Methods to Expedite and Streamline Utility Relocations for Road Projects

Executive Summary This report describes best practices and tools to streamline and expedite utility relocations when they are required as part of road construction projects. As part of this effort, a research team from the Kentucky Transportation Center (KTC) conducted extensive qualitative research that involved mapping current practices at the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) and reviewing utility manuals from KYTC and other state transportation agencies. The KTC research team also conducted in-depth interviews with KYTC engineers and staff as well as representatives from utility companies (UCs). Based on the data from these investigations, KTC developed a number of recommendations to improve interactions between KYTC and UCs. A number of the proposed improvements relate to training and coordination. For instance, fostering better coordination between KYTC and UCs early in the design process can prevent unexpected delays from hampering the construction process, cut down on the impacts to utilities, and allow for the exploration of alternative design options to identify those that will minimize expense while optimizing efficiencies and shortening project duration. Preconstruction meetings facilitate improved communication between KYTC and UCs, and set the stage for holding follow-up meetings throughout the construction process. All of these suggestions will forge better communication and therefore lead to stronger coordination between the Cabinet and UCs. The research team organized the suggested practices according to use and benefit while also itemizing some of the drawbacks associated with using those respective practices. The guidance provided in this report will provide KYTC utility staff with the knowledge of best practices, while also informing them on the circumstances under which each should be implemented. To accompany the summary of best practices, KTC researchers developed a method of risk assessment to determine the level of difficulty a project may expect when utility relocations are necessary. This model, which uses multiple linear regression, has robust predictive utility (R2 = 0.84), and will offer KYTC staff insights into what best practices are most compatible with the level of risk faced. This study presents several valuable tools along with organized best practices and guidance for STAs’ utility coordinators. When used pragmatically, these methods will assist in STAs and UCs in identifying problematic projects early in their life to resolve any issues

Broadening of Spectral Lines due to Dynamic Multiple Scattering and the Tully-Fisher Relation

The frequency shift of spectral lines is most often explained by the Doppler Effect in terms of relative motion, whereas the Doppler broadening of a particular line mainly depends on the absolute temperature. The Wolf effect on the other hand deals with the correlation induced spectral change and explains both the broadening and shift of the spectral lines. In this framework a relation between the width of the spectral line is related to the redshift z for the line and hence with the distance. For smaller values of z a relation similar to the Tully-Fisher relation can be obtained and for larger values of z a more general relation can be constructed. The derivation of this kind of relation based on dynamic multiple scattering theory may play a significant role in explaining the overall spectra of quasi stellar objects. We emphasize that this mechanism is not applicable for nearby galaxies, $z \leq 1$.Comment: 18 pages, 5 figures, revised Version has been submitted to Physical Review A. (2nd author's affiliation corrected

Thermomagnetic history effects in SmMn2_2Ge2_2

The intermetallic compound SmMn$_2$Ge$_2$, displaying multiple magnetic phase transitions, is being investigated in detail for its magnetization behavior near the 145 K first order ferromagnetic to antiferromagnetic transition occuring on cooling, in particular for thermomagnetic history effects in the magnetization data. The most unusual finding is that the thermomagnetic irreversibility, [= M$^{FCW}$(T)-M$^{ZFC}$(T)] at 135 K is higher in intermediate magnetic field strengths. By studying the response of the sample (i.e., thermomagnetic irreversibility and thermal hysteresis) to different histories of application of magnetic field and temperature, we demonstrate how the supercooling and superheating of the metastable magnetic phases across the first order transition at 145 K contribute to overall thermomagnetic irreversibility.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figures, to appear in Physical Review

Application of B-splines to determining eigen-spectrum of Feshbach molecules

The B-spline basis set method is applied to determining the rovibrational eigen-spectrum of diatomic molecules. A particular attention is paid to a challenging numerical task of an accurate and efficient description of the vibrational levels near the dissociation limit (halo-state and Feshbach molecules). Advantages of using B-splines are highlighted by comparing the performance of the method with that of the commonly-used discrete variable representation (DVR) approach. Several model cases, including the Morse potential and realistic potentials with 1/R^3 and 1/R^6 long-range dependence of the internuclear separation are studied. We find that the B-spline method is superior to the DVR approach and it is robust enough to properly describe the Feshbach molecules. The developed numerical method is applied to studying the universal relation of the energy of the last bound state to the scattering length. We numerically illustrate the validity of the quantum-defect-theoretic formulation of such a relation for a 1/R^6 potential.Comment: submitted to can j phys: Walter Johnson symposu

District level baseline survey of family planning program in Uttar Pradesh: Kanpur

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MOHFW) with financial support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has sponsored the Innovations in Family Planning Services Project (under the management of the State Innovations in Family Planning Services Agency, Lucknow). The project aims to reduce fertility through increasing accessibility, improving quality, and generating demand for family planning services. It attempts to achieve its objectives by supporting service innovations in the public and nongovernmental sector and through social marketing of contraceptives. These intervention strategies are expected to increase the couple protection rate of the state in general and of Kanpur Nagar in particular. One of the prerequisites is to carry out a baseline survey in selected districts of Uttar Pradesh. The BSUP is primarily a household survey with an overall target sample size of 37,000 ever married women ages 13–49 years. The Population Council has collaborated with a number of Indian Consulting Organizations (COs) for survey implementation. Each CO has carried out the survey in one or more districts. The baseline survey was initiated in 15 out of the state’s 63 districts. This report pertains to district Kanpur Nagar

