Civil and Environmental Engineering Commons^™

Pesticide Fact Sheet: Mammalian Gonadotropin Releasing Hormone (Gnrh) [Gonacon]

United States Environmental Protection Agency: Publications

Available data provide adequate information to support the conditional registration of GnRH as a tool for management of nuisance white-tailed deer.

White-tailed deer have been classified by EPA as a public health pest because they are a host for blacklegged ticks (Ixodes scapularis), more commonly known as deer ticks, which are a carrier of Lyme disease.

In many urban and suburban areas white-tailed deer populations have become over abundant and are considered a year-round nuisance causing many human-wildlife conflicts such as destruction on gardens, landscapes and golf courses as well as a cause of numerous vehicle accidents. According …

Development Of Field Data For Effective Implementation Of Mechanistic Empirical Pavement Design Procedure, Atorod Azizinamini, Nima Ala, Mohammad Ajmal Stanigzai

Nebraska Department of Transportation: Research Reports

No abstract provided.

Preferential Flow Path Effects On Subsurface Contaminant Transport In Alluvial Floodplains, Derek M. Heeren, Ronald B. Miller, Gary A. Fox, Daniel E. Storm, Chad J. Penn, Todd Halihan

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

For strongly sorbing contaminants, transport from upland areas to surface water systems is typically considered to be due to surface runoff with subsurface transport assumed negligible. However, certain local conditions can lead to an environment where subsurface transport to streams may be significant, a source of contamination not alleviated by current best management practices (e.g. riparian buffers). The Ozark region, including parts of Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Missouri, is characterized by cherty, gravelly soils and gravel bed streams. Previous research identified a preferential flow path (PFP) at a field site along the Barren Fork Creek in northeastern Oklahoma. With the subsoils …

Nondestructive Method To Detect Corrosion Of Steel Elements In Concrete, Saeed Javidi Niroumand, Aaron Jon Yakel, Atorod Azizinamini, Marcelo Dasilva

Nebraska Department of Transportation: Research Reports

No abstract provided.

Risk Mitigation For Highway And Railway Bridges, Andrzej S. Nowak, Marek Kozikowski,, Marta Lutomirska,

Mid-America Transportation Center: Final Reports and Technical Briefs

Performance of the transportation network strongly depends on the performance of bridges. Bridges constitute a vital part of the transportation infrastructure system and they are vulnerable to extreme events such as natural disasters (i.e., hurricanes, earthquakes, floods, major storms), as well as hazards stemming from negligence and improper maintenance, collisions (vessels and vehicles), intentional acts of vandalism, and terrorist attacks. These structures must be protected but the current approach to risk is not rational. Therefore, the objective of this project is to develop efficient risk analysis procedures for assessment of the actual safety reserve in highway and railway bridges. The …

Computer Aided Modeling Of Soil Mix Designs To Predict Characteristics And Properties Of Stabilized Road Bases, Charles W. Berryman Ph.D., Cpc, Wayne Jensen Ph.D., Tim Hensley P.E.

Mid-America Transportation Center: Final Reports and Technical Briefs

Considerable data exists for soils that were tested and documented, both for native properties and properties with pozzolan stabilization. While the data exists there was no database for the Nebraska Department of Roads to retrieve this data for predicting soil properties. The conventional methods used to determine soil properties, such as maximum laboratory density and optimum moisture content, were tedious, labor intensive and time consuming. When soil stabilization is involved, more time and efforts are needed to determine maximum laboratory density, optimum moisture content and optimum pozzolan content. The objective of this project was to develop a computerized model to …

Inspector’S Manual For Mechanically Stabilized Earth Walls, Wayne Jensen Ph.D.

