LDS Acquired

Spectris plc, the productivity-enhancing instrumentation and controls company, has signed an agreement to acquire the LDS Test & Measurement business from SPX Corporation. LDS is a manufacturer of integrated vibration test and measurement equipment and software for applications in the aerospace, defense, automotive, machinery, electrical and electronics markets. The company will become part of the Spectris Test and Measurement segment in combination with Briiel & Kjaer Sound and Vibration and HBM.

Brüel & Kjser Sound and Vibration is a leading supplier of sound and vibration measurement solutions. LDS Test Systems for the electro-dynamic vibration testing market complement products from Bruel & Kjoer Sound and Vibration, adding capability in complete excitation systems and enabling customers to purchase the complete test system for both structural analysis and vibration testing from a single source.

HBM is a global market leader in test and measurement and sensor technology. The acquisition of the LDS Data Acquisition and Instrumentation product family, under the prestigious Nicolet brand, brings new and complementary products and technologies to the company, adding data acquisition instruments and software for both physical and electrical applications. This will extend HBM's capability to a full range of testing applications and give access to new industry segments such as electronics and electrical power transmission.

Headquartered in Royston, UK, with eight additional offices in Europe, North America and Asia, LDS employs 277 people. The company had sales of $75.7 million in 2007, adjusted operating profit before interest and tax of $10.1 million. The gross assets acquired are approximately $39.9 million. The acquisition is expected to enhance earnings per share in the first full financial year of ownership and is not expected to incur any exceptional charges or abnormal levels of capital expenditure. The transaction is expected to be completed by the end of the year, subject to customary closing conditions, including receipt of regulatory approval from the competition authorities in Germany.

John O'Higgins, Chief Executive of Spectris, commented: "This acquisition is in line with our strategy to build our position in key strategic growth areas. LDS is an excellent fit with the existing businesses in the Test and Measurement segment and provides significant additional product and software capability to enhance our automotive and aerospace customers' productivity in their research and development cycles."

Modal Shop Gets Approval

The Modal Shop, a PCB Group Company, has recently received United States General Services Administration contract approval. Applicable U.S. government agencies receive pre-negotiated pricing on most of The Modal Shop's sound and vibration test instrumentation and accessory products, making it simple and easy to procure. The products available through the contract include calibration systems for accelerometers, microphones, pressure and force transducers, electrodynamic modal shakers, large multi-channel ICP® sensor signal conditioning systems, and related structural test products. Through the GSA Advantage and e-Buy, federal buyers can electronically obtain rapid response on Request for Quote /Request for Proposal information on any of these products electronically.

As a sister company to PCB Piezotronics, The Modal Shop product line focuses on systems, service and instrumentation complimentary to PCB 's precision accelerometers, microphones, pressure transducers and force gages. Many of the original PCB factory calibration designs and methodologies are now available commercially for supporting this instrumentation at corporate and regional metrology labs. The TMS structural test product line includes test equipment designed specifically for experimental modal analysis, evolved from decades of application experience at The University of Cincinnati's Structural Dynamics Research Laboratory. Large multi-channel ICP sensor signal conditioning systems have optimized cable management and support the IEEE 1451.4 smart sensor standard for Transducer Electronic Data Sheets (TEDS). The 100 lbf, through-hole armature, electrodynamic modal shaker is ideal for most modal tests. Accessories include a variety of support stands, stinger assemblies and test setup products, all geared toward large channel dynamic test systems.

For additional information on these products, please visit www.modalshop.com.

Liebherr Goes with LMS

LMS International has played a critical role in the development of the Liebherr Mining Equipment Go's T282B, the world's largest diesel-electric mining truck currently in production. Liebherr counted on LMS multibody and durability solutions to build a vehicle tough enough to withstand harsh mining conditions while providing maximum load capacity. One of the primary challenges when designing an efficient vehicle this large is that total vehicle weight cannot exceed tire capacity. Every kilogram shaved from the vehicle structure goes back into payload capacity. A market-leader, the T282B is 12% lighter than other comparable mining trucks yet rugged enough to withstand the world's mining environments. It also features the lowest operating costs per loaded ton. "Mining trucks are some of the most abused vehicles in the world," said Liebherr Mining Equipment Co. Analysis and Simulation Manager Dr. Vladimir Pokras. "At many of these mines, operators drive as fast as they can over refrigeratorsize boulders and holes as big as bathtubs to haul as many loads as possible."

