Environmental Commitment Follow-Up

Section 404 of the Clean Water Act (CWA) mandates that state agencies and other entities perform compensatory mitigation when their activities impair jurisdictional waters. In the Commonwealth of Kentucky, the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) is required to pay in-lieu fees or purchase stream mitigation credits when a roadside ditch is impaired or relocated as part of a road construction project. In-lieu fees and stream mitigation credits are costly, and ditches that have suffered degraded habitat and loss of hydrogeomorphic functionality are treated as total losses when they are impacted by construction and maintenance activities. This raises the question of whether the United States Corps of Engineers (USACE) would be receptive to alternative mitigation and monitoring practices that impose a less stringent financial burden on the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, but which still comply with CWA regulations. This report discusses methodologies used to evaluate the quality of instream and riparian habitat, Section 404 of the CWA and its implications for mitigation of lost or damaged jurisdictional ditches, and the strategies that have been used by other states to fulfill their Section 404 mitigation requirements. The authors highlight mitigation practices that depart from the norm and which place a less onerous financial burden on state transportation agencies. KYTC officials presented this report’s key findings to the USACE Louisville District Office in January 2015 in an effort to receive approval to experiment with novel restoration techniques. The USACE granted KYTC license to implement these techniques on a project-by-project basis. Before implementation on each project, the Cabinet must receive formal approval from USACE officials. Although this was not the blanket mandate that KYTC hoped for, it indicated the Louisville District is willing to study the effectiveness of alternative mitigation strategies. Despite the Cabinet’s request, USACE officials did not approve a plan to reduce post-restoration monitoring requirements. Kentucky Transportation Center (KTC) researchers suggested that KYTC perform exhaustive monitoring of the performance of completed projects that used alternative mitigation techniques. Having information on the short-, medium-, and long-term performance of these sites could – if the results are promising – pave the way to the wider adoption of alternative mitigation practices and could eventually reduce the level of post-restoration monitoring required by the USACE.

The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet’s Division of Planning collects weight data, traffic volume data, and vehicle classification data. These data are used as inputs to determine equivalent single axle loads (ESALs). ESALs are used in the pavement design process to determine pavement thickness. There have been inconsistencies observed during the computation of the ESALs during the past three or four years. These inconsistencies have resulted in a significant inflation in the estimate of ESALs per year, which if used in the design process would result in significantly thicker pavements. For example, the ESALs per truck axle for rural principal arterials and rural minor arterials, between 1998 and 1999, more than doubled from, 0.275 to 0.555. Although there was only a small increase in this number after 1999, the value remained significantly higher than expected. The objective of this research study was to evaluate the weight data collection equipment, on-site calibration procedures, and sampling techniques used by the Division of Planning for the different Aggregate Classes of highways in an effort to standardize procedures used by the Division of Planning to collect weight data.

This report addresses issues related to transferring the responsibility for quality control from the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KyTC) to construction contractors. Surveys of the KyTC, other state departments of transportation, and Kentucky highway contractors were done to identify the advantages, concerns, and modifications of the Contractor Performed Quality Control (CPQC) program. An advisory committee of experienced KyTC engineers, Federal Highway Administration representatives, and contractor representatives met periodically to identify approaches for handling key issues of the program. Several key topics related to CPQC are presented in this report, with emphasis on quality control/quality assurance (QC/QA) administration, QC/QA procedures, quality acceptance and verification testing, and CPQC training. Specific issues related to CPQC pay items in Kentucky are also discussed. Several recommendations have been proposed to enhance the program. If properly implemented, CPQC can improve a contractor's work performance and help relieve the State's burden for inspection. Additional monitoring of the program is necessary to make further improvements and to include other pay items.

This report provides two analyses for obtaining a quantitative means of rating the condition of railroad‐highway at‐grade crossings based on their measured roughness. Phase One of this report examined 11 crossings in the Lexington area by use of a laser based inertial profiler from the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) and a Face Rolling Dipstick. Phase Two was a continuation of Phase One with 26 crossings examined using inertial profilers from both the KYTC and the National Center of Asphalt Technology. Objective ratings based on rideability were obtained and wheelpath profiles were measured for each crossing. Several roughness indexes were computed from the measured profiles. A correlation between these indexes and subjective rideability ratings were examined in each study. Analysis of the data showed a tendency of objective ratings to decrease as roughness increases. This study found that highway inertial profilers are not an appropriate tool for determining roughness over short distances such as railroad crossings due to their application for testing of longer distances. It is anticipated that this report will be referenced for future research on this topic.