Mid-America Transportation Center: Final Reports and Technical Briefs

The scope of the project is to develop a condition rating system, creation of an inspector's manual to reference during inspection or address any training for inspectors at the district level. The research project will develop a MSE wall condition rating system and incorporate this system into the database being developed and create training and reference manuals

Investigation And Mitigation Of Driver Confusion At Modern Roundabouts, Aemal Khattak, Ram Bishu, Karen Schurr, Gregory Mcknight

Mid-America Transportation Center: Final Reports and Technical Briefs

This research deals with two related issues: investigation and mitigation of roundabout elements that lead to driver confusion, and development of a flexible criteria matrix by which the Nebraska Department of Roads (NDOR) can evaluate arterial intersections to identify good candidates for conversion to roundabouts. The use of modern roundabouts along arterial roadways is relatively new in Nebraska. The first urban arterial roundabout was opened to traffic in June of 2002 at the intersection of 33rd and Sheridan Blvd in the City of Lincoln. Citizens and some professionals were somewhat skeptical of the capability of this roundabout to improve traffic …

Dynamic Evaluation Of New York State’S Aluminum Pedestrian Signal Pole System, Scott K. Rosenbaugh, Ronald K. Faller, Karla A. Lechtenberg, Robert W. Bielenberg, Dean L. Sicking, John D. Reid

Mid-America Transportation Center: Final Reports and Technical Briefs

The New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT) mounts pedestrian “hand/man” signals to aluminum

poles and uses frangible transformer bases to allow the system to break away. However, engineers at NYSDOT believed that the material properties of the aluminum poles themselves would allow the pedestrian signal poles to break away without the use of transformer bases. Elimination of the frangible transformer base would result in significant savings.

An aluminum pedestrian signal pole system was erected at the Valmont testing facility and tested with the Valmont- MwRSF/UNL pendulum with crushable nose in accordance with NCHRP Report No. 350 test designation no. …

Biological Opinion On The Operation Of The Missouri River Main Stem System, Operation And Maintenance Of The Missouri River Bank Stabilization And Navigation Project, And Operation Of The Kansas River Reservoir System

United States Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha District

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) prepared this Annual Report for interested parties in accordance with reporting recommendations of the Biological Opinion on the Operation of the Missouri River Main Stem System (System), Operation and Maintenance of the Missouri River Bank Stabilization and Navigation Project and Operation of the Kansas River Reservoir System, prepared by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), dated November 30, 2000, and the Amendment thereto, dated December 16, 2003 (BiOp). This annual report also documents the Corps’ activities implemented under the Missouri River Bank Stabilization and Navigation Fish and Wildlife Mitigation Project, Iowa, Nebraska, …

Missouri River Recovery Program: Flood Risk Management

United States Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha District

One of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ main responsibilities in managing the Missouri River is protecting property from flood damage. Historically, the dynamic river changed course during the spring and summer months, flooding some areas and eroding banks in other areas. Today, approximately 1.4 million acres of farmland and nearly $18 billion dollars of residential and other property are subject to flooding along the Missouri River. Agricultural lands, residential areas, business districts and navigation benefit from flood risk management measures provided by the Corps through the system of reservoirs on the Missouri River.

Missouri River Recovery Program: Water Supply And Water Quality

United States Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha District

The Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) operates a system of six dams and reservoirs on the Missouri River to serve the multiple purposes authorized by Congress in the Flood Control Act of 1944. In addition to operating the system for flood control, navigation, hydropower, recreation, and fish and wildlife, the Corps is also authorized to use the system for irrigation, water supply and water quality. This fact sheet will discuss the Corps efforts regarding these three authorized project purposes.

