Cambria County Research Articles

Theoretical Study Regarding the General Stability of Upper Chords of Truss Bridges as Beams on Continuous or Discrete Elastic Supports

New or in-service truss bridges, with or without upper bracing systems, may display instability phenomena such as general lateral torsional buckling of the upper chord. The buckling of structural elements, particularly in the case of steel bridges, can be associated with the risk of collapse or temporary/permanent withdrawal from service. Such incidents have occurred in the case of several bridges in different countries: the collapse of the Dee bridge with truss girders in 1847 in Cheshire, England; the collapse of the semi-parabolic truss girder bridge near Ljubičevo over the Morava River in Serbia in 1892; the collapse of the Dysart bridge in Cambria County, Pennsylvania in 2007; the collapse of the Chauras bridge in Uttarakhand, India in 2012; and the collapse of a bridge in Nova Scotia, Canada (2020), and such examples may continue. Buckling poses a significant danger as it often occurs at lower load values compared to those considered during the design phase. Additionally, this phenomenon can manifest suddenly, without prior warning, rendering intervention for its prevention impossible or futile. In contemporary times, most research and design calculation software offer the capability to establish preliminary values for buckling loads, even for highly intricate structures. This is typically achieved through linear eigenvalue buckling analyses, often followed by significantly more complex large displacement nonlinear analyses. However, interpreting the results for complex bridge structures can be challenging, and their accuracy is difficult to ascertain. Consequently, this paper aims to introduce an original method for a more straightforward estimation of the buckling load of the upper chord in steel truss bridges. This method utilizes the theory of beams on discrete elastic supports. The buckling load of the upper chord was determined using both the finite element method and the proposed methodology, yielding highly consistent results.

Migrant Identity and Culture Maintenance: The Welsh in Johnstown, Cambria County, Pennsylvania, 1870–1930

Abstract Welsh immigrants and their children comprised a distinct ethnolinguistic community in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This article analyzes the nature of that community and suggests that while ethnic integrity was initially maintained due to linguistic ability, religious adherence, and the creation of popular cultural institutions, it was ultimately undermined, not only by the general forces of acculturation, but also by specifically Welsh factors. While the Welsh experience in Johnstown differed sharply from that undergone by the English, it did not simply mirror that of other non-Anglophone groups.

Richard L. Trumka: A Labor Leader in Troubled Times

Richard L. Trumka: A Labor Leader in Troubled Times

Efficient Low-pH Iron Removal by a Microbial Iron Oxide Mound Ecosystem at Scalp Level Run.

Acid mine drainage (AMD) is a major environmental problem affecting tens of thousands of kilometers of waterways worldwide. Passive bioremediation of AMD relies on microbial communities to oxidize and remove iron from the system; however, iron oxidation rates in AMD environments are highly variable among sites. At Scalp Level Run (Cambria County, PA), first-order iron oxidation rates are 10 times greater than at other coal-associated iron mounds in the Appalachians. We examined the bacterial community at Scalp Level Run to determine whether a unique community is responsible for the rapid iron oxidation rate. Despite strong geochemical gradients, including a >10-fold change in the concentration of ferrous iron from 57.3 mg/liter at the emergence to 2.5 mg/liter at the base of the coal tailings pile, the bacterial community composition was nearly constant with distance from the spring outflow. Scalp Level Run contains many of the same taxa present in other AMD sites, but the community is dominated by two strains of Ferrovum myxofaciens, a species that is associated with high rates of Fe(II) oxidation in laboratory studies.IMPORTANCE Acid mine drainage pollutes more than 19,300 km of rivers and streams and 72,000 ha of lakes worldwide. Remediation is frequently ineffective and costly, upwards of $100 billion globally and nearly $5 billion in Pennsylvania alone. Microbial Fe(II) oxidation is more efficient than abiotic Fe(II) oxidation at low pH (P. C. Singer and W. Stumm, Science 167:1121-1123, 1970, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.167.3921.1121). Therefore, AMD bioremediation could harness microbial Fe(II) oxidation to fuel more-cost-effective treatments. Advances will require a deeper understanding of the ecology of Fe(II)-oxidizing microbial communities and the factors that control their distribution and rates of Fe(II) oxidation. We investigated bacterial communities that inhabit an AMD site with rapid Fe(II) oxidation and found that they were dominated by two operational taxonomic units (OTUs) of Ferrovum myxofaciens, a taxon associated with high laboratory rates of iron oxidation. This research represents a step forward in identifying taxa that can be used to enhance cost-effective AMD bioremediation.

