Saint Francis University

Saint Francis University (SFU) is a four-year, coeducational Catholic liberal arts university in Loretto, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1847 and conducted under the tradition of the Franciscan Friars of the Third Order Regular. The university is situated on 600 acres (243 ha) in the forests and farmland of Loretto.

Overview
Located in Loretto, Pennsylvania, Saint Francis University enrolls approximately 1,832 undergraduate students (of whom, 40.7% are male and 59.3% female) and 617 graduate students.The University offers 25 undergraduate majors and 7 graduate fields of study (including Physical Therapy, in which the University awards a doctorate) to its students. The University maintains an average graduation rate of 69.9%.Saint Francis University has 22 men's and women's sports teams and competes in Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association. The current president of the University is Rev. Malachi Van Tassell, T.O.R., Ph.D. Mount Assisi Friary, formerly the residence of industrialist Charles M. Schwab, is home to several of the friars who staff the university. Also on the campus is the main building for the Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art which has a number of smaller facilities across the local region. Immergrün Golf Course is a semi-private, nine-hole, regulation-length 3,234-yard, par-36 course on rye grass located on the campus of Saint Francis University at 105 Saint Elizabeth Street. Immergrün has not been altered since Donald Ross built it for the steel magnate Charles M. Schwab in 1917.

Type Private
Established 1847
Religious affiliation
Roman Catholic
Endowment $44,863,000 (2014)
Academic staff
241
Undergraduates 1,832
Postgraduates 617
Location Loretto
40°30′15″N 78°38′15″W
Campus Rural, 600 acres (243 ha)
Colors Red and White 
Nickname Red Flash
Sporting affiliations
NCAA Division I – NEC
A-10, and EIVA.
Website www.francis.edu

Kyoto University

Kyoto University  is a national university located in Kyoto, Japan. It is the second oldest Japanese university,one of the highest ranked universities in Asia and one of Japan's National Seven Universities. One of Asia’s leading research-oriented institutions, Kyoto University is famed for producing world-class researchers, including ten Nobel Prize laureates, two Fields medalists and one Gauss Prize.

History

The forerunner of the Kyoto University was the Chemistry School  founded in Osaka in 1869, which, despite its name, taught physics as well . It was established in the place of Seimi-kyoku in 1886, it then transferred to the university's present main campus in the same year.

Kyoto Imperial University  as a part of the Imperial University system was established on June 18, 1897, using the Third Higher School's buildings. The higher school moved to a patch of land just across the street, where the Yoshida South Campus stands today. In the same year of the university's establishment, the College of Science and Technology was founded. The College of Law and the College of Medicine were founded in 1899, the College of Letters in 1906, expanding the university's activities to areas outside natural science.

After World War II, the current Kyoto University was established by merging the imperial university and the Third Higher School, which assumed the duty of teaching liberal arts as the Faculty of Liberal Arts . The faculty was dissolved with the foundation of the Faculty of Integrated Human Studies (総合人間学部 Sōgō-ningen-gakubu?) in 1992.

Kyoto University has since 2004 been incorporated as a national university corporation under a new law which applies to all national universities.

Academic rankings:-

The Academic Ranking of World Universities ranked the Kyoto University as follows:

YearJapanAsiaWorld
20152nd2nd26th
20142nd2nd26th
20132nd2nd26th
20122nd2nd26th
20112nd2nd27th
20102nd2nd24th
20092nd2nd24th
20082nd2nd23rd
The Times Higher Education ranked the Kyoto University as follows:

YearJapanAsiaWorld
2015-20162nd9th88th
2014-20152nd9th59th
2013-20142nd7th52nd
2012-20132nd7th54th
2011-20122nd5th52nd
2010-20112nd8th57th

General rankings
The university was ranked 3rd in 2008 and 2010 in the ranking "Truly Strong Universities" by Toyo Keizai.In another ranking, Japanese prep school Kawaijuku ranked Kyodai as the 2nd best university in Japan.
Kyodai is also one of the top universities in the world. The following rankings are the example of Kyodai's ranking positions in the world rankings.

Kyoto University was ranked 24th in the world in the 2010 Academic Ranking of World Universities
11th worldwide in the Global University Ranking.
A human competitiveness index and analysis by the Human Resources & Labor Review, and published in Chasecareer Network, ranked the university 24th internationally and 2nd in Asia for 2010.
QS World University Rankings in 2011 placed Kyoto University 32nd overall in the world, one behind University of Melbourne, seven places lower than the previous year.
The 2011 QS Asian Rankings make Kyoto University the seventh highest ranked university in Asia, the highest being The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.
Research performance
Kyodai is usually considered as one of the top research institution in Japan. In fact, the 2nd largest amount of investment from Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research, which is the national grants program for research institutions.

This financial support from the Japanese government has a direct effect on Kyodai's research outcomes. According to Thomson Reuters, Kyodai is the 1st best research university in Japan.Its research excellence is especially distinctive in Chemistry (1st in Japan, 4th in the world), Biology & Biochemistry (2nd in Japan, 23rd in the world), Pharmacology & Toxicology (2nd in Japan,30 in the world), Immunology (3rd in Japan, 25th in the world), Material Science (4th in Japan, 22nd in the world), and Physics (4th in Japan, 25th in the world).

The University of Pennsylvania

The University of Pennsylvania (commonly referred to as Penn or UPenn) is a private, Ivy League, research university located in Philadelphia. Incorporated as The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania, Penn is one of 14 founding members of the Association of American Universities and one of the nine original Colonial Colleges.[5] Penn is one of several universities that claims to be the first university in the United States of America.

Benjamin Franklin, Penn's founder, advocated an educational program that focused as much on practical education for commerce and public service as on the classics and theology although Franklin's curriculum was never adopted. The university coat of arms features a dolphin on the red chief, adopted directly from the Franklin family's own coat of arms. Penn was one of the first academic institutions to follow a multidisciplinary model pioneered by several European universities, concentrating multiple "faculties" (e.g., theology, classics, medicine) into one institution. It was also home to many other educational innovations. The first school of medicine in North America (Perelman School of Medicine, 1765), the first collegiate business school (Wharton School of Business, 1881) and the first "student union" building and organization (Houston Hall, 1896) were all born at Penn.

Penn offers a broad range of academic departments, an extensive research enterprise and a number of community outreach and public service programs. It is particularly well known for its medical school, dental school, design school, business school, law school, engineering school, communications school, nursing school, veterinary school, its social sciences and humanities programs, as well as its biomedical teaching and research capabilities. Its undergraduate program is also among the most selective in the country, with an acceptance rate of 10 percent. One of Penn's most well known academic qualities is its emphasis on interdisciplinary education, which it promotes through numerous double degree programs, research centers and professorships, a unified campus, and the ability for students to take classes from any of Penn's schools (the "One University Policy").
All of Penn's schools exhibit very high research activity. Penn is consistently ranked among the top research universities in the world, for both quality and quantity of research.In fiscal year 2015, Penn's academic research budget was $851 million, involving more than 4,300 faculty, 1,100 postdoctoral fellows and 5,500 support staff/graduate assistants. As one of the most active and prolific research institutions, Penn is associated with several important innovations and discoveries in many fields of science and the humanities. Among them are the first general purpose electronic computer (ENIAC), the rubella and hepatitis B vaccines, Retin-A, cognitive therapy, conjoint analysis and others.

Penn's academic and research programs are led by a large and highly productive faculty.[12] Twenty-eight Nobel laureates have been affiliated with Penn. Over its long history the university has also produced many distinguished alumni. These include 12 heads of state (including one U.S. president); three United States Supreme Court justices plus a number of state Supreme Court justices; founders of technology companies, international law firms, and global financial institutions; and university presidents. According to a 2014 study, the University of Pennsylvania has produced the most billionaires of any university at the undergraduate level. Penn's endowment, at $10.1 billion as of June 30, 2015, is the tenth-largest university endowment in the United States and the thirtieth-largest on a per-student basis.

Motto:-

Penn's motto is based on a line from Horace’s III.24 (Book 3, Ode 24), quid leges sine moribus vanae proficiunt? ("of what avail empty laws without [good] morals?") From 1756 to 1898, the motto read Sine Moribus Vanae. When it was pointed out that the motto could be translated as "Loose women without morals," the university quickly changed the motto to literae sine moribus vanae ("Letters without morals [are] useless"). In 1932, all elements of the seal were revised, and as part of the redesign it was decided that the new motto "mutilated" Horace, and it was changed to its present wording, Leges Sine Moribus Vanae ("Laws without morals  are useless").