Missouri River Recovery - Integrated Science Program

United States Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha District

Book List

System-wide Status Reports, Guidance Documents & Standard Operating Plans

Pallid Sturgeon

Least Tern and Piping Plover

Flow Modifications

Adaptive Management

Cottonwoods

Artificial Insemination In South American Camelids And Wild Equids, G. P. Adams, M. H. Ratto, C. W. Collins, D. R. Bergfelt

United States Environmental Protection Agency: Publications

An overview of the present status of the use of artificial insemination (AI) in South American camelids and wild equids is offered. Technical aspects of semen collection, dilution and cryopreservation have limited the development and use of AI in camelid and equid species. To-date, efficiency is low but progress has been made and viable offspring have been produced through the use of AI in domestic South American camelids using both fresh and frozen semen. The origin, composition, and function of the viscous component of camelid seminal plasma remain a mystery and an obvious area for future research. A better understanding …

The Solar Transformity Of Petroleum Fuels, S. Bastianoni, D. E. Campbell, R. Ridolfi, F. M. Pulselli

United States Environmental Protection Agency: Publications

Petroleum fuels are the primary energy basis for transportation and industry. They are almost always an important input to the economic and social activities of humanity. Emergy analyses require accurate estimates with specified uncertainty for the transformities of major energy and material inputs to economic and environmental systems. In this study, the oil refining processes in Italy and the United States were examined to estimate the transformity and specific emergy of petroleum derivatives. Based on our assumptions that petroleum derivatives are splits of a complex hydrocarbon mixture and that the emergy is split based on the fraction of energy in …

Foodweb Modeling For Polychlorinated Biphenyls (Pcbs) In The Twelvemile Creek Arm Of Lake Hartwell, South Carolina, Usa, Brenda Rashleigh, M. Craig Barber, David M. Walters

United States Environmental Protection Agency: Publications

PCBs from the Sangamo-Weston Superfund Site near Clemson, South Carolina, USA, were released into the Twelvemile Creek Arm of Lake Hartwell until the early 1990s. Monitoring data have shown that while PCB concentration in sediments declined since 1995, PCB concentrations in fish have remained elevated, e.g., largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) concentrations have ranged from 5 to 10 ppm. The EPA aquatic ecosystem model AQUATOX was applied to this system to better characterize foodweb dynamics that lead to biomagnification of PCBs. The model was calibrated with observed fish biomass data. Simulated PCB loading over a 12-year period provided a …

Comparing The Mutagenicity Of Toxaphene After Aging In Anoxic Soils And Accumulating In Fish, James C. Young, Anne D. Freeman, Robert M. Bruce, Douglas Williams, Keith Maruya

United States Environmental Protection Agency: Publications

A test program was conducted to evaluate the mutagenicity of toxaphene residuals extracted from aged soils and from fish collected in creeks near a toxaphene-contaminated site. The ultimate objective was to determine if the residual toxaphene congeners were more or less mutagenic than those in technical- grade toxaphene.The study showed that the mutagenicity of the bioaccumulated toxaphenecongeners in fish, expressed as colony revertants per mg of residual toxaphene, was no greater than that of technical-grade toxaphene.Themutagenicimpactofthetoxapheneresidualsinagedsoilstatistically was less than that for technical-grade toxaphene. Two specific congeners, a hexachlorobornane(labeled Hx-Sd) and a heptachlorobornane (labeled Hp-Sd), were found to accumulate over time …

Missouri River Recovery Program: From Steamboats To Barges: Missouri River Navigation

United States Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha District

Since the early 1800s, the Missouri River has been a thoroughfare for the
transportation of goods. The U.S. government began taking an active interest in Missouri River navigation in 1832, as steamboats became the preferred means of transporting goods and people. On July 3, 1832, Congress authorized channel improvements on the Missouri River. These early river improvements involved mainly addressing obstacles in the river.

