John A. Roebling’s 1846 Smithfield Street Bridge: History, Design, and Performance

The Smithfield Street Bridge (1846–1883) in Pittsburgh was the first roadway suspension bridge designed and constructed by John A. Roebling (1806–1869). The eight-span bridge was built on the surviving masonry piers of a previous wooden covered bridge. Roebling\u27s design combined main suspension cables, pendulum cable supports, stiffening trusses, inclined stays, and underfloor bracing to create a complex, indeterminate structural system. The multispan bridge needed to accommodate heavy moving loads and unbalanced loads between adjacent spans without excessive deflections. In the mid-19th century, theoretical analysis of suspension bridges was limited to the calculation of tension in an unstiffened cable, yet Roebling applied sound engineering principles to design a bridge that was well beyond the structural analysis capabilities of the day. The design, performance, and end-of-life of the bridge were examined through Roebling\u27s archived design calculations and published articles, other contemporary published literature works, and modern nonlinear structural analyses. The research revealed that the overall design of the bridge was sound, with typical stresses and deflections well within allowable limits, and it performed successfully as originally designed and constructed. The underfloor bracing system carried a substantial portion of the live load and helped to limit displacements. However, the pendulum cable hangers created a very flexible cable system, and the stays were likely ineffective. At the time of its replacement, the Smithfield Street Bridge was carrying loads much heavier than it was designed for, and its stiffening truss suffered from substantial degradation. A comparison of structural analysis results with contemporary descriptions indicated that it was functioning largely as an unstiffened suspension bridge. Over the remainder of his career, Roebling would refine his understanding of, and design methods for, suspension bridges with deck stiffening and inclined stays, ultimately leading to his designs for several of the most prominent and sophisticated bridges of the 19th century

Spotting Fake Profiles in Social Networks via Keystroke Dynamics

Spotting and removing fake profiles could curb the menace of fake news in society. This paper, thus, investigates fake profile detection in social networks via users’ typing patterns. We created a novel dataset of 468 posts from 26 users on three social networks: Facebook, Instagram, and X (previously Twitter) over six sessions. Then, we extract a series of features from keystroke timings and use them to predict whether two posts originated from the same users using three prominent statistical methods and their score-level fusion. The models’ performance is evaluated under same, cross, and combined-cross-platform scenarios. We report the performance using k-rank accuracy for k varying from 1 to 5. The best-performing model obtained accuracies between 91.6%−100% on Facebook (Fusion), 70.8 − 87.5% on Instagram (Fusion), and 75% − 87.5% on X (Fusion) for k from 1 to 5. Under a cross-platform scenario, the fusion model achieved mean accuracies of 79.1% − 91.6%, 87.5% − 91.6%, and 83.3% − 87.5% when trained on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter posts, respectively. In combined cross platform, which involved mixing two platforms’ data for model training while testing happened on the third platform’s data, the best model achieved accuracy ranges of 75% − 95.8% across different scenarios. The results highlight the potential of the presented method in uncovering fake profiles across social network platforms

John A. Roebling’s 1845 Allegheny Aqueduct: Design, History, and Performance

The Allegheny Aqueduct (1845–1861) in Pittsburgh was the first suspension bridge designed and constructed by John A. Roebling (1806–1869), who would go on to design some of the most prominent and longest-spanning suspension bridges of the 19th century. The Allegheny Aqueduct was a seven-span suspension bridge built on the existing unreinforced masonry piers of the prior wooden-covered aqueduct. To evaluate the progression of Roebling’s innovations throughout his career, it is important to document his expertise and experience in suspension bridge design and construction at the onset of his career. This research used the published writings of Roebling and other contemporary engineers, archival documents, and modern nonlinear structural analyses to evaluate the design and performance of the Allegheny Aqueduct as built, as well as several possible design alternatives. The structural design of the multispan bridge required Roebling to accommodate unbalanced loading conditions from water within the aqueduct and from repair or removal of any single span, all while maintaining the stability of the masonry piers. Roebling developed a unique design, analysis, and construction approach to safely meet these criteria, and modern structural analyses demonstrated the soundness of Roebling’s approach. Roebling patented and constructed a new style of anchorage that was simpler to build, prevented ingress of moisture and corrosion of the iron bars, and allowed for straightforward rigid-body stability analysis. Roebling also patented, developed the mechanical equipment for, and implemented a new wire-by-wire cable fabrication (spinning) technique that resulted in a nearly uniform stress state amongst all wires of the cable and prevented ingress of moisture and corrosion of the wires. Roebling’s developments in anchorages and cables represented significant advancements over existing European techniques, and fundamental aspects of his techniques remain in use to this day

