bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Prepulse inhibition and the call alert in emergency medical services
Authors: Heathcote Scott D. , Blumenthal Terry D. , Swerdlow Neal R. 
Published: January 2024

AbstractIn emergency medical services, paramedics are informed of an emergency call by a high‐intensity acoustic alarm called the “call alert.” Sudden, loud sounds like the call alert may cause a startle response and be experienced as aversive. Studies have identified an association between the call alert and adverse health effects in first responders; conceivably, these adverse health effects might be reduced by modifying the call alert to blunt its startling and aversive properties. Here, we assessed whether the call alert causes a startle response and whether its startling and aversive properties are reduced when the call alert is preceded by a weak acoustic “prepulse,” a process referred to as “prepulse inhibition” (PPI). Paramedics (n = 50; 34M:13F:3 not reported; ages 20–68) were exposed to four call alerts (two with and two without a prepulse) in counterbalanced order. Responses were measured using electromyography (measuring blink amplitude), visual analog scales (quantifying perceived call alert intensity and aversiveness), and an electrocardiogram (assessing heart rate). Paramedics responded to the call alert with a startle reflex blink and an increased heart rate. Acoustic prepulses significantly reduced the amplitude of the call alert‐induced startle blink, the perceived sound intensity, and the perceived “dislike” of the call alert. These findings confirm that the call alert is associated with an acoustic startle response in paramedics; adding a prepulse to the call alert can reduce its startling and aversive properties. Conceivably, such reductions might also diminish adverse health effects associated with the call alert in first responders.
Prevalence, incidence, risk factors and residual risk associated with viral infections among eligible Brazilian blood donors
Authors: Santos Ana Paula Alves , Rios Danyelle Romana Alves , Trindade Clara Lemos Carneiro , Oliveira Fernanda Eshtefane Garrides , Oliveira Milena Batista , de Melo Saulo Nascimento , Belo Vinícius Silva 
Published: January 2024

AbstractKnowledge regarding the profile of eligible blood donors presenting positive results in laboratory screening is essential for reducing transfusion‐transmitted human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV). Our study aimed to evaluate the prevalence, incidence, predictor variables and residual risk (RR) of HIV/HBV/HCV in blood bags donated in Minas Gerais, Brazil. This study analysed data retrieved from the records of a large blood bank relating to donations collected at multiple centres within the period 2012–2018, during which 1 991 120 blood bags were screened using immunoassays and nucleic acid tests (NATs). Multilevel modelling was used to investigate the association between sex, civil status and age group with HIV/HBV/HCV. RR was estimated from the incidence values (restricted to negative and positive tests within the study period) and window periods for infections. The prevalence in first time donors, incidence and RR of HCV (223.73 cases per 100 000; 54.84 per 100 000 persons‐year and 1.6527 per 100 000, respectively) were higher than those of HIV (172.65 cases per 100 000; 28.25 per 100 000 persons‐year and 0.8514 per 100 000) and HBV (168.17 cases per 100 000; 18.54 per 100 000 persons‐year and 0.5588 per 100 000). The odds of acquiring infection were greater in male, single and older donors. Sixteen donors were identified as seronegative and NATs+ during the 7‐year span of the study. Our study has clarified some spatiotemporal trends regarding HIV/HBV/HCV infections in donated blood in Brazil. The results will contribute to the formulation of directives addressed to high‐risk donors.
Aeronautic Instruments: General Principles of Construction, Testing, and Use
Authors: Hersey Mayo D. 
Published: January 2024

