Carla Anderson Hills

Carla Anderson Hills (born January 3, 1934) is an American lawyer and a public figure. She served as United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development in the Gerald Ford administration, and as U.S. Trade Representative. She was the first woman to serve as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and the third woman to serve as a cabinet officer.
Early life and education.
Born Carla Anderson in Los Angeles, she received her B.A. degree from Stanford University, after studying at St Hilda’s College, Oxford. She earned her LL.B. degree from Yale Law School in 1958 and married Roderick M. Hills the same year.
Career.
Hills was admitted to the California bar in 1959, and served as an Assistant United States Attorney in Los Angeles from 1959 to 1961. From 1962 to 1974, she was a partner at Munger, Tolles, Hills, and Rickershauser in Los Angeles. In 1972, she was an adjunct professor at UCLA. An authority on federal practice and anti-trust law, Mrs. Hills wrote of "Federal Civil Practice" and "Antitrust Advisor". She is a former president of the National Association of Women Lawyers.
She was a United States Assistant Attorney General heading the Civil Division of the U.S. Department of Justice before being named as the secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Elliot L. Richardson sought to appoint her as assistant U.S. Attorney General in 1973, but he resigned shortly thereafter during the Watergate scandal. The offer was renewed by his successor, William B. Saxbe, in 1974.
Hills' lack of relevant experience was somewhat controversial during the hearings for her nomination to head the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. While Secretary, she approved the demolition of the massive public housing project in Northwest St. Louis, Pruitt-Igoe, a decayed project. President Ford later commented in his autobiography, "A Time to Heal," that Hills was an exceptionally effective advocate for HUD, often appealing the budgetary decisions of James Lynn, Ford’s OMB chief, to the President and winning most of the time. Hills was one of the candidates on Ford’s “short list” to replace U.S. Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas, although Ford ultimately selected John Paul Stevens. From 1978 through 1989, Hills was again a practicing attorney, and served as chairwoman of the board of trustees of the Urban Institute from 1983 through 1988.
U.S. Trade Representative.
Hills served as U.S. Trade Representative under President George H. W. Bush from 1989 to 1993. She was under pressure to implement the 1988 Omnibus Foreign Trade and Competitiveness Act to go after countries that were considered to be trading unfairly with the U.S. The New York Times called Section 301 of the Act her “crowbar”, which enabled the U.S. to impose tariffs as high as 100%. She initially went after Japan, Brazil and India, although the Bush administration later decided Japan had changed its ways.
An advocate of free trade, she was the primary U.S. negotiator of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). In 2000, Hills was awarded the Mexican Order of the Aztec Eagle ("La Orden Mexicana del Aguila Azteca"), which is the highest honor awarded to non-citizens by the Mexican government. In fact, it was the first time Mexican-Americans were awarded this award since November 12, 1990 when the union leader, Cesar Chavez, received it.
President George H.W. Bush’s administration’s priority was to hammer out the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in the Uruguay Round, where Hills was known as a strong negotiator. “Delegations from 97 countries [sought] ways to notch down everyone’s tariffs and remove other obstacles to trade.” “The 97 signatories to GATT account for two-thirds of the $3 trillion in merchandise traded each year. Since the original agreement in 1947, GATT has been altered six times...” but, “after the last GATT revision – the Tokyo Round, which started in 1976 – many American industries were outclassed by others”.
Since 1993, she has worked as a consultant and a public speaker through Hills & Company International Consultants, which advises on investment, trade and risks abroad. She was one of the founders of the Forum for International Policy where she is a trustee. Carla stepped down from Time Warner, Inc. with Ted Turner in 2006. She now serves on international advisory boards for American International Group, The Coca-Cola Company, Gilead Sciences, Inc., J.P. Morgan Chase and Rolls Royce as well as the board of the U.S.-China Business Council.
In 2008, Yale University granted her an honorary degree. She has also received honorary degrees from other institutions.
North American community.
In 2005, Hills participated in the Task Force on the Future of North America. The Task Force produced a controversial report called "Building a North American Community" sponsored by the Council on Foreign Relations. The reported advocated strengthening trading relationships between the U.S., Canada and Mexico by making trade more efficient, building infrastructure in North America, fast tracking borders and integrating language. For example, it recommended assisting “elementary and secondary schools in teaching about North America.” (page 29) “Develop teacher exchange and training programs for elementary and secondary school teachers. This would assist in removing language barriers and give some students a greater sense of a North American identity. Greater efforts should also be made to recruit Mexican language teachers to teach Spanish in the United States and Canada.”
Awards and honors.
In 1979, the Supersisters trading card set was produced and distributed; one of the cards featured Hills’ name and picture.
In 1993, Hills received the U.S. Senator John Heinz Award for Greatest Public Service by an Elected or Appointed Official, an award given out annually by Jefferson Awards.


Joseph Pramberger

Joseph J. Pramberger (1938–2003) was a piano engineer/designer and the founder of the Pramberger Piano Company.
Lineage.
The Pramberger family's history of piano craftsmanship dates back to the late 18th century in the Black Forest of Germany. Johann Joseph Pramberger, born in 1779, began making pianos in Vienna, Austria. Joseph Pramberger's father, Anton, began his apprenticeship at an early age handcrafting fine works of art, becoming a Master Artisan in the tradition of Old World European craftsman. The Pramberger family decided to leave war-torn Europe for the United States at the urging of family members who had been working at Steinway & Sons since 1913, in Astoria, New York. Anton had been promised work at the piano factory. There, he put his skills to work, dedicating 25 years as a Pattern Maker and designing and creating the equipment required to build fine pianos.
Career.
When Anton came to the United States in 1950, he brought his son, Joseph Pramberger, who would become the modern-day link in the Pramberger lineage of piano makers. Starting in 1958, he honed his craft at Steinway & Sons, where he spent 29 years perfecting his skills, first as an apprentice, then as a Design and Project Engineer, then as Vice President of Manufacturing.
Joseph further expanded his skills as a mechanical engineer at New York University in 1966, by studying, refining and documenting established piano making operations. He traveled the world visiting and consulting with suppliers and major piano manufactures in the U.S., Europe, Japan and Korea.
In 1987, he formed his own company, Pramberger Piano Ltd., where he and his father Anton worked together in the restoration and rebuilding of pianos.
Joseph joined Young Chang in 1995 where he made dramatic innovations in sound and action design to help improve the quality of their affordable grand pianos. That led the company to produce a new line called the Pramberger Series. Mr. Pramberger saw the culmination of his work in 2000 with the launch of his own piano line, the Pramberger Platinum Piano, which would continue to be produced for the next three years. The Pramberger Platinum series was the highest quality performance piano Young Chang had produced to that point. The action, manufactured with Renner parts, rivaled even the best German brands in that respect.
Mr. Pramberger died of cancer on December 15, 2003. After his death, his estate ended the contract with Young Chang. The result was the sale of the Pramberger name to the Samick corporation, which continues to produce pianos of the brand JP Pramberger. The current trim levels of JP Pramberger are "Platinum", "Signature", and "Legacy", from highest quality to consumer-grade. However, Young Chang kept the patents issued to Mr. Pramberger, and continues to use his innovations in their pianos to this day. Samick is, by law, not allowed to utilize Mr. Pramberger's designs because they are the corporate property of Young Chang. Most piano technicians and dealers consider the Korean-made Young Chang Prambergers of slightly higher quality than the Indonesian-made Samick Prambergers of today, especially in regard to the action.
According to Larry Fine, author of "The Piano Book", Samick's current JP Pramberger Platinum series is of comparable quality to the Kawai-produced Boston line designed by the Steinway corporation.


Race (bearing)

The rolling-elements of a rolling-element bearing ride on races. The large race that goes into a bore is called the "outer race", and the small race that the shaft rides in is called the "inner race".
Design.
In the case of ball bearings, the bearing has inner and outer "races" and a set of balls. Each race is a ring with a groove where the balls rest. The groove is usually shaped so the ball is a slightly loose fit in the groove. Thus, in principle, the ball contacts each race at a single point. However, a load on an infinitely small point would cause infinitely high contact pressure. In practice, the ball deforms (flattens) slightly where it contacts each race, much as a tire flattens where it touches the road. The race also dents slightly where each ball presses on it. Thus, the contact between ball and race is of finite size and has finite pressure. The deformed ball and race do not roll entirely smoothly because different parts of the ball are moving at different speeds as it rolls. Thus, there are opposing forces and sliding motions at each ball/race contact. Overall, these cause bearing drag. "V" groove raceways distribute the load evenly over the balls as they travel on four points of contact, creating a straight line rolling effect and decreasing the amount of friction created by a full contact round groove design.
In some applications the two races may be arranged on plates parallel to the plane of the balls, rather than on inner and outer sleeves. In this case, the inner and outer sides of the grooves that form the race should have different angles with respect to this plane, with a steeper angle on the inside groove and a shallower angle on the outside groove, so that each ball can rotate properly without slipping.
Manufacture.
Centerless grinding.
The outer diameter (OD) of the races are often centerless ground using the throughfeed process. Centerless grinding can achieve a very high degree of accuracy, especially when done in stages. These stages are: rough, semi-finish and finish. Each grinding stage is designed to remove enough stock material from the casing so that the next stage does not encounter any problems such as burning or surface chatter, the finish stage achieves the final dimension. Each grinding wheel at all of the aforementioned stages has a varying degree of abrasive quality (finish being the finest grade) to achieve the appropriate stock removal for the next stage and final surface finish required.
Feeding.
Bearing casings are introduced to the grinding action via means of a transfer from the delivery system to a pair of infeed rollers, these infeed rollers are tapered to a certain angle so that the casings are driven forward until the regulating wheel and grinding wheel catch them and slow them to their grinding speed which can be altered by speed control of the regulating wheel. The casings are constantly rotating and are fed into the grinding area to prevent separation which can cause finish/size problems or even a "bump" that can potentially crack or destroy casings and will damage the grinding and regulating wheels.
Work rest blade.
Whilst grinding, the bearing cases run through the grinding stages in one long tube of casings that is showered with a cutting fluid.
The 'tube' rests on a hardened steel blade with an angled, highly ground surface held on a horizontal plane between the grinding wheel and regulating wheel, often named a Work Rest Blade, the tube causes wear on the working surface of the blade so it must be reground at regular intervals. The height of the work rest blade perfectly aligns the bearing casing with the horizontal centreline of the grinding wheel creating a flawless ground finish, the work rest blade height can be altered using packing bars placed underneath the blade, height adjustments must be made depending on the diameter of the casings being ground.
Inspection.
Each casing exits the grinding zone onto a high speed conveyor that delivers them to whatever storage and/or inspection arrangement a manufacturer may have, inspection is also carried out by the operator of the centreless line, by checking finish appearance, diameter, squareness and roundness by use of a dial test indicator in varying configurations, size allowances are permitted but are extremely tight depending on the customers requirements and can vary plus or minus within micrometres of finish diameter, Sizes can be adjusted on all grinding stages via a compensation button which can be pushed to remove extra material in varying micrometre units, the grinding wheel can move away at the same compensation to make the casings bigger if so required if the casing size moves from the operators target, and as the grinding wheel wears. Because a centerless grinding line has typically three grinding machines the operator must be in complete control and must prevent blockages in transfers, grinding exits and packing areas, also size and quality must constantly be checked, so the operator is always alert while operating the line and checking for problems and quality issues.
Safety.
Safety features include an emergency stop button which immediately moves the grinding wheel away from the ground rings on its revolutionary axis. Because of the wheel's momentum, it cannot be stopped but the power is cut and the wheel slows naturally, it cannot be reactivated until the emergency stop is reset. After the emergency stop is activated, the size of the workpiece must be re-established before the line can be reactivated into production mode.
Finishing.
The outer and inner bearing casings are then sent on for raceway grinding, superfinishing and final assembly.


