUR). The WIPC describes the analysis/forecast process from the scientific point of view, whereas the PUR examines the relationship between the provider and user of meteorological information. The WIPC uses familiar concepts such as data collection, analysis, and prediction, whereas the PUR introduces the students to complex (and seldom taught) topics such as user requirements and mission analyses. The process model also provides a framework for the final project, a case-study analysis that emphasizes not only the weather associated with the event but also its resulting impact on the affected population.

Assessment of Resource Scheduling Changes on Flight Training Effectiveness Using Discrete Event Simulation

This study presented a resource scheduling model of the Flight Training Department at Embry Riddle Aeronautical University's Daytona Beach Campus built using Discrete Event Simulation, to assess the effect of changes in the resources available to students in Flight Training Device (FTD) course modules on Flight Training effectiveness. Historical data from the Flight Training Department was used to build and validate the model. Results showed that, on average, students who had more resources available to them during FTD modules completed the training program 1 day earlier than those in the current system. As well, Cessna 172 and PA44 Aircraft average daily utilization increased whereas Cessna 172 S and PA44 FTD average daily utilization decreased. These results are discussed and conclusions are given at the end of this paper. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Recent Advances on Variability, Morpho-Functional Adaptations, Dental Terminology, and Evolution of Sloths

The occasion of the Xenarthra Symposium during the ICVM 9 meeting allowed us to reflect on the considerable advances in the knowledge of sloths made by the “X-community” over the past two decades, particularly in such aspects as locomotion, mastication, diet, dental terminology, intraspecific variation, sexual dimorphism, and phylogenetic relationships. These advancements have largely been made possible by the application of cladistic methodology (including DNA analyses) and the discovery of peculiar forms such as Diabolotherium, Thalassocnus, and Pseudoglyptodon in traditionally neglected areas such as the Chilean Andes and the Peruvian Pacific desert coast. Modern tree sloths exhibit an upside-down posture and suspensory locomotion, but the habits of fossil sloths are considerably more diverse and include locomotory modes such as inferred bipedality, quadrupedality, arboreality or semiarboreality, climbing, and an aquatic or semi-aquatic lifestyle in saltwater. Modern tree sloths are generalist browsers, but fossil sloths had browsing, grazing, or mixed feeding dietary habits. Discovery of two important sloth faunas in Brazil (Jacobina) and southern North America (Daytona Beach and Rancho La Brea) have permitted evaluation of the ontogenetic variation in Eremotherium laurillardi and the existence of possible sexual dimorphism in this sloth and in Paramylodon harlani. A new dental terminology applicable to a majority of clades has been developed, facilitating comparisons among taxa. An analysis wherein functional traits were plotted onto a phylogeny of sloths was used to determine patterns of evolutionary change across the clade. These analyses suggest that megatherioid sloths were primitively semiarboreal or possessed climbing adaptations, a feature retained in some members of the family Megalonychidae. Pedolateral stance in the hindfoot is shown to be convergently acquired in Mylodontidae and Megatheria (Nothrotheriidae + Megatheriidae), this feature serving as a synapomorphy of the latter clade. Digging adaptations can only be securely ascribed to scelidotheriine and mylodontine sloths, and the latter are also the only group of grazing sloths, the remainder being general browsers.

The Comedy of Errors (review)