1650-1850: Ideas, Aesthetics, and Inquiries in the Early Modern Era (Volume 28)

Rigorously inventive and revelatory in its adventurousness, 1650–1850 opens a forum for the discussion, investigation, and analysis of the full range of long-eighteenth-century writing, thinking, and artistry. Combining fresh considerations of prominent authors and artists with searches for overlooked or offbeat elements of the Enlightenment legacy, 1650–1850 delivers a comprehensive but richly detailed rendering of the first days, the first principles, and the first efforts of modern culture. Its pages open to the works of all nations and language traditions, providing a truly global picture of a period that routinely shattered boundaries. Volume 28 of this long-running journal is no exception to this tradition of focused inclusivity. Readers will experience two blockbuster multi-author special features that explore both the deep traditions and the new frontiers of early modern studies: one that views adaptation and digitization through the lens of “Sterneana,” the vast literary and cultural legacy following on the writings of Laurence Sterne, a legacy that sweeps from Hungarian renditions of the puckish novelist through the Bloomsbury circle and on into cybernetics, and one that pays tribute to legendary scholar Irwin Primer by probing the always popular but also always challenging writings of that enigmatic poet-philosopher, Bernard Mandeville. All that, plus the usual cavalcade of full-length book reviews. ISSN: 1065-3112 Published by Bucknell University Press, distributed worldwide by Rutgers University Press.https://digitalcommons.bucknell.edu/bucknell-press/1093/thumbnail.jp

Hidden Poverty in Union County

In Union County, there is a significant problem of economic insecurity that is not widely known among Bucknell students. Economic insecurity has a profound impact on people\u27s lives, particularly in the area. It can lead to food insecurity, poor health outcomes, and limited access to education and job opportunities, perpetuating a cycle of poverty. Therefore, it is critical to raise awareness about this issue and its consequences. Bucknell students have a unique opportunity to play a vital role in this effort. By engaging with the community and partnering with local organizations, students can raise awareness of economic insecurity and its impact on the region. In summary, addressing economic insecurity in Union County requires a multifaceted approach that will make a meaningful difference in the lives of those affected by economic insecurity.https://digitalcommons.bucknell.edu/soci258/1006/thumbnail.jp

Cleaning the Variable Mess: a Population Genomics Approach to Understanding the Evolutionary History of a Complicated Plant Group

The Solanum dioicum clade is a group of Australian bush tomatoes consisting primarily of species native to Western Australia and the Northern Territory whose species delimitations tend to be quite unclear. Since David Symon’s monograph A Revision of the Genus Solanum in Australia was published in 1981, little additional progress has been made in clarifying these relationships. In this project, a population genomics approach was used to analyze the relationships and delimitations between three species within the S. dioicum clade: Solanum dioicum, S. carduiforme, and S. ossicruentum. The use of population genomics methods is advantageous to understanding the fine-scale genetic diversity and population structures of species. To complete this project, DNA extractions from 149 populations across 15 populations of the 3 aforementioned species were conducted prior to DNA sequencing, assembly, and data analyses that allowed the interpretation of these relationships. This project allows an improved understanding of the relationships and delimitations between species within the S. dioicum clade. Our results indicate that there is a clear separation between the three studied species, and multiple genetic clusters within the S. dioicum populations, some of which may be their own independent taxa. In the context of global climate change, documenting species populations, particularly those which are rare or previously undocumented, helps regions that need extra protection get the resources they need, thereby protecting the biodiversity and stability of these habitats. It is extremely difficult to obtain the necessary resources to protect species if they have not been named or correctly described

Heading for a Breakdown: Assessing Evolution Through the Hybridization of Two Sexual Systems