Giovanni Lucchi

Giovanni Lucchi (21 August 1942, in Cesena, Italy – 2 August 2012, in Cremona, Italy) was an Italian bow maker noted for founding the first school of bow making in Italy.
Background.
Lucchi trained as a double bassist, graduating from the Conservatorio Statale di Musica "Gioachino Rossini" in Pesaro in 1963. He worked for several years as a musician and instructor, and in 1971, he began constructing and restoring bows. He went to Brienz, Switzerland to apprentice under S. Finkel.
Career.
In 1976, Lucchi founded a school for bowmaking in Cremona, Italy, where he taught courses in bow construction, maintenance and restoration, as well as style and design.
In 1983, Lucchi invented the Lucchi Meter, a device used to measure the speed of sound in wood that has become a standard tool of bow makers.
Lucchi was active within the community of luthiers and bowmakers, holding various posts among professional societies and writing and speaking often in journals and conferences relating to the art.
Reputation.
Lucchi's reputation was such that he was the bow maker for artists such as Mstislav Rostropovich, Pinchas Zukerman and Gary Karr, among others.
Lucchi Foundation.
The “Fondazione Lucchi” comes from the desire to continue the work of the Bowmaker Maestro Giovanni Lucchi. Those who knew him knows he loved to share the culture of handcraft and his discoveries.
One of his great project was to create a foundation that would promote research, discovery about materials, knowledge of the violin bow.
We’ve made in his memory, because the cultural legacy he left us can get to many people in all parts of the world, as he wished.


Civil Engineer Corps

The Civil Engineer Corps (CEC) is a staff corps of the United States Navy. CEC officers are professional engineers and architects, acquisitions specialists and Seabee Combat Warfare Officers. They are responsible for executing and managing the planning, design, acquisition, construction, operation, and maintenance of the Navy's shore facilities. The Civil Engineer Corps is under the command of the Chief of Civil Engineers and Commander, Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command. On 19 October 2018, RADM John W. Korka relieved RADM Bret J. Muilenburg, becoming the 45th commander of NAVFAC and Chief of Civil Engineers.
CEC ranks range from CWO2 to RADM, though the community is phasing out Chief Warrant Officer ranks in favor of Limited Duty Officers. Several Civil Engineer Corps officers, primarily those serving during or around the time of World War II, have held the rank of Vice Admiral, and one officer, Ben Moreell, has held the 4 star rank of Admiral, but there are no current billets within the US Navy that require Civil Engineer Corps officers of either rank. The worldwide CEC Active- and Reserve-Component rank distribution is shown below.
History.
Civil engineers were employed by the Navy Department as early as 1827, when Mr. Loammi Baldwin was appointed to superintendent of the construction of dry docks at Boston and Norfolk. Prior to the passage of the Act of 2 March 1867 civil engineers were appointed by the Secretary, but under authority of that act they were to be commissioned by the President by and with the advice and consent of the Senate; they were appropriated for as part of the civil establishment at the several navy yards and stations under the control of the Bureau of Yards and Docks until 1870. At that time their pay was regulated by section 3 of the Act of 15 July 1870 that "fixed" the annual pay of officers of the Navy on the active list. Appropriations for their pay have been made since 1870 under the head of "Pay of the Navy".
The discretionary authority given to the President by the Statute of 3 March 1871, to determine and fix the relative rank of civil engineers was not exercised until the 24th of February 1881, when relative rank was conferred upon them and fixed as follows: One with the relative rank of captain (CAPT), two with that of commander (CDR), three with that of lieutenant-commander (LCDR), and four with that of lieutenant (LT).
The Navy Regulations for 1876 failed to list civil engineers among the staff officers of the Navy, and the uniform regulations for that year did not prescribe a uniform or a corps device for that class of officer. In 1881, after having had relative rank conferred upon them, civil engineers were instructed by Uniform Circular dated 24 August to wear the uniform of officers of the line with whom they had relative rank - omitting the star, but with the distinctive letters C.E. (Old English) embroidered in silver in the center. The same letters to be similarly embroidered on frogs of epaulets.
In 1905, two crossed silver sprigs, each composed of two oak leaves and an acorn (sometimes called "Crossed Bananas"), was adopted as the insignia of the Civil Engineer Corps replacing the Old English letters C.E. These were to be worn on the epaulets, shoulder straps and collar of the service coat. While the pattern of this corps device remained the same, uniform regulations issued in 1919 specified that it was to be embroidered in gold instead of silver and worn on the sleeve of frock, evening dress, and blue service coats, above the gold lace strips, and on shoulder marks for white service coat and overcoat. By these same regulations the light blue cloth worn under the sleeve strips, and worn on the shoulder marks since 1899, was abolished as a distinction of the corps, however is still present in the light blue color of the stripes worn by enlisted, pay grades E-3 and below in the Navy's construction field.
In 1939 the CEC was composed of 126 active officers. By VJ day that number had grown to only 200. However, there were over 10,000 reservists providing the leadership of the Construction Battalions.
In December 1941 Admiral Ben Moreell proposed the creation of 3 Naval Construction Battalions. A problem then confronted BuDocks, who would command the Construction Battalions? Naval regulations stated that military command of naval personnel was strictly limited to line officers, yet BuDocks deemed it essential that these Construction Battalions be commanded by officers of the Civil Engineer Corp, who were trained in the skills required for construction work. The newly formed Bureau of Naval Personnel (BuPers), successor to the Navy's Bureau of Navigation, strongly opposed this transgression of Naval tradition. Admiral Moreell took the question personally to the Secretary of the Navy, Frank Knox, who, on 19 March 1942, gave authority for officers of the Civil Engineer Corps to exercise military authority over all officers and enlisted men assigned to construction units otherwise known as the Seabees. For those engineers assigned to the Seabees a silver Seabee was mounted to the center of the CEC crossed oak leaves insignia. The Seabee logo incorporated the CEC insignia, with one on each arm of the Seabee, just above each glove.
Besides providing the command leadership and engineering skills needed by the Naval Construction Force(NCF), the CEC made a major contribution to the war effort. CAPT. John N. Laycock created the Seabee's "magic box". Today's Navy lighterage pontoon is a direct descendant of his creation.
The first CEC killed in Pacific combat were Lt. Irwin W. Lee and Lt. (jg) George W. Stephenson along with 23 enlisted of the 24th CB. They died in an air raid on 2 July 1943 on Rendova Island. The Seabees named their Naval Training Center at Quoddy Village Eastport, Maine, Camp Lee-Stephenson in honor of them.
The first CEC killed in the Atlantic combat was Lt. Carl M. Olson of St Paul, Minnesota. That happened on 10 September 1943 at Salerno, Italy. His design for the landing end of pontoon assemblies was used throughout the war.
USMC.
During WWII the Seabees had a number of battalions transferred to the Marine Corps. Those battalions were then given USMC designations and the men were given standard Marine Corps issue in addition to their dress naval uniform. For CEC the standard gold and silver officer corps insignia was replaced by a brass subdued one on the garrison hat. The battalions involved were the 18th, 19th, 25th, 53rd and 121st.(see 17th Marine Regiment, 18th Marine Regiment, 19th Marine Regiment, and 20th Marine Regiment) The 31st and 133rd CBs were issued USMC fatigues and attached to the shore parties of the 4th Marine Division and 5th Marine Division for Iwo Jima. The CEC involved would have worn the subdued insignia also. Other battalions were tasked with Marine Corps shore party assignments both prior and post Iwo Jima.
Tasked as combat engineers, the CEC of the 18th and 121st CBs designed a detachable ramp mounted on a LVT-2. Its purpose was to enable the Marines to land on Tinian's beaches bordered by coral embankments up to 15 feet high. Ten LVTs were modified using iron beams salvaged from a sugar factory on Saipan. The commanding General Harry Schmidt was skeptical of the design. He ordered that a vehicle test one, a hundred times, before he would use it in combat. The ramps not only stood up, but they allowed the Marines to land where there were no defenses as a landing there had been thought impossible. The astonished Japanese were overwhelmed and outflanked due to the ramps. The LVTs were nicknamed "doodlebugs".
Naval Combat Demolition Units.
Operational Naval Demolition Unit No. 1. was the very first USN "demolitions" unit. In early May 1943, a two-phase "Naval Demolition Project" was directed by the Chief of Naval Operations "to meet a present and urgent requirement". The first phase began at Amphibious Training Base (ATB) Solomons, Maryland with the establishment of Operational Naval Demolition Unit No. 1. Six Officers and eighteen enlisted men reported from NTC Camp Peary dynamiting and demolition school, for a four-week course. Those Seabees, lead by Lt. Fred Wise CEC, were immediately sent to participate in the invasion of Sicily. When the unit returned to Camp Peary most of the men were assigned to the new Naval Combat Demolition Units being formed there.
Naval Combat Demolition Units were led by junior CEC officers. There were over 200 NCDUs formed with all but five being reqresitioned for the UDTs.
UDTs.
V Amphibious Corps had identified coral as an issue for Amphibious landings in the Pacific and determined Naval Constructions Battalions had the only people with any experience with the material. Lt. Thomas C. Crist CEC, from NCB 10 was in Honolulu from Canton Island where he had been involved in a lagoon coral head clearance project. His being in Pearl Harbor turned out to be pivotal in UDT history. He heard that Admiral Turner was interested in blasting coral and made contact. The Admiral commissioned Lt. Crist with developing a method to blast coral under combat conditions and staging qualified men in Pearl to form a unit for that task. Lt. Crist had staged 30 officers and 150 enlisted when the disaster at Tarawa happened. With Kwajalein the next operation Lt. Crist's 180 men were used to form UDT 1 and UDT 2. Cmdr. E.D. Brewster (CEC) was selected to command UDT 1 and Lt Crist was picked for UDT 2. That did not last as Admiral Connelly wanted a commander with combat experience. So, Lt. Crist was made ops officer for team 2. At Kwajalein Ensign L. Leuhrs and Carp. W. Acheson CEC anticipated that they may not to get the intel Admiral Turner wanted just peddling a dinghy and wore swim trunks under their fatigues. They decided to strip down and go in the water in broad daylight on a hostile beach to get what the Admiral wanted. Doing that changed the UDT mission model and made them the predecessors of the Navy's special ops. Upon returning to Hawaii Lt. Crist was named as the first Training Officer of the UDT program. He was in the position only a short time when he was selected as commander of UDT 3. For the Marianas operations of Kwajelein, Roi-Namur, Siapan, Tinian, Eniwetok, and Guam. Admiral Turner recommended sixty silver stars and over three hundred bronze stars with Vs for the Seabees and others of UDTs 1-7 That was unpresendented in U.S. Naval/Marine Corps history. For UDTs 5 and 7 every officer received a silver star and all the enlisted received bronze stars with Vs for Operation Forager (Tinian). For UDTs 3 and 4 every officer received a silver star and all the enlisted received bronze stars with Vs for Operation Forager (Guam). Admiral Richard Lansing Conolly felt the commanders of teams 3 and 4 (Lt. Crist and Lt. W.G. Carberry) should have received Navy Crosses. When UDT 3 returned from Leyte in November 1944 it became the training instructors of the Maui school and Lt. Crist was made base Training Officer again . The team would remain in these jobs until April 1945 when it was sent to Fort Priece to do the same job there. Lt. Crist had been promoted to Lt. Cmdr. and was sent back to Hawaii but his Team 3 Seabees would train teams 12–22.
Diving masks were not common in 1944 and a few men had tried using goggles at Kwajalein. They were a rare item in the Hawaiian sports stores so Lt. Crist and Seebee Chief Howard Roeder and put in a request to supply for them. A fortuitous observation spotted a diving mask ad in a magazine. That prompted a priority dispatch to the States appropriating the store's entire stock.
In 1944 the Navy created an unheralded program to dredge harbors to increase accessibility and stevedoring productivity at advance bases. The 301st CB was created for the job and given two ex-NCDU(CEC) and two ex-UDT(CEC) to assist. Between them they had three Silver stars and a Bronze star for valor.
Prisoners of War.
During WWII fifteen CEC were taken pow. All were in the Pacific and all were taken at the onset of hostilities at Cavite, Philippines, Wake, and Guam. Six would die: 1 executed, 2 friendly fire, 3 mal-treatment. One pow, Lt. Jerry Steward, received the Navy Cross, Purple heart with 3 gold stars, Army Distinguished Unit Badge with Oak leaf cluster, Philippine Distinguished Service Star and was the most decorated CEC officer of WWII. Postwar he would eventually retire as a Rear Admiral.
Camp David.
The presidential retreat is officially Naval Support Facility Thurmont. The CEC staffs the base command. The Marine Corps provides base security while Seabees oversee base operations and maintenance. The current base commander is Cmdr. Jeremy Ramburg(CEC) while the executive officer is Lcdr. Jannira Gregory (CEC).