Since 1912, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) has managed the river to
allow for modern commercial navigation and trade. This fact sheet will describe the history of navigation on the Missouri River, navigation today, …

Effects Of Aggregate Angularity On Mix Design Characteristics And Pavement Performance, Yong-Rak Kim, Leonardo T. Souza

Mid-America Transportation Center: Final Reports and Technical Briefs

This research targeted two primary purposes: to estimate current aggregate angularity test methods and to evaluate current aggregate angularity requirements in the Nebraska asphalt mixture/pavement specification. To meet the first research objective, various aggregate angularity tests were estimated with the same sets of aggregates and were compared by investigating their characteristics on testing repeatability, cost, testing time, workability, and sensitivity of test results. For the second objective, the effect of aggregate angularity on mixture performance was investigated by conducting laboratory performance tests (the uniaxial static creep test and the indirect tensile fracture energy test) of five mixes designed with different …

Managing Livestock Manure To Protect Environmental Quality, Brian L. Benham, Richard B. Ferguson, Christopher G. Henry, Michael A. Reynolds, Charles A. Shapiro, James P. Stack, Charles S. Wortmann

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Proper utilization of livestock manure is a major environmental concern. Livestock manure has typically been considered a ‘waste product’ of livestock production. A more accurate name for this material is a ‘recycled resource’ from the production of livestock. By managing livestock manure, the producer has a second chance to utilize the nutrients that have already been paid for but not fully utilized by the animal. Collecting, containing, and properly spreading livestock manure will incur additional costs for the producer. However, these costs can be offset or justified by the producer in terms of the yield enhancement and nutrient credits that …

Integrated Capture And Spectroscopic Detection Of Viruses, Crystal A. Vargas, Allison A. Wilhelm, Jeremy Williams, Pierre Lucas, Kelly A. Reynolds, Mark R. Riley

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

The goal of this work is to develop an online monitoring scheme for detection of viruses in flowing drinking water. The approach applies an electrodeposition process that is similar to the use of charged membrane filters previously employed for collection of viruses from aqueous samples. In the present approach, charged materials are driven onto a robust optical sensing element which has high transparency to infrared light. A spectroscopic measurement is performed using the evanescent wave that penetrates no more than 1 m from the surface of an infrared optical element in an attenuated total reflectance measurement scheme. The infrared measurement …

Steel Box System Monitoring Of N-2 Over I-80 Bridge, Atorod Azizinamini

Mid-America Transportation Center: Final Reports and Technical Briefs

The previously performed market analysis of bridge material in the range of short to medium span length indicates a declining trend for steel girders during the last two decades. The “simple for dead, continuous for live load” is a new method of bridge construction aiming at reducing the steel girder construction expenses and in essence enhancing the steel girders’ competitiveness in the short to medium span length bridges. This method of construction takes the advantage of the simple span construction as well as reduction of the forces in the bridge elements due to the continuous span behavior. The continuity of …

Moisture Sensitivity Of Hot Mix Asphalt (Hma) Mixtures In Nebraska – Phase Ii, Yong-Rak Kim, Hoki Ban, Ingryd Pinto

Mid-America Transportation Center: Final Reports and Technical Briefs

As a consequential effort to the previous NDOR research project (P564) on moisture damage, this report presents outcomes from this project incorporated with the previous project. Performance changes and fundamental material characteristics associated with moisture damage due to various anti-stripping additives in asphalt mixtures are studied through various experimental approaches and a numerical simulation. Three additives (i.e., one reference additive, hydrated lime, and two alternative additives: fly ash and cement) are investigated by adding them into two types of mixes (SP2 for low-traffic-volume roadways and SP5 for high-traffic-volume roadways) where two different asphalt binders (PG 64-22 for the SP2 mix …

Use Of Ground Penetrating Radar For Construction Quality Assurance Of Concrete Pavement, George Morcous Ph.D., Ece Erdogmus

Mid-America Transportation Center: Final Reports and Technical Briefs

Extracting concrete cores is the most common method for measuring the thickness of concrete pavement for construction quality control. Although this method provides a relatively accurate thickness measurement, it is destructive, labor intensive, and time consuming. Moreover, concrete cores are usually taken approximately every 750 ft, which may be inadequate for estimating the actual thickness profile of a pavement section; however extracting more cores would damage the pavement extensively and increase the labor cost and time excessively. Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) is a well-established technique for subsurface exploration. Recently, GPR has been used for several transportation applications, such as measuring …

Application Of Ultra-High Performance Concrete To Bridge Girders, Maher K. Tadros Ph.D., P.E., George Morcous Ph.D.

