"How much does it weigh?" seems a simple question. To scientists and engineers, however, the answer is far from simple, and determining the answer demands consideration of an almost overwhelming number of factors. With an intriguing blend of history, fundamentals, and technical details, the Handbook of Mass Measurement sets forth the details of achieving the highest precision in mass measurements. It covers the whole field, from the development, calibration, and maintenance of mass standards to detailed accounts of weighing designs, balances, and uncertainty. It addresses the entire measurement process and provides in-depth examinations of the various factors that introduce error. Much of the material is the authors' own work and some of it is published here for the first time. Jones and Schoonover are both highly regarded veterans of the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology. With this handbook, they have provided a service and resource vital to anyone involved not only in the determination of mass, but also to the entire field of precision measurement.

Techniques and Topics in Flow Measurement covers the applications and techniques of flow measurement. This definitive book provides guidelines for choosing appropriate techniques and assuring valid measurements as well as describes methods for treatment of calibration data in fluid flow under various conditions. The book also covers three systems of units: the SI system, the English Absolute Dimensional system, and the English Engineering system. Commonly used - and often misused - variables such as force, weight, and pressure are defined, and the relationships between the systems for these common variables are summarized.
One of the many unique features of Techniques and Topics in Flow Measurement is the number of ready-to-use tables included throughout the text. Tables are provided for such commonly encountered variables as the saturation vapor pressure of water; the composition of dry air; the compressibility factor for air; air-free and air-saturated water density; viscosity of dry air, nitrogen, and other gases; and specific heat/specific volume ratios for dry air, water vapor, and moist air. Another unique feature of this book is the number of highly relevant examples. The author includes examples/exercises that demonstrate applications for density calculations; water vapor mixing ratio determination; gas viscosity interpolation; NIST guideline applications; buoyancy corrections; and more.

The loss of water from lakes, rivers, oceans, vegetation, and the earth, as well as man-made structures such as reservoirs and irrigation conduits, is a major concern of hydrologists and irrigation specialists. This loss, compounded by the lack of usable water in some areas, indicates a need for field and laboratory research that will contribute to the understanding of the processes and parameters that comprise and contribute to evaporation.This book emphasizes the process of the air-water interface and discusses such important topics as evaporation and condensation coefficients of water, heat and mass transfer, surface temperature, interfacial tension, convection, diffusion, thermal gradients, wind-generated waves, and the roles that these processes play in evaporation. The book also discusses subjects such as methods for suppressing evaporation using films, water vapor distribution, wind tunnel investigations, evaporation from water drops, preparation of pure water, molecular diffusion, the eddy-correlation method, and evaporation estimation methods. The book will be of considerable value to hydrologists, irrigation specialists, meteorologists, civil engineers, chemical engineers, hydraulic engineers, water resources specialists, water conservation specialists, geophysicists, environmental engineers, and anyone interested in understanding the evaporation of water and its consequences.

A perception exists among mid-level career Air Force members that communication skills are important job skills for all ranks and that some individuals lack the necessary skills. Air University's (AU) Professional Military Education (PME) programs have historically been involved in fostering these skills. The purpose of this research is to provide recommendations to improve the teaching of communication skills within PME. The challenge of this study was meeting the expectations of the intended user, examining a complex, multidimensional issue in a real-world setting, and integrating the values and experiences of the researchers and intended users. This effort takes advantage of the unique student population of AU PME by applying technical policy research with a multi-dimensional methodology: an extensive literature search, a survey instrument, key personnel interviews, and archival records search. Careful analysis of the resulting data lead to numerous conclusions and recommendations for improvement. Among the conclusions are that (1) communication skills instruction must be based on the needs of its users; (2) communication is a process and communication skills should be taught and evaluated accordingly; (3) communication skills instruction is more effective when based on the contextual needs of its students; (4) individual communication skills should be developed commensurate with professional growth; (5) communication skills instruction is more effective when taught as an across-the-curriculum approach; (6) although relatively less expertise is needed to evaluate communication skills, a great deal of expertise is required to teach communication skills. These conclusions lead to the following recommendations: (1) establish a tiger team to develop a communication skills assessment methodology to determine the needs of Air Force personnel; (2) integrate feedback to students throughout the communication process; (3) teach communication skills in a context base form