Barry Clarke (engineer)

Professor Barry Clarke is a British civil engineer. He specialises in geotechnical engineering and is Associate Director of the Institute of Resilient Infrastructure at Leeds University. Clarke has also worked at Cambridge University and at Newcastle University, where he obtained his first degree. He is a prolific writer with more than a hundred research papers and reports to his name and has written a textbook on pressuremeters in engineering applications. Clarke has sat on many construction industry committees and bodies, particularly those associated with engineering education.
Early life.
Clarke grew up in the North East of England and studied civil engineering at Newcastle University. During his time there he attended a lecture given by leading civil engineer Ove Arup and was greatly impressed by him. After graduation he joined the Voluntary Services Overseas programme and spent two years based at Montserrat.
Academic career.
Clarke worked briefly for a site investigation company upon his return to the UK in 1973 but left to research soil mechanics at Cambridge University. He moved away from full time research in 1984 to launch his geotechnical investigation firm, PM Insitu Techniques, leaving Cambridge the same year to return to Newcastle University as a lecturer. He was promoted to senior lecturer in 1992 and became Professor of Geotechnical Engineering and Head of Civil Engineering in 1998. Clarke became Dean of Business Development for science and engineering in 2003. Since 2008 he has worked at Leeds University, where he is Associate Director of the Institute of Resilient Infrastructure, and lives in nearby Harrogate with his wife, Sandra. He has also acted as an expert witness and advisor to construction companies, particularly in regards to geotechnical matters. Clarke has published over a hundred research papers and reports and is the author of the textbook "Pressuremeters in Geotechnical Design".
Professional associations.
Clarke joined the British Geotechnical Society in 1989, an organisation he would chair (in its new form as the British Geotechnical Association) in 2001, and started the Northern Geotechnical Group of the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) in 1992. He joined the Northumbria branch of the ICE in 1995, being elected chairman in 1998. In 2000 Clarke became a member of the construction industry's Joint Board of Moderators and has also chaired their further learning committee. He became chairman of ICE North and the ICE Ground Forum in 2002 and in 2003 set up the Construction Industry Council's North East branch. Clarke remains interested in the development of engineering education and is Member for Lifelong Learning of the Construction Industry Council Executive and also represents higher education on the board of CITB ConstructionSkills, the industry skills council. He has served as president of the Engineering Professors Council and is a member of the Engineering Strategic Advisory Team of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council. Clarke is also a non executive director of the ICE's publishing arm, Thomas Telford Limited. He was elected president of the ICE and took office on 7 November 2012 for a one year term.
References.


Glenridge station

Glenridge is a light rail station that is currently under construction. It will be part of the Purple Line in Maryland. The station will be located southwest of the intersection of Veterans Parkway and Annapolis Road.
History.
The Glenridge station is expected to open to the public in 2022.
Station layout.
The station consists of two side platforms on the southern side of Veterans Parkway, just east of Annapolis Road.