Many of Kentucky’s two-lane rural roads pose an above average risk for fixed object crashes. In Kentucky, run-off-road (ROR) collisions with fixed objects account for 18.9% of all crashes and 41.6% of fatal crashes. Accordingly, ROR crashes are a significant public safety hazard that must be addressed through judicious investments in safety improvements. Until recently, transportation engineers and planners have mostly leveraged qualitative metrics to prioritize safety investments, however, qualitative methodologies are problematic because they may rely excessively on subjective opinion and intuition. This study applied methodologies and software from the U.S. Road Assessment Program (usRAP) to develop quantitative, objective roadside safety ratings for rural two-lane roads in the state of Kentucky on which 20 or more crashes occurred from 2010 to 2015. Kentucky Transportation Center researchers generated usRAP star rating scores following standard protocols and, to validate the methodology, compared those scores to the number of ROR collisions over the specified interval. Analysis revealed robust correlations between star rating scores (and star ratings) and crash data, justifying their as an objective measure of roadside safety. Researchers also delivered a comprehensive database containing over 126,000 records to the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, which can be used to examine roadside severity and potentially inform future highway investments.

This study created an information base to improve decisions about the replacement or rehabilitation of historic truss bridges. During the first phase of the research, information on the history and design of the 109 bridges in the study was assembled. With the assistance of historic preservation professionals, 75 of those bridges were selected for further study for their potential for rehabilitation. During the second phase, the KTC research team, engineers from the KYTC bridge division, and 12 highway district engineers, who are responsible for the day-to-day care and maintenance of the bridges, evaluated the condition and functional context of the 75 bridges. The goal was to identify those that are good candidates for preservation through rehabilitation. The district engineers were of the opinion that only 14 of the 75 bridges needed to be replaced. However, there was an additional subset of 13 bridges that, in their opinion, present some significant obstacles to preservation related to functional inadequacy or some other problem with the bridge. The bridge engineers estimated considerably higher levels of effort to preserve these 13 bridges (an average of 7.42 on a 10 point scale) than for the 48 remaining bridges (an average of 3.82 on the 10 point scale).

The Department of Environmental Analysis at the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet has expressed an interest in feature-recognition capability because it may help analysts identify environmentally sensitive features in the landscape, including those relating to historic preservation, archaeology, endangered species habitat, and geology. LIDAR Analyst and Feature Analyst are a pair of geoprocessing software packages that have been developed by Textron Systems. Using this software, users can use LIDAR data to identify finely-scaled user-specified features. The software’s automated feature extraction saves time that might otherwise be spent manually analyzing images and digitizing features. This report explores the capabilities and accuracy of this software by using LIDAR data to identify sinkholes throughout a small area in Kentucky. This report also discusses an alternative LIDAR-based geoprocessing methodology developed by the Kentucky Geological Society. The method relies on ArcGIS and Python scripting to identify sinkholes. The feasibility and applicability of these methodologies are compared, the workflow for each method is outlined, and the capabilities and limitations of each are noted. Sample results—the identification of sinkholes—from each methodology are presented. The research team found the batch processing capability built into LIDAR and Feature Analyst adequate and beneficial for smaller projects, such as projects that prioritize the extraction of buildings, trees, and forest regions.

The contents of this report reflect the views ofthe authors who are responsible for the facts and accuracy of the data presented herein. The contents do not necessarily reflect the official views or policies of the University of Kentucky, the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, nor the Federal Highway Administration. This report does not constitute a standard, specification, or regulation. The inclusion of manufacturer names and trade names are for identification purposes and are not to be considered as endorsements.

