Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences - Böcker

Many factors affect the amount of temperature-induced movement that occurs in a building and the extent to which this movement can occur before serious damage develops or extensive maintenance is required. In some cases joints are being omitted where they are needed, creating a risk of structural failures or causing unnecessary operations and maintenance costs. In other cases, expansion joints are being used where they are not required, increasing the initial cost of construction and creating space utilization problems. As of 1974, there were no nationally acceptable procedures for precise determination of the size and the location of expansion joints in buildings. Most designers and federal construction agencies individually adopted and developed guidelines based on experience and rough calculations leading to significant differences in the various guidelines used for locating and sizing expansion joints. In response to this complex problem, Expansion Joints in Buildings: Technical Report No. 65 provides federal agencies with practical procedures for evaluating the need for through-building expansion joints in structural framing systems.The report offers guidelines and criteria to standardize the practice of expansion joints in buildings and decrease problems associated with the misuse of expansions joints. Expansions Joints in Buildings: Technical Report No. 65 also makes notable recommendations concerning expansion, isolation, joints, and the manner in which they permit separate segments of the structural frame to expand and to contract in response to temperature fluctuations without adversely affecting the buildings structural integrity or serviceability.

This volume examines the influences of technology and international trade policies on the troubled U.S. steel industry. Does leadership in technology guarantee competitive advantage in industrial markets? Or do the costs of production and the lack of investment capital offset technological gains for the domestic steel industry? Which international trade policies can help this industry, and which may be harming it? With these and other questions in view, The Competitive Status of the U.S. Steel Industry estimates global trends in steel trade, discusses patterns of production and consumption, and analyzes the possible effects of alternative governmental policies on this critically important industry.

To complement the growing body of knowledge on the physical aspects of radioactive waste disposal, this new report identifies the;ITsocioeconomic and institutional;IT policy issues that must be addressed in implementing the Nuclear Waste Policy Act. Site location, transportation modes, disposal schedules, regulatory systems, and the effects of these systems on the people living near the sites and along the transportation routes are addressed.

In a giant step toward managing today's pollution problems more effectively, this report lays out a framework to coordinate an interdisciplinary and international investigation of the chemical composition and cycles of the troposphere. The approach includes geographical surveys, field measurements, the development of appropriate models, and improved instrumentation.

Telecommuting--people working at home with computers connected to offices many miles away--could reshape the way America works. What are the effects of this phenomenon on workers, managers, and labor unions? What is the technology behind this arrangement? What are the legal implications surrounding telecommuting? In this volume, these issues are addressed by experts in computer applications and information systems, business and industry, training and operations, corporate forecasting and analysis, law, organizational behavior, and labor. Case studies of several actual telecommuting systems are presented.

Can decision makers meaningfully compare land versus sea options for waste disposal? Using available scientific data on waste behavior and new studies from East and West Coast dump sites, this book shows how to use a matrix approach to rank the ecological and health consequences of any combination of waste, site, and disposal system design.

The information age is taking its toll on traditional office management techniques. According to Infosystems, "If you're cautious of 'experts' who claim to have all the answers, then you'll find comfort in the theme of 'unleashed creativity' that recurs throughout the 20 essays presented in this book...Organizations will have to devise a strategy for understanding how [a microcomputer's] performance can be monitored. Regardless of what may happen, this book provides managers with appropriate ammunition."

This is the first thorough exploration of how industry, government, and the public can use available nontechnical means to reduce significantly the amount of hazardous waste entering the environment. Among the approaches considered are modifications to avoid contaminating normal wastewater with hazardous by-products, education of management and engineering personnel about reuse and recycling, reform of regulations and enforcement procedures, and incentives for improvement in waste practices. A free digest of this volume accompanies each copy.

Most of the earth's population would survive the immediate horrors of a nuclear holocaust, but what long-term climatological changes would affect their ability to secure food and shelter? This sobering book considers the effects of fine dust from ground-level detonations, of smoke from widespread fires, and of chemicals released into the atmosphere. The authors use mathematical models of atmospheric processes and data from natural situations--e.g., volcanic eruptions and arctic haze--to draw their conclusions. This is the most detailed and comprehensive probe of the scientific evidence published to date.

Used historically in urban areas but now mainly in institutions, district heating and cooling systems--efficient centralized energy systems that may use energy sources other than petroleum--have gained renewed interest. This volume is a nontechnical examination of the history and current extent of district heating and cooling systems in the United States, their costs and benefits, technical requirements, market demand for them, and European experience with such systems, with major focus on the problems of financing, regulation, and taxation. Appendixes provide case studies of cities and towns currently using district heating and cooling systems.

An Overview: Physics Through the 1990's is part of an eight-volume research assessment of the major fields of physics that reviews the developments that have taken place and highlights research opportunities. An Overview summarizes the findings of the panels discussed in the other seven volumes and addresses issues that broadly concern physics.

Within the past decade, six Engineering Research Centers opened on university campuses across the United States. This book reviews the lessons learned as the centers got under way, and examines the interrelationship among universities, government, industry, and the research establishment. Leaders from business, government, and universities discuss in this volume the challenges now facing American industry; the roots and early development of the research center concept; the criteria used in selecting the six centers; the structure and research agenda of each center; the projected impact of the centers on competitiveness of U.S. technology; and the potential for further research in biotechnology, electronics, robotics, and related areas.

Are the nation's ports adequate for our present and future needs? This volume points out that no significant new deep-water construction has occurred for a decade, and provides the information and analysis needed to goad the ports and the federal government into action. The book asks three questions: Is additional port construction and maintenance dredging needed now or over the next 20 years? What would prevent dredging if it is needed? What alternatives could make additional dredging possible? The book identifies several problems in dredging ports, including the long interval between a decision to deepen a port and the time the alterations are complete. The United States needs to speed port construction to meet changing needs, and the committee recommends that we prepare for future needs by dredging now.

Opportunities in Chemistry is based on the contributions of hundreds of American chemists in academia and industry and should be taken as the best available consensus of the chemical community regarding its intellectual frontiers and the economic opportunities that lie beyond them," says Science. This volume addresses the direction in which today's chemical research is heading, including recent developments, technological applications, and the ways advances in chemistry can be used to improve the human condition. In addition, the book examines economic and political implications of chemical research and lists resources for basic research and education in the chemical sciences.