Cornell university

Cornell University is an American private Ivy League and federal land-grant research university located in Ithaca, New York. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, the university was intended to teach and make contributions in all fields of knowledge — from the classics to the sciences, and from the theoretical to the applied. These ideals, unconventional for the time, are captured in Cornell's motto, a popular 1865 Ezra Cornell quotation: "I would found an institution where any person can find instruction in any study.
The university is broadly organized into seven undergraduate colleges and seven graduate divisions at its main Ithaca campus, with each college and division defining its own admission standards and academic programs in near autonomy. The university also administers two satellite medical campuses, one in New York City and one in Education City, Qatar.

Cornell is one of three private land grant universities in the nation and the only one in New York. Of its seven undergraduate colleges, three are state-supported statutory or contract colleges through the State University of New York (SUNY) system, including its agricultural and veterinary colleges. As a land grant college, it operates a cooperative extension outreach program in every county of New York and receives annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions. The Cornell University Ithaca Campus comprises 745 acres, but is much larger when the Cornell Plantations (more than 4,300 acres) are considered, as well as the numerous university-owned lands in New York City.

Since its founding, Cornell has been a co-educational, non-sectarian institution where admission has not been restricted by religion or race. Cornell counts more than 245,000 living alumni, and its former and present faculty and alumni include 34 Marshall Scholars, 29 Rhodes Scholars, 7 Gates Scholars, 44 Nobel laureates, and 14 living billionaires. The student body consists of nearly 14,000 undergraduate and 7,000 graduate students from all 50 American states and 122 countries.

Research:-

Cornell, a research university, is ranked fourth in the world in producing the largest number of graduates who go on to pursue PhDs in engineering or the natural sciences at American institutions, as well as fifth in the world in producing graduates who pursue PhDs at American institutions in any field. Research is a central element of the university's mission; in 2009 Cornell spent $671 million on science and engineering research and development, the 16th highest in the United States.

For the 2004–05 fiscal year, the university spent $561.3 million on research. The primary recipients of this funding were the colleges of Medicine ($164.2 million), Agriculture and Life Sciences ($114.5 million), Arts and Sciences ($80.3 million), and Engineering ($64.8 million).The money comes largely from federal sources, with federal investment of $381.0 million. The federal agencies that invest the most money are the Department of Health and Human Services and the National Science Foundation that make up, respectively, 51.4% and 30.7% of all federal investment in the university.Cornell was on the top-ten list of U.S. universities receiving the most patents in 2003, and was one of the nation's top five institutions in forming start-up companies.In 2004–05, Cornell received 200 invention disclosures, filed 203 U.S. patent applications, completed 77 commercial license agreements, and distributed royalties of more than $4.1 million to Cornell units and inventors.

Since 1962, Cornell has been involved in unmanned missions to Mars.In the 21st century, Cornell had a hand in the Mars Exploration Rover Mission. Cornell's Steve Squyres, Principal Investigator for the Athena Science Payload, led the selection of the landing zones and requested data collection features for the Spirit and Opportunity rovers. Jet Propulsion Laboratory engineers took those requests and designed the rovers to meet them. The rovers, both of which have operated long past their original life expectancies, are responsible for the discoveries that were awarded 2004 Breakthrough of the Year honors by Science.

Yale university

Yale University is an American private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Founded in 1701 in Saybrook Colony as the Collegiate School, the University is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States. The school was renamed Yale College in 1718 in recognition of a gift from Elihu Yale, who was governor of the British East India Company. In 1731, Yale received a further gift of land and slaves from Bishop Berkeley. Established to train Congregationalist ministers in theology and sacred languages, by 1777 the school's curriculum began to incorporate humanities and sciences and in the 19th century gradually incorporated graduate and professional instruction, awarding the first Ph.D. in the United States in 1861 and organizing as a university in 1887.

Yale is organized into fourteen constituent schools: the original undergraduate college, the Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and twelve professional schools. While the university is governed by the Yale Corporation, each school's faculty oversees its curriculum and degree programs. In addition to a central campus in downtown New Haven, the University owns athletic facilities in western New Haven, including the Yale Bowl, a campus in West Haven, Connecticut, and forest and nature preserves throughout New England. The university's assets include an endowment valued at $25.6 billion as of September 2015, the second largest of any educational institution in the world.

Yale College undergraduates follow a liberal arts curriculum with departmental majors and are organized into a system of residential colleges. Almost all faculty teach undergraduate courses, more than 2,000 of which are offered annually.The Yale University Library, serving all constituent schools, holds more than 15 million volumes and is the third-largest academic library in the United States.Outside of academic studies, students compete intercollegiately as the Yale Bulldogs in the NCAA Division I Ivy League.

Yale has graduated many notable alumni, including five U.S. Presidents, 19 U.S. Supreme Court Justices, 13 living billionaires, and many foreign heads of state. In addition, Yale has graduated hundreds of members of Congress and many high-level U.S. diplomats, including former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and current Secretary of State John Kerry. 52 Nobel laureates, 230 Rhodes Scholars, and 118 Marshall Scholars have been affiliated with the University.

History

Charter creating Collegiate School, which became Yale College, October 9, 1701

A Front View of Yale-College and the College Chapel, Daniel Bowen, 1786.
Early history of Yale College
Origins

Crest of the family of Elihu Yale, after whom the University was named in 1718
Yale traces its beginnings to "An Act for Liberty to Erect a Collegiate School," passed by the General Court of the Colony of Connecticut on October 9, 1701, while meeting in New Haven. The Act was an effort to create an institution to train ministers and lay leadership for Connecticut. Soon thereafter, a group of ten Congregationalist ministers: Samuel Andrew, Thomas Buckingham, Israel Chauncy, Samuel Mather, James Noyes, James Pierpont, Abraham Pierson, Noadiah Russell, Joseph Webb and Timothy Woodbridge, all alumni of Harvard, met in the study of Reverend Samuel Russell in Branford, Connecticut, to pool their books to form the school's library.[14] The group, led by James Pierpont, is now known as "The Founders".[citation needed]

Originally known as the "Collegiate School," the institution opened in the home of its first rector, Abraham Pierson,[15] in Killingworth (now Clinton). The school moved to Saybrook, and then Wethersfield. In 1716 the college moved to New Haven, Connecticut.

History :-
Yale traces its beginnings to "An Act for Liberty to Erect a Collegiate School," passed by the General Court of the Colony of Connecticut on October 9, 1701, while meeting in New Haven. The Act was an effort to create an institution to train ministers and lay leadership for Connecticut. Soon thereafter, a group of ten Congregationalist ministers: Samuel Andrew, Thomas Buckingham, Israel Chauncy, Samuel Mather, James Noyes, James Pierpont, Abraham Pierson, Noadiah Russell, Joseph Webb and Timothy Woodbridge, all alumni of Harvard, met in the study of Reverend Samuel Russell in Branford, Connecticut, to pool their books to form the school's library.The group, led by James Pierpont, is now known as "The Founders".

Originally known as the "Collegiate School," the institution opened in the home of its first rector, Abraham Pierson, in Killingworth (now Clinton). The school moved to Saybrook, and then Wethersfield. In 1716 the college moved to New Haven, Connecticut.

Meanwhile, there was a rift forming at Harvard between its sixth president Increase Mather and the rest of the Harvard clergy, whom Mather viewed as increasingly liberal, ecclesiastically lax, and overly broad in Church polity. The feud caused the Mathers to champion the success of the Collegiate School in the hope that it would maintain the Puritan religious orthodoxy in a way that Harvard had not.

In 1718, at the behest of either Rector Samuel Andrew or the colony's Governor Gurdon Saltonstall, Cotton Mather contacted a successful businessman named Elihu Yale, who lived in Wales but had been born in Boston and whose father, David, had been one of the original settlers in New Haven, to ask him for financial help in constructing a new building for the college. Through the persuasion of Jeremiah Dummer, Yale, who had made a fortune through trade while living in Madras as a representative of the East India Company, donated nine bales of goods, which were sold for more than £560, a substantial sum at the time. Cotton Mather suggested that the school change its name to Yale College. Meanwhile, a Harvard graduate working in England convinced some 180 prominent intellectuals that they should donate books to Yale. The 1714 shipment of 500 books represented the best of modern English literature, science, philosophy and theology. It had a profound effect on intellectuals at Yale. Undergraduate Jonathan Edwards discovered John Locke's works and developed his original theology known as the "new divinity". In 1722 the Rector and six of his friends, who had a study group to discuss the new ideas, announced that they had given up Calvinism, become Arminians, and joined the Church of England. They were ordained in England and returned to the colonies as missionaries for the Anglican faith. Thomas Clapp became president in 1745, and struggled to return the college to Calvinist orthodoxy; but he did not close the library. Other students found Deist books in the library.
Behavioral sciences
Between 1925 and 1940, philanthropic foundations, especially ones connected with the Rockefellers, contributed about $7 million to support the Yale Institute of Human Relations and the affiliated Yerkes Laboratories of Primate Biology. The money went toward behavioral science research, which was supported by foundation officers who aimed to "improve mankind" under an informal, loosely defined human engineering effort. The behavioral scientists at Yale, led by President James R. Angell and psychobiologist Robert M. Yerkes, tapped into foundation largesse by crafting research programs aimed to investigate, then suggest, ways to control, sexual and social behavior. For example, Yerkes analyzed chimpanzee sexual behavior in hopes of illuminating the evolutionary underpinnings of human development and providing information that could ameliorate dysfunction. Ultimately, the behavioral-science results disappointed foundation officers, who shifted their human-engineering funds toward biological sciences.