Hybridization is an important evolutionary pathway that has contributed to the world’s vast biodiversity. In plants, especially angiosperms, hybridization is known to be an important mechanism for speciation, phenotypic divergence, and changes in reproductive systems. Solanum species present an ideal system to investigate how hybridization between two different sexual systems impacts the reproductive and phenotypic biology of the hybrid progeny. Hybrid seeds were acquired from crosses between Australian Solanum species Solanum dioicum (dioecious) and S. ultraspinosum (andromonoecious) in order to track what happens when you cross two plants with different sexual systems. Vegetative and floral morphological measurements were conducted, and the data was analyzed using an ANOVA and PCA to evaluate phenotypic differences across generations. Pollen tube growth was evaluated under a microscope using fluorescent microscopy technique to observe whether pollen tube growth occurred and whether it reached the ovary, providing insight into crossing success or failure. The only successful hybrids from the original crosses were those derived from S. dioicum as the pollen donor and S. ultraspinosum as the pollen recipient. Due to strong maternal effects, all F1 hybrids resembled S. ultraspinosum, thus all F1 plants were andromonoecious. The F2 and F3 hybrids demonstrate variability in inflorescence architecture, specifically the persistence of cosexual flowers in the staminate position of an andromonoecious inflorescence and the abortion of staminate buds, which may be suggestive of a change in sexual system. A principal component analysis supported that the F1 and F2 hybrids were distinct from both parents, but were most similar to S. ultraspinosum, the pollen recipient, while the F3 hybrids clustered independently. In attempts to create an F3 and F4 hybrid generation, nearly all of our crosses have failed—suggesting that a hybrid breakdown is occurring. The observation of pollen germinating but failing to reach the ovary by fluorescent microscopy technique suggests that pollen tube abortion in the style is contributing to hybrid breakdown. This study should promote a better understanding of hybridization—a driving force in plant diversification—among Australian Solanum, a group in which hybridization is known to be widely possible but rarely confirmed in nature. Likewise, hybridization between taxa with two distinct sexual forms may shed light on the evolution of reproductive strategies in this clade

2015-16 Antarctic Travel Project data set

During the 2015-2016 season, links to an internet survey were distributed to Antarctic travelers traveling with two different tour companies with expedition ships leaving from Ushuaia, Argentina, A paper brochure was placed in the expedition ship cabins of tourists before their arrival, and expedition staff gave reminders to complete them. 175 travelers, largely from two ships, completed this internet survey through Qualtrics. Tourists received links to the survey from expedition leaders who volunteered to distribute paper explanations of the survey with the link, including one author of the study (Roedel). This document gives the questions from the Qualtrics survey and the compiled results. Individual responses are not provided in order to preserve confidentiality. Some of the survey questions were taken from other, larger surveys in the hopes of producing comparable data. Those surveys, and their corresponding questions, are indicated in the Block Titles. Responses were collected between December 21, 2015 and March 8, 2016, a timeframe that corresponds to the Antarctic tourism season

Exploring Grades 3-5 Mathematics Activities Found Online

We investigate resources on TeachersPayTeachers and discuss how what is available affects our teaching practices

Integration of Public Policy into Civil Engineering Undergraduate Curricula: Review of Civil Engineering Body of Knowledge and Course Application

The field of civil and environmental engineering directly ties with serving the needs of the public through infrastructure development and improvements in sustainable environments. Integrating this reciprocal connection between public policy and civil engineering into undergraduate civil engineering education is critical for the preparation of the next generation of engineers. This project, first, reviews the guidance of public policy in civil engineering programs, such as ASCE’s Civil Engineering Body of Knowledge. Then, a pedagogical application is presented that focuses on the integration of public policy concepts, methods, assessment tools and techniques in a required, upper level course in civil and environmental engineering at Bucknell University. Iterations of this course integration have been taught for over a decade, and experiences on how to engage students around this timely topic is included. Specific course materials including discussion strategies are presented, as well as methods to maintain up-to-date connections with critical ever-changing topics such as climate change. Also, case studies related to ASCE Policy Statements are shared, and summative assessments that tie directly to ABET criteria are presented, in order to showcase ways that public policy can be taught at the undergraduate level at institutions throughout the United States. Within the lesson material, both a combination of regulation and market-based instruments are presented using civil and environmental engineering examples to spur interest in field and practical applications. Lastly, opportunities within the engineering and public policy arena, in terms of graduate programs and career pathways, are introduced to spark future career interests. As more undergraduate engineers are exposed to the topic of public policy, they can begin their careers with a more well-rounded and holistic understanding of how they can lead and potentially improve the field of civil engineering in serving the public, economy, and the environment