T-antenna

A T-antenna, T-aerial, flat-top antenna, top-hat antenna, or (capacitively) top-loaded antenna is a monopole radio antenna with transverse capacitive loading wires attached to its top. T-antennas are typically used in the VLF, LF, MF, and shortwave bands, and are widely used as transmitting antennas for amateur radio stations, and long wave and medium wave AM broadcasting stations. They can also be used as receiving antennas for shortwave listening.
The antenna consists of one or more horizontal wires suspended between two supporting radio masts or buildings and insulated from them at the ends. A vertical wire is connected to the center of the horizontal wires and hangs down close to the ground, connected to the transmitter or receiver. Combined, the two sections form a ‘T’ shape, hence the name. The transmitter power is applied, or the receiver is connected, between the bottom of the vertical wire and a ground connection.
The T-antenna functions as a monopole antenna with capacitive top-loading; other antennas in this category include the inverted-L, umbrella, and triatic antennas. It was invented during the first decades of radio, in the wireless telegraphy era, before 1920.
How it works.
At frequencies below 1 MHz, the length of the antenna's wire segments is usually shorter than a quarter wavelength the shortest length of straight wire that achieves resonance. In this circumstances, a T-antenna functions as a vertical, electrically short monopole antenna with capacitive top-loading.
The left and right sections of horizontal wire across the top of the ‘T’ carry equal but oppositely-directed currents. Therefore, far from the antenna, the radio waves radiated by each wire are 180° out of phase with the other, and tend to cancel with the waves from the other wire, along with a similar cancellation of radio waves reflected from the ground. Thus the horizontal wires radiate almost no radio power.
Instead, the horizontal wires purpose is to increase the capacitance at the top of the antenna. More current is required in the vertical wire to charge and discharge this capacitance during the cycle of RF current. The increased currents in the vertical wire ("see drawing at right") effectively increase the antenna's radiation resistance and thus the radio power radiated. The horizontal top load wire can increase radiated power by 2 to 4 times (3 to 6 dB) for a given base current. Consequently the T antenna can radiate more power than a simple vertical monopole of the same height. Similarly, a receiving T antenna can intercept more power from the same incoming radio wave signal strength than the vertical antenna can.
However, the T-antenna is still typically not as efficient as a full-height vertical monopole, and has a higher and thus a narrower bandwidth. T-antennas are typically used at low frequencies where building a full-size quarter-wave high vertical antenna is not practical, and the vertical radiating wire is often very electrically short: Only a small fraction of a wavelength long, or less. An electrically short antenna has a base reactance that is capacitive, and in transmitting antennas this must be tuned-out by an added loading coil to make the antenna resonant so it can be fed power efficiently.
The top-load capacitance increases as more wires are added, so several parallel horizontal wires are often used, connected together at the center where the vertical wire attaches. Although the capacitance increases, because each wire’s electric field impinges on adjacent wires’ fields, it does not increase in proportion to the number of wires: Each added wire provides diminishing additional capacitance.
Radiation pattern.
Since the vertical wire is the actual radiating element, the antenna radiates vertically polarized radio waves in an omnidirectional radiation pattern, with equal power in all azimuthal directions. The axis of the horizontal wire makes little difference. The power is maximum in a horizontal direction or at a shallow elevation angle, decreasing to zero at the zenith. This makes it a good antenna at LF or MF frequencies, which propagate as ground waves with vertical polarization, but it also radiates enough power at higher elevation angles to be useful for sky wave ("skip") communication. The effect of poor ground conductivity is generally to tilt the pattern up, with the maximum signal strength at a higher elevation angle.
Transmitting antennas.
In the longer wavelength ranges where T-antennas are typically used, the electrical characteristics of antennas are generally not critical for modern radio receivers; reception is limited by natural noise, rather than by the signal power gathered by the receiving antenna.
Transmitting antennas are different, and feedpoint impedance is critical:
The combination of reactance and resistance at the antenna feedpoint must be well matched to the impedance of the feedline, and beyond it, the transmitter's output stage. If mismatched, current sent from the transmitter to the antenna will reflect backwards from the connection point as “backlash current”, which at worst can damage the transmitter, and at least will reduce the power of the signal radiated from the antenna.
Reactance.
Any monopole antenna that is shorter than has a capacitive reactance; the shorter it is, the higher that reactance, and the greater the proportion of the feed current that will be reflected back towards the transmitter.
To efficiently drive current into a short transmitting antenna it must be made resonant (reactance-free), if the top-section has not already done so. The capacitance is usually canceled out by an added loading coil or its equivalent; the loading coil is conventionally placed at the base of the antenna for accessibility, connected between the antenna and its feedline.
The horizontal top section of a T-antenna can also reduce the capacitive reactance at the feedpoint, substituting for a vertical section whose height would be about  its length; if it is long enough, it completely eliminates reactance, and obviates any need for a coil at the feedpoint.
At medium and low frequencies, the high antenna capacitance and the high inductance of the loading coil, compared to the short antenna’s low radiation resistance, makes the loaded antenna behave like a high tuned circuit, with a narrow bandwidth over which it will remain well matched to the transmission line, when compared to a monopole.
To operate over a large frequency range the loading coil often must be adjustable, and adjusted when the frequency is changed to limit the power reflected back towards the transmitter. The high also causes a high voltage on the antenna, which is maximum at the current nodes at the ends of the horizontal wire, roughly times the driving-point voltage. The insulators at the ends must be designed to withstand these voltages. In high power transmitters the output power is often limited by the onset of corona discharge from the wires.
Resistance.
Radiation resistance is the equivalent resistance of an antenna due to its radiation of radio waves; for a full-length quarter-wave monopole the radiation resistance is around 25 ohms. Any antenna that is short compared to the operating wavelength has a lower radiation resistance than a longer antenna; sometimes catastrophically so, far beyond the maximum performance improvement provided by a T-antenna. So at low frequencies even a T-antenna can have very low radiation resistance, often less than 1 ohm, so the efficiency is limited by other resistances in the antenna and the ground system. The input power is divided between the radiation resistance and the ‘ohmic’ resistances of the antenna+ground circuit, chiefly the coil and the ground. The resistance in the coil and particularly the ground system must be kept very low to minimize the power dissipated in them.
It can be seen that at low frequencies the design of the loading coil can be challenging: it must have high inductance but very low losses at the transmitting frequency (high ), must carry high currents, withstand high voltages at its ungrounded end, and be adjustable. It is often made of litz wire.
At low frequencies the antenna requires a good low resistance ground to be efficient. The RF ground is typically constructed as a "star" of many radial copper cables buried about 1 ft. in the earth, extending out from the base of the vertical wire, and connected together at the center. The radials should ideally be long enough to extend beyond the displacement current region near the antenna. At VLF frequencies the resistance of the soil becomes a problem, and the radial ground system is usually raised and mounted a few feet above ground, insulated from it, to form a counterpoise.
Equivalent circuit.
The power radiated (or received) by an electrically short vertical antenna like the T-antenna is proportional to the square of the "effective height" of the antenna, so the antenna should be made as high as possible. Without the horizontal wire, the RF current distribution in the vertical wire would decrease linearly to zero at the top ("see drawing" “a” "above"), giving an effective height of half the physical height of the antenna. With an ideal “infinite capacitance” top load wire, the current in the vertical would be constant along its length, giving an effective height equal to the physical height, therefore increasing the power radiated fourfold. So the power radiated (or received) by a T-antenna is up to four times that of a vertical monopole of the same height.
The radiation resistance of an ideal T-antenna with very large top load capacitance is
so the radiated power is
where
This formula shows that the radiated power depends on the product of the base current and the effective height, and is used to determine how many ‘metre-amps’ are required to achieve a given amount of radiated power.
The equivalent circuit of the antenna (including loading coil) is the series combination of the capacitive reactance of the antenna, the inductive reactance of the loading coil, and the radiation resistance and the other resistances of the antenna-ground circuit. So the input impedance is
At resonance the capacitive reactance of the antenna is cancelled by the loading coil so the input impedance at resonance is just the sum of the resistances in the antenna circuit
So the efficiency of the antenna, the ratio of radiated power to input power from the feedline, is
where
It can be seen that, since the radiation resistance is usually very low, the major design problem is to keep the other resistances in the antenna-ground system low to obtain the highest efficiency.
Multiple-tuned antenna.
The "multiple-tuned flattop antenna" is a variant of the T-antenna used in high power low frequency transmitters to reduce ground power losses. It consists of a long capacitive top-load consisting of multiple parallel wires supported by a line of transmission towers, sometimes several miles long. Several vertical radiator wires hang down from the top-load, each attached to its own ground through a loading coil. The antenna is driven either at one of the radiator wires, or more often at one end of the top-load, by bringing the wires of the top-load diagonally down to the transmitter.
Although the vertical wires are separated, the distance between them is small compared to the length of the LF waves, so the currents in them are in phase and they can be considered as one radiator. Since the antenna current flows into the ground through parallel loading coils and grounds rather than one, the equivalent loading coil and ground resistance, and therefore the power dissipated in the loading coil and ground, is reduced to that of a simple T-antenna. The antenna was used in the powerful radio stations of the wireless telegraphy era but has fallen out of favor due to the expense of multiple loading coils.


William Henry Preece

Sir William Henry Preece (15 February 1834 – 6 November 1913) was a Welsh electrical engineer and inventor. Preece relied on experiments and physical reasoning in his life's work. Upon his retirement from the Post Office in 1899, Preece was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) in the 1899 Birthday Honours.
Biography.
Preece was born in Caernarfon (Gwynedd), Wales. He was educated at King's College School and King's College London. Preece studied at the Royal Institution in London (Great Britain) under Michael Faraday. He later was the consulting engineer for the Post Office (1870s). He became Engineer-in-Chief of the British General Post Office in 1892. He developed several improvements in railroad signalling system that increased railway safety. Preece and Oliver Lodge maintained a correspondence during this period. Upon Lodge's proposal of "loading coils" applied to submerged cables, Preece did not realise that "Earthing" would extend the distance and efficiency.
Telegraphy.
In 1889 Preece assembled a group of men at Coniston Water in the Lake District in Lancashire and succeeded in transmitting and receiving Morse radio signals over a distance of about 1 mile (1.6 km) across water.
Preece also developed a wireless telegraphy and telephony system in 1892. Preece developed a telephone system and implemented it in England. A similar telephone system was patented in the United States by Alexander Graham Bell in 1876. In 1885, Preece and Arthur West Heaviside (Oliver Heaviside's brother) experimented with parallel telegraph lines and an unwired telephone receiver, discovering radio induction (later identified with the effects of crosstalk).
Preece blocked publication of some of Arthur and Oliver Heaviside's work. There was a long history of animosity between Preece and Oliver Heaviside. Heaviside considered Preece to be mathematically incompetent, an assessment supported by the biographer Paul J. Nahin: "Preece was a powerful government official, enormously ambitious, and in some remarkable ways, an utter blockhead." Preece's motivations in suppressing Heaviside's work were more to do with protecting Preece's own reputation and avoiding having to admit error than any perceived faults in Heaviside's work.
Radio.
In 1897, with Marconi radio experiments from Lavernock Point in south Wales to the island of Flatholm, Preece became one of Marconi's most ardent supporters. He made various efforts to support Guglielmo Marconi in the wireless field. Preece gained financial assistance from the Post Office to help expand Marconi's work. Preece believed that the Earth's magnetic field was critical in the propagation of radio waves over long distances.
He had a long-standing rivalry with Oliver Heaviside over his understanding of electricity. It was derisively referred to as "the drain-pipe theory" by Heaviside, because Preece relied on an analogy between electricity and water for thought experiments. Reportedly, he rejected and never understood James Clerk Maxwell's advances to mathematical physics, and insisted that adding inductance to a telegraph line could only be detrimental, even while Maxwell's and Heaviside's theory and experiments showed that inductance could help.
Preece once stated, conveying sentiments later expressed by Edwin Armstrong,
Preece served as president of the Institution of Civil Engineers between April 1898 and November 1899.
External links.


Direct-buried cable

Direct-buried cable (DBC) is a kind of communications or transmissions electrical cable which is especially designed to be buried under the ground without any kind of extra covering, sheathing, or piping to protect it.
Most direct-buried cable is built to specific tolerances to heat, moisture, conductivity, and soil acidity. Unlike standard telecommunications and power cables, which have only a thin layer of insulation and a waterproof outer cover, DBC consists of multiple layers of heavy metallic-banded sheathing, reinforced by heavy rubber covers, shock absorbing gel, wrapped thread-fortified waterproof tape, and stiffened by a heavy metal core.
DBC is preferable in some areas since it is more resistant to being the focus of lightning discharges.
Communications.
Most cable of this kind is coaxial or bundled fiber-optic cable. In the 20th century much of it was filled cable. Direct-buried cable is cheaper and easier to lay than other kinds of cable that require protection from the earth. However, DBC is also easily cut during digging or other excavations. As a result, most direct-buried cable is found on side roads, not main thoroughfares.
Power.
Some power cabling is also direct-buried. This kind of cabling must follow strict regulatory procedures regarding installation and backfilling. This is usually used for undergrounding in areas where overhead cabling is impractical or dangerous.