Mid-America Transportation Center: Final Reports and Technical Briefs

Ultra-High Performance Concrete (UHPC) is a new class of concrete that has superior performance characteristics compared to conventional concrete. The enhanced strength and durability properties of UHPC are mainly due to optimized particle gradation that produces a very tightly packed mix, extremely low water to powder ratio, and use of steel fibers. The unique strength and durability properties of UHPC make it an attractive material for precast prestressed bridge girder construction. However, commercial UHPC mixes currently available in the US market cost about 10 times the cost of conventional concrete mixes, in addition to the need for special mixing and …

Dynamic Evaluation Of A Pinned Anchoring System For New York State’S Temporary Concrete Barriers, Christopher N. Howard, Cale J. Stolle, Karla A. Lechtenberg, Ronald K. Faller, John D. Reid, Dean L. Sicking

Mid-America Transportation Center: Final Reports and Technical Briefs

Temporary concrete barrier (TCB) systems are utilized in many circumstances, including for placement adjacent to vertical dropoffs. Free-standing TCB systems are known to have relatively large deflections when impacted, which may be undesirable when dealing with limited space behind the barrier (as seen on a bridge deck) or limited lane width in front of the barrier system. In order to allow TCB systems to be used in space-restricted locations, a variety of TCB stiffening options have been tested, including beam stiffening and pinning the barriers to the pavement. These pavement-pinning procedures have been considered time-consuming and may pose undue risk …

2009 Government And Industry Pipeline R&D Forum Report

United States Department of Transportation: Publications

Nine government and industry organizations via a steering committee organized, planned and executed this forum. The forum brought together approximately 215 representatives from Federal, State and foreign government offices along with domestic and foreign natural gas and hazardous liquid pipeline operators. The forum’s goals included identifying key challenges facing industry and government, sharing information on current research efforts, and identifying research that can help to meet the challenges.

Hydrodynamic Forces On Inundated Bridge Decks, Kornel Kerenyi, Tanju Sofu, Junke Guo

United States Department of Transportation: Publications

The hydrodynamic forces experienced by an inundated bridge deck have great importance in the design of bridges. Specifically, the drag force, lift force, and the moment acting on the bridge deck under various levels of inundation and a range of flow conditions influence the design and construction of the bridge. This report explores the forces acting on bridges in two ways. First, through physical experimentation on scaled-down bridge deck models tested in a flume and then with computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation models. Three bridge deck prototypes were used for the experimentation: a typical six-girder highway bridge deck, a three-girder …

Peer Review Report 2009

United States Department of Transportation: Publications

The purpose of this document is to report findings from the research peer reviews held April 1, April 2, April 14 & April 15, 2009 for PHMSA’s Pipeline Safety Research and Development Program. The findings and recommendations in this report derive from the scoring and comments collected from the peer review panelists.

Department of Transportation (DOT) Operating Agencies (OA) are required to develop and execute a systematic process for peer reviews and for all influential and highly influential information that the OA plans to disseminate in the foreseeable future.

Through the Information Quality Act, Congress directed the Office of Management …

Lower Yellowstone River Irrigation Dam, Fish Protection And Passage

United States Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha District

This Value Engineering (VE) Report summarizes the events of the VE workshop facilitated by GeoVal, Inc., June 1-5, 2009 for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Omaha District, Nebraska. The Lower Yellowstone River Irrigation Dam, Fish Protection and Passage Value Engineering Study focuses on the assessment of alternatives for meeting Federal project objectives examining current plans and programs to seek out alternative approaches and ideas that will improve the overall performance of the project.

Federal project objectives of the Lower Yellowstone River Irrigation Dam, Fish Protection and Passage Project are to:

-Continue to provide reliable irrigation water delivery to …