Investigation of Grout - A Comparison of Standard Grout Mix to Self-Consolidating Grout Mix

Masonry is a major structural material for low rise buildings, however the design of masonry buildings is rarely taught as a formal course at most universities. As part of the educational experience and to become familiar with the specifications and testing procedures for grouted masonry, a student run experiment on varying the water to cement ratio of masonry grout was conducted. The purpose is to report on the effects of changing the water-to-cement (W/C) ratios in a standard grout mix. The typical W/C ratio is approximately 0.80:1.00. In order to show the effects of increasing water in a grout mix, a second grout mix was investigated – a 1.00:1.00 W/C ratio. The two W/C ratios investigated were a 0.74:1.00 and a 1.00:1.00 W/C ratio. Students prepared and tested the 0.74:1.00 grout mix per the standard of the American Society of Testing and Materials (ASTM) Standard C476 Table 01: Conventional Grout Proportions by Volume, and the ASTM Standard C1019: Standard Test Method for Sampling and Testing Grout

Public use of local foods in the Tanana Valley: understandings of producers and low-income community members

Thesis (M.S.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2012This thesis explores factors that affect local food use in the Tanana Valley region of Alaska. Alaskan public discourses increasingly link local food production to a more sustainable and secure state and community food supply. However, current local food system development in the United States is marked by signs of socially unequal distribution of the benefits of local food. In Spring 2011, semi - structured interviews and focus groups were conducted with agricultural producers and community members affiliated with the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC), and the Farmers' Market Nutrition Program (FMNP). Results show that local food use is complex and tied to livelihood and daily concerns of both producers and consumers. Producers highlighted challenges in food production, and characterized public use of local foods as limited by insufficient production. WIC employees and FMNP recipients viewed convenience and cost as important determinants of local food use. This exploratory study contributes to a more complex understanding of the local food system in the Tanana Valley through close examination of the perceptions and life experiences of human actors in this food system

Structural Reconnaissance Findings of the 2017 Mexico City Earthquake

The author of this document is an undergraduate student at California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly) who was deployed to Mexico City to participate in reconnaissance efforts October 27th to November 4th, 2017 as part of a larger group of academics and professionals. The work was funded through a National Science Foundation (NSF) Grant #1811084 “The Effects of the 2017 Central Mexico Earthquake on Reinforced Concrete Buildings” with the overarching objective of collecting data on reinforced concrete building damage for understanding and further improving the seismic performance of these structures and the resilience of communities. This report details structural damage seen in the 2017 Mexico City Earthquake and conclusions made from analysis of damage data related to: building characteristics, geotechnical zones, and peak spectral accelerations. The document focuses on three case study buildings documented and observed by the author to illustrate common types of severe structural damage observed in Mexico City: Pounding damage due to buildings built within proximity to one another. Damage to columns due to vertical stiffness irregularities leading to soft stories. Torsional damage due to re-entrant corner irregularities. Specifically this report examines distributions of story height, age of buildings, design irregularities as related to damage levels/failures seen after the 2017 earthquake and any available data from pre and post 1985 earthquake investigations. The major lessons learned were how damaging irregularities in a structure can be as well as the impact code benchmarks have in the progression of structural engineering for areas with high seismicity. These preliminary analyses indicated a need for more investigation in the area of sustainable and economical retrofit possibilities for soft story structures as well as additional experimental tests on unreinforced masonry retrofit solutions

No-go for Partially Massless Spin-2 Yang-Mills

There are various no-go results forbidding self-interactions for a single partially massless spin-2 field. Given the photon-like structure of the linear partially massless field, it is natural to ask whether a multiplet of such fields can interact under an internal Yang-Mills like extension of the partially massless symmetry. We give two arguments that such a partially massless Yang-Mills theory does not exist. The first is that there is no Yang-Mills like non-abelian deformation of the partially massless symmetry, and the second is that cubic vertices with the appropriate structure constants do not exist.Comment: 18 pages. v2 small corrections and ref

Interview with Rachel Garcia

Rachel Garcia talks about the Science Play-space Initiativehttps://digital.kenyon.edu/ps_interviews/1009/thumbnail.jp

Endocuff Vision Reduces Inspection Time Without Decreasing Lesion Detection in a Randomized Colonoscopy Trial

Background & Aims Mucosal exposure devices improve detection of lesions during colonoscopy and have reduced examination times in uncontrolled studies. We performed a randomized trial of Endocuff Vision vs standard colonoscopy to compare differences in withdrawal time (the primary end point). We proposed that Endocuff Vision would allow complete mucosal inspection in a shorter time without impairing lesion detection. Methods Adults older than 40 years undergoing screening or surveillance colonoscopies were randomly assigned to the Endocuff group (n=101, 43.6% women) or the standard colonoscopy group (n=99; 57.6% women). One of 2 experienced endoscopists performed the colonoscopies, aiming for a thorough evaluation of the proximal sides of all haustral folds, flexures, and valves in the shortest time possible. Inspection time was measured with a stopwatch and calculated by subtracting washing, suctioning, polypectomy and biopsy times from total withdrawal time. Results There were significantly fewer women in the Endocuff arm (P = .0475) but there were no other demographic differences between groups. Mean insertion time with Endocuff was 4.0 min vs 4.4 min for standard colonoscopy (P = .14). Mean inspection time with Endocuff was 6.5 min vs 8.4 min for standard colonoscopy (P < .0001). Numbers of adenomas detected per colonoscopy (1.43 vs 1.07; P = .07), adenoma detection rate (61.4% vs 52%; P = .21), number of sessile serrated polyps per colonoscopy (0.27 vs 0.21; P = .12), and sessile serrated polyp detection rate (19.8% vs 11.1%; P = .09) were all higher with Endocuff Vision. Results did not differ significantly when we controlled for age, sex, or race. Conclusion In a randomized trial, we found inclusion of Endocuff in screening or surveillance colonoscopies to decrease examination time without reducing lesion detection

Living up to their name: Profamilia takes on gender-based violence

This issue of Quality/Calidad/Qualité describes the evolution of Profamilia through its work on gender-based violence in the Domincan Republic.Their project was conceived along two simultaneous paths: providing support services directly to women and girls who had experienced violence and initiating advocacy in the wider policy arena. Profamilia joined the commission that ultimately designed and promoted a law to increase protection against violence, especially domestic violence against women and children. Although the clinics now run a dynamic service program, the agency has also sustained its advocacy activities. Most of Profamilia’s advocacy work is undertaken in partnership with other NGOs or with government agencies and has converted the organization from a family planning organization to a sexual and reproductive health organization that truly serves women