Bearing Specialists Association

Bearing Specialists Association (BSA) is an industry trade group of distributors of bearings. It is based in Glen Ellyn, Illinois and is managed by CM Services, an association management company.
It publishes a self-study guide and a number of technical publications, and organizes an annual meeting for its members.


Peter Bower

Peter Bower (b. 1715/21 – June 1795) was an English clockmaker who settled in Wiltshire during the late 1730s, and established his working career in the village of Redlynch.
Early life.
Bower was born between 1715 and 1723 in the borough of Westminster, London, where he was baptised in St Anne's Church, Soho, on 10 November 1723; he was the second eldest son of Peter Bowyer (1691–1794) and his wife Elizabeth (née Williams).
His father began his career as a shipwright, and at the time of his marriage on 25 December 1707 he is recorded as residing in Redriffe (Rotherhithe). His father would eventually establish himself as a clockmaker, and had premises in Great Windmill Street, Soho. He was a grandson of Peter Brent (1634–1676), Sergeant Plumber to King Charles II, and following the Great Fire of London the Plumbers' Company borrowed money from sergeant Peter Brent for the rebuilding of their Plumbers' Hall. He was also the great grandson of William Bowyer (1605–1653), clockmaker of London.
Marriage and issue.
Bower was married in Saint Martin's Church, Salisbury, Wiltshire on 23 April 1739 to Susanna Bayly (1717–1787). They were known to have had seven children.
(i) Mary Bower (1739–1827), wife of Henry Plaskett
(iii) Sarah Bower (b. 1747), wife of William O'bryan
(iv) William Bower (1751–1842), husband of 1st, Anne Smith and 2nd, Ann Northam
Peter Bower's descendants through his daughter Mary Bower, a devout Methodist of Downton, Wiltshire and her husband Henry Plaskett, became established clock and watchmakers in their own right; many of these descendants resided in the East End of London. His son William Bower is also recorded as a clockmaker, although no work by him survives.
Career.
Bower is recorded as working as a blacksmith in Salisbury in 1739. He later moved to Hillside House, Redlynch, Wiltshire, where he seems to have lived for the next fifty years or so. The street was later renamed 'Bowers Hill'. Here he established himself as a clockmaker, and many works by him survive today. He seems to have been a devout man, "careful of the morals of his children".
Death.
Bower died aged 80 in Redlynch, Wiltshire. He is recorded in the burial register as a pauper, and was buried on 5 July 1795 in the Church of St. Lawrence, Downton.


Charles Morris Ankcorn

Charles Morris Ankcorn (September 11, 1893 - October 1, 1955) was professor of military science at State College of Washington and Brigadier General in the U.S Army during World War II.
Early life and career.
Charles M. Ankcorn was born on September 11, 1893 in Palouse, Washington. Prior to military service, Ankcorn attended the University of Idaho and Ohio State University. During World War I, he was assigned to the infantry during 1917. Following the war, he was professor of military science and tactics at State College of Washington from 1924 to 1929.
World War II.
During World War II, Ankcorn commanded the 157th Infantry Regiment from September 1940 to September 1943. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, and during September 1943, Ankcorn was promoted to the rank of brigadier general, but was injured by an antipersonnel mine. He returned to the U.S in January, 1944.
Later life.
Ankcorn retired from military service in December, 1944. Ankcorn died on October 1, 1955.
Awards.
Distinguished Service Cross.
Citation.
 Colonel (Infantry) Charles M. Ankcorn, United States Army, was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations against an armed enemy while serving with the 157th Infantry Regiment, 45th Infantry Division, in action against enemy forces in July 1943. Colonel Ankcorn's outstanding leadership, personal bravery and zealous devotion to duty exemplify the highest traditions of the military forces of the United States and reflect great credit upon himself, the 45th Infantry Division, and the United States Army.


John Muir Wood

John Muir Wood, (1805-1892) was a Scottish musician, piano maker, music publisher and an early amateur photographer.
Early life.
John Muir Wood was born in Edinburgh on 31 July 1805, the son of Andrew Wood and Jacobina Ferrier.
Wood's father was a partner in the Edinburgh piano manufacturing and music publishing firm of Muir, Wood and Company, and later Wood, Small and Company. In 1799 his company won a royal warrant as ""Musical Instrument Makers of His Majesty"."
Wood was named for his father's initial business partner, John Muir (d. 1818). His father's later business partner was George Small.
Music.
Wood's interest in music likely stemmed from his father's profession as a piano manufacturer and music publisher in Edinburgh. As a youth in Edinburgh Wood received training as a pianist, eventually travelling to Paris and Vienna to continue his musical studies.
In 1828 Wood returned to Edinburgh as a music teacher, later entering the family business. With his brothers, George (1812-1893) and Robert (1797-1871), he operated the piano and music publishing firm of Wood & Co. in Edinburgh. After relocating to Glasgow, Wood established John Muir Wood & Co. on Buchanan Street.
Wood's music businesses were quite successful and through his work he was involved in arranging many classical music concerts in Glasgow. One of those concerts was the visit of Frédéric Chopin to Scotland in 1848, which Wood coordinated with London-based piano-manufacturer James Shudi Broadwood.
In 1884, Wood edited a new edition of George Farquhar Graham's "Songs of Scotland".
Photography.
Wood never pursued photography for profit. The focus of his photographs included individual portraits, group scenes, streetscapes, ruins and rural landscapes. He travelled to remote locations for his photography.
Wood's knowledge of photography may date from his friendship in the 1840s with the eye surgeon Dr. Jasper MacAldin, who shared his knowledge of optics and chemistry. MacAldin was also a subject in several of Wood's portraits.
In 1841, Wood toured the west of Scotland with landscape painter James Eckford Lauder (1811-1869).
After settling in Glasgow, Wood took paddle steamers, as well as more traditional boats, to explore and photograph the Clyde, Largs, Arran, the Isle of Bute and other Scottish locales.
Wood produced his photographs using a calotype process. He also experimented with the addition of various metals, such as copper, tin, gold and uranium in an attempt to produce different color tones and more permanent images.
Wood's collection of more than 900 images, believed by experts to be the first serious series of landscape pictures of Scotland, are part of the collection of the National Galleries of Scotland. An exhibit of this collection was held at the National Gallery of Scotland in 2008. The collection is permanently held at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.
A selection of Wood's photographs, entitled "Photography of John Muir Wood", by Sarah Stevenson, et al., was published in 1988.
Personal life.
On 22 January 1851 in Gorbals, Lanark, Scotland, John Muir Wood married Helen Kemlo Stephen. The couple raised a large family together.
Muir Wood died at Cove, Dumbartonshire (now Argyll and Bute), Scotland on 25 June 1892. Wood's body was returned to Glasgow and was buried in the Glasgow Necropolis.
John Muir Wood is the great-grandfather of Sir Alan Muir Wood (1921-2009), a British civil engineer known as the father of modern tunneling. Sir Alan and his son, Dr. Paul Muir Wood, were instrumental in donating John Muir Woods photographic images to the National Galleries of Scotland.


Elliptic spring


Darhata Sawabi

Darhata Sawabi is a Filipino weaver from Parang, Sulu known for "pis syabit", a traditional Tausūg cloth tapestry worn as a head covering by the people of Jolo. She is a recipient of the National Living Treasures Award, having given the distinction in 2004. "Pis" refers to the geometric pattern that is said to be derived from the Indic mandala, and "siyabit" stands for the hook and technique.
Unmarried, Sawabi does weaving as a means of livelihood since farming, a common source of income for Parang families, is not sustainable for herself. "Pis syabit" weaving is a tedious work. It takes three days for the warp alone to be made. By age 48, she employs the help of apprentice weavers and children in her work. In the 1970s, she has to moved residence at least twice due to the Moro conflict. Sawabi died on March 12, 2005, about a year after she was given the National Living Treasures Award.
She is also a relative of Basilan weaver Ambalang Ausalin, who is also a National Living Treasure awardee.


Connecticut Avenue station

Connecticut Avenue is a light rail station that is currently under construction in Chevy Chase, Maryland. It will be part of the Purple Line in Maryland. The station will be located at the intersection of Connecticut Avenue and the Capital Crescent Trail.
History.
The Connecticut Avenue station is expected to open to the public in June 2023.
Station layout.
The station consists of two side platforms.


Stefano Macaluso

Stefano Macaluso (born 6 September 1975 in Casale Monferrato, Italy) is an Italian businessman.
He attended high school and went to university in Turin, graduating with a degree in Architecture from the Politecnico in 2002.
While completing his university course, he also devoted some time to his passion of motor sports, competing first in Italian Championship rallies before going on to the European and World Championships.
Career.
Since his earliest age, Stefano Macaluso had been immersed in the world of watches: he has seen his father Luigi Macaluso at work as President of the Sowind Group that incorporates a "Manufacture" and the two watchmaking brands Girard-Perregaux and JeanRichard. Surrounded by the technical and aesthetic expertise that has made the luxury Swiss watch-making industry so famous, he has acquired wide experience in this sector to add to his extensive professional know-how.
Since 2003 he has lived in La Chaux-de-Fonds in the Swiss canton of Neuchâtel. There, he has successively held professional positions in strategy marketing, product creation and development, industrial management and in the Sales Department Direction for Girard-Perregaux. Among his achievements, he has coordinated the development of the Girard-Perregaux retail concept, from the first flagship store open in Gstaad in 2004 to the newest boutiques opened in New York and China. Passionate for design, he puts his architect background to good use through his involvement in the product creation.
Since November 2010, Stefano Macaluso has been appointed general manager for Girard-Perregaux.


Henning Engelsen

Henning Engelsen (5 February 1918 – 8 September 2005) was a Norwegian woodcarver and illustrator.
Biography.
Henning Engelsen was born at Sandefjord in Vestfold og Telemark, Norway.
He started his woodcarving career in 1947 in a small workshop at Toten in the eastern part of Norway, where he founded the wood carving company HENNING. From the start his idea was to create a world of wood carved figures that radiate joy and humanity and inspire us to rise above the ordinary. His rich and manifold production counts hundreds of different motives, illustrating animal life, myths and Norwegian folklore.
During the 1950s and 1960s HENNING grew steadily and was soon to be the leading enterprise on the Norwegian souvenir market, exporting figurines to all over the world. At the time, Engelsen had more than 25 craftsmen working in his studio. He ran HENNING with great success until 1988.
Two of his three daughters; Christl Engelsen, Angelina Engelsen and his son-in-law, Bjarne Espedal, are now running the workshop, keeping Engelsens manifold production alive. His third daughter is the sculptor Elena Engelsen, who was married to sculptor and graphic artist Per Ung (1933–2013).