Biology
Slack (2003) compares three groups that conducted biological research at Yale during overlapping periods between 1910 and 1970. Yale proved important as a site for this research. The leaders of these groups were Ross Granville Harrison, Grace E. Pickford, and G. Evelyn Hutchinson, and their members included both graduate students and more experienced scientists. All produced innovative research, including the opening of new subfields in embryology, endocrinology, and ecology, respectively, over a long period of time. Harrison's group is shown to have been a classic research school; Pickford's and Hutchinson's were not. Pickford's group was successful in spite of her lack of departmental or institutional position or power. Hutchinson and his graduate and postgraduate students were extremely productive, but in diverse areas of ecology rather than one focused area of research or the use of one set of research tools. Hutchinson's example shows that new models for research groups are needed, especially for those that include extensive field research.

Medicine
Milton Winternitz led the Yale Medical School as its dean from 1920 to 1935. Dedicated to the new scientific medicine established in Germany, he was equally fervent about "social medicine" and the study of humans in their culture and environment. He established the "Yale System" of teaching, with few lectures and fewer exams, and strengthened the full-time faculty system; he also created the graduate-level Yale School of Nursing and the Psychiatry Department, and built numerous new buildings. Progress toward his plans for an Institute of Human Relations, envisioned as a refuge where social scientists would collaborate with biological scientists in a holistic study of humankind, unfortunately lasted for only a few years before the opposition of resentful anti-Semitic colleagues drove him to resign.

The Millau Viaduct : tallest bridge

The Millau Viaduct (French: le Viaduc de Millau, IPA: is a cable-stayed bridge that spans the valley of the River Tarn near Millau in southern France.

Designed by the French structural engineer Michel Virlogeux and British architect Norman Foster, it is the tallest bridge in the world with one mast's summit at 343.0 metres (1,125 ft) above the base of the structure. It is the 15th highest bridge deck in the world, being 270 metres  (890 ft)between the road deck and the ground below.The Millau Viaduct is part of the A75-A71 autoroute axis from Paris to Béziers and Montpellier. The cost of construction was approximately €400 million. It was formally inaugurated on 14 December 2004, and opened to traffic on 16 December. The bridge has been consistently ranked as one of the great engineering achievements of all time. The bridge received the 2006 International Association for Bridge and Structural Engineering Outstanding Structure Award.

History
Because of problems with traffic on the route from Paris to Spain along the stretch passing through the Tarn valley near the town of Millau, leading to congestion in the summer from holiday  traffic, construction of a bridge to span the valley was required. The first plans were discussed in 1987 by CETE, and by October 1991, the decision was made to build a high crossing of the Tarn River by a structure of around 2,500 m (8,200 ft) in length. During 1993–1994 the government consulted with seven architects and eight structural engineers. During 1995–1996, a second definition study was made by five associated architect groups and structural engineers. In January 1995, the government issued a declaration of public interest to solicit design approaches for a competition. In July 1996, the jury decided in favour of a cable-stayed design with multiple spans, as proposed by the Sogelerg consortium (Michel Virlogeux and Norman Foster). The decision to proceed by grant of contract was made in May 1998; then in June 2000 the contest for the construction contract was launched, open to four consortia. In March 2001 Eiffage established the subsidiary Compagnie Eiffage du Viaduc de Millau (CEVM) and was declared winner of the contest and awarded the prime contract in August.
Possible routes

Routes of the four projects of the A75 autoroute around Millau
In initial studies, four options were examined:

Great Eastern (grand Est) ( yellow route ) passing east of Millau and crossing the valleys of the Tarn and Dourbie on two very high and long bridges (spans of 800 and 1,000 m or 2,600 and 3,300 ft) whose construction was acknowledged to be problematic. This option would have allowed access to Millau only from the Larzac plateau, using the long and tortuous descent from La Cavalerie. Although this option was shorter and better suited to through traffic, it did not satisfactorily serve the needs of Millau and its area . Great Western (grand Ouest) ( black route ), longer than the eastern option by 12 km (7.5 mi), following the Cernon valley. Technically easier (requiring four viaducts), this solution was judged to have negative impacts on the environment, in particular on the picturesque villages of Peyre and Saint-Georges-de-Luzençon. It was more expensive than the preceding option, and served the region badly. Near RN9 (proche de la RN9) ( red route ), would have served the town of Millau well, but presented technical difficulties and would have had a strong impact on existing or planned structures. Intermediate (médiane), west of Millau ( blue route ) was supported by local opinion, but presented geological difficulties, notably on the question of crossing the valley of the Tarn. Expert investigation concluded that these obstacles were not insurmountable.
The fourth option was selected by ministerial decree on 28 June 1989.  It encompassed two possibilities:

the high solution, envisaging a 2,500 m (8,200 ft) long viaduct more than 200 m (660 ft) above the river; the low solution, descending into the valley and crossing the river on a 200 m (660 ft) long bridge, then a viaduct of 2,300 m (7,500 ft) extended by a tunnel on the Larzac side.
After long construction studies by the Ministry of Public Works, the low solution was abandoned because it would have intersected the water table, had a negative impact on the town, cost more, and lengthened the driving distance. The choice of the "high" solution was decided by ministerial decree on 29 October 1991.

After the choice of the high viaduct, five teams of architects and researchers worked on a technical solution. The concept and design for the bridge was devised by French designer Michel Virlogeux. He worked with the Dutch engineering firm ARCADIS, responsible for the structural engineering of the bridge.
Choosing the definitive route

Satellite image of the route before construction of the bridge
The "high solution" required the construction of a 2,500 m (8,200 ft) long viaduct. From 1991 to 1993, the structures division of Sétra, directed by Michel Virlogeux, carried out preliminary studies and examined the feasibility of a single structure spanning the valley. Taking into account technical, architectural and financial issues, the Administration of Roads opened the question for competition among structural engineers and architects to widen the search for realistic designs. By July 1993, 17 structural engineers and 38 architects applied as candidates for the preliminary studies. With the assistance of a multidisciplinary commission, the Administration of Roads selected eight structural engineers for a technical study and seven architects for the architectural study.

Choice of technical design
Simultaneously, a school of international experts representing a wide spectrum of expertise (technical, architectural and landscape), chaired by Jean-François Coste, was established to clarify the choices that had to be made. In February 1995, on the basis of proposals of the architects and structural engineers, and with support of the school of experts, five general designs were identified.

The competition was relaunched: five combinations of architects and structural engineers, drawn from the best candidates of the first phase, were formed; each was to conduct in-depth studies of one of the general designs. On 15 July 1996, Bernard Pons, minister of Public Works, announced the decision of the jury, which was constituted of elected artists and experts and chaired by Christian Leyrit, the director of highways. The solution of a cable-stayed bridge, presented by the structural engineering group Sogelerg, Europe Etudes Gecti and Serf and the architects Foster + Partners was declared the best.

Detailed studies were carried out by the successful consortium, steered by the highways authority until mid-1998. After wind tunnel tests, the shape of the road deck was altered and detailed corrections were made to the design of the pylons. When the details were eventually finalised, the whole design was approved in late 1998.

