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  • Safety first: Northwestern Division’s occupational health nurse hopes to prioritize health and safety across the division

    Active construction sites can be dangerous places. Full of heavy mechanical equipment and other hazards, the risk posed to the workers at these sites is often high. But there are other, less obvious workplace dangers that even those who spend their days behind a desk can face, like stress, high blood pressure and lack of support or fulfillment. Those charged with preventing and mitigating these workplace dangers play an important role in the success of an organization but are often in the background, working behind the scenes. Occupational health professionals and other safety specialists are the frontline for workplace safety. Yet their services can remain elusive to the very employees they serve.

  • Latest saltwater wedge forecast released by USACE

    The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans District released today the latest Saltwater Wedge

  • Army Corps of Engineers waives day use fees at recreation areas in observance of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

    The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced that it will waive day use fees at its more than 2,850 USACE-operated recreation areas nationwide in observance of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, January 15.

  • LA District joins law enforcement partners to clear San Gabriel River encampment debris

    To improve the health of the San Gabriel River and reduce risk to the public, including those illegally camping within the riverbed, the Los Angeles District cleared trash and floatable debris throughout most of December from a stretch of riverbed near Azusa, California.

  • District experts host virtual public flood awareness workshop

    The Los Angeles District used a virtual community outreach forum Dec. 14 for public stakeholders to participate in the 2023 Los Angeles River Flood Awareness Workshop.

  • District Provides CENTCOM Commercial Real Estate Support Across the Middle East

    With over 70 years of history in the Middle East, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Transatlantic Middle East District (TAM) is not only able to offer their mission partners the engineering and construction expertise USACE is known for, but also a host of other niche services developed along the way. Many of these services were developed out of necessity by TAM to better accomplish its construction mission. As TAM developed that expertise in-house, it was obvious that they were able to offer that expertise to other partners in the region and create entirely new lines of operation.  

  • ERDC’s Josefik honored for advancing emergency response

    Nicholas Josefik, an industrial engineer at the U.S. Army Engineer Research Development Center (ERDC), was recently recognized at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Science and Technology Directorate (S&T) Under Secretary’s Awards Ceremony for leading a team in the development of a one-of-a-kind emergency response vehicle.

  • Army Corps of Engineers waives day use fees at recreation areas in observance of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

    WASHINGTON – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) announced today that it will waive day use fees at its more than 2,850 USACE-operated recreation areas nationwide in observance of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, January 15. The waiver covers fees for boat launch ramps and swimming beaches. The waiver does not apply to camping and camping-related services, or fees for specialized facilities (group picnic shelters) and events. Other agencies that manage recreation areas on USACE lands are encouraged, but not required, to offer the waiver in the areas that they manage.

  • Using an Object-Based Machine Learning Ensemble Approach to Upscale Evapotranspiration Measured from Eddy Covariance Towers in a Subtropical Wetland

    Abstract: Accurate prediction of evapotranspiration (ET) in wetlands is critical for understanding the coupling effects of water, carbon, and energy cycles in terrestrial ecosystems. Multiple years of eddy covariance (EC) tower ET measurements at five representative wetland ecosystems in the subtropical Big Cypress National Preserve (BCNP), Florida (USA) provide a unique opportunity to assess the performance of the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) ET operational product MOD16A2 and upscale tower measured ET to generate local/regional wetland ET maps. We developed an object-based machine learning ensemble approach to evaluate and map wetland ET by linking tower measured ET with key predictors from MODIS products and meteorological variables. The results showed MOD16A2 had poor performance in characterizing ET patterns and was unsatisfactory for estimating ET over four wetland communities where Nash-Sutcliffe model Efficiency (NSE) was less than 0.5. In contrast, the site-specific machine learning ensemble model had a high predictive power with a NSE larger than 0.75 across all EC sites. We mapped the ET rate for two distinctive seasons and quantified the prediction diversity to identify regions easier or more challenging to estimate from model-based analyses. An integration of MODIS products and other datasets through the machine learning upscaling paradigm is a promising tool for local wetland ET mapping to guide regional water resource management.

  • Residual Strength of a High-Strength Concrete Subjected to Triaxial Prestress

    Abstract: This study investigates simplified mechanical loading paths that represent more complex loading paths observed during penetration using a triaxial chamber and a high-strength concrete. The objective was to determine the effects that stress-strain (load) paths have on the material’s unconfined compressive (UC) residual strength. The loading paths included hydrostatic compression (HC), uniaxial strain in compression (UX), and uniaxial strain load biaxial strain unload (UXBX). The experiments indicated that the load paths associated with nonvisible microstructural damage were HC and UX—which produced minimal impact on the residual UC strength (less than 30%)—while the load path associated with visible macro-structural damage was UXBX, which significantly reduced the UC strength (greater than 90%). The simplified loading paths were also investigated using a material model driver code that was fitted to a widely used Department of Defense material model. Virtual experiment data revealed that the investigated material model overestimated material damage and produced poor results when compared to experimental data.