The study of earth pressure distribution on buried structures has a great practical importance in constructing highway embankments above pipes and culverts. Based on Spangler’s research, the supporting strength of a conduit depends primarily on three factors: 1) the inherent strength of the conduit; 2) the distribution of the vertical load and bottom reaction; and 3) the magnitude and distribution of lateral earth pressures which act against the sides of the structure. Rigid culverts are frequently used in Kentucky for routing streams beneath highway embankments because of rolling and mountainous terrain, numerous streams, shallow depths to bedrock, which creates unyielding foundations, and the necessity of using high fills which create large vertical stresses acting on culverts. As a means of exploring ways of reducing large vertical earth pressures acting on a buried structure, ultra-lightweight geofoam was placed in a trench above a reinforced rigid box culvert in Russell County, KY. This study provides strong evidences from both numerical model analysis and in-situ test data to indicate that geofoam is an ideal elasto-plastic material to reduce vertical load on top of a rigid culvert resting on a rigid foundation. The load on the top of a culvert can be reduced to 20% of traditional design load after 2-ft-thick geofoam is placed on top of it. Results from numerical model are more conservative when compared to actual test data. As much as 57% of settlement from geofoam has been recorded. Stresses on the top of a culvert where geofoam was placed have reached a relatively stable level which is expected at the yield point of the geofoam. This technology can be used in applications which require controlled pressure on rigid underground structure. Whether geogoam is used or not used, the model analysis and test data show that the earth pressure acting on the sidewall does not change significantly. Although the pressure acting on the sidewall is slightly higher when geofoam is used on top of the culvert only, the value is still below the design value used by the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet. Use of geofoam placed in an imperfect trench significantly reduces the vertical stresses acting on the top of the culvert.

Technicians are a vital component to the success of any roadway projects. Unfortunately, the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) is experiencing significant shortages of technicians among all aspects of construction and maintenance. Training and developing the adequate numbers of qualified technicians is a substantial endeavor that requires a comprehensive examination of the adequacy of current training program versus the anticipated skill needs of technicians on future projects. Two questionnaires were developed to identify this gap. One is to investigate the skills and trainings that the Cabinet’s technicians possesses and received, and the second is to investigate the skills and/or knowledge which section engineers believe are required among their technicians. Through the analysis of the two surveys, this research found current training programs in Kentucky could cover most of the necessary knowledge and skills for transportation technicians, although more wide cooperation and reciprocity with outside training agencies should be built. However, current training programs are not sufficient enough to satisfy the future technician training needs, especially in the area of grading, structure, soil and maintenance and environment. The research also found technician’s most favorite training methods are on-the-job and classroom hands-on, but on-the-job training has not become one of the major sources where the Cabinet’s technicians received their training. Inability to help promotion and increase salary, schedule conflict and certificate’s short validness are the major barriers which prevented technician’s training participation.

The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet’s (KYTC) bridge inventory is rapidly aging. As such, the Cabinet needs to identify and implement relevant preventative maintenance (PM) actions to extend the useful service lives of those structures. Maintenance actions, costs, and application interval/repair durability information have been obtained for both cyclical and condition-based bridge PM. Additionally, information rehabilitation actions were acquired from a regional Department of Transportation (DOT) survey and from other literature. As part of this study, the Kentucky Transportation Center (KTC) researchers monitored a KYTC bridge washing project to assess its level of effectiveness and to identify potential improvements. Based upon these tasks, recommended guidance was provided to KYTC for use when implementing bridge PM programs. The guidance includes a discussion of critical PM activities, strategies to adopt training and work documents (i.e., special notes) for contract work, and the implementation of work standards/special operating procedures for work performed by KYTC personnel. This report also includes details on the tools and training KYTC district-level personnel will need and outlines a roadmap for conducting pilot programmatic PM work in several districts.