Engineers at the Liebherr Mining Equipment Co. needed to integrate advanced features like the differential wheel control system into a lightweight yet highly durable and efficient diesel-electric truck. To do this, the team at the Liebherr Mining Equipment Co. relied on LMS multibody dynamics technology for full-vehicle simulations to study the truck's behavior on various terrains with a variety of load examples, including acceleration, braking, turns, bumps, holes, washboarding, up and down steep grades and backing into barriers. "LMS multibody dynamics serves as a central point where all the designs of individual major components and subsystems come together into a single unified full-vehicle model," Dr. Vladimir Pokras explained.

After a number of simulation iterations, multibody loads for the final design were entered into LMS durability software to determine the fatigue life of the critical structural components and assemblies such as the frame and axle box. Tight integration between LMS multibody and durability software enabled fatigue life studies to be performed quickly and accurately, thus providing engineers valuable feedback for developing lightweight parts to withstand expected operational loads without under or over-designing them.

James Whitfield, Liebherr Mining Equipment Co. General Manager of Research and Development, concluded, "It's not impossible to design mining trucks without using simulation - other companies do it all the time. But the only way to design a market-leading, optimally weight-efficient truck is with advanced simulation tools like LMS durability and multibody software solutions. We can't maintain our market leadership any other way." Please visit www.lmsintl.com for more information on LMS products.

HPD Standard

The Acoustical Society of America has announced the publication of ANSI/ ASA S12. 6-2008 American National Standard Methods for Measuring the Real-Ear Attenuation of Hearing Protectors. This standard will be valuable to manufacturers of hearing protection devices, hearing conservation professionals, and to regulatory agencies. It will be heavily referenced in the anticipated Environmental Protection Agency's proposed new rule on labeling hearing protection that should appear in 2009. The ultimate beneficiary is the user of hearing protection devices.

This Standard specifies laboratory-based procedures for measuring, analyzing, and reporting the passive noise-reducing capabilities of hearing protection devices. The procedures consist of psychophysical tests conducted on human subjects to determine the real-ear attenuation measured at hearing threshold. Two fitting procedures are provided: Method A - trained-subject fit, intended to describe the capabilities of the devices fitted by thoroughly trained users, and Method B - inexperienced subject fit, intended to approximate the protection that can be attained by groups of informed users in workplace hearing conservation programs. Regardless of test method, the attenuation data will be valid only to the extent that the users wear the devices in the same manner as during the tests. This Standard does not address issues pertaining to computational schemes or rating systems for applying hearing protector attenuation values (see ANSI/ ASA S12.68), nor does it specify minimum performance values for hearing protectors, or address comfort or wearability features.

This is a major revision of ANSI S12.6-1997. The Method-? procedure has been modified to make it more specific and less open to interpretation, and has been redesignated as a "trained-subject fit." The Method-B procedure has also been clarified, and has been re-designated as "inexperienced subject fit." The scope and applications have been revised accordingly.

This Standard was developed by Accredited Standards Committee S12, Noise, under operating procedures accredited by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). These procedures assure that the Standard represents the consensus of opinion among those with a direct and material interest in the subject matter.The standard was drafted by a working group comprising experts from all segments of the hearing conservation community.

This standard and many other national and international noise standards can be obtained from the Acoustical Society of America Online Store at: http://asa.aip. org Or, order by phone, FAX or mail from: Acoustical Society of America 35 Pinelawn Road, Suite 114E Melville, NY 11747; Phone: 631.390.0215; FAX: 631.390.0217; e-mail: asastds@aip.org.

MATLAB Toolbox

Engineers and others needing powerful tools for optimization, modeling, and simulation can now use the NAG Toolbox for MATLAB® f www.nag.com/toolbox/1 . released by the Numerical Algorithms Group (NAG). The Toolbox gives users access to more than 1,300 additional math and statistical algorithms within the MATLAB environment. This additional mathematical and statistical functionality was previously unavailable or accessible to MATLAB users only by purchasing multiple toolboxes.

NAG Toolbox for MATLAB provides access to the NAG Library, the largest and most comprehensive collection of mathematical and statistical algorithms available today. The NAG Library is used by many of the world's most prominent manufacturers, scientists and academies, among others, because of its reputation for quality, flexibility and robustness.

Benefits of using the NAG Toolbox for MATLAB include:

* Lower cost and convenience of a single cost-effective toolbox that would otherwise require the purchase of two or more separate toolboxes.