The Akashi Kaikyō Bridge

The Akashi Kaikyō Bridge  is a suspension bridge, which links the city of Kobe on the Japanese mainland of Honshu to Iwaya on Awaji Island. It crosses the busy Akashi Strait (Akashi Kaikyō in Japanese) as part of the Honshu-Shikoku Highway.
Carriessix lanes of roadway
CrossesAkashi Strait
LocaleAwaji Island and Kobe
Other name(s)Pearl bridge
Maintained byHonshu-Shikoku Bridge Authority
Characteristics
DesignSuspension bridge
Total length3,911 metres (12,831 ft; 2.430 mi)
Height282.8 metres (928 ft) (pylons)
Longest span1,991 metres (6,532 ft; 1.237 mi)
Clearance below65.72 metres (215.6 ft)
History
DesignerSatoshi Kashima
Construction begin1988
Construction end1998
OpenedApril 5, 1998
Statistics
Toll¥2,300
Akashi Kaikyō Bridge is located in Japan
Akashi Kaikyō Bridge
Location in Japan

Since its completion in 1998,the bridge has had the longest central span of any suspension bridge in the world,[2] at 1,991 metres (6,532 ft; 1.237 mi).

It is one of the key links of the Honshū-Shikoku Bridge Project, which created three routes across the Inland Sea.

History
Before the Akashi Kaikyō Bridge was built, ferries carried passengers across the Akashi Strait in Japan. This dangerous waterway often experiences severe storms, and in 1955 two ferries sank in the strait during a storm, killing 168 people. The ensuing shock and public outrage convinced the Japanese government to develop plans for a suspension bridge to cross the strait. The original plan called for a mixed railway-road bridge, but when construction on the bridge began in April 1988, the construction was restricted to road only, with six lanes. Actual construction did not begin until May 1988, and the bridge was opened for traffic on April 5, 1998.[3]

Structure

Main supporting towers
The bridge has three spans. The central span is 1,991 m (6,532 ft; 1.237 mi),[1] and the two other sections are each 960 m (3,150 ft; 0.60 mi). The bridge is 3,911 m (12,831 ft; 2.430 mi) long overall. The two towers were originally 1,990 m (6,530 ft; 1.24 mi) apart, but the Great Hanshin earthquake on January 17, 1995, moved the towers so much (only the towers had been erected at the time) that the span had to be increased by 1 m (3.3 ft).

The bridge was designed with a two hinged stiffening girder system, allowing the structure to withstand winds of 286 kilometres per hour (178 mph), earthquakes measuring up to magnitude 8.5, and harsh sea currents. The bridge also contains tuned mass dampers that are designed to operate at the resonance frequency of the bridge to dampen forces. The two main supporting towers rise 282.8 m (928 ft) above sea level 112 centimetres (44 in) in diameter।
The Akashi-Kaikyo bridge has a total of 1,737 illumination lights: 1,084 for the main cables, 116 for the main towers, 405 for the girders and 132 for the anchorages. On the main cables three high light discharged tubes are mounted in the colors red, green and blue. The RGB model and computer technology make for a variety of combinations. 28 patterns are used for occasions as national or regional holidays, memorial days or festivities।

Cost
The total cost is estimated at 500 billion yen; it is expected to be repaid by charging drivers a toll to cross the bridge. The toll is 2,300 yen and the bridge is used by approximately 23,000 cars per day. At 2,300 yen/car annual revenue would equal 19.5 billion yen.

The Three Gorges Dam

Country China
Location Sandouping, Yiling, Hubei
Coordinates 30°49′23″N 111°00′12″E
PurposePower, flood control, navigation
StatusOperational
Construction began December 14, 1994
Opening date2003[1]
Construction cost ¥180 billion (US$26 billion)
Owner(s)China Yangtze Power (subsidiary of China Three Gorges Corporation)
Dam and spillways
Type of damGravity dam
Impounds Yangtze River
Height181 m (594 ft)
Length2,335 m (7,661 ft)
Width (crest)40 m (131 ft)
Width (base)115 m (377 ft)
Spillway capacity116,000 m3/s (4,100,000 cu ft/s)
Reservoir
CreatesThree Gorges Reservoir
Total capacity39.3 km3 (31,900,000 acre·ft)
Catchment area1,000,000 km2 (390,000 sq mi)
Surface area1,084 km2 (419 sq mi)[2]
Max. length600 km (370 mi)[3]
Normal elevation175 m (574 ft)
Power station
Commission date2003–2012
Type Conventional
Hydraulic head
Rated: 80.6 m (264 ft)
Maximum: 113 m (371 ft)

Power generation
Nameplate capacity 22,500 MW
Capacity factor 45%
Annual generation 87 TWh (310 PJ) (2015)
Turbines 32 × 700 MW
2 × 50 MW Francis-type
The Three Gorges Dam is a hydroelectric dam that spans the Yangtze River by the town of Sandouping, located in Yiling District, Yichang, Hubei province, China. The Three Gorges Dam is the world's largest power station in terms of installed capacity (22,500 MW). In 2014 the dam generated 98.8 TWh of electricity, setting a new world record by 0.17 TWh previously held by the Itaipú Dam on the Brazil/Paraguay border in 2013 of 98.63. But in 2015, the Itaipu power plant resumed the lead in annual worldwide production, producing 89.5 TWh, while production of Three Gorges was 87 TWh.

Except for a ship lift, the dam project was completed and fully functional as of July 4, 2012,when the last of the main water turbines in the underground plant began production. The ship lift was complete in December 2015.Each main water turbine has a capacity of 700 MW.[13][14] The dam body was completed in 2006. Coupling the dam's 32 main turbines with two smaller generators (50 MW each) to power the plant itself, the total electric generating capacity of the dam is 22,500 MW.

As well as producing electricity, the dam is intended to increase the Yangtze River's shipping capacity and reduce the potential for floods downstream by providing flood storage space. The Chinese government regards the project as a historic engineering, social and economic success, with the design of state-of-the-art large turbines, and a move toward limiting greenhouse gas emissions. However, the dam flooded archaeological and cultural sites and displaced some 1.3 million people, and is causing significant ecological changes, including an increased risk of landslides.The dam has been a controversial topic both domestically and abroad.

Underwater Turbines

Definition
Every day, enough water flows down through rivers and streams to power tons of millions of homes. With the era of big dams halted by the lack of suitable sites as much as environmental concerns, the time for hydrokinetic energy may just be dawning. The ideas of using turbines, or other mechanical devices, to capture the energy of moving water are not a new one. Yet the technology for such hydrokinetic energy has met serious resistance from conditions below the surface. We build ordinary windmills to extract useful power from wind energy. We put turbines in rivers (usually accompanied by dams) to extract useful power from downhill water flow. The second is more "energy intensive" than the first, which is why we all know that dams are great sources of electrical power, while electric-generator windmills spent decades in the economic doldrums (return on investment --ROI-- is relatively tiny, and only recently proved viable on a large scale).
Anyway, putting the equivalent of a windmill in a steady ocean current, say the Gulf Stream, should have an automatically-viable ROI that is intermediate between windmills and ordinary hydropower. This is because water is something like a thousand times denser than air, so a volume of flowing water contains a thousand times the energy of an equal volume of equally-flowing air.
The ocean has different currents at different depths. Near the seafloor underneath the Gulf Stream is another current going the opposite direction. If true, then we can build towers on the seafloor, just like ordinary windmills, to extract power. Being so deep will protect them from ships, and most sea life is found at other depths, so they won't be bothered. Also, another thing that protects sea life is the fact that underwater windmills will have a slow rotation rate, due to that same greater density of water over air. This means we can also put windmills in the rich-life upper ocean currents; animals will have time to dodge the blades.
Renewable Energy
We can divide renewable energy sources into two main categories: traditional renewable energy sources like biomass and large hydropower installations, and the "new renewable energy sources" like solar energy, wind energy, geothermal energy, etc. Renewable energy sources provide 18% of overall world energy , but most of this energy is energy from traditional use of biomass for cooking and heating - 13 of 18%. In large hydropower installations is another three percent. So, when we exclude conventional biomass and large hydropower installations it is easy to calculate that so called "new renewable energy sources" produce only 2.4% of overall world energy. 1.3% are water heating solutions, 0.8% are different power generation methods, and 0.3% are biofuels. In the future this portion should be significantly increased because the availability of non-renewable sources is decreasing with time, and their damaging influence has significantly increased in the last couple of decades. Sun delivers 15 thousand times more energy to Earth than humanity really needs in this stage, but despite this some people on Earth are still freezing. This fact shows us that we should exploit renewable sources much more and that we do not have to worry about the energy after fossil fuels cease to exist
Underwater Turbines
Tidal stream turbines are often described as underwater windmills. They are driven by the kinetic energy of moving water in a similar way that wind turbines use moving air. The generator is placed into a marine current that typically results when water being moved by tidal forces comes up against, or moves around, an obstacle or through a constriction such as a passage between two masses of land. There are sufficient numbers of such fast-flowing underwater currents around the world to make this form of marine renewable energy worth pursuing.
underwater turbines during operationg and non operationg condition
Tidal flows have the advantage of being as predictable as the tides that cause them; both in terms of timing and in judging their maximum velocity. This long-term predictability helps greatly in electricity generation, enabling efficient grid management. The tidal turbine is bolted to the floor of the Kvalsund channel and is connected to the nearby town of Hammerfest’s power grid on September 20th. This is the first time in the world that electricity directly from a tidal current has been feed into a power grid. The gravitational tug of the moon produces a swift tidal current there that cause though the channel at about 8 feet (2.5 meters) per second and spins the 33-foot (10 meters) long blades of the turbine. The blades automatically turn and rotate at a pace of seven revolutions per minute, which is sufficient to produce 700,000 kilowatt hours of non-polluting energy per year- enough to power about 35 Norwegian homes (70 U.S homes).
Principles
Underwater turbines operate on the same principles that wind turbines use; a flow of fluid moves a set of blades creating mechanical energy which is then converted to electrical energy. They are equally troublesome for environmentalists, as wind turbines interrupt bird flights just as water turbines can disturb underwater life. One advantage water turbines enjoy over other sources of renewable energy is a predictable tide table. MCT's ocean energy device works on the same principles as a windmill, where large underwater rotors, shaped like propellers, are driven by the huge mass of flowing water to be found at certain places in the sea. The technology consists of rotors mounted on steel piles (tubular steel columns) set into a socket drilled in the seabed. The rotors are driven by the flow of water in much the same way that windmill rotors are driven by the wind, the main difference being that water is more than 800 times as dense as air, so quite slow velocities in water will generate significant amounts of power. The energy generated, being derived from tides has the added significant advantage of being predictable.
Conclusion
Ocean energy can play a significant role in our nation’s renewable energy portfolio. With the right support, the ocean energy industry can be competitive internationally. With the right encouragement, ocean renewable energy technologies can help us reduce our reliance on foreign oil – fossil fuels, in general – and provide clean energy alternatives to conventional power generating systems. And with the right public awareness, our coastline communities can use ocean renewables as a springboard for coastal planning that reflects the principles of marine biodiversity.
In conclusion, we believe that the intense and predictable marine current resource offers the possibility of clean energy at a cost that will ultimately be competitive not only with the other renewables, but in the long run we believe we can compete head on with most forms of fossil fuelled power generation at present-day costs. We think that, given appropriate government support to help the technology through its early and immature stages, it can play a significant role in producing clean energy. Tidal energy has potential to become a viable option for large scale, base load generation in Scotland. Tidal Streams are the most attractive method, having reduced environmental and ecological impacts and being cheaper and quicker installed.

