Innovative Outstanding Weatherization Assistance News, April 2003. Vol.1, no.2

The 2002-2003 Weatherization Program has just come to an end and we would like to take the time to thank you for an excellent year serving the population of Iowa. As always, it was a pleasure working with each and every one of you. We have recently had a new addition to the weatherization family. A hearty welcome is extended to Mike Creeden, the new Weatherization Coordinator at North Iowa. Agencies were recently sent their HEAP and DOE contracts. Once the HEAP contracts are received by our office and signed by the Administrator, they will be promptly returned for your files. The DOE signature pages will be returned to each agency, once DOE has approved the state plan. In the meantime, should you have any questions, feel free to contact our office. There was a change in this year’s utility contracts; a maximum of twelve bulbs may be replaced per house, at a maximum of $10 per bulb. WAMS in Access 2000 is just about ready for use. Be looking for it’s release soon. Look forward to Pressure Diagnostic and TI- 86 training July 8-9 and 22-23. If you are interested in hosting this training, please contact our office.

Executive Order Number Seventy Six, March 30, 2012

This act declares that the Long Term Care Ombudsman program is and shall remain an independent voice for Iowans in long-terms care facilities and shall continue to meet all requirements for the Federal Older American Act, but shall be housed with and administratively supported the Department of Again. ATTENTION: This is not an official copy of the executive order due to the lack of no seal or signature.

The Role of Magnesium in Concrete Deterioration, HR-355, 1994

Concretes with service lives of less than 15 years and those with lives greater than 40 years were studied with petrographic microscope, scanning electron microscope, and electron microprobe to determine why these two groups of concrete exhibit such different degrees of durability under highway conditions. Coarse aggregate used in both types of concrete were from dolomite rock, but investigation revealed that dolomite aggregate in the two groups of concretes were much different in several respects. The poorly-performing aggregate is fine-grained, has numerous euhedral and subhedral dolomite rhombohedra, and has relatively high porosity. Aggregate from durable concrete is coarse-grained, with tightly interlocked crystal fabric, anhedral dolomite boundaries, and low porosity. Aggregate in short service life concrete was found to have undergone pervasive chemical reactions with the cement which produced reaction rims on the boundaries of coarse aggregate particles and in the cement region adjacent to aggregate boundaries. Textural and porosity differences are believed to be chiefly responsible for different service lives of the two groups of concrete. The basic reaction that has occurred in the short service life concretes between coarse aggregate and cement is an alkali-dolomite reaction. In the reaction dolomite from the aggregate reacts with hydroxide ions from the cement to free magnesium ions and carbonate ions, and the magnesium ions precipitate as brucite, Mg(OH)2. Simultaneously with this reaction, a second reaction occurs in which product carbonate ions react with portlandite from the cement to form calcite and hydroxide ions. Crystal growth pressures of newly formed brucite and calcite together with other processes, e.g. hydration state changes of magnesium chloride hydrates, lead to expansion of the concretes with resultant rapid deterioration. According to this model, magnesium from any source, either from reacting dolomite or from magnesium road deicers, has a major role in highway concrete deterioration. Consequently, magnesium deicers should be used with caution, and long-term testing of the effects of magnesium deicers on highway concrete should be implemented to determine their effects on durability.