Abstract
This paper, which is a contribution from the Aeronautic Instruments Section of the National Bureau of Standards, affords a brief sketch of the general principles of such instruments. The discussion takes up successively matters relating to the construction, the testing, and the practical use of instruments for aircraft. In each case principles rather than details are emphasized. In a few instances particular instruments are described or the results of particular investigations stated, in order to illustrate the principle involved. The paper, however, does not pretend to serve as a final or comprehensive report on the subject.
That the general field of aeronautic instruments is a less familiar one to the engineer at large than it logically ought to be, is probably due to the confidential character of the work which has gone forward during the war. Now that attention is again directed to civilian aeronautics the subject of instruments takes on great importance for two chief reasons: first, because the efficiency and safety of air navigation, especially in clouds, depends on the reliability of the instruments which are used; and second, because the whole future development of aeronautic engineering rests upon the measurement of aircraft performance, which requires suitable instruments of precision.
Malleable Castings
Authors: Touceda Enrique 
Published: January 2024

Abstract
Malleable-iron castings, according to the author, are regularly made weighing as high as 500 lb., with an ultimate strength of 50,000 lb. per sq. in. and an elongation of 10 per cent or over. With these properties in mind he compares such castings with gray-iron and steel castings, showing that with respect to the former the malleable casting has equal physical properties, costs no more, is lighter in weight and is not liable to breakage. More than 70 per cent of the steel castings produced in this country, it is stated, are not annealed and are in a state of internal strain. Annealed malleable castings are free from such strain, are less expensive to produce, and in the author’s opinion will stand more abuse in service. Their use is therefore indicated and recommended for any part of such size as can be successfully made where strength combined with ductility and low cost per pound is essential.
Die Castings
Authors: Pack Charles 
Published: January 2024

Abstract
The die-casting process, according to the author, is best adapted to alloys of comparative low fusing points, such as those of zinc, tin, lead and aluminum. While it is stated that no general rules can be laid down governing the design and application of die castings, the paper nevertheless outlines the general properties of the various alloys used and their fields of application and gives particulars regarding such limitations as maximum weight of casting, minimum wall thickness, minimum number of threads and minimum diameter of holes that can be cast, draft for cores and side walls, etc.
An Improved Form of Weir for Gaging in Open Channels
Authors: Herschel Clemens 
Published: January 2024

Abstract
In the following paper are presented the results of a series of investigations on weirs which should mark an epoch in the measurement of water by that means. Asked by the Power Test Code Committee of The American Society of Mechanical Engineers to advise it with regard to weir measurements, and supplied by Engineering Foundation with the necessary funds to conduct the experiments, the author devised an entirely new weir which was tested in the Hydraulic Laboratory of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The tests revealed that for discharges of from 0 to 9.55 cu. ft. per sec. per ft. of weir length, the limits covered by the experiments, the quantity of water flowing, Q, was directly proportional to the difference, d, in two pressures, one measured just upstream of the weir, corrected automatically for the velocity of approach, and the other measured at the crest, the formula being Q = 5.50 d. The weir, which bears no resemblance to the sharp-edged weir now in use, has a 2:1 slope of approach to the crest. The crest is made in the form of an arc of a circle and is hollow for observing the pressure at that point. The nappe of the stream is supported for a short distance beyond the crest by another 2:1 slope. The paper opens with a résumé of the history of weir measurements and contains descriptions and diagrams of the apparatus and tests of the new weir, with tabular and graphic reports of the results obtained.
Locomotive Feedwater Heating
Authors: McBride Thomas C. 
Published: January 2024

Abstract
This paper describes a system of locomotive feedwater heating which makes use of the so-called open type of heater in which the exhaust steam comes into direct contact with the cold feedwater. The author describes the construction and operation of the heater and discusses the coal saving, water saving, and possibilities of increased capacity due to locomotive feedwater heating. These are discussed first from a theoretical standpoint and second, from the practical standpoint based upon the reports of actual tests. Tables and curves based on tests are presented and analyzed and the paper is concluded with a discussion of the question as to whether the exhaust steam taken by the feedwater heater would cause trouble with the draft. From actual operating conditions the author states that “there was a surplus of exhaust steam left available for the draft.”
Tight-Fitting Threads for Bolts and Nuts
Authors: Lord Chester B. 
Published: January 2024