* Access to NAG routines in the integrated and interactive MATLAB environment that makes MATLAB such a popular alternative to C and C++ for application prototyping.

* Increased productivity - NAG routines have been written by experts and are globally renowned for their quality, flexibility and robustness.

Rob Meyer, CEO of the worldwide Numerical Algorithms Group, comments, "The NAG Toolbox for MATLAB is designed to help engineers get the breadth of functionality they really need in a single toolbox at a fraction of the cost of the multiple toolboxes otherwise required to get the same functionality. NAG Toolbox for MATLAB also includes a number of algorithms especially important to many research projects that just aren't found in any other commercially available MATLAB toolbox."

Pricing for the NAG Toolbox for MATLAB begins at $2,490 for an individual license, with discounts available to existing NAG license holders. It is available for both Microsoft Windows® 32-bit & 64-bit and Linux 32-bit & 64-bit and is compatible with MATLAB versions 2007a, 2007b, and 2008a. For a fully functional trial version or more information, please contact Kurt Peckman, kpeckman@nag.com, 630.971.2337.

For over 30 years, the Numerical Algorithms Group (NAG) has been the world leader in mathematical, statistical, and data mining technology. NAG's expertise in compilers, software engineering tools, and visualization brings powerful techniques to the most challenging applications and biggest data sets. NAG components provide speed, accuracy, robustness and thorough documentation to support applications in Java, C/C++, Excel, Fortran, or one of the .NET languages.

Hybrid Car Safety

UC Riverside psychology professor Lawrence Rosenblum has released new results from his on-going study about the safety risks hybrid cars pose to pedestrians who are blind, small children, the elderly, runners, cyclists and others. In tests that simulated the background noise of a parking lot, hybrid cars running on their electric motors needed to be 74% closer to pedestrians than combustion-engine cars before their direction of approach could be determined. That means pedestrians would have only one sec to accurately determine which direction the hybrid is coming from.

Preliminary results have found that, without the addition of background sounds, the hybrid car needed to be about 40% closer than the combustion-engine car before test subjects could determine whether it was approaching from the left or right. At speeds above 20 to 25 mph hybrid cars likely generate enough tire and aerodynamic noise to make them sufficiently audible. Please visit: www.newsroom.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/display.cgi?id=1803 for the complete story

Quiet Power Plant

ATCO Noise Management has been contracted to make the 535 megawatt Empire Generation combined cycle gas turbine power plant now under construction in Rennsselaer, NY, one of the quietest in the United States. The award by EPC contractor CH2M HILL, marks the second time in two years the company has selected ATCO Noise Management to use its proprietary technology to meet very strict noise limits.

"ATCO Noise Management is honored once again to be chosen by CH2M HILL to replicate, on Empire, the success of our recent partnership on the 575 megawatt High Bridge Combined Cycle Project in St. Paul, MN," said Boris Rassin, President, ATCO Noise Management.

The plant consists of two GE 7FA combustion turbines, two Alstom heat recovery steam generators and one GE D-Il reheat steam turbine. ATCO Noise Management, a world leader in the design of acoustical buildings and noise reduction components for power plants, will use its proprietary technology to lower noise from the powerhouse. ATCO's Higgott-Kane Division, which the company acquired in 2005, will supply and install the 240 ft high silenced HRSG stacks for the project.

"Our acoustical modeling and industrial building expertise along with Higgott-Kane 's "best-in-class" turbine stacks and silencers allows us to offer a true wrap-around noise guarantee for our clients, which is an important risk management tool on noise sensitive projects like Empire," added Mr. Rassin.

In 2007, Xcel Energy and CH2M HILL, as the High Bridge Combined Cycle Project's prime contractor, were awarded the first-ever Minnesota Star Safety Award for a new construction project. "ATCO Noise Management accounted for a significant portion of the 1,500,000 labor hours that were worked on the High Bridge project without a lost time incident," said Mr. Rassin. "Our company's strong safety record on nearly 600 construction projects worldwide is consistent with the high value placed on safety by CH2M HILL."

Headquartered in Denver, CO, employeeowned CH2M HILL is a global leader in engineering, construction and operations for public and private clients. With more than $5 billion in revenue, CH2M HILL is an industry-leading program management, construction management and design firm, as ranked by Engineering News-Record (2007). The firm is recognized as a leading employer by business media and professional associations worldwide. CH2M HILL has more than 23,000 employees in regional offices around the world.

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