Luke Livingston Macassey

Luke Livingstone Macassey (1843 – 9 May 1908) was an Irish civil engineer and barrister, notable for his contributions to public health by improving the water supply in the north of Ireland (today Northern Ireland). In 1874 he was appointed consultant hydraulic engineer by the Belfast City and District Water Commissioners in which capacity he was instrumental in finding new sources of water for the expanding city of Belfast. He proposed the Silent Valley Reservoir project in the Mourne Mountains, the first phase of which was completed in 1901, though he died before work began on the reservoir itself.
He also was the first to propose a direct rail link connecting Scotland with Ireland.
Macassey is the subject of an Ulster History Circle blue plaque in Belfast.


Fangxin Road station

Fangxin Road () is a station under construction on the future Line 18 of the Shanghai Metro. Located at the intersection of Fangxin Road and Baiyang Road in Pudong, Shanghai, the station is scheduled to open with the rest of phase one of Line 18 in 2021.


Panhard rod

A Panhard rod (also called Panhard bar, track bar, or track rod) is a suspension link that provides lateral location of the axle. Originally invented by the Panhard automobile company of France in the early twentieth century, this device has been widely used ever since.
Overview.
The purpose of automobile suspension is to let the wheels move vertically with respect to the body. It is thus undesirable to allow them to move forward and backwards (longitudinally), or side to side (laterally). The Panhard rod prevents lateral movement. The Panhard bar is a simple device, consisting of a rigid bar running sideways in the same plane as the axle, connecting one end of the axle to the car body or chassis on the opposite side of the vehicle. The bar attaches on either end with pivots that let it swivel upwards and downwards only, so that the axle can move in the vertical plane only. This does not effectively locate the axle longitudinally, therefore it is usually used in conjunction with trailing arms that stabilize the axle in the longitudinal direction. This arrangement is not usually used with a leaf spring suspension, where the springs themselves supply enough lateral rigidity, but only with coil spring suspensions. However, Ford used a similar connected "rear axle damper" (fifth shock) on some Explorers and light trucks with rear leaf springs. Jaguar also used a Panhard rod to locate the rear axle on its unusual cantilever leaf sprung Mark 2.
Advantages and disadvantages.
The advantage of the Panhard rod is its simplicity. Its major disadvantage is that the axle must necessarily move in an arc relative to the body, with the radius equal to the length of the Panhard rod. If the rod is too short, it allows excessive sideways movement between the axle and the body at the ends of the spring travel. Therefore, the Panhard rod is less desirable on smaller cars than larger ones. A suspension design that is similar but dramatically reduces the sideways component of the axle's vertical travel is Watt's linkage.
Applications.
Some vehicles with live-axle suspensions, where Watt's linkage is not an option, e.g. a number of Land Rover models use a Panhard rod as a component of the front suspension. The Mercedes G-class was redesigned in 2018 to include a Panhard rod on the rear axle to improve its on-road handling characteristics.


Howard P. Savage

Howard Paul Savage (January 3, 1884 – May 7, 1944) was an American businessman who served as the National Commander of The American Legion from 1926 to 1927.
Early life and education.
Howard Paul Savage was born in Boone, Iowa. He attended the Lewis Institute of Technology, University of Wisconsin, and De Paul University.
Forward Pass.
Bradbury Robinson, who threw the first legal forward pass in college football, cited Savage as his inspiration. Both were players at the University of Wisconsin in the preseason of 1904 when, according to Robinson's memoirs:
... there came to the Wisconsin U squad a tall young Irishman from Chicago. His name was H.P. Savage, the same who later… became the National Commander of the American Legion and was known as "High Power" Savage. They were trying to develop me into a kicker at Wisconsin and H.P. generally teamed up with me to catch my punts. I noticed that he could throw my punts back almost as far as I could kick them. Here was the trick I must learn. I got H.P. to show me how he did it.
Twenty-five years later, Robinson told "St. Louis Star-Times" sports editor Sid Keener (1888–1981) that Savage threw "the pigskin to his players with the ball revolving as it sailed through the air."
"From then on," Robinson wrote in his memoirs, "my football hobby became forward passing or anyway passing the ball."
Robinson would transfer to St. Louis University for the 1904 season, where he would throw the first legal pass in September 1906.
Early career.
In 1910, he became an engineer for the Chicago Elevated Train, eventually working his way up to General Manager of the Metropolitan Motor Coach Company.
World War I.
Savage was commissioned a First Lieutenant of Engineers on June 7, 1918 and assigned to the United States Army's 55th Engineer Regiment, serving on railway construction in France until July 1, 1919.
The American Legion.
Savage became active in The American Legion after the war and served at post, county, department and national levels. As department commander, he focused on improving medical care and rehabilitation for veterans. An additional issue he strongly advocated for while department commander was to grant more independence to the Cook County branch of the Legion. He felt it important to combat the Communist Party in the U.S., believing the Communist party to have more members than the Legion. He became National commander in 1926 being elected on the 21st ballot. He was the first commander from Illinois.
In 1927, Savage led 20,000 members of The American legion on a goodwill tour of post war Europe. He conducted this tour with John Pershing, Supreme American Commander during the First World War. He was a significant proponent of allowing reserve officer training in High Schools and Colleges stating, "Those who attack the military training in high schools and college as UnAmerican [sic], militaristic, and likely to breed war are cracked idealists who do not know what is it to face a blood-lusting enemy without training". He directed the National Employment Commission for The American Legion. In this role, he cooperated with the government's employment service, appointed state employment officers and planned for post-level activities aimed at easing the problem of unemployment in the towns of cities of the nation.
Later life.
Savage held many business and organizational titles during his lifetime. His first elected office was President of the North Shore Park District in Chicago. He was also a president of the Lewis Institute Alumni Association. In 1928, he served as a Republican Delegate to the national convention from Illinois. In the 1930s, he used his Legion connections to become business manager of Chicago Board of Education. He died on May 7, 1944 in Chicago, Illinois.
Legacy.
Savage was on the cover of the September 27, 1927 edition of Time magazine. In addition, the Howard. P Savage Trophy is awarded to the winner of The American Legion World Series each year.


Imperial wire gauge


Yarmouth suspension bridge

Yarmouth suspension bridge spanned the River Bure at Great Yarmouth, Norfolk from 1829 until its collapse in 1845. The bridge was widened in 1832, which had not been anticipated by the original design. On 2 May 1845 the bridge collapsed under load from a crowd who had gathered to watch a circus stunt on the river. Some 79 people, mainly children, were killed. An investigation found fault with the design and workmanship of the bridge. The site of the disaster is marked by a modern-day memorial.
Bridge.
An act of parliament was passed in 1827 for the construction of a bridge over the River Bure at Great Yarmouth. The Cory family paid for the bridge which was to replace a ferry and provide easier access from the town to marshland, the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens and a bowling green owned by the family. The investment would be recouped by a toll on those crossing. The architect for the bridge was Joseph John Scoles of London. He designed a suspension bridge with two towers and a clear span of . The span was later increased on site to and the suspension chains increased in length accordingly but it is not thought that Scoles was consulted on this matter (it would be considered usual to increase the height of the towers to match the lengthened chains).
The bridge was supported by a suspension chain at both edges of the deck, each chain being formed from two sets of thick eyebars which had been made by a local blacksmith. The suspension chain was tied back to the bank and ran over the tops of two sets of pyramidal cast iron towers, on piled foundations, some apart. The chain sagged by between the towers. The magnitude of this sag was unaltered from the original design, despite the length of bridge being increased.
The deck was attached to the suspension chains by vertical iron rods. The wide deck was slightly arched and carried a central single carriageway of width and two footways each in width. The bridge was constructed by Gidney Goddard, supervised by Mr Green, a local surveyor.
The bridge opened for public use on 23 April 1829. Scoles attended the opening, which was the first time he had attended the site. In 1832 the road from Yarmouth to Acle was routed over the bridge. This had not originally been intended and, to provide sufficient width for two carriages to pass each other, the bridge was widened by some on each side in 1844. The railing was also moved to the extreme edge of the widened deck, which was thereby increased in width to .
Disaster of 2 May 1845.
Cooke's Circus was in Great Yarmouth and as part of a promotion it was advertised that a clown, named Arthur Nelson, would sail up the River Bure in a washtub pulled by four geese on 2 May 1845. The trick, first devised by Dicky Usher in 1809, was achieved by having the tub attached to a rowboat by an underwater line. A large crowd assembled in the vicinity from around 5 pm to view the feat which started with the flood tide. Several thousand people viewed the clown from the river banks and at least 300 in a crowd 4–5 deep on the southern footway of the bridge. The crowd concentrated at the south-eastern corner of the bridge, though the bridge was far from full as the carriageway was still passable to carts.
At around 5.40pm one of the eyebars in the southern suspension chain failed; this was witnessed by members of the crowd but no action seems to have been taken to evacuate the bridge as a result. The second eyebar in that portion of the chain took up the full load for around five minutes before it too failed. The south side of the deck fell into the river, though the north end remained suspended by the surviving chain, and the majority of the crowd were tipped into the water, which at this point was deep. Children, who formed much of the front rank of the crowd, were crushed against the parapet railing by those behind them. One child was saved from being swept away by her mother holding onto her with her teeth. A horse and cart was on the point of crossing when the collapse happened and was saved from falling into the river by the horse backing up in fright.
Boats soon arrived on the scene to rescue the victims. The wounded and dead were taken to nearby houses and pubs (including the Norwich Arms, the Admiral Collingwood and the Swan). The Union House hotel supplied blankets for the wounded and Lacons Brewery made quantities of hot water available for hot baths to revive the survivors. Some 75 bodies were recovered on the day of the accident, though some remained trapped in the wreckage of the bridge – one man was rescued alive some time later after being freed with the use of a crowbar. In all 79 people were killed in the disaster, of whom 59 were children. Most of the dead were under 13 years of age and the youngest victim was two years old. The news was conveyed by electric telegraph and was known of in Norwich within 5 minutes of the accident. Messages were passed by this means to family members of those killed, injured or missing.
Investigation.
The coroner's inquest was held the next day in a local church hall. The British government commissioned a report by James Walker, past-president of the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE). Walker found that Scoles' original specification correctly called for high quality iron to be used for the eyebars but failed to specify any testing of the product. He found that the second failure occurred in a joint within the eyebars – each of which had been forged from three separate pieces: two eyes and a bar. The scarf joint between the components had been imperfectly welded with the weld covering only one third of the surface area of the joint. Had the welds been carried out correctly it is likely that the rods would not have failed. Walker also noted that the rod portion of the eyebars was made of better quality iron than the eyes and that the second rod to fail had extended by around an inch under the load imposed.
Norwich ICE member William Thorold visited the scene of the accident on 3 May to inspect the wreckage and on 20 May presented a report on the matter in the "Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers". Thorold considered that the increased width was a factor int he failure but that the principal cause was faulty workmanship in the suspension chain. Thorold stated that he found the first link to fail had been improperly welded, with contact between only 5% of the cross sectional area. He concurred with Walker that one third of the weld in the second link was unsound.
Thorold's report was the subject of further discussion in the "Proceeding" by several leading engineers of the time. Walker claimed that the decision taken to widen the bridge was a poor one. Though the additional weight imposed () was small compared to the weight of the original deck () the extra weight, being outside of the original deck area, was carried entirely by one of the chains. It was thought that, had the bridge not been widened, it would have been able to accept the crowd loading. Indeed crowds of 2–3 times as many people had previously been present on the bridge but the loads had been spread more evenly across the two suspension chains.
Leading bridge engineer and future ICE president James Meadows Rendel was of the opinion that such a slender suspension bridge should not have been constructed in a location susceptible to crowd loading. He noted that a similar bridge at Montrose, Angus had collapsed when a crowd formed on it to observe a boat race. Rendel described the Yarmouth bridge as "a mere toy" and that the design was not well conceived. He was of the opinion that a traditional arch bridge should have been constructed instead or otherwise the deck made rigid by use of a truss.
The primary cause of failure was attributed to the welding of the eyebars which was described as defective. Rendel found them to be of such poor quality that they would have failed under any adequate scheme of testing. Regular maintenance inspections of the bridge may have picked up the issue and one ICE member made the recommendation that public bridges be regularly inspected by a competent engineer.
Legacy.
The disaster is described as the "largest recorded loss of life" in Great Yarmouth. It is commemorated by a blue plaque on the former Swan Inn, some north of the site of the bridge. Lanterns were lit at the site in 2013 to mark the 168th anniversary of the disaster. A permanent memorial costing £5,000 was erected near to the site of the bridge on North Quay Road in September 2013. This comprises a high granite block carved to resemble an open book. One page shows a depiction of the disaster and the other contains a list of the dead.