Abstract
Although in general the thread forms now in use are quite satisfactory, perfection has by no means been reached. There is still considerable search for what the author of the following paper terms “a thread that will not loosen,” and in the preliminary portion of his paper he discusses the fundamental principles involved in the manufacture of threads. The problem to be solved, he states, is as follows: “Without sacrifice of strength, without increase of rejection, without additional manufacturing costs, find a method whereby a male and female thread of the same lead and pitch diameter may be made after repeated loosenings to fit right without the aid of a locking device.” The reasons for departing from accepted practice are presented and discussed, and as a result of experimental work, the author draws the following conclusions: (1) The cause of stripped threads is lack of room into which the metal can flow; (2) The pitch diameter should be the same in both threads; (3) The lead should be the same; (4) The thread angle should differ by not more than 10 deg.; (5) The limits for the inside diameter of nut need not be adhered to closely, as the inner part of the nut thread holds very little, if any; (6) The outside diameter of plug and pitch diameter of both plug and nut are important and should be adhered to fairly closely.
Foundations for Machinery
Authors: Akimoff N. W. 
Published: January 2024

Abstract
The purpose of building foundations is clearly defined and differs radically from that of providing substructures for machinery. Considerable contradiction can be found in blindly applying the principles of the former to the latter, and the results are sometimes so unsatisfactory as to necessitate the use of cushions and other yielding means, thus entirely undermining the very theory on which the foundation was supposedly built.
Vibrations arise from either lack of balance or from other causes. The proposed theory contemplates the latter, the problem of balancing being considered as capable of complete solution by suitable treatment. After briefly considering the nature of possible displacements of the foundation as acted upon by various causes leading to vibrations, the author introduces, by way of illustration, a double pendulum, a few experiments with which form the basis of his theory. Means for localizing the expected vibration and of controlling the resulting periods are then illustrated in a working sketch of the proposed arrangement.
Power Applications to Cotton–Finishing Plants
Authors: Loeb Leo 
Published: January 2024

Abstract
The following paper presents an analysis of the power applications to cotton-finishing plants in which, under ordinary conditions, the steam required for processing is greater than that for power development. The generation of power and of steam and the applications to the driving of process machinery are traced briefly from the boilers to the motor applications. Charts are presented showing the steam consumption and the proportion of the exhaust steam converted into work and available at the exhaust for different types of prime movers. Illustrations of typical drives are included.
Creosoted Wood–Block Factory Floors
Authors: Ericson Lambert T. 
Published: January 2024

Abstract
This paper deals in a broad way with the problems involved in constructing creosoted wood-block factory floors. The character of the timber commonly used is first discussed; then the problems commonly encountered and the essential requisites for success enumerated. The reasons for the use of thoroughly air-seasoned lumber for solid foundations and for waterproof and elastic binders are also given. The field which may be covered with floors of this character is next described, with the conditions commonly encountered. It is also shown that the conditions encountered in factory floors vary so extremely that it is impossible to lay down general specifications covering the treatment and installation. It is demonstrated that this is a specially which should be handled by those who are thoroughly expert in the work. Methods are described which will permit engineers to specify and build creosoted wood-block factory floors without entailing any risk of the failure of the same. It. is recommended that the manufacturer shall furnish creosoted wood-block factory floors upon an installed basis so as to obviate a division of responsibility and to insure the successful installation.
The Armor-Plate and Gun-Forging Plant of the U. S. Navy Department at South Charleston, W. Va.
Authors: Freeman Roger M. 
Published: January 2024

