Pieces of Iowa’s Past, January 23, 2013

Pieces of Iowa’s Past, published by the Iowa State Capitol Tour Guides weekly during the legislative session, features historical facts about Iowa, the Capitol, and the early workings of state government. All historical publications are reproduced here with the actual spelling, punctuation, and grammar retained. January 23, 2013 THIS WEEK: Iowa’s Grasshopper Plague of 1873 BACKGROUND: Fifteen General Assembly The 15th General Assembly convened January 12 and adjourned March 19, 1874—a 67-day session. The Senate had six Democratic members, 34 Republican members, and 10 Independent members. The House of Representatives had six Democratic members, 50 Republican members, and 44 Independent members. There were a total of 150 legislators in Iowa. By 1874, the Capital had been relocated to Des Moines. The legislature had occupied the old Brick Capitol since 1858. Joseph Dysart was the Lieutenant Governor presiding in the Senate, and John Gear was Speaker of the House of Representatives. Iowa’s population at the 1870 federal census had grown to 1,194,020. Both House and Senate journals from the 15th Iowa General Assembly include several references to assisting the destitution brought on by the 1874 plague of grasshoppers in Northwestern Iowa. Senator Perkins, from the Special Committee appointed to inquire into the reports of destitution in the northwestern counties of Iowa, submitted the following report, in part: “We have examined such evidence as is attainable here, and made such inquiries of parties interested in affording temporary relief as were to be met, and are pieces satisfied in our own minds that the case is one of sufficient importance to command the attention of the State.”

Pieces of Iowa’s Past, February 6, 2013

Pieces of Iowa’s Past, published by the Iowa State Capitol Tour Guides weekly during the legislative session, features historical facts about Iowa, the Capitol, and the early workings of state government. All historical publications are reproduced here with the actual spelling, punctuation, and grammar retained. THIS WEEK: Women’s and Children’s Building BACKGROUND: 35TH IOWA GENERAL ASSEMBLY The Thirty-fifth General Assembly convened January 13 and adjourned April 19, 1913—a 97-day session. Edward Cunningham was Speaker of the House and William Harding was the Lieutenant Governor presiding over the Senate. The Senate had 18 Democratic members and 32 Republican members. The House of Representatives had 66 Republican members and 42 Democratic members. There were a total of 158 members in the General Assembly. Governor Beryl Carroll finished his term in January 1913 and Governor George Clarke was sworn in on January 16, 1913. He was 60 years old. The 1910 federal census showed Iowa’s population at 2,224,771.

Pieces of Iowa’s Past, February 13, 2013

Pieces of Iowa’s Past, published by the Iowa State Capitol Tour Guides weekly during the legislative session, features historical facts about Iowa, the Capitol, and the early workings of state government. All historical publications are reproduced here with the actual spelling, punctuation, and grammar retained. THIS WEEK: Repealing the Iowa State Census: Looking Back at the 1858 Census BACKGROUND: 45TH IOWA GENERAL ASSEMBLY The Forty-fifth Iowa General Assembly convened January 9 and adjourned April 20, 1933—a 102-day session. Nelson G. Kraschel was the Lieutenant Governor presiding in the Senate. The Senate was evenly divided with 25 Democrats and 25 Republican members. George E. Miller was Speaker of the House. The House of Representatives had 76 Democratic members and 32 Republican members. Daniel Turner finished out his term as Governor and Clyde Herring was inaugurated January 12, 1933, at the age of 53. The federal census of 1930 showed Iowa’s population at 2,470,939.

Pieces of Iowa’s Past, February 20, 2013

Pieces of Iowa’s Past, published by the Iowa State Capitol Tour Guides weekly during the legislative session, features historical facts about Iowa, the Capitol, and the early workings of state government. All historical publications are reproduced here with the actual spelling, punctuation, and grammar retained. THIS WEEK: Walnut Street Extension, Des Moines, Iowa BACKGROUND: 55TH IOWA GENERAL ASSEMBLY The Fifty-fifth Iowa General Assembly convened January 12 and adjourned April 29, 1953—a 108-day session. The Senate had 46 Republican and four Democratic members. In the House of Representatives, there were 105 Republican and seven Democratic members. Leo Elthon was the Lieutenant Governor presiding over the Senate. William Lynes was Speaker of the House. William Beardsley was Governor. Beardsley was inaugurated for his first term at the age of 47 on January 13, 1949. Iowa’s population at the 1950 census was 2,621,073.