The purpose of this study is to determine the effectiveness of instructional strategies administered by primary school Science and Social Sciences teachers based on the opinions of students, and to identify if there is any difference between teachers of the two courses in terms of the level that they carry out these activities. This study is descriptive in nature. 7th grade students at primary schools in Melikgazi, Kayseri, during the spring term of 2004-2005 formed the research universe of the study. There were 87 primary schools in Melikgazi when the study was conducted. Ten primary schools were identified by stratification method, and 7th grade students in one of the classes of each school were chosen randomly and assigned as the sample group of the study. There are totally 300 students (30 students from each school) in the sample. The findings of this study reveal that strategies in the instruction step of a lesson are not applied effectively. Most of the activities were found to be conducted occasionally in both groups. According to the results, teachers of Social Sciences were identified to be more productive and effective than those of Science course in the following areas: providing reinforcement and prompting, being understanding and affectionate, using course-related tools and instruments, and creating a classroom environment where students participate actively. Summary Lesson plan consists of three interwoven steps; preparation before the lesson, planning and administering the lesson, and follow-up activities. Effective teaching is based on a well-developed plan, a well-managed classroom, and an effective presentation. Making necessary preparations and planning before a lesson may contribute a lot to success of students. A teacher has to get prepared before the lesson and has to plan the presentation, instruction, and assessment activities of the lesson in order to maintain students' interest, to maintain participation, and to sustain students' motivation at a high level. Therefore, it is vital for teachers both to be informed about instructional strategies and to have related skills to carry out these strategies. Presentation, instruction, and assessment activities within a lesson plan display different characteristics and have distinct steps. Instructional strategies are more important in nature since this is the phase when teaching is administered and learning takes place. All the definitions, concepts, rules, formulae, and explanations are delivered to students during this step. The information flow in this phase is from simple to complex, from concrete to abstract, from known to unknown, and from immediate to far. Teachers should be aware of the stimuli that affect students' learning and should use them when needed. During the instruction step, teachers should create a setting that increases interaction among students, trains them on cooperation, and improve their self-confidence; should provide various sources of information; should encourage students to learn by discovering; and should make use of methods and instruments that assess students' performance. The purpose of this study is to determine the effectiveness of instructional strategies administered by primary school Science and Social Sciences teachers based on the opinions of students, and to identify if there is any difference between teachers of the two courses in terms of the level that they carry out these strategies. Since a survey/questionnaire is utilized for the above purpose, this study is descriptive in nature. Method Sample 7th grade students at primary schools in Melikgazi, Kayseri, during the spring term of 2004-2005 formed the research universe of the study. There were 87 primary schools in Melikgazi when the study was conducted. Ten primary schools were identified by stratification method, and 7th grade students in one of the classes of each school were chosen randomly and assigned as the sample group of the study. There are totally 300 students (30 students from each school) in the sample. Researchers visited all these schools and distributed the questionnaire forms personally. Then, students filled out the forms under the supervision of researchers. Instrument The first draft of the questionnaire used in this study was developed in accordance with the related literature. Afterwards, the draft version was analyzed by experts in educational sciences and teachers lecturing Science and Social Science in terms of its content validity, and all necessary corrections were completed. Then, the questionnaire form was applied to a group of students to see if the statements were clear or not. After all the revision efforts, the questionnaire including 21 items about both lessons was given its final form. Cronbach Alpha Reliability coefficient of the questionnaire was found to be 0.86. Findings and discussion The findings of this study reveal that strategies in the instruction step of a lesson are not applied effectively. Most of the strategies were found to be conducted occasionally in both groups. According to the results, teachers of Social Sciences were identified to be more productive and effective than those of Science course in the following areas: providing reinforcement and prompting, being understanding and affectionate, using course-related tools and instruments, and creating a classroom environment where students can participate actively. On the other hand, teachers of Science course were assessed as more able in encouraging whole-class participation. Teachers may make use of various teaching techniques and methods in the classroom providing that they are informed about instructional strategies that should be taken into consideration during both planning and administering steps of a lesson and about different instructional methods. So at certain intervals, teachers may get feedback from students regarding their own behaviors and may make necessary amendments accordingly. Teacher training institutions and programs may be improved in terms of equipment and service provided for students. Teachers might be guided to attend in-service training programs designed to compensate for their insufficiencies concerning preparation, administration, and assessment of a lesson, and to inform them about innovations in teaching.

The essence of ore grade reconciliation is to identify, analyse and manage variance between planned and actual results in a way that highlights opportunities. A consistent record of poor reconciliation is an indication that this variance has not been adequately managed. This would inevitably result in significant economic impact on mining companies. Unfortunately, the issue of poor reconciliation has been an age-old one most mining companies have been battling with and resulting in failure of several mining companies to estimate ore grade accurately, despite good grade control sampling and geological control. This paper reviews various practical and theoretical approaches to ore grade reconciliation, and further reveals inefficiencies in the mining value chain that contribute to poor reconciliation. Key recommendations, pertinent to observations and findings of the study, are thus made towards improving ore grade reconciliation.