Abstract
The magnitude of such a project as the establishment of the Navy-owned, built and operated Naval Ordnance Plant at South Charleston, W. Va., has made it impossible for the author to give details on all points of the development of the plant. He describes briefly the establishment of the projectile plant and preliminary steps leading up to the actual construction of the armor-plate and gun-forging plant, a general description of which is the main object of the paper. The general layout of the plant and transportation facilities are covered and then the author passes to a more detailed discussion of the unusual features of design and construction. Among these are the arrangement of the stockyard alongside the open-hearth building, the 30-ton electric furnaces for duplexing, the electric traveling cranes to carry 400,000-lb. ingots, the original “H”-type of forge shop and treatment plant combined, the 14,000-ton steam-intensified hydraulic press, the twenty 15 ft. wide Carbottom furnaces, the machine shop with three 106 ft. wide aisles, and the gun treatment building, the high portion of which contains a 75-ton crane of 104 ft, span on rails 165 ft. above the floor level which serves a 10 by 105 ft. high electric-treatment furnace placed in a concrete pit 55 ft. deep. The 23 electric traveling cranes, twenty of which are 75-ton or larger and three of 250 tons capacity, are discussed. The 25,000-kw. electric substations, the 6500-hp. boiler plant and the 25,000,000-gal. reservoir are also discussed briefly.
The paper concludes by summarizing the various steps in the development, outlining the organization of the project, which was handled entirely within the Navy Department, giving in round numbers construction costs, and reviewing briefly the progress of construction of the plant which is now substantially completed.
Capacity Tests of Dry-Vacuum Pumps by the Low-Pressure Nozzle
Authors: Redfield Snowden B. 
Published: January 2024

Abstract
The method of testing moderate-vacuum pumps described in this paper has a number of advantages. A nozzle is used in which the downstream or back pressure is higher than the critical. This permits the determination of several values of volumetric efficiency over a range of vacua without changing the nozzle. The method of plotting of results described by the author is a graphic proof of the accuracy of the theory of the nozzle and permits ready estimation of approximate performance of a given pump.
Report Upon Efficiency Tests of a 30,000-Kw. Steam Turbine
Authors: Reynolds Herbert B. 
Published: January 2024

Abstract
During 1920 the installation of three 30,000-kw. General Electric turbines was completed at the 59th Street power station of the Interborough Rapid Transit Company, New York City, complete tests upon one of which form the subject of the present paper.
These turbines are of the straight Curtiss impulse type, having 20 pressure stages, each pressure stage consisting of one velocity stage. The normal steam pressure at the throttle is 225 lb. per sq. in., abs. the steam being superheated 150 deg. fahr., and exhausted into a vacuum of 29 in. Hg. The speed is 1500 r.p.m. In addition to the primary steam inlet a secondary valve is provided which opens after the load reaches 24,000 kw. and which enables the turbine to carry a load of 35,000 kw.
The turbine tested was installed on a new reinforced concrete foundation. As no expansion joint was provided between the turbine and condenser, novel spring supports for the condenser were provided which are described in the paper.
The lowest water rate obtained during the tests while operating under normal conditions was 11.03 lb. per kw-hr., while the highest Rankine-cycle and thermal efficiencies obtained were 75.5 per cent and 25 per cent, respectively. Results of tests on the condensers and auxiliaries are also given in the form of tables.
The results obtained in these tests of a large power-station unit form a welcome addition to the data of tests of turbines of the same capacity installed in 1915 at the 74th Street power station of the company, reported in a paper presented before the Society in 1916, by H. G. Stott and W. S. Finlay, Jr.
Avoidable Waste in Car Operation — The Container Car
Authors: Sanders Walter C. 
Published: January 2024

Abstract
This paper describes the “container” cars which have recently been placed in service on the New York Central Lines.
The advantages claimed for the container car are that less-than-carload lots of freight, mail and express may be shipped with a material saving of time to the shipper and the railroad company, in that the container car may be rapidly unloaded and reloaded. The car will also permit the railroad to secure the maximum mileage out of rolling stock.
Valuable commodities of all kinds can be transported from consignor to consignee inviolate from damage by fire, weather, breakage or theft, also eliminating to a great extent rehandling, trucking and checking.
Cotton–Ginning Machinery
Authors: Gillespie Solomon E. 
Published: January 2024

