Structural Characterization of UHPC Waffle Bridge Deck and Connections, TR-614, 2014

The AASHTO strategic plan in 2005 for bridge engineering identified extending the service life of bridges and accelerating bridge construction as two of the grand challenges in bridge engineering. These challenges have the objective of producing safer and more economical bridges at a faster rate with a minimum service life of 75 years and reduced maintenance cost to serve the country’s infrastructure needs. Previous studies have shown that a prefabricated full-depth precast concrete deck system is an innovative technique that accelerates the rehabilitation process of a bridge deck, extending its service life with reduced user delays and community disruptions and lowering its life-cycle costs. Previous use of ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC) for bridge applications in the United States has been considered to be efficient and economical because of its superior structural characteristics and durability properties. Full-depth UHPC waffle deck panel systems have been developed over the past three years in Europe and the United States. Subsequently, a single span, 60-ft long and 33-ft wide prototype bridge with full-depth prefabricated UHPC waffle deck panels has been designed and built for a replacement bridge in Wapello County, Iowa. The structural performance characteristics and the constructability of the UHPC waffle deck system and its critical connections were studied through an experimental program at the structural laboratory of Iowa State University (ISU). Two prefabricated full-depth UHPC waffle deck (8 feet by 9 feet 9 inches by 8 inches) panels were connected to 24-ft long precast girders, and the system was tested under service, fatigue, overload, and ultimate loads. Three months after the completion of the bridge with waffle deck system, it was load tested under live loads in February 2012. The measured strain and deflection values were within the acceptable limits, validating the structural performance of the bridge deck. Based on the laboratory test results, observations, field testing of the prototype bridge, and experience gained from the sequence of construction events such as panel fabrication and casting of transverse and longitudinal joints, a prefabricated UHPC waffle deck system is found to be a viable option to achieve the goals of the AASHTO strategic plan.

Mississippi Drive (Iowa 92) from Main Street to the Norbert F. Beckey Bridge in Muscatine, Iowa, STP-U-5330(614)—27-70, Muscatine County, 2015

The proposed action consists of upgrading Mississippi Drive (Iowa Highway 92) through downtown Muscatine, Iowa. The Mississippi Drive Corridor Project begins south of the Main Street/Grandview Avenue intersection, continuing to the East 2nd Street/Norbert F. Beckey Bridge intersection, which marks the end of the project. It passes through a mix of commercial, residential, Central Business District and industrial land uses. The total length of the project is approximately 1.6 miles, including 19 intersections (6 with traffic signals). Refer to the vicinity map on Figure 1. The current roadway is a 3- to 4-lane, urban facility with both divided and undivided medians. The roadway, ranging from 40 to 64 feet wide, is considered difficult to cross for pedestrians, especially for small children or elderly. The width of this roadway is being considered to be narrowed to improve the accessibility to the downtown from the Mississippi River riverfront area by pedestrians. This project also includes accommodations for bicycles and pedestrians and measures to reduce flooding on the roadway.

"A Hard Battle to Fight": Natural Theology and the Dismal Science, 1820-1850

William Whewell's and Richard Jones's criticism of Jeremy Bentham's and David Ricardo's "dismal" views on the relation of theory and evidence in political economy was motivated by the former's views on the structuring role of natural theology for questions of method and evidence in the sciences, including political economy. In comparison, natural theology was for Richard Whately as structuring on these issues as it was for the Cambridge men. Whately's view on natural theology, however, conformed with the Ricardian predilection for theory over facts. The differences between the Cambridge men and Whately became manifest after (or better: during) the publication of Jones's book on rent in 1831 and led to a somewhat acerbic exchange of views on the role of definitions in science and the use of history for establishing scientific evidence. As far as political economy was concerned, Whately's stance carried the day in Victorian England.