High Performance Concrete

Abstract of High Performance Concrete

Concrete is considered as durable and strong material. Reinforced concrete is one of the most popular materials used for construction around the world. Reinforced concrete is exposed to deterioration in some regions especially in coastal regions. Therefore researchers around the world are directing their efforts towards developing a new material to overcome this problem. Invention of large construction plants and equipments around the world added to the increased use of material. This scenario leads to the use of additive materials to improve the quality of concrete. As an outcome of the experiments and researches, cement based concrete which meets special performance with respect to workability, strength and durability known as” High Performance Concrete” was developed. High Performance Concrete can be designed to give optimized performance characteristics for a given set of load, usage and exposure conditions consistent with the requirements of cost, service life and durability. The high performance concrete does not require special equipments except careful design and production. High performance concrete has several advantages like improved durability characteristics and much lesser micro cracking than normal strength concrete.
High performance concrete (HPC) is that which is designed to give optimized performance characteristics for the given set of materials, usage and exposure conditions, consistent with requirement of cost, service life and durability. The American Concrete Institute (ACI) defines HPC ‘‘as concrete which meets special performance and uniformity requirements that cannot always be achieved routinely by using only conventional materials and nominal mixing, placing, and curing practices.” The performance may involve enhancements of characteristics such as placement and compaction without segregation, long-term mechanical properties, and early age strength or service life in severe environments.
Introduction
The American Concrete Institute (ACI) defines HPC ‘‘as concrete which meets special performance and uniformity requirements that cannot always be achieved routinely by using only conventional materials and nominal mixing, placing, and curing practices.” The performance may involve enhancements of characteristics such as placement and compaction without segregation, long-term mechanical properties, and early age strength or service life in severe environments. High performance in a broad manner can be related to any property of concrete. It can mean excellent workability in the fresh state like self-leveling concrete or low heat of hydration in case of mass concrete, or very rigid setting and hardening of concrete in case of sprayed concrete or quick repair of roads and airfields, or very low imperviousness of storage vessels, or very low leakage rates of encapsulation containments for contaminating material.
Also, the concrete must have a durability factor greater than 80 after 300 cycles of freezing and thawing to meet their definition. "All high-strength concrete is high-performance concrete, but not all high-performance concrete is high-strength concrete," says Henry G. Russell, consulting engineer and former chairman of the American Concrete Institute's high-performance concrete committee. High-performance concrete (HPC) is not one product but includes a range of materials with special properties beyond conventional concrete and routine construction methods. Any concrete which satisfies certain criteria proposed to overcome limitations of conventional concretes may be called High Performance Concrete.
It may include concrete, which provides either substantially improved resistance to environmental influences or substantially increased structural capacity while maintaining adequate durability. It may also include concrete, which significantly reduces construction time to permit rapid opening or reopening of roads to traffic, without compromising long-term serviceability. Therefore it is not possible to provide a unique definition of High Performance Concrete without considering the performance requirements of the intended use of the concrete
Objectives
To put the concrete in to service at much earlier age, for example opening the pavement at 3-days.
To build high-rise buildings by reducing column sizes and increasing available space.
To build the superstructures of long-span bridges and to enhance the durability of bridge decks.
To satisfy the specific needs of special applications such as durability, modulus of elasticity, and flexural strength. Some of these applications include dams, grandstand roofs, marine foundations, parking garages, and heavy industrial floors.
General Characteristics
High-performance concrete characteristics are developed for particular applications and environments; some of the properties that may be required include:
High strength
High early strength
High modulus of elasticity
High abrasion resistance
High durability and long life in severe environments
Low permeability and diffusion
Resistance to chemical attack
High resistance to frost and deicer scaling damage
Toughness and impact resistance
Volume stability
Ease of placement
Compaction without segregation
Inhibition of bacterial and mold growth
Advantages of High Performance Concrete
The advantages of using high strength high performance concretes often balance the increase in material cost. The following are the major advantages that can be accomplished.
Reduction in member size, resulting in increase in plinth area/useable area and direct savings in the concrete volume saved.
Reduction in the self-weight and super-imposed dead load with the accompanying saving due to smaller foundations.
Reduction in form-work area and cost with the accompanying reduction in shoring and stripping time due to high early-age gain in strength.
Construction of High –rise buildings with the accompanying savings in real-estate costs in congested areas.
Longer spans and fewer beams for the same magnitude of loading.
Reduced axial shortening of compression supporting members.
Reduction in the number of supports and the supporting foundations due to the increase in spans.
Reduction in the thickness of floor slabs and supporting beam sections which are a major component of the weight and cost of the majority of structures.
Superior long-term service performance under static, dynamic and fatigue loading.
Low creep and shrinkage.
Greater stiffness as a result of a higher modulus of elasticity
Higher resistance to freezing and thawing, chemical attack, and significantly improved long-term durability and crack propagation.
Reduced maintenance and repairs.
Smaller depreciation as a fixed cost.
Limitations
High Performance Concrete has to be manufactured and placed much more carefully than normal concrete.
An extended quality control is required
In concrete plant and at delivery site, additional tests are required. This increases the cost
Some special constituents are required which may not be available in the ready mix concrete plants.
Conclusion
The design of HPC is met when materials are optimized to produce a strong durable concrete.
The water, cementitious materials, aggregates and chemical admixtures all need to be proportioned effectively to deliver the mix with the most desirable properties for placement, finishing, curing, and hardened condition.
The designs are not cook book and in most cases require that the mix be trial batched to compare the fresh and hardened properties.
As mentioned earlier in this section, the designer needs to be innovative with his materials and the proportioning of these materials.
Once the mix has been designed and prepared, ensure that enough material is available to make additional tests for durability.