District level baseline survey of family planning program in Uttar Pradesh: Jalaun

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MOHFW), with support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), has sponsored the Innovations in Family Planning Services (IFPS) Project under the management of the State Innovations in Family Planning Services Agency, Lucknow. The project aims to reduce fertility by increasing accessibility, improving quality, and generating demand for family planning services. The project attempts to achieve its objectives by supporting service innovations in the public and nongovernmental sector, and through social marketing of contraceptives. These intervention strategies are expected to increase the couple protection rate of the state in general and of Jalaun in particular. One of the prerequisites is to carry out a baseline survey in selected districts of Uttar Pradesh. The BSUP is primarily a household survey with an overall target sample size of 37,000 ever-married women ages 13–49 years. The Population Council has collaborated with a number of Indian Consulting Organizations (COs) for survey implementation. Each CO has carried out the survey in one or more districts. The baseline survey was initiated in 15 out of the state’s 63 districts. This reports pertains to the district of Jalaun

In situ observation of calcium oxide treatment of inclusions in molten steel by confocal microscopy

Calcium treatment of aluminum killed steel was observed in situ using high-temperature confocal scanning laser microscope (HT-CSLM). This technique along with a novel experimental design enables continuous observation of clustering behavior of inclusions before and after the calcium treatment. Results show that the increase in average inclusion size in non-calcium-treated condition was much faster compared to calcium-treated condition. Results also show that the magnitude of attractive capillary force between inclusion particles in non-treated condition was about 10−15 N for larger particles (10 µm) and 10−16 N for smaller particles (5 µm) and acting length of force was about 30 µm. In the case of calcium-treated condition, the magnitude and acting length of force was reduced to 10−16 N and 10 µm, respectively, for particles of all sizes. This change in attractive capillary attractive force is due to change in inclusion morphology from solid alumina disks to liquid lens particles during calcium treatment

Parity Violation in Proton-Proton Scattering at 221 MeV

TRIUMF experiment 497 has measured the parity violating longitudinal analyzing power, A_z, in pp elastic scattering at 221.3 MeV incident proton energy. This paper includes details of the corrections, some of magnitude comparable to A_z itself, required to arrive at the final result. The largest correction was for the effects of first moments of transverse polarization. The addition of the result, A_z=(0.84 \pm 0.29 (stat.) \pm 0.17 (syst.)) \times 10^{-7}, to the pp parity violation experimental data base greatly improves the experimental constraints on the weak meson-nucleon coupling constants h^{pp}_\rho and h^{pp}_\omega, and has implications for the interpretation of electron parity violation experiments.Comment: 17 pages RevTeX, 14 PostScript figures. Revised version with additions suggested by Phys. Rev.

HiFlo-DAT: Indian Himalayan Flood Database, for Disaster Risk Reduction in the Kullu District

‘HiFlo-DAT’ is an ongoing bi-lateral research project (UK and India, UGC-UKIERI funded, 2018-2020), focussing on historical floods in the Kullu District, Himachal Pradesh, Indian Himalaya. The project team, comprising academic and state/district disaster management authorities, are together developing a new historical flood hazard database as a foundation for improved disaster risk management functions in the region. This is necessary as current management relies on incomplete knowledge of past flood event occurrence, bringing elevated exposure/ risk to development. The HiFlo-DAT database provides a step-change, drawing on extensive mining of archive materials held in private and public collections in India, UK and USA. These materials include newspapers, government reports/ registers, diaries, books, academic articles etc. Most extensive are English language Indian region newspapers, of which we have amassed overlapping holdings over 184 years (1835 to present), totalling c. 150,000 pages. Our acquisition includes coverage of annual periods where publications are digitally searchable (e.g. The Tribune, The Times of India, The Indian Express). In contrast, where archives remain in an analogue microfilm format (e.g. The Civil and Military Gazette, The Friend of India) we restricted data searches to monsoon season months (i.e. July to September) given this is the typical window for floods in the Western Himalaya. The HiFlo-DAT database architecture takes account of best practice, having systematically reviewed global (most commonly European) flood database research in the last c. 30 years, in regard to database structure, data entry/verification protocols, analytical foci and societal impact. HiFlo-DAT has 103 possible entry categories for each event record, which are aggregated into 11 principal groups (i.e. database management, citation information, timing/ duration, location, causation and hydro-meteorological magnitude, channel/ catchment geomorphological impacts, damage/ destruction/ costs, human casualties, pre-event actions, event response, post-event actions). The bi-lateral review of source materials and population of the database are governed by an agreed set of protocols. Initial analyses are focussing on: (1) event spatial/ temporal/ impact signatures; (2) the relationship between flood occurrence and rainfall conditions. The latter makes use of a unique long-term daily rainfall series for Naggar Farm, being compiled from British government records (1891-1950) and current IARI data (1962 to present). HiFlo-DAT is designed with capacity for future updating, and will be open access via the BathSPAdata repository and HPSDMA website