Evaluation of the Chemical Durability of Iowa Fly Ash Concretes, HR-327, Phase I Progress Report, 1991

The following report summarizes research activities conducted on Iowa Department of Transportation Project HR-327, for the period April 1, 1990 through March 31, 1991. The purpose of this research project is to investigate how fly ash influences the chemical durability of portland cement based materials. The goal of this research is to utilize the empirical information obtained from laboratory testing to better estimate the durability of portland cement concrete pavements (with and without fly ash) subjected to chemical attack via the natural environment or the application of deicing salts. This project is being jointly sponsored by the Iowa Department of Transportation and the Iowa Fly Ash Affiliate Research group. The research work is also being cooperatively conducted by Iowa State University and Iowa Department of Transportation research personnel. Researchers at Iowa State University are conducting the paste and mortar studies while Iowa Department of Transportation researchers are conducting the concrete study.

2013-2017 State Plan on Brain Injuries - Progress Report, March 9, 2016

The 2013-2017 State Plan for Brain Injuries was developed by the Iowa Advisory Council on Brain Injuries (ACBI) as guidance for brain injury services and prevention activities in Iowa. The following outlines progress made on the plan’s goals from date of implementation through December 2015.

Lake LaVerne Watershed Project Progress Report: Project Number 1415-007, Final Report, June 30, 2016

This application targets a critical need for low maintenance and inexpensive treatment solutions to encourage landowners and resource managers to enhance the water quality of small ponds and lakes. Many rural and urban small ponds and lakes across Iowa and the region have eutrophic conditions with high levels of nutrients and low levels of oxygen. Story SWCD teamed with Iowa State University (ISU) researchers propose to address this need through the construction and monitoring of a vegetated floating island (VFI) system on ISU's iconic Lake LaVerne. VFI's are hydroponically-vegetated islands that reduce nutrient loading directly from pond and lake water (rather than from soil adjacent to the pond). Urban watershed assessment on the ISU campus has already led to reductions in stormwater runoff to the lake but eutrophic conditions persist and are well documented. The VFI will function as a public art attraction for the entire 2015 growing season during which time monitoring will occur to quantify nitrogen, phosphorus and carbon changes in the lake. Tens of thousands of visitors to the ISU campus and Lake LaVerne will interact with this installation using promotional signage on site, public events and interactive social media throughout the project. Water quality and vegetation analysis will quantify nutrient uptake by the island vegetation and thus determine its effectiveness for use in other similar water bodies in Iowa.

Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy 2013-2014 annual progress report (From Strategy Release through May 30th, 2014)

The Nutrient Reduction Strategy Annual Progress Report is assigned to the Water Resources Coordinating Council and follows the Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy (NRS) ( nutrientstrategy.iastate.edu ) framework that is based on EPA recommendations provided in their March 16, 2001 memo, “Working in Partnership with States to Address Phosphorus and Nitrogen Pollution through Use of a Framework for State Nutrient Reduction.” The annual report provides progress updates on point source and nonpoint source efforts related to the action items listed in the elements of the strategy and updates on implementation activities to achieve reductions in nitrogen and phosphorus loads.

Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy 2014-2015 annual progress report. Reporting period: June 1, 2014 through May 30, 2015

The Nutrient Reduction Strategy Annual Progress Report is compiled by the three lead agencies (Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, Iowa Department of Natural Resources and Iowa State University) of the Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy and presented to the Water Resources Coordinating Council. The report follows the Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy (NRS) (nutrientstrategy.iastate.edu) framework that is based on EPA recommendations provided in their March 16, 2011 memo, “Working in Partnership with States to Address Phosphorus and Nitrogen Pollution through Use of a Framework for State Nutrient Reduction.” The annual report provides progress updates on point source and nonpoint source efforts related to the action items listed in the elements of the strategy and updates on implementation activities to achieve reductions in nitrogen and phosphorus loads.

Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy annual progress report. Reporting period: June 1, 2015 through May 30, 2016

The Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy (NRS) is a research- and technology-based approach to assess and reduce nutrients delivered to Iowa waterways and the Gulf of Mexico. The strategy outlines opportunities for efforts to reduce nutrients in surface water from both point sources, such as wastewater treatment plants and industrial facilities, and nonpoint sources, including farm fields and urban areas, in a scientific, reasonable, and cost-effective manner.

Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy annual progress report. Reporting period: June 1, 2015 through May 30, 2016. Appendix C. 2015 Iowa cover crop user survey.

Appendix to 2015/16 annual report.

Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy annual progress report. Reporting period: June 1, 2015 through May 30, 2016. Appendix D. 2015 Partner Organizations' Reports on NRS-Related Efforts.

Appendix D to 2015/16 annual report.

Progress in scientific and technical communications ; annual report.

"COSATI."