Pieces of Iowa’s Past, February 27, 2013

Pieces of Iowa’s Past, published by the Iowa State Capitol Tour Guides weekly during the legislative session, features historical facts about Iowa, the Capitol, and the early workings of state government. All historical publications are reproduced here with the actual spelling, punctuation, and grammar retained. THIS WEEK: 1973 Iowa Spring Snow Storm Hits the First Quarter of the Year; the U.S. Energy Crisis Hits the Last Quarter of the Year BACKGROUND: 65TH IOWA GENERAL ASSEMBLY The Sixty-fifth General Assembly was the third General Assembly to meet annually. Prior to the Sixty-third General Assembly, the Iowa Legislature met biennially. The first year of the Sixty-fifth General Assembly convened January 8 and adjourned June 24, 1973—a 168-day session. The second year of the Sixty-fifth General Assembly convened January 14 and adjourned May 4, 1974—a 111-day session. There were 22 Democratic members in the Senate and 44 Democratic members in the House of Representatives. There were 28 Republican members in the Senate and 56 Republican members in the House—a total of 150 legislators. Lieutenant Governor Arthur Neu was presiding in the Senate and Andrew Varley was the Speaker of the House of Representatives. Robert Ray was Iowa’s Governor, having been inaugurated for his first term January 16, 1969, at the age of 40. The 1970 federal census showed Iowa’s population at 2,825,368.

Pieces of Iowa’s Past, March 6, 2013

Pieces of Iowa’s Past, published by the Iowa State Capitol Tour Guides weekly during the legislative session, features historical facts about Iowa, the Capitol, and the early workings of state government. All historical publications are reproduced here with the actual spelling, punctuation, and grammar retained. THIS WEEK: The Sudden Death of an Iowa Athlete and a Midwest Natural Disaster Marred the 75th Iowa General Assembly BACKGROUND: 75TH IOWA GENERAL ASSEMBLY The first year of the Seventy-fifth Iowa General Assembly convened January 11, 1993, and adjourned May 2, 1993—a 112-day session. The second year of the Seventy-fifth Iowa General Assembly convened January 10, 1994, and adjourned April 20, 1994—a 101-day session. The Senate had 27 Democratic members and 23 Republican members. The House of Representatives had 49 Democratic members and 51 Republican members. The President of the Senate was Leonard Boswell and the Speaker of the House of Representatives was Harold Van Maanen. Terry Branstad was the governor having been inaugurated for his first term on January 14, 1983, at the age of 36. The Federal census of 1990 showed Iowa’s population at 2,776,755.

Pieces of Iowa’s Past, March 13, 2013

Pieces of Iowa’s Past, published by the Iowa State Capitol Tour Guides weekly during the legislative session, features historical facts about Iowa, the Capitol, and the early workings of state government. All historical publications are reproduced here with the actual spelling, punctuation, and grammar retained. THIS WEEK: Judge Reuben Noble Praises the Iowa State Building at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition BACKGROUND: REUBEN NOBLE REUBEN NOBLE was born on the 14th of April, 1821, in Ada County, Mississippi, where his father was a farmer. When he was eighteen years of age, Noble began to study law and was admitted to the bar at twenty-one. In 1843, he came to Iowa, making his home at Garnavillo, in Clayton County. In 1854, Noble was elected to the legislature as a free soil Whig and upon the organization of the House was chosen Speaker, serving in the regular session of 1854 and extraordinary session of 1855. At the first Republican State Convention of 1856, he was placed at the head of the ticket for presidential elector. Four years later, he was a delegate to the National Convention that nominated Abraham Lincoln for president. Up to the time of the attempt of the Republicans to remove President Johnson by impeachment, Noble had been a prominent leader of that party. But approving of the policies of the President, he left the Republicans and from that time became a Democrat. In 1866, Noble was nominated by the Democrats for Representative in Congress but was defeated by William B. Allison. In 1886, he was one of the organizers of the Pioneer Lawmakers’ Association and was its first president, never missing a session during the remainder of his life. Noble was the leader of the bar of northeastern Iowa beginning in 1850. As a compliment to his high standing and eminent qualifications as a jurist, the citizens of the Tenth Judicial District elected him to tthe office of district judge in the fall of 1874. (History of Iowa from the Earliest Times to the Beginning of the Twentieth Century/Volume 4)

Strengthening of Existing Single Span Steel Beam and Concrete Deck Bridges, HR-238, Part 1, 1983