Abstract. This research aims to (1) Analyze the chemistry handbooks used in the vocational school of Pharmacy in North Sumatra, (2) Develop a sequence of chemical material suitable to grade X semester I and systematically according to KTSP of Pharmacy Vocational School, (3) Knowing what chemical materials worth and the right to be taught in Pharmacy vocational school grade X semester I so that learning is more systematic and easily understood by BSNP students in learning, (4) Developing the chemistry handbook for grade X semester I Pharmacy Vocational School appropriate with KTSP, and (5) Knowing the opinion of teachers of chemistry at Pharmacy Vocational School on the development of standard chemistry handbook of grade X semester I. Sample in this study are two publishers of chemistry handbooks used in grade X semester I of the most widely used in Pharmacy Vocational School in North Sumatera, has graduated from the book center, and marketed nationally and four vocational school chemistry teacher used grade X Pharmaceuticals as a respondent and has teaching experience in grade X Pharmacy Vocational School for a minimum of two years and a minimum education is bachelor degree (S1). This is a research development using qualitative data described by using the time sentence by emphasizing the documentary technique. This research instrument is a questionnaire with a book containing sheets of the feasibility of the indicators derived from the assessment of National Education Standards Agency (BSNP) in 2006, later identified occurrence for each book. Furthermore it is developing chemistry handbook for grade X semester I Pharmaceuticals appropriate vocational curriculum, which will be assessed by the respondent chemistry teachers of Pharmacy Vocational School. The assessment results of validation between the average range to determine whether or not worthy of the book used in grade X semester I of Pharmacy Vocational School. The results of the feasibility analysis of the contents of the handbooks most widely used chemical in the first semester of the grade X is obtained percentage Pharmacy Vocational School: books A, and B are, respectively 51.89% and 76.01%. Validation range obtained in the proposed grade X semester I of chemical materials Pharmacy Vocational School is 3.6 means that the proposal put forward appropriate materials are used in the development of chemistry handbooks for grade X semester I Pharmacy Vocational School. Assessment chemistry handbook for grade X semester I Pharmacy Vocational School on the feasibility of content, language, and presentation by chemistry teacher of Pharmacy Vocational School respondents obtained an average yield of the range of validation in order are 3,31; 3,52, and 3,51. Validation of the overall range obtained from the four respondents chemistry teacher of Pharmacy Vocational School is 3.45, this means that the Chemistry Handbook for Grade X Semester I Pharmacy Vocational School According With KTSP is valid and does not need to be revised again and have been feasible to use in chemistry learning in Pharmacy Vocational School. Keywords: Chemistry Handbook, Pharmacy Vocational School, Analysis, Development, KTSP

Introduction: the aim of our study was to perform a longitudinal follow-up in patients with anorectal malformations(ARMs) in order to determine the anorectal function problems and help to solve them.Material and Methods: This study included 262 patients with ARM who were operated between 2006 until 2013.Children whose definitive reconstruction was performed at another hospital and underwent reoperation in our center were excluded. Patients who expired or did not come for follow-up were not included in the study either. Bowel function was prospectively assessed by using a questionnaire answered by the children’s parents. supplementary bowel management with enemas, laxatives and the use of diapers were documented as well.Results: Interviews were completed in 242 children, ages ranging from 3 to 10 years. More than thirty seven (37.7%) patients had constipation.32.5% Grade 1 (controllable by altering in diet), 54.3% Grade 2 (requiring laxatives) and 13.2% Grade 3(opposed to stool softeners and diet).18.6% of patients had fecal soiling, 31.5% Grade 1: infrequently (once or twice for every week), 24% Grade 2: daily (no community difficulty) and 44.5% Grade 3: Constant (social problem).Conclusion: In the present study several bowel function problemswere found in ARM children. physicians who perform the definitive operation on anorectal malformations should notloose follow up of patients as they grow upbecause they may present with great troubles during their adolescence.