Search

The article discusses Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation's (LCHTF's) search for the 1806 canoe camp established by Captain William Clark on the banks of the Yellowstone River in Montana. A background of the Lewis and Clark Expedition's decision to, during the winter of 1805-06, explore the region east of the Rocky Mountains is presented. Journals from the canoe camp, which included the camp's relation with the Crow Indians, the chokecherry trees used to build dugout canoes and the camp's proximity to buffalo herds are also presented.

Construction materials are, by the very nature of building something, an investment in the future. Every project highlights the possibilities of the building or structure, but when a catastrophic event renders it useless, the landfills grow, and the resources' potential is lost. The end of a building does not need to mean the end of those materials in it. As part of the growing momentum behind sustainability metrics sought out by investment and construction firms alike, the potential for returns on investment already exists. The United States has the National Response Framework and international commitments like the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction that signify the appetite to embrace the latest innovations in response techniques and technologies. This literature review will focus on how the construction and demolition industry can lead as the primary ameliorators and enablers of remedying this shortfall in innovative adoption uptake by engaging and applying the growing practice of the circular economy to their own debris management regimens.

In response to several mass-casualty shootings in the United States, multiple legislative bodies have promoted or adopted laws that restrict the magazine capacity of firearms. The stated intent of these laws is to reduce the number of rounds a bad actor can fire in a mass-casualty situation. However, objectors argue that the laws not only are ineffective but could also cause an undue burden on the ability of law-abiding gun owners to protect themselves. Using agent-based simulation modeling, a home-invasion model including two-armed bad actors and a one-armed homeowner was created to test this hypothesis. The homeowner engaged the bad actors with different capacity magazines, and the survival rate was recorded and compared across the spectrum of capacities. This model showed that reducing the homeowner's magazine capacity resulted in an increased casualty rate for the homeowner.

When developing response plans in the aftermath of a catastrophic incident, jurisdictions often fail to conduct the necessary interdisciplinary planning needed to fully address the needs across jurisdictional borders. The Purdue Homeland Security Institute (PHSI) was selected by the City of Chicago Office of Emergency Management and Communications (OEMC) in 2010 to lead an effort to address planning across jurisdictional borders during mass evacuations following a catastrophic incident. Specifically, PHSI was chosen to lead the effort in developing a planning and implementation guide for standing up a conceptual Regional Hub Reception Center (RHRC). A major component within the mass evacuation and sheltering continuum, the RHRC is designed to provide evacuees with quickresponse mass care and emergency assistance while their other needs are assessed and appropriate shelter locations are identified. The RHRC also provides a central location to leverage governmental, nongovernmental, and private sector resources and is the first point in the evacuation, mass care, and sheltering concept of operations where more comprehensive support (food, shelter, medical, psychological, household pet sheltering, reunification, etc) can be expected. PHSI undertook this lead role working within the Illinois-Indiana-Wisconsin (IL-IN-WI) Combined Statistical Area (CSA) as part of the US Department of Homeland Security Regional Catastrophic Planning Grant Program. Coordinating closely with the City of Chicago OEMC and IL-IN-WI CSA Regional Catastrophic Planning Team, PHSI lead the research effort using resource and capability data compiled from all 17 jurisdictions within the IL-IN-WI CSA and validated the RHRC concept using three tabletop exercises. Upon completion, the PHSI team published the RHRC planning guide complete with procedures and processes that define the roles and responsibilities of government, nongovernment organizations, and private sector for providing RHRC mass care functions and RHRC capability and capacity assessments. This article further examines the potential for using simulation modeling as a cost-effective means to rapidly evaluate any facility for potential use as a RHRC and to measure and maximize RHRC operational efficiency. Using AnyLogic simulation software, PHSI developed a first-ever model of a theoretical RHRC capable of simulating, measuring, and manipulating RHRC operations under specified conditions/scenarios determined by the emergency management planner. Future simulation modeling research promises to promote the Whole Community Approach to response and recovery by reinforcing interdisciplinary planning, enhancing regional situational awareness, and improving overall jurisdictional coordination and synchronization.

Computational procedures specified for the FDA single-dose diffusion assay for antibiotics may cause substantial error in estimated sample potency. An unrecognized mistake in reference solution concentration is the source of error. It is caused by correcting responses from standard and sample plates differently. The error can be avoided by correcting both standard and sample responses to the observed reference response.