AMIS: Least Cost Path Analysis for Transportation Planning

The State requested a GIS-based route planning tool. More than 50 raster data layers were assembled within ArcView 3.2, encompassing a full spectrum of demographic, physical, and cultural features. These data layers were given a numerical rating using multicriteria decision making software and input from professionals from a variety of fields. The multicriteria decision making software then set the relative importance of these surface features as impediments or attractors, creating a travel-cost surface. This synthesis of technologies, combined in a tool termed AMIS (Analytic Minimum Impedance Surface), found the least-cost path to any point within the study area

Public Involvement in Highway Improvement: A Comparison of Three Different Visualization Modes for a Case Study in Central Kentucky

Public involvement in highway improvement presents a set of complex problems involving many stakeholders.Since visualizations are increasingly regarded as essential tools in this process, a clearer understanding of the specific merits of advanced visualization techniques and their potential contributions must be developed.As a step towards integrating visualizations into an improved public planning paradigm termed Structured Public Involvement (SPI), this paper investigates the utility and performance of three visualization modes, termed 2D, 3D and VR (Virtual Reality), for a case study highway in Central Kentucky. Visualization scenarios were designed and engineered according to the principle of elemental decomposition.Using a combination of iterative focus group public involvement and an electronic scoring system to solicit rapid feedback the research team investigated the efficiency and performance of the visualization modes.Further focus group feedback on the merits of each mode was solicited.The preferred 3D visualization mode was then employed to gauge public preference for (a) specific highway design elements and (b) three composite design scenarios.Cross-tabulation of focus group data enabled the team to generate a fine-grained analysis of public preference.Problems and future research directions are highlighted

Storage and Handling of High Moisture Co-Products from Ethanol Production in Beef Operations—Feed Specialist and Veterinarian Study

The use of corn co-products in beef feeding operations has greatly increased over recent years because of the booming ethanol industry; however, little is known about efficient transportation, storage, and handling of the product. Problems associated with these areas cost beef producer’s time and money. In an effort to find out more information, 164 surveys were sent out to veterinarians and feed specialists throughout the state of Iowa to identify the transportation, storage, and handling procedures, trends, and problems associated with the use of co-products as a feed ingredient. The results of the surveys conclude that various types of co-products are used throughout the beef industry, and the methods of transporting, storing, and handling them varies greatly. Additionally, the quality and physical characteristics of the co-products challenge the mixing and storability of the co-product. With this, standards for co-products grading and spoilage determination are two major recommendations resulting from this study

Storage and Handling of High Moisture Co-Products from Ethanol Production in Beef Operations—Beef Producer Study

The use of corn co-products in beef feeding operations has greatly increased over recent years because of the booming ethanol industry; however, little is known about efficient transportation, storage, and handling of the product. Problems associated with these areas cost beef producer’s time and money. In an effort to find out more information, 164 surveys were sent out to veterinarians and feed specialists throughout the state of Iowa to identify the transportation, storage, and handling procedures, trends, and problems associated with the use of co-products as a feed ingredient. The results of the surveys conclude that various types of co-products are used throughout the beef industry, and the methods of transporting, storing, and handling them varies greatly. Additionally, the quality and physical characteristics of the co-products challenge the mixing and storability of the co-product. With this, standards for co-products grading and spoilage determination are two major recommendations resulting from this study

Enterprise Resource Planning

This goal of this project was to assist the Cabinet in improving the way data is gathered, maintained, and used in the Highway Information System (HIS). The procedure was to identify the critical uses of various data categories, the specific needs for that data, and how that matched up with how the data is handled currently. The end result is a database of metadata information about the HIS database itself. This will enable new users and those unfamiliar with the background of the HIS to easily locate information about how data was collected, how frequently it is updated, and the responsible parties for particular data types

Expansion of Roadway Reference Log

There has been a need to expand the route log in order to have a more comprehensive and up-to-date log to accurately locate information on the highway system. The objectives of this study were to: 1) expand the current route log resulting in a more comprehensive route log file containing milepoints for all intersections on state maintained roads and any other needed reference points and 2) recommend a procedure for establishing milepoints and maintaining the file with up-to-date information. Two types of output resulted from the study. One was an expanded route log computer file. The added milepoints were additional intersections between a state maintained and other public roads. While all intersections could not be included because of such problems as not having a name to assign to the intersecting public road, the number of intersections was increased dramatically. The second output was a detailed procedure describing the method used to assign milepoints and a recommended procedure to maintain the file. The use of these guidelines will enable the use of consistent procedures across the state

Oxygen demand of bean bruchids (Acanthoscelides obtectus Say)

The common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L) is an important crop in many countries and its safe storage is crucial in maintaining a sufficient and high quality food supply for the community. A non-chemical storage technique, hermetic storage, is being used to control the bean bruchid (Acanthoscelides obtectus Say), a beetle which can cause large losses to stored beans. Experiments were carried out using hermetically sealed containers of known gas volume at different temperatures (10 and 27°C) and bean moistures (8 and 16% wet basis) to quantify the oxygen requirement of bruchids. Bruchids use between 0.0074 and 0.1043 cm3 bruchid-1day-1, depending on bean temperature and bean moisture content. Days to 100% adult bruchid mortality in hermetic storage, as a function of infestation level, storage volume, temperature and bean moisture content, can be estimated by using these oxygen requirement results. These estimates can be used to design hermetic storage systems to protect beans from damage by bruchids.This article is published as Jeffrey, Askey, Bern Carl, Brumm Thomas, and Coats Joel. "Oxygen demand of bean bruchids (Acanthoscelides obtectus Say)." Journal of Stored Products and Postharvest Research 11, no. 2 (2020): 8-14. doi: http://www.academicjournals.org/JSPPR. Copyright ©2020 Author(s). This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en_US

Storage and Handling of High Moisture Co-Products from Ethanol Production in Beef Operations—Feed Specialist and Veterinarian Study

The use of corn co-products in beef feeding operations has greatly increased over recent years because of the booming ethanol industry; however, little is known about efficient transportation, storage, and handling of the product. Problems associated with these areas cost beef producer’s time and money. In an effort to find out more information, 164 surveys were sent out to veterinarians and feed specialists throughout the state of Iowa to identify the transportation, storage, and handling procedures, trends, and problems associated with the use of co-products as a feed ingredient. The results of the surveys conclude that various types of co-products are used throughout the beef industry, and the methods of transporting, storing, and handling them varies greatly. Additionally, the quality and physical characteristics of the co-products challenge the mixing and storability of the co-product. With this, standards for co-products grading and spoilage determination are two major recommendations resulting from this study.</p

Storage and Handling of High Moisture Co-Products from Ethanol Production in Beef Operations—Beef Producer Study

The use of corn co-products in beef feeding operations has greatly increased over recent years because of the booming ethanol industry; however, little is known about efficient transportation, storage, and handling of the product. Problems associated with these areas cost beef producer’s time and money. In an effort to find out more information, 164 surveys were sent out to veterinarians and feed specialists throughout the state of Iowa to identify the transportation, storage, and handling procedures, trends, and problems associated with the use of co-products as a feed ingredient. The results of the surveys conclude that various types of co-products are used throughout the beef industry, and the methods of transporting, storing, and handling them varies greatly. Additionally, the quality and physical characteristics of the co-products challenge the mixing and storability of the co-product. With this, standards for co-products grading and spoilage determination are two major recommendations resulting from this study.</p