Reviewed by: The Comedy of Errors Katharine Goodland The Comedy of Errors Presented by Propeller at Brooklyn Academy of Music Harvey Theater, Brooklyn, New York. March 16-27, 2011. Directed by Edward Hall. Design by Michael Pavelka. Lighting by Ben Ormerod. Music by Propeller. Additional arrangements and original music by Jon Trenchard. With Richard Clothier (Duke of Ephesus), John Dougall (Aegeon), Dugald Bruce-Lockhart (Antipholus of Syracuse), Sam Swainsbury (Antipholus of Ephesus) Richard Frame (Dromio of Syracuse), Jon Trenchard (Dromio of Ephesus), Robert Hands (Adriana), David Newman (Luciana), Wayne Cater (Balthasar), Thomas Padden (Angelo), Dominic Tighe (Officer), Kelsey Brookfield (Courtesan), Tony Bell (Pinch), and Chris Myles (Aemilia). Edward Hall's all-male theatre company presented a manic, madcap Comedy of Errors. Set on what he described in his pre-show artist talk as a [End Page 626] Click for larger view View full resolution Fig 3. From left to right, Richard Frame as Dromio of Syracuse, Jon Trenchard as Dromio of Ephesus, Dugald Bruce-Lockhart as Antipholus of Syracuse, and Sam Swainsbury as Antipholus of Ephesus in Propeller's 2011 production of Comedy of Errors, directed by Edward Hall. Photo courtesy of Julieta Cervantes. [End Page 627] "holiday island" reminiscent of Majorca, or for Americans of a certain age, college spring break at Daytona Beach, this rendering of Shakespeare's early comedy was crammed with bits and gags that culminated in a naked Dr. Pinch crossing the stage with a lit sparkler stuck in his bum. Hall's actors invited the audience into this giddy world before the show began. As we entered and found our seats, cast members, in character, donning sombreros and bright, wildly-patterned holiday outfits, wandered amongst us playing accordions, flutes, violins, and maracas. Other characters accosted us with trinkets and tourist scams. The delightful Latin-flavored music, and a stage that evoked back alleys with its graffiti-ridden garage doors and scattered beers cans, beautifully captured the casual, topsy-turvy world of youthful holiday escape. From Aegeon's opening lines the play was punctuated by sound effects and sight gags: horns, drums, and whistles for the beatings of the Dromios; a bell every time the chain that Antipholus of Ephesus gave to the courtesan was mentioned; Adriana eating a banana as she listened to Luciana express her fears of "the marriage bed." Amid all this mayhem, the storyline, and the stakes inherent in that story, were lost. The poignant, moving, tale of a young family torn apart at sea and reunited after years of searching—a search instigated by Antipholus of Syracuse's fervent quest for his identity—all but vanished. Neither the pathos of Aegeon's opening narrative, nor the pity it elicits in Solinus were expressed. Shakespeare's stern yet just and compassionate Duke of Ephesus was rendered ridiculous, not only by his cheesy red satin suit, but also by Richard Clothier's rendering of the character as a caricature of a used car salesman. Aegeon's long monologue was punctuated by the antic entrances of the Antipholi and the Dromios each time they were mentioned in the narrative. This approach introduced the audience to these characters and helped to clarify and enliven an admittedly challenging opening scene, but it also muted the tragic tones of the story. Therefore, when the family was at last united in the final scene, nothing was at stake for the characters in the play or for the audience. This moving recognition scene became instead another opportunity for easy laughs when the abbess appeared, portrayed as a caricature of an S&M type, sporting pink suede cowgirl boots, a leather mini-skirt, and a whip. Like the abbess, Adriana was portrayed in unsympathetic caricature as a gangling, vain shrew. Obsessed with her looks, she appeared in green mud masks, curlers, a leopard patterned bathrobe and various unflattering mini-skirts, and was frequently occupied with her makeup during her dialogues with Luciana. The terror and bewilderment of Shakespeare's [End Page 628] Adriana, embodied in the exquisite poetry of her lines when her husband doesn't know her in 1.2, were rendered shrill and comical by Robert Hands. The result was that the agonizing threats to self, embodied...

Message on a Bottle

Message on a Bottle Stephen Kampa (bio) We’d chosen to invest Cash in advance because we were distressed By signs we saw implying We lacked a certain something: cancer rates And military statesAre rising; the dollar’s weak; we’re still denying The current atmosphereIs thinning daily; not much else is clear. Since we were all relying On breakthroughs from the pharmacologist, Now we’re good and pissed That trials have not been wholly satisfying: Side effects includeTremors, sweats, nausea, sudden shifts in mood, The shits, and fits of crying. The fine print on the bottle-cap chimes in, One in ten players will win,But you are one of nine, so thanks for trying! Your dust is only dust,Your countermeasures bust, and living just The slowest form of dying. [End Page 108] Stephen Kampa Stephen Kampa’s first volume of poems, Cracks in the Invisible, will be published in the spring of 2011 by the Ohio University Press. He currently works as a musician in Daytona Beach, Florida. Copyright © 2010 Johns Hopkins University Press

Strategies for Success in the Academy for Black Women

Strategies for Success in the Academy for Black Women

Insights Into the Dolomitization Process and Porosity Modification in Sucrosic Dolostones, Avon Park Formation (Middle Eocene), East-Central Florida, U.S.A.