Nikolaus Lilienfeld

Nikolaus Lilienfeld (also Nicolaus Lillienveld, Nikolaus Lillienfeld) was a German engineer and clockmaker of the late 14th and early 15th centuries.
Life and work.
The circumstances of Lilienfeld's life are largely unknown. It is assumed that he was born between 1350 and 1365 and died between 1420 and 1435. The place of Lilienfeld's birth or death is unknown.
Lilienfeld is first attested in late 1394, when he completed the astronomical clock in Stralsund. In 1396, he was named in two Rostock records as a witness to the notarisation in connection with the founding of the Marienehe Charterhouse in Rostock; in 1406, he worked as a hydraulic engineer for the near Rügenwalde and in 1420, he received a financial grant for the construction of a water pipe for the city of Stralsund.
Lilienfeld's importance results from the fact that he built the astronomical clock in St. Nicholas Church, Stralsund. This makes him the oldest clockmaker known by name in the Baltic region. The clock he constructed bears the Latin inscription:
Lilienfeld probably had no academic education, but was skilled in the use of astronomical instruments. His indication of the latitude of Stralsund on the dial of the Stralsund clock with 54 degrees 25 minutes is of astonishing accuracy.
The clock case also bears a portrait of Lilienfeld on the southern side wall, the oldest portrait of a clockmaker ever.
Due to similarities of preserved parts with the corresponding elements of the Stralsund clock, it is assumed that Lilienfeld also built the astronomical clock of Doberan Minster, of which only the dial remains today, as well as the clock in Lund Cathedral, which is no longer in its original state. However, there is no written evidence for this assumption.


Jurong Hill MRT station

Jurong Hill MRT station is a proposed Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) station on the Jurong Region line (JRL) in Boon Lay, Singapore. First announced in May 2018, the station is expected to be completed in 2029 along with Phase 3 of JRL.
History.
On 9 May 2018, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) announced that Jurong Hill station would be part of the proposed Jurong Region line (JRL). The station will be constructed as part of Phase 3, consisting of 7 stations – a 4 station extension to Jurong Hill station from Boon Lay and a 3 station extension to Peng Kang Hill from Tawas. It was expected to be completed in 2028. However, the restrictions on construction due to the COVID-19 pandemic has led to delays, with the completion date pushed to 2029.
The contract for the design and construction of the Jurong Hill and Jurong Pier stations and of associated viaducts – Contract J112 – was awarded to a joint venture between China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (Singapore Branch) (CCECC) and SCB Building Construction Pte Ltd at S$263 million (US$ million) on 6 April 2021. Construction is scheduled to start in the second quarter of 2021, with expected completion in 2029.
Station details.
The station will serve the JRL and will be located between the Tukang and Jurong Pier stations. The official station code will be JS11. The station will span over Jurong Pier Road, at the junction with Bird Park Drive just south of the Ayer Rajah Expressway (AYE) interchange. With four entrances, the station will serve Jurong Bird Park and Jurong Hill Park to the west and surrounding industrial developments.


Bowyer

A bowyer is a master-craftsman who makes bows. Though this was once a widespread profession, the importance of bowyers and of bows was diminished by the introduction of gunpowder weaponry. However, the trade has survived and many bowyers continue to produce high-end bows.
History.
Historically, a wide variety of bows have been produced for purposes ranging from food gathering and warfare to recreation. Who created these bows depended mainly on the type of bow being produced, but also on the quantity required. The skills required tend to divide traditional bowyers into two groups:
Makers of self bows.
In clans or social groups that used wooden self bows (bows made entirely from one piece of wood) bows would sometimes be crafted by the individual user; however, even with fairly simple bow designs it was often easier to rely upon a few skilled bowyers within the group. By working in groups more could be accomplished. In medieval England, for example, professional bowyers produced thousands of bows required for that country’s military. These bowyers could reportedly make an English longbow in as little as two hours. Wooden selfbows normally take from 5–15 hours of work depending on the skill of the bowyer and the challenges set by the piece of wood. Modern amateurs find it satisfying to make functional self bows with beginner's skills and few tools.
Makers of composite bows.
Cultures that used composite bows (bows made of several materials, classically horn, wood, and sinew) had to rely on skilled craftsmen. Composite bows could be made relatively short, heavily recurved, and highly effective but the constituent materials had to be put under enormous stress and the bow’s limbs needed to be perfectly aligned. These demands required experienced bowyers who were willing to spend a great deal of time crafting their weapons. Cultures such as the Mongols made effective military use of powerful composite bows for millennia; the limited records indicate that only a minority of men in these cultures ever made bows.
Bowyers in the United States.
In the United States, many bowyers were inspired by Ishi, the last member of the Yahi, who lived most of his life outside modern culture. Ishi first contacted US citizens in 1911. His friend Saxton Pope learned some of his skills and spread them to bowyers including Howard Hill, Ben Pearson and Fred Bear.


Sally Victor

Sally Victor (February 23, 1905 – May 14, 1977) was a prominent American milliner from the late 1920s through the 1960s. Her designs were popular with Hollywood actresses such as Irene Dunne, Helen Hayes, and Merle Oberon, as well as First Ladies Mamie Eisenhower and Jacqueline Kennedy.
Early life.
Sally Victor was born Sally Josephs in Scranton, Pennsylvania. She took an interest in design at age eight, when her family moved to New York where her aunt had a millinery shop. As she reflected in a 1949 interview,
Career.
At 18 she began working in the millinery department of Macy's. Within a year she had become assistant millinery buyer, and three years later she was hired as chief millinery buyer at Bamberger's department store in Newark. After marrying millinery wholesaler Sergiu F. Victor in 1927, she gave birth to a son, Richard, and briefly retired. However she soon returned to work and became the head designer of Victor's firm, Serge.
In 1934 she established a fashion label under her own name, with a millinery salon on East 53rd Street in New York. Her hats began to be sold in high-profile stores, including Lord & Taylor on Fifth Avenue. "Fortune" compared her work with that of Lilly Daché and Mr. John.
Victor was regarded as an innovator, and her hats remained popular through her retirement in 1967. Along with Lilly Daché and Mr. John, she is seen as one of the most prominent milliners of the period.
She died at Doctors Hospital in New York on May 14, 1977.
Style.
Sally Victor drew inspiration from many diverse sources, including Native American art, Chinese lanterns, Japanese armor, and the works of Henri Matisse, Piet Mondrian, Rogier van der Weyden, and Frank Lloyd Wright. She was innovative in introducing synthetic materials into her hats alongside traditional ones.
Some of her popular product lines included "baby bonnets", "Pompadour hats", "Grecian pillboxes", "honey hives", and "Tudor tops". Designs intended for the mass market were sold through a subsidiary named Sally V.
Victor designed several hats for First Lady Mamie Eisenhower, including one known as the "Airwave" which she wore at her husband Dwight's inauguration in 1953. Former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt also wore Sally Victor hats in the 1950s. Victor later created designs for Jacqueline Kennedy.
Throughout her career, Sally Victor emphasized making hats which were attractive, rather than being chic or avant-garde.


