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The Golden Gate Bridge is one of the best-known engineering structures in the world and was the longest suspension bridge in the world for many years. Its design has generally been attributed to Joseph Strauss, but recent evidence proves that Charles Ellis was the prime designer of the bridge between 1929 and 1931. Strauss fired Ellis in late 1931 and systematically removed any mention of Ellis’ name in his final report on the bridge issued in 1938. It remained for John van der Zee in his book The Gate to set the record straight. This paper makes the case that Strauss violated one of the fundamental ethical canons—that of giving credit where credit is due. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Natural geotextiles both woven and nonwoven have proved to be beneficial in stabilizing the weak subgrade by extending the service life of pavement and reducing the cost of construction. Nonwoven geotextiles can be used as separator in pavements as they allow in-plane permeability, but their tensile strength is low. In this study, an attempt is made to develop eco-friendly needle-punched coir latex composite sheets as an alternative to nonwoven coir geotextiles. Three types of products were developed by the impregnation of nonwoven needle-punched fabric with prevulcanized latex having densities 400, 600, and 800 grams per square meter (GSM). An experimental investigation on the effect of latex content on the mechanical properties of coir composites revealed that latex impregnation improves the mechanical properties of all coir composites and composites with 50% latex content exhibited maximum performance. Strength and drainage characteristics of reinforced soil-aggregate system were studied to evaluate the potential of coir composites as a separator in low volume roads by conducting the California bearing ratio (CBR) test, permeability, and transmissivity tests. The performance of the developed coir composites was compared with nonwoven coir felt and woven coir geotextile. It was found that 800 GSM coir composite showed 47% improvement in performance when compared to 400 GSM woven coir geotextile which showed only 40% performance improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The productivity, organization, and customer relations of the Engineering Services Division of the Utilities Department of the city of Sacramento, California, were assessed through the use of benchmarking techniques, staff and customer surveys, and interviews. The Engineering Services Division provides planning and engineering services for the city’s water, wastewater, and drainage systems, as well as development review. Recommendations were jointly developed and implemented, resulting in organizational and procedural changes. These changes focused on the top-priority areas for improvement identified in the study. A follow-up study was made to determine the effect of the changes over a five-year period. It was found that improved customer and staff perceptions of the services were directly related to the changes implemented as a result of the earlier study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]