The Phase I research, Iowa Department of Transportation (IDOT) Project HR-214, "Feasibility Study of Strengthening Existing Single Span Steel Beam Concrete Deck Bridges," verified that post-tensioning can be used to provide strengthening of the composite bridges under investigation. Phase II research, reported here, involved the strengthening of two full-scale prototype bridges - one a prototype of the model bridge tested during Phase I and the other larger and skewed. In addition to the field work, Phase II also involved a considerable amount of laboratory work. A literature search revealed that only minimal data existed on the angle-plus-bar shear connectors. Thus, several specimens utilizing angle-plus-bar, as well as channels, studs and high strength bolts as shear connectors were fabricated and tested. To obtain additional shear connector information, the bridge model of Phase I was sawed into four composite concrete slab and steel beam specimens. Two of the resulting specimens were tested with the original shear connection, while the other two specimens had additional shear connectors added before testing. Although orthotropic plate theory was shown in Phase I to predict vertical load distribution in bridge decks and to predict approximate distribution of post-tensioning for right-angle bridges, it was questioned whether the theory could also be used on skewed bridges. Thus, a small plexiglas model was constructed and used in vertical load distribution tests and post-tensioning force distribution tests for verification of the theory. Conclusions of this research are as follows: (1) The capacity of existing shear connectors must be checked as part of a bridge strengthening program. Determination of the concrete deck strength in advance of bridge strengthening is also recommended. (2) The ultimate capacity of angle-plus-bar shear connectors can be computed on the basis of a modified AASHTO channel connector formula and an angle-to-beam weld capacity check. (3) Existing shear connector capacity can be augmented by means of double-nut high strength bolt connectors. (4) Post-tensioning did not significantly affect truck load distribution for right angle or skewed bridges. (5) Approximate post-tensioning and truck load distribution for actual bridges can be predicted by orthotropic plate theory for vertical load; however, the agreement between actual distribution and theoretical distribution is not as close as that measured for the laboratory model in Phase I. (6) The right angle bridge exhibited considerable end restraint at what would be assumed to be simple support. The construction details at bridge abutments seem to be the reason for the restraint. (7) The skewed bridge exhibited more end restraint than the right angle bridge. Both skew effects and construction details at the abutments accounted for the restraint. (8) End restraint in the right angle and skewed bridges reduced tension strains in the steel bridge beams due to truck loading, but also reduced the compression strains caused by post-tensioning.

Test result-based sampling: an efficient design for estimating the accuracy of patient safety indicators.

OBJECTIVE: Accuracy studies of Patient Safety Indicators (PSIs) are critical but limited by the large samples required due to low occurrence of most events. We tested a sampling design based on test results (verification-biased sampling [VBS]) that minimizes the number of subjects to be verified. METHODS: We considered 3 real PSIs, whose rates were calculated using 3 years of discharge data from a university hospital and a hypothetical screen of very rare events. Sample size estimates, based on the expected sensitivity and precision, were compared across 4 study designs: random and VBS, with and without constraints on the size of the population to be screened. RESULTS: Over sensitivities ranging from 0.3 to 0.7 and PSI prevalence levels ranging from 0.02 to 0.2, the optimal VBS strategy makes it possible to reduce sample size by up to 60% in comparison with simple random sampling. For PSI prevalence levels below 1%, the minimal sample size required was still over 5000. CONCLUSIONS: Verification-biased sampling permits substantial savings in the required sample size for PSI validation studies. However, sample sizes still need to be very large for many of the rarer PSIs.

La perpétuation de l'oralité du muet dans quelques incipit filmiques des premières années du parlant

Partant d'une perspective sémiotique appliquée aux débuts de film pour élargir l'approche à une réflexion historique sur l'intermédialité, cet article examine le postulat selon lequel les spectacles vivants qui précédaient la projection des films dans les années 1920 ont été en quelque sorte « happés » par le discours filmique. A travers l'examen d'un ensemble de films réalisés entre 1927 et 1937 qui accordent dans leurs génériques ou leurs prologues une place prépondérante à l'adresse vocale, l'auteur met en évidence certains phénomènes de résurgence de l'oralité propre à la période « muette », les speaker des premiers talkies endossant une fonction à certains égards similaire à celle du bonimenteur des premiers temps. L'accent est mis sur la production cinématographique de Guitry, dont la passion pour la « théâtralité » l'incite à proposer des formes singulières d'auto-mise en scène et d'adresse au spectateur. La question de la réflexivité des incipit passe également par la prise en compte de la dimension technologique, qui est parfois intégrée au film même, à l'instar de l'ouverture radiophonique de L'Atlantide de Pabst. Ces considérations s'inscrivent plus généralement dans une réflexion sur les diverses imitations de la voix vive à l'ère des technologies de l'audiovisuel.

DCI Voter Fraud Investigations Report, May 8, 2014.

