Rx for Risk Communication
When American adults are asked what they fear most, a majority rank public speaking ahead of death, divorce and unemployment. This news may not surprise many environmental project managers,...
Seismic Design Doubles Lateral Resistance (Available only in
A veterans hospital in Palo Alto, Calif. had to be built under severe design constraints. The seismic code for hospitals is among the most stringent of codes and this facility was sited...
Do-Nothing Cleanups
Restoring polluted soil and ground water to pristine condition is, in some cases, neither cost-effective nor feasible. So what's the best way to close these sites with minimal...
Case Histories of Geophysics Applied to Civil Engineering and Public Policy
These case histories will be of interest to both civil engineers and geophysicists. They document the use of a variety of geophysical methods in support of civil engineering projects....
Civil Engineers Influencing Public Policy
The papers in this proceedings were presented at the ASCE Annual Convention held in Washington, DC, November 10-14, 1996. They were prepared in celebration of the 25th anniversary, the...
Hospital Over a Highway
New York Hospital is undergoing a $1 billion expansion that includes construction of a new building over the FDR Drive in Manhattan using air rights. The starting point for this building...
Not Your Father's Concrete
A simple mixture of water, aggregate and cement, conventional concrete is environmentally-friendly by nature. But with landfills bloating and hazardous wastes becoming increasingly difficult...
Beware the Sediment Scare
Your municipal or industrial stormwater facility meets best management practices (BMPs) as outlined by EPA. It is designed to meet requirements under the Clean Water Act and the accompanying...
Mother Nature's Pump and Treat
Known under the general term of phytoremediation, using vegetation as a remedial agent has existed in its basic form for many years, mostly in applications involving waste-water treatment....
Risk of Extreme and Catastrophic Events
Assessing the extreme tails of a probability distribution, where events of very low probability can nevertheless lead to catastrophic outcomes, is one of the most widely discussed and...
A Mobile Robot for Reconnaissance of HAZMAT Incident Sites
First entry into situations where hazardous materials have been accidentally spilled or released is extremely dangerous. Often the type of material, its exact location, and the extent...
This paper describes design and analysis efforts to develop a new reconfigurable and collapsible working machine, dubbed Houdini, to remotely clean up hazardous-waste and petroleum storage...
An Overview of the Accident Response Mobile Manipulation System (ARMMS)
The development of a high mobility platform integrated with high strength manipulation is under development at Sandia National Laboratories. The mobility platform used is a High Mobility...
Feasibility Analysis of Automated Material Handling for Hazardous Waste Remediation
The application of automation and robotics to material handling activities in conventional construction has been extensively researched in terms of technical feasibility, needs identification,...
Automation Concepts for In-Situ Waste Containment
The isolation of chemical and radioactive contaminants from groundwater supplies is a topic of increasing concern and urgency. In-situ containment of hazardous wastes is preferable if...
Nuclear Propulsion: Safety Measures and Concerns
Since nuclear fission was discovered, many potential uses for it have been found. One such application of fission is nuclear propulsion systems in space ships; however, the elements resulting...
Reducing the Long-Term Effects of Zero-Gravity
Maintaining the physical health of scientists has been a longstanding problem in space flight research. Several ideas have been proposed to solve this problem. These include creating artificial...
The Effect of Zero Gravity on Bones
Zero-gravity has created many problems for astronauts and researchers in space. Calcium depletion is cited as a major health problem. There are many different theories as to why zero-gravity...
Lunar Base Aspects for Biotechnology Industry
A lunar base can provide unique services to biotechnology research, development, and production. A lunar location as well as the vacuum environment can protect experiments from contamination...
Preserve and Protect
Historic and landmark structures constructed of unreinforced masonry and stone are among the most vulnerable to strong ground shaking and are often subject to possible collapse. For the...
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