Philip Moulthrop


Volcano mine system

The M136 Volcano Vehicle-Launched Scatterable Mine System (VLSMS) is a automated mine delivery system developed by the United States Army in the 1980s. The system uses prepackaged mine canisters which contain multiple anti-personnel (AP) and/or anti-tank (AT) mines which are dispersed over a wide area when ejected from the canister. The system, commonly referred to as "Volcano", is also used by other armies around the world.
Overview.
The primary purpose of Volcano is to provide the employing force with the capability to emplace large minefields rapidly under varied conditions. Volcano minefields are ideal for providing flank protection of advancing forces and for operating in concert with air and ground units on flank guard or screen missions.
The system comprises of the M139 Dispenser used for dispensing pre-packaged mine canisters, the dispensing control unit (DCU) and mounting hardware, and is designed to be mounted on either ground or aerial vehicles using the same components except for the mounting hardware, which varies between fitment. Volcano is designed to be fitted to and removed from vehicles with a minimum of time and labour. The dispensing system is also designed for ease of use, to operated by personnel with a minimum of training. The ordnance used by the system is based upon a modified GATOR mine. Both live and inert (training) ordnance is available; live canisters are painted green while inert canisters are painted blue.
When fitted to aircraft, the system is referred to as "Air Volcano" and when fitted to ground vehicles is referred to as "Ground Volcano". The principles and procedures of Volcano minefield emplacement are significantly different for air- and ground-delivery systems; the differences can be summarised as follows:
Air Volcano.
Air Volcano is the fastest method for emplacing large tactical minefields. Although mine placement is not as precise as it is with ground systems, Air Volcano minefields can be placed accurately enough to avoid the danger inherent in minefields delivered by artillery or jet aircraft. Air Volcano is the best form of an obstacle reserve because a minefield can be emplaced in minutes.
Air Volcano minefield should not be planned or dispensed in areas under enemy observation and fire as the dispensing helicopter is extremely vulnerable to anti-aircraft fire while flying at a steady altitude, speed and flight path required to successfully emplace the minefield. Close coordination between aviation and ground units is required to ensure that Volcano-dispensed mines are emplaced accurately and quickly.
Ground Volcano.
Ground Volcano is designed to emplace large minefields in depth and tactical minefields oriented on enemy forces in support of manoeuvre operations and friendly AT fire. It is ideal for use as an obstacle reserve, employed when enemy forces reach a decision point that indicates future movement. Obstacles can then be emplaced in depth on the avenues the enemy is using, leaving other avenues open for friendly movement.
Ground Volcano is normally employed by combat engineer units. Emplaced minefields are vulnerable to direct and indirect fire, and must be protected when close to the forward line of own troops (FLOT).
Design.
Ordnance.
The Volcano system uses the following live ordnance:
The Volcano system also allows the use of the following inert ordnance:
Mounting Hardware.
The mounting hardware secures the racks to the dispensing vehicle or aircraft, and are specific to each type of dispensing vehicle or aircraft. For aircraft, the racks are equipped with a jettison assembly to release and propel the racks away from the aircraft in case of an emergency. Available mounting racks, listed by vehicle and NATO stock number (NSN), includes:
Operation.
Handling.
Volcano munitions are transported and handled in accordance with regulations for Class V mines and explosives.
Training and Personnel.
Volcano operation requires no special skills as the system is designed for ease of use such that a only a designated rather than dedicated operator is required. Initial operator training will be for familiarisation only with a semi-annual refresher course expected to be sufficient to maintain proficiency. In training operations, the M89 mine canister is replaced with the M88 Practice Mine Canister or M89 Training Canister.
Types of Minefields.
The Volcano system is suitable for emplacing four different types of minefields, each of which has a specific purpose:
Both Air and Ground Volcano are capable of emplacing non-standard minefields i.e. one whose purpose (and therefore layout) does not adhere to the four types described above.
Mine Emplacement.
The Volcano system can emplace a minefield with an average density of 0.72 mines per meter for AT mines and 0.14 mines per meter for AP mines. The densities will vary slightly due to some mines failing to arm and self-destructing two to four minutes after dispensing. There may also be some mines that may not orient correctly when dispensed and not deliver their full blast effect. However, the probability of mines failing the arming sequence or not orienting correctly is relatively small and does not appreciably degrade the minefield lethality. For tracked vehicles entering a Volcano minefield, the AT density yields more than 80 percent probability of the vehicle encountering a mine.
The number of canisters and vehicles loads required to emplace a minefield depends upon the type of minefield required. "Turn" and "block" minefields are emplaced using the same basic procedures as those used for "disrupt" and "fix" minefields; however, "turn" and "block" minefields use two strips of mines, each strip with twice as many mines. The following table lists the number of mines required for each type of minefield of a given size:
From Aircraft (Air Volcano).
When fitted to an aircraft, mines are dispensed from the aircraft's flight path. The aircraft flies at a minimum altitude of at speeds ranging from . One aircraft can dispense up to 960 mines per sortie.
The Air Volcano DCU has a switch to select the aircraft's dispensing speed, with six airspeed settings - 20, 30, 40, 55, 80, and 120 knots. The recommended airspeed for dispersal is 40 knots; higher airspeeds should only be used if absolutely necessary. The time to dispense a load of Volcano munitions depends upon the airspeed as follows:
When emplacing an Air Volcano minefield from a UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter, the door gunner is unable to operate the aircraft's machine gun. Therefore, if the minefield is being emplaced in an area with suspected or reported enemy activity, it is recommended that the Blackhawk is accompanied by an AH-64 Apache to provide suppressing fire if needed.
From Ground Vehicles (Ground Volcano).
For ground vehicles, mines are dispensed from the vehicle at ground speeds of . A constant speed is maintained while the mines are being dispensed so as to attain a consistent mine density. The average time to emplace one load (160 canisters) is 10 minutes. After each load has been dispensed, the vehicle moves out of the minefield and marks the exit. Vehicle must then wait a minimum of 4 minutes before approaching or re-entering the
minefield to allow faulty mines to self-destruct.
Minefield Marking.
Once laid, minefields are marked to reduce the possibility of fratricide, and in areas with civilian populations, to avoid collateral casualties. Operational doctrine specifies that:
Marking is by way of hazard signs attached to signposts and where appropriate, surrounded by boundary fences constructed from standard fencing materials such as barbed wire, concertina wire and pierced steel planking. Fence sections should be attached to steel or concrete fence posts set sufficiently into the ground to discourage locals from removing them for their own use. Hazard marking begins no less than 20 meters from the outer perimeter of the minefield with warning signs placed at regular intervals outside of the fenced area.
Hazard signs are to be only those approved for U.S. Army use which follow international mine-marking conventions. There are two basic designs for the shape of a hazards sign—square or triangular, each marked with the standardised symbol of a skull and crossbones along with a printed warning of the hazard i.e. "DANGER MINES". When such signs are unavailable, the approved alternative is to use warning signs specifically denoting booby traps or unexploded ordnance (UXO).
Dispenser Vehicles.
The following ground vehicles and aircraft can be used to dispense the Volcano mines:


Boulevard du Souvenir overpass collapse

On June 18, 2000, the southern portion of the Boulevard du Souvenir overpass in Laval, which crosses Quebec Autoroute 15, collapsed into the roadway, killing one and injuring two when cars were crushed underneath the structure. Sixteen beams weighing 63 tons each fell. The highway was closed for several days while workers removed the debris. The remains of the structure were later demolished as well for safety reasons according to then–Quebec Transport Minister Guy Chevrette. A new overpass was built less than three years later. Another collapsed overpass incident occurred on September 30, 2006, also in Laval, on Autoroute 19 where the collapse of the De la Concorde overpass killed five, although this was for totally different reasons.
The overpass was under construction at the time the incident occurred. The company in charge of the project was Beaver Ridge, a company that was under bankruptcy protection and was without a construction license for about four months. Dessau-Soprin was an engineering firm that was supervising the project operations.
The city of Laval affirmed that, prior to the collapse, it discovered unspecified problems with some of the beams of the overpass. Beaver Ridge president Mario D'Errico told Le Devoir that the failure was caused by a rupture of one of the beams—which was later confirmed by a Transports Quebec employee—citing an instability of one of them which then consequently caused the collapse of every single beam on the south side. Generally, beams are fixed together in the form of an "X"
Inspectors from the Commission de la Santé et de la Sécurite du Travail (CSST) noticed some irregularities in the workplace several months before the incident. The CSST blamed Beaver Ridge for security flaws and had demanded changes in regards to the beam and formwork structures. In a report published in 2003, they had also discovered that there were communication problems at the site.
Public inquests started in late 2000 with Coroner Gilles Perron in charge of the case. After the inquest, Beaver Ridge was severely blamed for constructions flaws. In 2003, an engineer had mentioned that he had presented incomplete and inadequate plans for the project. No criminal charges were laid in the case.
Soon after the Souvenir incident, a study by the "Montreal Gazette" along with Transports Quebec and the City of Montreal discovered that several overpasses of the Décarie Expressway were in poor condition which required extensive repairs and renovations during the following years.


Kaspar Brunner

Kaspar Brunner (died 1561) was a Swiss mechanic best known for his construction of the clockwork of the Zytglogge, Bern's medieval clock-tower, in 1527–30.
Of unknown origins, Brunner is first recorded in 1526 on the occasion of being appointed "zitgloggenrichter", or timekeeper of the Zytglogge. After the previous clockwork broke down beyond repair, the city council commissioned Brunner in 1527 to build a new one for the sum of 1.000 "gulden". In the following three years, Brunner built the massive mechanism that continues to operate the tower's astronomical clock to this day.
After the successful installation of his clockwork, Brunner appears to have risen fast in Bernese society. He was admitted into the "Gesellschaft zu Schmieden", the blacksmiths' guild, in 1530, thus fulfilling the prerequisite for holding public office. He was elected "Büchsenmeister" or arsenal chief in 1537 and married a patrician's daughter, Anna von Graffenried, in 1541. In the same year, he was called to Nuremberg, then the Holy Roman Empire's largest city, where he headed the urban arsenal until his death in 1561.
As far as we know, Brunner never built another clockwork. Having worked as locksmith, blacksmith, engineer, gunsmith and clockmaker at various times during his life, Brunner is a characteristic representative of the type of mostly self-taught engineers that emerged at the threshold of the early modern period in Europe and who built most late medieval clockworks. It was not until the second half of the 16th century that watchmaking came to be regarded as a distinct profession.