The Lost Generation: Environmental Regulatory Reform in the Era of Congressional Abdication

Congress constructed the entirety of the modern federal environmental regulatory system between 1970 and 1990. However, due to ever increasing political polarization and gridlock, Congress has abdicated its responsibility as the primary national environmental policymaker over the past 25 years. Since 1990, no major environmental legislation has been enacted, leading to a growing sense that the federal system has become stagnated and obsolescent. Since the mid-1990s, concerns over the effectiveness, inefficiencies, and under-inclusiveness of the federal system have led to a robust reform movement seeking to build the next generation of environmental regulation. Because of Congress\u27s inability to enact environmental legislation, however, such reform efforts have largely centered on numerous, primarily voluntary executive branch reinvention initiatives at EPA. Congress\u27s failure to support these efforts, through legislation or otherwise, has severely undermined the ability of these efforts to achieve meaningful success, leading to a lost generation of environmental regulatory reform. This Article surveys the most widely promoted and analyzed of the next generation environmental regulatory reform proposals and calls on Congress to accept reform advocates\u27 challenge to improve and modernize a severely outdated regulatory system

A NASTRAN DMAP alter for determining a local stiffness modification to obtain a specified eigenvalue

A technique is described which has been programmed as a DMAP Alter to Rigid Format 3, for determining a stiffness matrix modification to obtain a specified eigenvalue for a structure. The stiffness matrix modifications allowable are those that can be described as the product of a single scalar variable and a matrix of constant coefficients input by the user. The program solves for the scalar variable multiplier which will yield a specified eigenvalue for the complete structure (provided it exists), makes the modification to the stiffness matrix, and proceeds in Rigid Format 3 to obtain the eigenvalues and eigenvectors of the modified structure

Accuracy of Three Dimensional Solid Finite Elements

The results of a study to determine the accuracy of the three dimensional solid elements available in NASTRAN for predicting displacements is presented. Of particular interest in the study is determining how to effectively use solid elements in analyzing thick optical mirrors, as might exist in a large telescope. Surface deformations due to thermal and gravity loading can be significant contributors to the determination of the overall optical quality of a telescope. The study investigates most of the solid elements currently available in either COSMIC or MSC NASTRAN. Error bounds as a function of mesh refinement and element aspect ratios are addressed. It is shown that the MSC solid elements are, in general, more accurate than their COSMIC NASTRAN counterparts due to the specialized numerical integration used. In addition, the MSC elements appear to be more economical to use on the DEC VAX 11/780 computer

Improved isoparametric solid and membrane elements

Improvements that were made to the COSMIC NASTRAN elements CIHEX1 and QDMEM1 are described. These elements are isoparametric representations of solid and membrane elastic behavior. Recent papers by the authors have shown the official COSMIC versions of these elements to be inferior to those available in the MacNeal-Schwendler Corporation (MSC) version of NASTRAN in that they are overly stiff for some loadings. Modifications were made to these elements which reduce the order of integration for shear terms and, for the eight-mode solid element, add additional strain functions. The resulting element formulations give behavior similar to that of the MSC elements. The changes made in the element formulations are discussed and results of test problems are compared with results from the official COSMIC elements and with the MSC elements

Development of a KSC test and flight engineering oriented computer language, Phase 1

Ten, primarily test oriented, computer languages reviewed during the phase 1 study effort are described. Fifty characteristics of ATOLL, ATLAS, and CLASP are compared. Unique characteristics of the other languages, including deficiencies, problems, safeguards, and checking provisions are identified. Programming aids related to these languages are reported, and the conclusions resulting from this phase of the study are discussed. A glossary and bibliography are included. For the reports on phase 2 of the study, see N71-35027 and N71-35029

Letter from the Reverend H. W. Case to Senator Langer Regarding Church Relocation Expenses, September 15, 1952

This letter dated September 15, 1952, from Reverend H. W. Case of the Fort Berthold Mission to United States (US) Senator William Langer, makes reference to a new law that allows for people displaced by the construction of Garrison Dam to be reimbursed for moving expenses. Case argues that because the church cooperated with the US Army Corp of Engineers and did not the initial settlement, it is now being penalized in not being covered by the new law allowing for reimbursement of moving expenses. Case closes by asking Langer\u27s advice in the matter and requesting a copy of the law in question. See also: Letter from Senator Langer to Dwight Pinion Regarding Church Relocation Expenses, September 25, 1952 Letter from Senator Langer to the Reverend H. W. Case Regarding Church Relocation Expenses, October 6, 1952https://commons.und.edu/langer-papers/1777/thumbnail.jp

A NASTRAN DMAP procedure for calculation of base excitation modal participation factors

This paper presents a technique for calculating the modal participation factors for base excitation problems using a DMAP alter to the NASTRAN real eigenvalue analysis Rigid Format. The DMAP program automates the generation of the seismic mass to add to the degrees of freedom representing the shaker input directions and calculates the modal participation factors. These are shown in the paper to be a good measure of the maximum acceleration expected at any point on the structure when the subsequent frequency response analysis is run

Letter from the Reverend H. W. Case to Senator Langer Regarding US House Joint Resolution 11, March 25, 1949

This letter, dated March 25, 1949, from the Reverend H. W. Case of the Forth Berthold Mission, in Elbowoods, North Dakota, to United States (US) Senator William Langer, asks that Langer have his secretary send Case ten copies of US Senate Joint Resolution No. 11, as well as the names of the US Senate committee member to which the resolution will likely be referred. Case goes on to write that he knows Langer will do everything in his power to set a new standard of negotiations in dealing with the Indian people and more especially our [Fort Berhold] people in their endeavor to become at least as rehabilitated as they are now. See also: Letter from Senator Langer to the Reverend H. W. Case Regarding US Senate Joint Resolution 11, April 14, 1949https://commons.und.edu/langer-papers/1929/thumbnail.jp