Abstract The Avon Park Formation (middle Eocene) in central Florida, U.S.A., contains shallow-water carbonates that have been replaced by dolomite to varying degrees, ranging from partially replaced limestones, to highly porous sucrosic dolostones, to, less commonly, low-porosity dense dolostones. The relationships between dolomitization and porosity and permeability were studied focusing on three 305-m-long cores taken in the City of Daytona Beach. Stable-isotope data from pure dolostones (mean δ18O = +3.91‰ V-PDB) indicate dolomite precipitation in Eocene penesaline pore waters, which would be expected to have been at or above saturation with respect to calcite. Nuclear magnetic log-derived porosity and permeability data indicate that dolomitization did not materially change total porosity values at the bed and formation scale, but did result in a general increase in pore size and an associated substantial increase in permeability compared to limestone precursors. Dolomitization differentially affects the porosity and permeability of carbonate strata on the scale of individual crystals, beds, and formations. At the crystal scale, dolomitization occurs in a volume-for-volume manner in which the space occupied by the former porous calcium carbonate is replaced by a solid dolomite crystal with an associated reduction in porosity. Dolomite crystal precipitation was principally responsible for calcite dissolution both at the actual site of dolomite crystal growth and in the adjoining rock mass. Carbonate is passively scavenged from the formation, which results in no significant porosity change at the formation scale. Moldic pores after allochems formed mainly in beds that experienced high degrees of dolomitization, which demonstrates the intimate association of the dolomitization process with carbonate dissolution. The model of force of crystallization-controlled replacement provides a plausible explanation for key observations concerning the dolomitization process in the Avon Park Formation and elsewhere: (1) volume-for-volume replacement at a crystal scale, (2) coupled growth of dolomite crystals and dissolution of host calcium carbonate matrix, and (3) automorphic replacement by euhedral dolomite crystals. The force-of-crystallization model also does not require an influx of externally derived water that is undersaturated with respect to calcite to dissolve calcite, a fact that could simplify diagenetic models of porosity generation in dolostones. The later addition of external carbonate can result in a substantial reduction in porosity by the precipitation of dolomite cement, which could convert a high porosity sucrosic dolostone into a dense “Paleozoic type” dolostone.

Report on the Twenty‐Third International Florida Artificial Intelligence Research Society Conference (FLAIRS‐23)

The 23rd International Florida Artificial Intelligence Research Society Conference (FLAIRS‐23) was held May 19–21, 2010, at the Shores Resort and Spa in Daytona Beach Shores, Florida, USA. The conference featured an exciting lineup of invited speakers, a general conference track on artificial intelligence research, and numerous special tracks. The conference chair was David Wilson from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. The program cochairs were R. Charles Murray from Carnegie Learning and Hans W. Guesgen from Massey University in New Zealand. The special tracks coordinator was Philip McCarthy from the University of Memphis.

The International Symposium on Ballistics

The International Symposium on Ballistics

Measurement of Porosity in Granular Particle Distributions Using Adaptive Thresholding

It has been shown that the flow and shear characteristics of granular particles such as soils are significantly dependent on the shape of the particles. This is important from a practical viewpoint because a fundamental understanding of granular behavior will lead to an improved understanding of soil stability and influence the design of structural foundations. Furthermore, the calculation of soil stability and, consequently, structural stability is particularly useful during earthquake events. In previous work, we have demonstrated the applicability of X-ray and optical tomography measurements for characterizing 3-D shapes of natural sands and manufactured granular particles. In this paper, we extend the work to measure the arrangement and the orientation of an assemblage of such particles. A combination of X-ray computed tomography (CT) for measuring the coordinates of the individual particles and an iterative adaptive thresholding technique for computing the local variations in porosity is employed to generate porosity maps. Such maps can be used to gain a more fundamental understanding of the shear characteristics of granular particles. In this paper, we demonstrate the success of our technique by exercising the method on several sets of granular particles-glass beads (used as a control), natural Michigan Dune and Daytona Beach sand, and processed Dry #1 sand.

Book Review: Advances in Ceramic Armour IV, A Collection of Papers Presented at the 32nd International Conference on Advanced Ceramics and Composites, January 27-February 1, 2008, Daytona Beach, Florida by L.P. Franks, T. Ohji and A. Wereszczak

Advances in Ceramic Armour IV, A Collection of Papers Presented at the 32nd International Conference on Advanced Ceramics and Composites, January 27-February 1, 2008, Daytona Beach, Florida, by L.P. Franks, T. Ohji and A. Wereszczak. Hoboken, The American Ceramic Society, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2009. 230pp. ISBN: 978-0-470-34497-2