Abstract
Of the two classes of cotton grown in the United States — sea island or long-staple, and upland or green-seed — the former does not adhere to the seed and the lint can be pulled off clean by running it through rollers set close together, leaving the seed behind. Upland cotton, on the other hand, adheres to the seed, and the present paper is devoted to a description of the apparatus developed since Eli Whitney’s epoch-making invention in 1792 for mechanically handling the raw seed cotton, removing the lint therefrom, and forming it into shape suitable for delivery to the baling press.
The cotton-ginning process comprises (a) elevating the cotton from the wagons in which it is brought to the ginnery to (b) a cleaner where the dirt, sand, leaf trash and other foreign substances are extracted; (c) elevating the cleaned cotton to (d) feeders which deliver it uniformly to (e) the gins where the lint is removed from the seed by the teeth of circular saws mounted at close intervals on a rotating shaft, from which teeth it is (f) cleaned off pneumatically and (g) carried to a condenser, where it is formed into a “bat” and delivered to a press box for packing, wrapping and pressing. The latest developments of the various devices employed in these steps are described and illustrated in the paper, and the author has included much valuable information for designers in the way of dimensions, relative proportions, speeds of operation, etc.
The Accuracy of Boiler Tests
Authors: Cotton Alfred 
Published: January 2024

Abstract
This paper points out the unavoidable inaccuracies involved in reports of boiler tests and the absurdity of assigning values carried out to the one-hundredth of one per cent to items which cannot possibly be measured so closely.
The various factors which enter into boiler-test computations are taken up one by one and errors which may be made are covered and the best methods of reducing them considered.
The most important elements are of course the determinations of water and coal used, and of steam produced, both as to quality and quantity. It is shown how the error in obtaining the B.t.u. in the coal burned may easily reach 2.5 per cent in either direction, the water evaporated may be at least one per cent out of the way, and hence the efficiency reported may be 3.6 per cent too high or low.
Boiler-Room Performance and Practice of Colfax Station, Duquesne Light Company
Authors: Clarke C. W. E. 
Published: January 2024

Abstract
The paper describes in detail the operation of the boiler plant of the Colfax Station of the Duquesne Light Co., located at Cheswick, Pa. There are included sample analyses of fuel and ash, the piping schedule, temperature and CO2 records, typical water analyses, observations of dissolved oxygen in boiler feedwater, boiler-test data and a typical heat balance covering four months.
Diesel-Engine Clutch Used in the German Submarine “U-117”
Authors: Nicholson W. H. 
Published: January 2024

Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to give to American builders of Diesel engines the benefit of the author’s knowledge of German Diesel-engine clutches obtained at the time of the dismantling of ex-German submarines in the United States. The U-117’s clutch is described in detail and other types of German Diesel-engine clutches are covered generally.
Safety Engineering in the Compression of Gases
Authors: Risteen A. D. 
Published: January 2024

Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to outline a few of the chief hazards that are associated with the compression of some of the gases in common use in industry. Among the gases considered are air, oxygen, nitrogen, argon, carbon dioxide, hydrogen, acetylene, ammonia, and chlorine. The preparation, utilization, storage, or transportation of the gases, except when some of these items may happen to have an important bearing upon the actual operation of compression, are not discussed. As to the mechanical strength of the apparatus that is used to effect the compression, the paper deals only with the things that are likely to happen even when the apparatus itself is strong enough to withstand the stresses that are thrown upon it in the course of its normal operation.
Hydroelectric Developments in Ontario
Authors: Gaby F. A. 
Published: January 2024

Abstract
Preliminary estimates of the available water power in Ontario indicate a total of 6,000,000 hp., of which 1,300,000 hp. have already been developed. The early developments at Niagara Falls are reviewed, and a detailed description of the recent Qneenston-Chippawa development is given. This development, which is the largest in the world, will ultimately develop 650,000 hp. in ten units operating under 305 ft. head. When this development is complete, the generating capacity at Niagara Falls will be over 900,000 hp. An outline of the work of the Hydro-Electric Power Commission of Ontario is given, showing how it has surveyed and mapped out available powers, years in advance of the necessity of utilizing them, and planning their development, so that when the market for power had developed the power was available.