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Green Concrete
Intelligent Transport System
Geopolymeric Building Materials By Synergetic Utilisation Of Industrial Wastes
Stone Mastic Asphalt
Monolithic Dome
Flat Slab
Bacterial Concrete
Top Down Cracking
Soil Cement
Sonication
Burj Khalifa
Block Shear Failure in Tension Members
Skybus Technology
Aging Of Bitumen
Underwater Turbines
Reinforced Concrete Corroded Columns
Ground Improvement Techniques
Concrete Admixtures
Prestressed Concrete
Effect of cement replacement by Silica fume and fly ash
Self Compacting Concrete
Concepts Of Shotcrete Technology
Rainwater Harvesting
Hazardous Waste Managment
Noise Control Of Buildings
Submerged Floating Tunnel
Earthquake Resistant Building Construction
Stress Ribbon Bridge
Polymer Modified Steel Fibre Reinforced Concrete
Significance Of Nanotechnology In Construction Engineering
Analysis of Durability Of High Performance Concrete Using Artificial Neural Networks
Control Of Corrosion On Underwater Piles
Demolition Of Building
DIAGRID
Drip Irrigation

Green Concrete

Abstract
Green concrete is a revolutionary topic in the history of concrete industry. This was first invented in Denmark in the year 1998. Green concrete has nothing to do with colour. It is a concept of thinking environment into concrete considering every aspect from raw materials manufacture over mixture design to structural design, construction, and service life. Green concrete is very often also cheap to produce, because, for example, waste products are used as a partial substitute for cement, charges for the disposal of waste are avoided, energy consumption in production is lower, and durability is greater. Green concrete is a type of concrete which resembles the conventional concrete but the production or usage of such concrete requires minimum amount of energy and causes least harm to the environment. The CO2 emission related to concrete production, inclusive of cement production, is between 0.1 and 0.2 t per tonne of produced concrete.
However, since the total amount of concrete produced is so vast the absolute figures for the environmental impact are quite significant, due to the large amounts of cement and concrete produced. Since concrete is the second most consumed entity after water it accounts for around 5% of the world‘s total CO2 emission (Ernst Worrell, 2001). The solution to this environmental problem is not to substitute concrete for other materials but to reduce the environmental impact of concrete and cement. Pravin Kumar et al, 2003, used quarry rock dust along with fly ash and micro silica and reported satisfactory properties.
The potential environmental benefit to society of being able to build with green concrete is huge. It is realistic to assume that technology can be developed, which can halve the CO2 emission related to concrete production. With the large consumption of concrete this will potentially reduce the world‘s total CO2 emission by 1.5-2%. Concrete can also be the solution to environmental problems other than those related to CO2 emission. It may be possible to use residual products from other industries in the concrete production while still maintaining a high concrete quality. During the last few decades society has become aware of the deposit problems connected with residual products, and demands, restrictions and taxes have been imposed.
And as it is known that several residual products have properties suited for concrete production, there is a large potential in investigating the possible use of these for concrete production. Well-known residual products such as silica fume and fly ash may be mentioned. The concrete industry realised at an early stage that it is a good idea to be in front with regard to documenting the actual environmental aspects and working on improving the environment, rather than being forced to deal with environmental aspects due to demands from authorities, customers and economic effects such as imposed taxes. Furthermore, some companies in concrete industry have recognised that reductions in production costs often go hand in hand with reductions in environmental impacts. Thus, environmental aspects are not only interesting from an ideological point of view, but also from an economic aspect.
Environmental Goals
Green Concrete is expected to fulfil the following environmental obligations:
Reduction of CO2 emissions by 21 %. This is in accordance with the Kyoto Protocol of 1997.
Increase the use of inorganic residual products from industries other than the concrete industry by approx. 20%.
Reduce the use of fossil fuels by increasing the use of waste derived fuels in the cement industry.
The recycling capacity of the green concrete must not be less compared to existing concrete types.
The production and the use of green concrete must not deteriorate the working environment.
The structures do not impose much harm to the environment during their service life.

Advantages of Green Concrete
Green concrete has manifold advantages over the conventional concrete. Since it uses the recycled aggregates and materials, it reduces the extra load in landfills and mitigates the wastage of aggregates. Thus, the net CO2 emissions are reduced. The reuse of materials also contributes intensively to economy. Since the waste materials like aggregates from a nearby area and fly ash from a nearby power plant are not much expensive and also transport costs are minimal. Green concrete can be considered elemental to sustainable development since it is eco-friendly itself. Green concrete is being widely used in green building practices.
It also helps the green buildings achieve LEED and Golden Globe certifications. Use of fly ash in the concrete also increases its workability and many other properties like durability to an appreciable extent. One of the practices to manufacture green concrete involves reduction of amount cement in the mix, this practice helps in reducing the consumption of cement overall. The use waste materials also solve the problem of disposing the excessive amount industrial wastes.
There are several other advantages related to green concrete and can be summarized as below:
a) Reduced CO2 emissions.
b) Low production costs as wastes directly substitute the cement.
c) Saves energy, emissions and waste water.
d) Helps in recycling industry wastes.
e) Reduces the consumption of cement overall.
f) Better workability.
g) Sustainable development.
h) Greater strength and durability than normal concrete.
i) Compressive strength and Flexural behaviour is fairly equal to that of the conventional concrete.

Intelligent transportation systems

Abstract
Traffic control has been an issue since humans put the first wheels on the first cart. The modern world demands mobility. Cars represent the main method of mobility, but today’s congested highways and city streets don’t move fast, and sometimes they don’t move at all. Intelligent traffic systems (ITS), sometimes called intelligent transportation systems, apply communications and information technology to provide solutions to this congestion as well as other traffic control issues. Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) represent a major transition in transportation on many dimensions. ITS is an international program intended to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of surface transportation systems through advanced technologies in information systems, communications, and sensors. ITS (Intelligent Transport Systems) is a system which is designed to promote advance technology, to ensure that the Electronic Toll Collection System (ETC) is effective and to support safe driving. With this system, people, roads, and vehicles use the latest information communication technology.
The intelligent transport system (ITS) takes the first step towards meeting this challenge by providing effective, reliable and meaningful knowledge to motorists in time. Problems like high traffic congestion, low transportation efficiency, low safety and endangered environment can be solved through innovative and sophisticated ways of handling latest techniques that have emerged in recent years in integrating information technology, electronics and telecommunication with roads and traffic management. Intelligent transportation systems, or ITS, encompass a broad range of wireless and wireline communications-based information, control and electronics technologies.
When integrated into the transportation system infrastructure, and in vehicles themselves, these technologies help monitor and manage traffic flow, reduce congestion, provide alternate routes to travelers, enhance productivity, and save lives, time and money. Intelligent transportation systems provide the tools for skilled transportation professionals to collect, analyze, and archive data about the performance of the system during the hours of peak use. Having this data enhances traffic operators' ability to respond to incidents, adverse weather or other capacity constricting events
Benefits of Intelligent Transport System
The investments in ITS will help increase the benefits and efficiencies of transportation systems, thereby reducing the need for much costlier physical expansion of systems. This optimism is not to be confused as any kind of illusion that new infrastructure expansion in India can be avoided altogether by resorting to ITS. Significant expansion of infrastructure will still be needed in India for a long time to come. But including ITS in the overall development strategy of India’s transportation system can increase the number of beneficiaries of the system, significantly enhance the transportation-related safety which is a major concern in most parts of India and in some cases reduce the scale of infrastructure expansion.
Thus, a realistic approach to ITS deployment in India would consist of a balanced component of ITS as part of the ongoing expansion of transportation system. ITS initiatives in industrialized countries have clearly identified a number of benefits associated with such projects. Even though ITS projects are implemented with specific objectives with specific benefits in mind, the overall benefits to the society may prove to be quite substantial in many cases. For example, Toronto’s COMPASS Freeway Traffic Management System, one of the first and successful ITS projects in the world has been subjected to a great deal of scrutiny to evaluate its benefits. COMPASS has been found to reduce the incident response times from 86 minutes to 30 minutes, the overall vehicle delay by 5.3 million vehicle-hours per year, the overall emission by 3,100 tones per year and the operating costs of commercial vehicles by $55 million per year. Cities in the United States have reported an increase in throughout by 25% and reduction in travel times by 25% after implementing appropriate ITS initiatives.
The following is a list of identified benefits of ITS projects :
· Reduced rush hour congestion and delay
· Increased safety and personal security
· Time savings and operation efficiencies
· Reduced fuel consumption and emissions
· Improved customer service and reduced frustration
· Reduced road accidents and fatalities and
· Enhanced economic productivity.
Classification of ITS
Advanced public transport system: (APTS)
APTS technologies are a collection of technologies that increase the efficiency and safety of public transportation systems and offer users greater access to information on system operations. The implementation of APTS technologies is transforming the way public transportation systems operate, and changing the nature of the transportation services that can be offered by public transportation systems. The goal is to provide public transportation decision-makers more information to make effective decisions on systems and operations and to increase travelers Convenience and rider ship. APTS technologies can be organized into three broad categories that describe the technologies relevance to transit applications. Each category is comprised of a variety of technology choices that are available to help transport agencies and organizations meet traveler’s service needs while increasing safety and efficiency. The three APTS technology categories are: fleet management system, travelers information system and electronic payment system.