In March of 2012, the Iowa Secretary of State’s office compared Iowa’s voter registration records with the driver’s license record s of individuals that identified themselves as non-citizens with the Iowa Department of Transportation. After comparing those records, the Iowa Secretary of State’s office found that more than 3,000 individuals registered to vote that had previously identified themselves as non-citizens. More than 1,000 of these individuals had also cast a ballot. The Iowa Secretary of State’s office was not given timely access to the federal Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE)database, and therefore was unable to determine if any of these individuals had become citizens before they registered to vote or cast a ballot. On June 21, 2012, the Iowa Secretary of State’s office entered into an agreement with the Iowa Department of Public Safety’s Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) to review potential election misconduct crimes and improve the administration of federal elections. Over the last two years,DCI agents have reviewed thousands of instances of possible election misconduct. DCI’s review included cases referred by the Iowa Secretary of State’s office as well as by other state and local government agencies.

Tuning In to Sound: Frequency-Selective Attentional Filter in Human Primary Auditory Cortex.

Cocktail parties, busy streets, and other noisy environments pose a difficult challenge to the auditory system: how to focus attention on selected sounds while ignoring others? Neurons of primary auditory cortex, many of which are sharply tuned to sound frequency, could help solve this problem by filtering selected sound information based on frequency-content. To investigate whether this occurs, we used high-resolution fMRI at 7 tesla to map the fine-scale frequency-tuning (1.5 mm isotropic resolution) of primary auditory areas A1 and R in six human participants. Then, in a selective attention experiment, participants heard low (250 Hz)- and high (4000 Hz)-frequency streams of tones presented at the same time (dual-stream) and were instructed to focus attention onto one stream versus the other, switching back and forth every 30 s. Attention to low-frequency tones enhanced neural responses within low-frequency-tuned voxels relative to high, and when attention switched the pattern quickly reversed. Thus, like a radio, human primary auditory cortex is able to tune into attended frequency channels and can switch channels on demand.

Service Correlation of the Traffic Simulator, HR-100, 1967

A study was undertaken by the Bituminous Research Laboratory of the Engineering Research Institute at Iowa State University, under the sponsorship of the Iowa Highway Research Board, project HR 100, to ascertain the effects of a number of characteristics and properties of asphaltic concrete mixes upon the service behavior of the mixes as evaluated by the Traffic Simulator and by field observations. The study included: Investigations of the relations, of gradation, fraction and resistance to wear of aggregates; of stability, cohesion, per cent voids and asphalt content: of a number of laboratory and field mixes to service behavior as indicated by the Traffic Simulator under various test conditions. Based upon the results of the tests and the relationships noted, tentative criteria for the Traffic Simulator test were devised, subject to verification by observations and measurements of field service behavior of the mixes.

Pavement Instrumentation, HR-293, 1988

The report documents the development and installation of an instrumented pavement on I-80 in Iowa for the purposes of demonstration and answering current pavement questions. Its two primary objectives include documentation of the installation and verification of existing design procedures through monitoring of the continuous traffic stream reactions in the pavement. Some 120 instruments were installed in a forty foot segment of reconstructed pavement. The instruments included concrete strain gages, weldable strain gages on dowels, LVDT-deflection gages and temperature sensors in the concrete and base material. Five tubes were placed under three joints and two midslabs to measure the relative moisture and density at the interface between the pavement and base with atomic equipment. The instruments were placed ahead of the paving and over 92% of the instruments responded after paving. Planning requirements, problems encountered and costs of installation are presented. The site will use piezoelectric cables in a weigh-in-motion arrangement to trigger the data collection, a microcomputer controlled data acquisition system to analyze multiple sensors simultaneously, and telemetry to monitor the site remotely. Details provide the first time user of instrumentation with valuable information on the planning, problems, costs and coordination required to establish and operate such a site.

Maintenance of Pavement Skid Resistance (Open Graded Asphalt Friction Courses), Progress Report, HR-170, 1976

This project involved the evaluation of several aggregates previously rated poor to excellent with respect to skid resistance and certain mix design parameters. An open graded asphalt friction course was evaluated using 4 comparably graded aggregates: quartzite, fine grained limestone, coarse limestone and lightweight expanded shale. The performance investigations involved the verification of observations of the quartzite test sections, evaluation of the effect of blending the superior quartzite with a typical coarse grained-textured limestone, and the evaluation of the limestone. The effects of traffic on the aggregates used in the test sections were studied, as well as the relationship between asphalt content levels and traffic with respect to performance. The bond of the open graded friction course mixture was also evaluated. The SN performance of all test sections after sixteen months of exposure was found to be satisfactory in that none of the material combinations had polished to the point where unacceptable SN levels developed. When material combinations were compared, significant differences were noted.