Combinatorial Design of Secure Lightweight Data Dispersal Schemes (Work in Progress)

Dispersing a data object into a set of data shares is an elemental stage in distributed communication and storage systems. In comparison to data replication, data dispersal with redundancy saves space and bandwidth. Moreover, dispersing a data object to distinct communication links or storage sites limits adversarial access to whole data and tolerates loss of a part of data shares. Existing data dispersal schemes have been proposed mostly based on various mathematical transformations on the data which induce high computation overhead. This paper presents a novel data dispersal scheme where each part of a data object is replicated, without encoding, into a subset of data shares according to combinatorial design theory. Particularly, data parts are mapped to points and data shares are mapped to lines of a projective plane. Data parts are then distributed to data shares using the point and line incidence relations in the plane so that certain subsets of data shares collectively possess all data parts. The presented scheme incorporates combinatorial design theory with inseparability transformation to achieve secure data dispersal at reduced computation, communication and storage costs. Rigorous formal analysis and experimental study demonstrate significant cost-benefits of the presented scheme in comparison to existing methods.

A Combinatorial Construct for Keyless Message Dispersal (Work in Progress)

We propose a keyless and lightweight message transformation scheme based on the combinatorial design theory for the confidentiality of a message transmitted in multiple parts through a network with multiple independent paths, or for data stored in multiple parts by a set of independent storage services such as the cloud providers. Our combinatorial scheme disperses a message into v output parts so that (k-1) or less parts do not reveal any information about any message part, and the message can only be recovered by the party who possesses all v output parts. Combinatorial scheme generates an xor transformation structure to disperse the message into v output parts. Inversion is done by applying the same xor transformation structure on output parts. The structure is generated using generalized quadrangles from design theory which represents symmetric point and line incidence relations in a projective plane. We randomize our solution by adding a random salt value and dispersing it together with the message. We show that a passive adversary with capability of accessing (k-1) communication links or storage services has no advantage so that the scheme is indistinguishable under adaptive chosen ciphertext attack (IND-CCA2).

Making sense of a trial maths intervention program for teachers of students with disability in Australia: Interim report

The Disability Standards for Education (2005) and the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority relevant standards underscore the right of students with disability to access the curriculum on the same basis as students without disability. Students with disability are entitled to rigorous, relevant and engaging learning opportunities drawn from the Australian curriculum content. Taking this context into account, this paper provides a work-in-progress report on a two-year mathematics intervention project conducted in 12 special schools (Preparatory-Year 12) in Queensland, Australia. The project aims to build the capacity of teachers to teach mathematics to their students and to identify and make sense of the intervention program’s impact. It combines two approaches—appreciative inquiry and action research to monitor schools’ change processes. The interim findings demonstrated that teachers were concerned about their students’ underachievement in mathematics and that the multi-sensory forms of teaching advocated in the program increased student engagement and performance.

STREAM Initiative report to the 8th NACA Technical Advisory Committee Meeting. Tehran, Iran 1-3 October 2005

The STREAM Initiative set logframe indicators, at their Technical Advisory Committee meetings and this is a progress report based on given indicators. It further includes two articles: The Kandhkelgaon story: A bold bid by women in Kandhkelgaon Village, Saintala Block, Bolangir District, to break out of their poverty trap, by Graham Haylor, S.D. Tripathi, B.K. Satpathy and Dipti Behera. Networking for rural development: a closer look at the evolution of communications in the STREAM Initiative, by Graham Haylor, Kath Copley and William Savage. (PDF contains 27 Pages)

Deepwater Horizon oil spill: assessment of potential impacts on the deep soft-bottom benthos; interim data summary report

A study was initiated in May 2011, under the direction of the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) Deepwater Benthic Communities Technical Working Group (NRDA Deep Benthic TWG), to assess potential impacts of the DWH oil spill on sediments and resident benthic fauna in deepwater (> 200 meters) areas of the Gulf. Key objectives of the study were to complete the analysis of samples from 65 priority stations sampled in September-October 2010 on two DWH Response cruises (Gyre and Ocean Veritas) and from 38 long-term monitoring sites (including a subset of 35 of the original 65) sampled on a follow-up NRDA cruise in May-June 2011. The present progress report provides a brief summary of results from the initial processing of samples from fall 2010 priority sites (plus three additional historical sites). Data on key macrofaunal, meiofaunal, and abiotic environmental variables are presented for each of these samples and additional maps are included to depict spatial patterns in these variables throughout the study region. The near-field zone within about 3 km of the wellhead, where many of the stations showed evidence of impaired benthic condition (e.g. low taxa richness, high nematode/harpacticoid-copepod ratios), also is an area that contained some of the highest concentrations of total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH), total polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (total PAHs), and barium in sediments (as possible indicators of DWH discharges). There were similar co-occurrences at other sites outside this zone, especially to the southwest of the wellhead out to about 15 km. However, there also were exceptions to this pattern, for example at several farther-field sites in deeper-slope and canyon locations where there was low benthic species richness but no evidence of exposure to DWH discharges. Such cases are consistent with historical patterns of benthic distributions in relation to natural controlling factors such as depth, position within canyons, and availability of organic matter derived from surface-water primary production.

Annual Report General Clinical Research Center 2007/2008

General Clinical Research Center University of Connecticut Health Center, School of Medicine, Annual Progress Report, from 04/01/2007 to 03/31/2008. Signature: Henry Kranzler, Professor of Psychiatry