Mandatory Continuing Education: A Legislative Myth?
The case against state enforcement of continuing education for engineers is presented. It is argued that engineers who wish to remain competitive and successful in their field will seek...
Computers: The Ins and Outs of the Purchasing Contract
When purchasing computers and computer graphic systems there are 13 areas in the purchasing contract that should be investigated. These include the agreement, specification, dates, inspection,...
Afloat on the China Sea
In the summer of 1982, the Science and Technology Commission of the People's Republic of China invited four United States tunnel experts to come to China to engage in technical...
From Wastewater to Drinking Water
The city of Denver, Colorado will experience a population increase of an estimated half million people within the next 20 years. To satisfy the anticipated demand for water in this semi-arid...
Word Processing, Tips on How to Choose a System
Word processing has revolutionized the work place and changes have been felt in the engineering industry where sometimes the amount of information that must be processed and reprocessed,...
Productivity in Civil Engineering and Construction
According to one analysis, United States construction productivity has been declining for the last ten years. The percent of construction dollar volume going to research and development...
Recent Developments in Pavement Skid Resistance
As pavements wear, they lose some of their skid resistance. This article discusses some of the leading options for restoring a pavement's skid resistance. The possibilities...
The Night the Computer Stole the Engineer's Brain
The computer was supposed to be the engineer's servant. But somehow he'd become the robot-like slave of the computer, doing little more than feeding in input...
Financing Civil Works with User Fees
User fees for civil works projects insure that the primary beneficiaries of facilities pay for them. These fees are a way of imposing financial discipline on capital projects. The author...
Superplasticized Concrete Takes Off in Dallas
Some engineers are calling superplasticized concrete the most important advance in concrete technology in over three decades. Over the past four years superplasticized concrete has begun...
Arizona's Statewide Pavement Management System
A pavement management system developed for Arizon's 7400-mile network of highways has resulted in a savings of $14 million in its first year and a forecast savings of $101...
Pre-Engineered Metal Buildings: The Story Behind Their Rapid Growth
In 1964, pre-engineered metal buildings accounted for 24% of new non-residential, low-rise construction. By 1981, that figure had jumped to 56%. Behind that rapid growth are some very...
Better Trained Construction Supers Would Boost Productivity
Everyone complains about poor productivity in construction. One way to improve it, says a recent Business Roundtable report, is to provide better training of first and second level supervisors....
Flood Routing on a Small Computer
A BASIC program is developed to route flood discharge through a system of river channels and reservoirs. The brevity of this program and the use of an overlaid computational matrix make...
Ports 83
The Ports '83 Specialty Conference, whose theme is Modernization, Upgrading and Repairs, covers considerations in port operations, design and construction due to obsolescence...
Coastal Structures '83
The objective of the conference Coastal Structures '83 was to develop in-depth discussion of the state-of-the-art and future needs concerning coastal structures. Design, construction,...
Analyzing Infrastructure Condition�A Practical Approach
New York City and Philadelphia are using a new method of analyzing existing data to develop sensible, economical water main replacement programs. By analyzing readily available data on...
The Third Wave in Water Quality Management
In the 1970's there was great pressure to clean up water-polluting discharges no matter what the cost. Now in the tight-budget 1980s, there is a vigorous search for more cost-effective...
Arizona's Water Strategy: Bring More In and Restrict Its Use
Decades of pumping groundwater faster than the natural rate of replenishment have lowered Arizona's water table to record depths and caused land subsidence and fissures. The...
Holland's Fight Against the Sea
The Netherlands have always been threatened by the sea, its Delta Region most of all. After the catastrophic floods of 1953, the Delta Plan for the strengthening of coastal defenses and...
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