Burj Khalifa

Definition
Burj Khalifa known as Burj Dubai prior to its inauguration, is a skyscraper in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and is currently the tallest structure in the world, at 828 m (2,717 ft). Construction began on 21 September 2004, with the exterior of the structure completed on 1 October 2009.
The building  is part of the new 2 km2 (490-acre) flagship development called Downtown Dubai at the 'First Interchange' along Sheikh Zayed Road, near Dubai's main business district. The tower's architecture and engineering were performed by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill of Chicago, with Adrian Smith as chief architect, and Bill Baker as chief structural engineer. The primary contractor was Samsung C&T of South Korea.The total cost for the project was about US$1.5 billion; and for the entire "Downtown Dubai" development, US$20 billion.
Facts About Burj Dubai
January 2004: Excavation commences.
February 2004: Piling starts.
21 September 2004: Emaar contractors begin construction.
March 2005: Structure of Burj Khalifa starts rising.
June 2006: Level 50 is reached.
February 2007: Surpasses the Sears Tower as the building with the most floors.
13 May 2007: Sets record for vertical concrete pumping on any building at 452 m (1,483 ft), surpassing the 449.2 m (1,474 ft) to which concrete was pumped during the construction of Taipei 101, while Burj Khalifa reached 130 floor.
21 July 2007: Surpasses Taipei 101, whose height of 509.2 m (1,671 ft) made it the world's tallest building, and level 141 reached.
12 August 2007: Surpasses the Sears Tower antenna, which stands 527.3 m (1,730 ft).
12 September 2007: At 555.3 m (1,822 ft), becomes the world's tallest freestanding structure, surpassing the CN Tower in Toronto, and level 150 reached.
7 April 2008: At 629 m (2,064 ft), surpasses the KVLY-TV Mast to become the tallest man-made structure, level 160 reached.
17 June 2008: Emaar announces that Burj Khalifa's height is over 636 m (2,087 ft) and that its final height will not be given until it is completed in September 2009.
1 September 2008: Height tops 688 m (2,257 ft), making it the tallest man-made structure ever built, surpassing the previous record-holder, the Warsaw Radio Mast in Konstantynów, Poland.
17 January 2009: Topped out at 828 m (2,717 ft).
1 October 2009: Emaar announces that the exterior of the building is completed.
4 January 2010: Burj Khalifa's official launch ceremony is held and Burj Khalifa is opened. Burj Dubai renamed Burj Khalifa in honour of the current President of the UAE and ruler of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed

Sky Bus technology

Abstract
The Sky Bus technology offered by Konkan Railway Corporation meets the above requirements, and re-defines the thinking and planning for urban transport being an Eco-friendly Mass urban transport system revolutionizing urban life. It is a patented technology developed for the new millennium and will cause a paradigm shift in urban transportation all over the world. Being an indigenous technology, it will place India on the forefront of the Rapid Transit Industry all over the world while providing the much needed alternative transportation solution, which is financially viable, environment friendly, synergizing well proven existing cutting edge technologies.
Sky Bus is based on the concept of Sky Wheels presented in 1989 at the World Congress for Railway Research by Mr. B Rajaram, Managing Director of KRCL at Bologna University , Italy . The sky bus uses pre - fabricated latest construction technologies, which save time and money resulting in easy execution of the project in busy urban areas without disturbing the existing traffic pattern. All these structural engineering methods are well - proven. They have IT tools for economical communication and control. The 3 phase asynchronous AC electrical motor used for the propulsion of sky buses is also well proven and widely used abroad as well as in India .
The most precious asset in growing urban areas is land. After its allocation for residential and commercial purposes hardly 6 % to a maximum of 18 % of land in cities forms road ways. The road ways once laid almost remain constant and indeed may be effectively reduced by uncontrolled encroachments. With the physical constraint on road area in the wake of increasing population, the intensity of loads and traffic volumes on the roads increase. As more and more people from different habitats try to converge on to the central business district, the road are left with no capacity to improvise and handle the excess traffic, leading to congestion. Roads take one exactly to the point where one wants to go. But the capacity is limited in terms of passengers per hour that can be handled, considering speed limits and lane width limitations.
Technicalities of Sky Bus Technology
The fixed structure at 8 metres height above road level provides the support and guidance for powered bogies which can run at 100 kmph, with the coach shells suspended below, carry passengers in air conditioned comfort, can follow existing road routes, while existing traffic on roads continue. It is aesthetically pleasing and there is no concern of a claustrophobic feeling for road users . Aesthetic, and eco-friendly, the Sky Bus is protected against derailment, toppling or collision - by design as well as by construction, hence is safer than the existing rail based system. At the cost of Rs. 50 Crore per km. in India , the system is noise - free and pollution - free with a capacity to transport 36000 passengers per hour (pph), scalable to 72,000 pph as required. With no signaling and having no points and crossings, it is a unique mass-transit system that can be put up within two years in any crowded & congested city. In addition to moving people, the Sky Bus system can carry standard 20 ft. containers, boosting its capacity utilization to double that of other existing systems.
Since it operates along existing roadways and within municipal limits, Sky Bus metro falls under tramway category, under Art 366(20) of the Constitution of India.

The main components of the sky bus system are described below:
Sky way
i. The sky way consists of a concrete box structure 8.4 X 2.4 m. carried over a series of piers at a height of 9 - 10 m. above the existing road level.
ii. In the middle of the roadway, pile foundations support 1 m. diameter columns approximately 8 m. high, and at a spacing of 15 m. all along the roadway.
iii. It has two heavy 52 - 60 kg. / Metre rails fixed with appropriate fastenings within the concrete box support at standard gauge that guide the sky bogie.
iv. There are no points & crossings.
Sky Bogie
i. Standard two axle bogies can be used in metros for speeds of 100 kmph (but can have higher speeds if required, upto 160 kmph) of standard gauge.
ii. Linear Induction motor technology is incorporated with 4 th rail driving, which is above the bogie and 3 phase AC motors with regenerative power capability are used.
iii. Third Rail is used for current collection.
iv. Braking - Since the bogie is mounted, 3 levels of braking namely - Regenerative, disc brakes and finally, Emergency mechanical brakes are provide to ensure the safety of commuters.
Sky Coaches
These are double walled light shells with large wide windows suspended from the sky bogies.
Controlled banking on curves is possible. Curves with radii of 50 m. can be negotiated.
The coaches are air conditioned and fixed with automatic doors.
They have audio visual information to assist the passengers.
They also have special 4 m. wide sliding doors for quick entry and exit of passengers.
Each pair of coaches carries 300 persons and service every one minute or 30 seconds is possible.
Sky Stations
Unlike conventional mass transit systems, Sky Bus needs smaller stations about 50 mt. long.
Stations are available at every 1 km. It is a natural footbridge across the road. From up line to down line the station provides natural access, which is easy.
Service is available at every 30 seconds or 1 minute, which means virtually no waiting time for passengers.
Totally automated without drivers, access control is electronic by prepaid cards being swiped in.