Issuant views of hell in contemporary Anglo-American theology

This problem of hell is a specific form of the problem of evil that can be expressed in terms of a set of putatively incompatible statements: 1. An omnipotent God could create a world in which all moral agents freely choose life with God. 2. An omnibenevolent God would not create a world with the foreknowledge that some (perhaps a significant proportion) of God’s creatures would end up in hell. 3. An omniscient God would know which people will end up in hell. 4. Some people will end up forever in hell. Since the late twentieth century, a number of British and North American philosophical theologians, inspired by C.S. Lewis, have developed a new approach to answering the problem of hell. Very little work has been done to systematize this category of perspectives on the duration, quality, purpose and finality of hell. Indeed, there is no consensus among scholars as to what such an approach should be called. In this work, however, I call this perspective issuantism. Starting from the works of a wide range of issuantist scholars, I distill what I believe to be the essence of issuantist perspectives on hell: hell is a state that does not result in universal salvation and is characterized by the insistance that both heaven and hell must issue from the love of God, an affirmation of libertarian human freedom and a rejection of retributive interpretations of hell. These sine qua non characteristics form what I have labeled basic issuantism. I proceed to show that basic issuantism by itself does not provide an adequate answer to the problem of hell. The issuantist scholars themselves, however, recognize this weakness and add a wide range of possible supplements to their basic issuantism. Some of these supplemented versions of issuantism succeed in presenting reasonable answers to the problem of hell. One of the key reasons for the development of issuantist views of hell is a perceived failure on the part of conditionalists, universalists and defenders of hell as eternal conscious torment to give adequate answers to the problem of hell. It is my conclusion, however, that with the addition of some of the same supplements, versions of conditionalism and hell as eternal conscious torment can be advanced that succeed just as well in presenting answers to the problem of hell as those advanced by issuantists, thus rendering some of the issuantist critique of non-issuantist perspectives on hell unfounded.

Arkistoluettelo 614: Victor Taipale

Luettelo Kansalliskirjastossa olevan Victor Taipaleen arkiston sisällöstä

The role of the Ruah YHWH in creative transformation : a process theology perspective applied to Judges 14

La Ruah YHWH joue un rôle important dans la transformation créative de l’univers et des entités actuelles; cependant, une réflexion concernant les modalités de ce rôle reste à développer. La théologie processuelle offre une plateforme à partir de laquelle sont examinées diverses facettes des rôles que peut jouer la Ruah YHWH dans un monde où le chaos semble dominer. L’objectif de ce mémoire est justement d’explorer la Ruah YHWH dans son rôle de transformation créative au service, ultimement de l’ordre, de la paix et de l’harmonie dans le monde, les communautés, la vie des entités actuelles, etc. Le Chapitre 1 passe en revue des notions clés de la théologie processuelle. Le concept des “entités actuelles” est d’abord défini. Sont ensuite examinées les différentes phases du devenir d’une entité actuelle. Finalement, les concepts de “créativité” et de “transformation”, dans une perspective de la Ruah YHWH font l’objet d’observations attentives avant d’aborder « trois natures » de Dieu, à savoir primordiale, conséquente, et superjective. Le Chapitre 2 s’intéresse à la péricope centrale de ce mémoire : Juges 13:24-14:20. Le découpage de la structure de cette péricope est basé sur des critères de critique textuelle et d’analyse syntaxique. La première analyse s’attarde aux difficultés que le texte hébreu présente, alors que la deuxième met l’accent sur l’organisation structurelle des propositions grammaticales des versets. Les deux analyses me permettent ensuite de proposer une traduction du péricope. Le Chapitre 3 se veut une application de ce qui a été élaboré au Chapitre 1 sur la péricope analysée au Chapitre 2. Ce troisième chapitre permet de mettre en pratique une approche processuelle originale développée par Robert David dans son livre Déli_l’ ÉCRITURE. Dans la foulée des chapitres qui le précèdent, le Chapitre 4 propose quelques principes herméneutiques contemporains pouvant éclairer le rôle de la Ruah YHWH dans l’avancée créative du monde : vie, amour, et paix.