Stone Mastic Asphalt

Definition
Since the 1960s, Stone Mastic Asphalt (SMA) pavement surfaces have been used successfully in Germany on heavily trafficked roads as a durable road surfacing to resist wear from studded tyres. Because of its excellent performance characteristics, road authorities in Germany as well as major European Countries quickly adopted SMA as a standard wearing course. During the last few years, SMA has become one of the most popular asphalt pavements.
The deformation resistant capacity of SMA stems from a coarse stone skeleton providing more stone-on-stone contact than with conventional Dense Graded Asphalt (DGA) mixes. Improved binder durability is a result of higher bitumen content, a thicker bitumen film, and lower air voids content. This high bitumen content also improves flexibility. Addition of a small quantity of  cellulose  or mineral  fibre  prevents drainage of bitumen during transport and placement. The essential features, which are the coarse aggregate skeleton and mastic composition, and the consequent surface texture and mixture stability, are largely determined by the selection of aggregate grading and the type and proportion of  filler  and binder. SMA has proved superior on heavily trafficked roads and industrial applications. SMA has distinct advantages as a surfacing, due to its potential for high resistance to fatigue and rutting.
Composition Of SMA
Stone Mastic Asphalt is characterised by its high stone content which forms a gap-graded skeleton-like stone structure. The voids of the structural matrix are filled with high viscosity bituminous mastic. The high stone content of at least 70% ensures stone-on-stone contact after compaction. The required degree of mastic stiffness is achieved through the addition of crushed sand.
SMA mixes have a bitumen content of minimum 6.5%. The bitumen in the gap-graded mix is stabilised during the mixing process, intermediate storage, transportation, surfacing and compaction through the addition of cellulose fibre stabilising additive.
Addition of cellulose fibre does not chemically modify bitumen, but rather enhances physical property of the finished product by allowing the use of higher bitumen contents. It tends to thicken or bulk the bitumen so that it does not run off the aggregate prior to compaction. The content of cellulose fibre is 0.3% by weight of mixture. If the technological requirements of SMA are fully met, good results can be obtained by just using standard bitumen
Composition of SMA
SMA provides a deformation resistant, durable, surfacing material, suitable for heavily trafficked roads. SMA has found use in Europe, Australia and the United States as a durable asphalt surfacing option for residential streets and highways. SMA has a high coarse aggregate content that interlocks to form a stone skeleton that resist permanent deformation. The stone skeleton is filled with mastic of bitumen and filler to which fibres are added to provide adequate stability of bitumen and to prevent drainage of binder during transport and placement. Typical SMA composition consists of 70-80% coarse aggregate, 8-12% filler, 6.0-7.0% binder, and 0.3 per cent fibre. The deformation resistant capacity of SMA stems from a coarse stone skeleton providing more stone-on-stone contact than with conventional dense graded asphalt (DGA) mixes.

Soil Cement

Abstract of Soil Cement

Soil-cement is a highly compacted mixture of soil/aggregate, portland cement, and water. -cement differs from Portland cement concrete pavements in several respects. One significant difference is the manner in which the aggregates or soil particles are held together. A Portland cement concrete pavements mix contains sufficient paste (cement and water mixture) to coat the surface area of all aggregates and fill the void between aggregates. In soilcement mixtures, the paste is insufficient to fill the aggregate voids and coat all particles, resulting in a cement matrix that binds nodules of uncemented material. It is widely used as a low-cost pavement base for roads, residential streets, parking areas, airports, shoulders, and materials-handling and storage areas. Its advantages of great strength and durability combine with low first cost to make it the outstanding value in its field. A thin bituminous surface is usually placed on the soil-cement to complete the pavement. The cost of soil-cement compares favorably with that of granular-base pavement. When built for equal load-carrying capacity, soil-cement is almost always less expensive than other low-cost pavements. Economy is achieved through the use or reuse of in-place or nearby borrow materials. No costly hauling of expensive, granular- base materials is required; thus both energy and materials are conserved. The major engineering benefits of cement stabilization are increased strength, stiffness, better volume stability and increased durability.
The improvement of the unconfined compressive strength (UCS) of LSC composite was also evaluated. As regards the application aspect, the results shows that cement mixed lateritic soils are suitable for base course construction. The investigation also shows that increase in UCS was attributed to the cement hydration within soil mass, resulting in the formation of reaction products as analyzed by XRD. It was also found that UCS was proportionally increased with the amount of the major reaction products such as calcium silicate hydrate (CSH). They used the Portland cement is a popular additive for stabilization. They carried out unconfined compression test and UCS of composite soil cement was determined at various curing ages. From this they observed that UCS increased with increasing cement content as well as with increasing time of curing.A quantitative assessment of soil mineral composition was performed using X-RAY diffractometer, XRD, PHILIPS X’Pert MPD, Netherlands.

Objective of the Work
To study about soil cement roads.
To study about construction methods.
Discuss about various properties of soil cement roads.
Discuss about advantages and disadvantages of soil cement roads.
Soil Cement Road
Soil-cement is a highly compacted mixture of soil/aggregate, Portland cement, and water. Soil-cement differs from Portland cement concrete pavements in several respects. One significant difference is the manner in which the aggregates or soil particles are held together. A Portland cement concrete pavements mix contains sufficient paste (cement and water mixture) to coat the surface area of all aggregates and fill the void between aggregates. In soilcement mixtures, the paste is insufficient to fill the aggregate voids and coat all particles, resulting in a cement matrix that binds nodules of uncemented material. It is widely used as a low-cost pavement base for roads, residential streets, parking areas, airports, shoulders, and materials-handling and storage areas. Its advantages of great strength and durability combine with low first cost to make it the outstanding value in its field.
A thin bituminous surface is usually placed on the soil-cement to complete the pavement. material used for soil cement are soil cement and water. The use of soil-cement can be of great benefit to both owners and users of commercial facilities. Its cost compares favorably with that of granular-base pavement. When built for equal load carrying capacity, soil-cement is almost always less expensive than other low-cost site treatment or pavement methods. The use or reuse of in-place or nearby borrow materials eliminates the need for hauling of expensive, granular-base materials; thus both energy and materials are conserved.
Performance of Soil Cement
Soil-cement thicknesses are less than those required for granular bases carrying the same traffic over the same subgrade. This is because soil-cement is a cemented, rigid material that distributes loads over broad areas. Its slab-like characteristics and beam strength are unmatched by granular bases. Hard, rigid soil-cement resists cyclic cold, rain, and spring-thaw damage. Cement stabilizes soil in two ways. First, it reduces soil plasticity, especially for the soil in which there is high amount of clay particles. The second is cementation which is very important because clay is not its main composition. In fine grained silty and clayey soils, the hydration of cement develops strong linkages between the soil aggregates to form a matrix that effectively encases the soil aggregates. Old soil-cement pavements in all parts of the continent are still giving good service at low maintenance costs. -cement has been used in every state in the United States and in all Canadian provinces. Specimens taken from roads show that the strength of soil-cement actually increases with age; some specimens were four times as strong as test specimens made when the roads were first opened to traffic. This reserve strength accounts in part for soil-cement’s good long-term performance.
Types of Soil Used
The soil material in soil-cement can be almost any combination of sand, silt, clay, gravel, or crushed stone. Local granular materials, such as slag, caliche, limerock, and scoria, plus a wide variety of waste materials including cinders, fly ash, foundry sands, and screenings from quarries and gravel pits, can all be utilized as soil material. Old granular-base roads, with or without bituminous surfaces, can also be reclaimed to make great soil-cement. Soil-cement is sometimes called cement-stabilized base, or cement-treated aggregate base. Regardless of the name, the principles governing its composition and construction are the same. But it is not suitable for all types of soil such as organic soil, acid soil, sulfate soil and uniform sand.The soil becomes stabilized because the cement reacts chemically with the soil particles and bind them together. But these above soil containing component prevent the chemical reaction.
Proportioning / Spreading
The cement shall be applied in one operation to the required width, grade and cross section. Cement shall be evenly applied at the designated rate and shall not vary more than 10 percent on any area. The percent cement is based on the in-place dry weight of the soil to be treated or as determined by the engineer. The calibrated spreader able to provide a uniform distribution of the cement throughout the treatment area shall apply cement. The cement shall be added in a dry state and every precaution shall be taken to prevent dusting outside the treatment area. Tailgate application of cement will not be permitted. Tailgating is defined as having manual control of the spread rate, rather than automatic. The spreader truck shall demonstrate the ability to maintain a consistent spread rate over variable travel speeds. The contractor will demonstrate the consistency of the application rate by conducting multiple pan tests. The pan test consists of placing a 3 square foot pan on the grade in front of the spreader truck. After cement has been applied, the cement is weighed to determine the rate of application in pounds per square foot. No traffic other than the mixing equipment or other related construction equipment will be allowed to pass over the exposed cement until after completion of mixing. The figure 5.1 shows the speading of cement using spread truck.
Soil Cement
Conclusion
The use of soil-cement can be of great benefit to both owners and users of commercial facilities. Its cost compares favorably with that of granular-base pavement. When built for equal load carrying capacity, soil-cement is almost always less expensive than other low-cost site treatment or pavement methods. The use or reuse of in-place or nearby borrow materials eliminates the need for hauling of expensive, granular-base materials, thus both energy and materials are conserved. It is not only benefit to the human but also benefit to the environment.The crushed rock production process consumes a considerable amount of energy for mining, transportation, burning and which contributes to the total CO2 emissions to the atmosphere. The environmental issues to be addressed include the need to reduce the levels of CO2 emissions. The major engineering benefits of soil cement roads are increased strength, stiffness, better volume stability and increased durability.

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