Alice Bennett, M.D., Ph.D.: A Woman of Firsts.

The 19th century witnessed the proliferation of asylums and awareness that femalepatientsmight best be treated by female doctors. TheWoman’s (originally Female)Medical College of Pennsylvania had been graduating female physicians since before theCivilWar.Dr.HiramCorson, a leadingMontgomery County physician, was eager to see them employed in mental asylums.AliceBennett, a schoolteacher fromWrentham,Mass., obtained her degree from the Woman’s Medical College of Pennsylvania in 1876. She enrolled in the auxiliary school at the University of Pennsylvania to study anatomy. Meanwhile, she offeredcare topoorwomen inPhiladelphia and taught anatomy at the Woman’s Medical College. In 1880, she became the first woman to receive a doctoral degree from the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Bennett was surprised when Dr. Corson offered her a position as resident physician (essentially medical superintendent) at the women’s department of the new asylum in Norristown in 1880. She accepted andbecame thefirstwoman in America to assume psychiatric leadership; others soon followed.While learning on the job during her 16-year tenure, Dr. Bennett developed a reputation for the humane care of patients, for the nonuse of restraints, and for explainingwomen’s abnormal behavior in legal cases. Her testimony in the 1888 trial of triplemurderer SarahWhitelingwas an early, if not the first, appearance of a female physician applying psychiatry to the law. Already prominent in Pennsylvania medicine, in 1889 Dr. Bennett set out to attend the meeting of the state medical society inPittsburghwhen sheheard the announcement of the Johnstown Flood. The probability of widespread psychological effectspropelledher intoaction,as shemadeherway to the disaster scene, seeking women in distress. In effect, she was a psychiatric first responder to a disaster, and she was cited accordingly by Cambria County. EndorsedagainbyDr.Corson,Dr.Bennett became thefirst female president of a medical society (Montgomery County) in 1890. Dr. Corson was so devoted to Dr. Bennett and to the promotion of women in medicine that he arranged for Thomas Hovenden to paint her portrait (shown here). Disenchanted with scrutiny of her participation in ovariectomy for some psychiatric conditions, she resigned from the asylum in 1896. The coda to her psychiatric career was her position as personal physician to the mentally ill daughter of industrialist CyrusMcCormick for 4 years. After disappearing from medical practice until 1910, Dr. Bennett reemerged in New York City, where she delivered over 2,000 babies at the Blackwells’NewYork Infirmary forWomenandChildrenuntil her death in 1925.

Hydrogeochemical niches associated with hyporheic exchange beneath an acid mine drainage-contaminated stream

summary Biological low-pH Fe(II)-oxidation creates terraced iron formations (TIFs) that remove Fe(III) from solution. TIFs can be used for remediation of acid mine drainage (AMD), however, as sediment depth increases, Fe(III)-reduction in anoxic subsurface areas may compromise treatment effectiveness. In this study we used near-surface electrical resistivity imaging (ERI) and in situ pore-water samplers to spatially resolve bulk conductivity changes within a TIF formed in a stream emanating from a large abandoned deep clay mine in Cambria County, Pennsylvania, USA. Because of the high fluid electrical conductivity of the emergent AMD (1860 lS), fresh water (42 lS) was added as a dilution tracer to visualize the spatial and temporal extent of hyporheic exchange and to characterize subsurface flow paths. Distinct hydrogeochemical niches were identified in the shallow subsurface beneath the stream by overlaying relative groundwater velocities (derived from ERI) with pore-water chemistry profiles. Niches were classified based on relatively ‘‘fast’’ versus ‘‘slow’’ rates of hyporheic exchange and oxic versus anoxic conditions. Pore-water concentrations and speciation of iron, pH, and redox potential differed between subsurface flow regimes. The greatest extent of hyporheic exchange was beneath the center of the stream, where a shallower ( 70 cm) Fe(II)-oxidizing zone. At these locations, relatively slower groundwater exchange may promote biotic Fe(II)-oxidation and improve the long-term stability of Fe sequestered in TIFs.

Changing the Face of Hockey: A Study of the Half-Visor's Ability to Reduce the Severity of Facial Injuries of the Upper-Half of the Face among East Coast Hockey League Players

Objective: The purpose of the study was to identify the effectiveness of half-visors by qualitatively comparing the severity, location, and mechanism of facial injuries involving the upper-half of the face among an equal number of East Coast Hockey League (ECHL) players with and without half-visors. Full visors were not included in the study because ECHL players do not wear full visors. Design: A stratified sample was retrospectively collected from 5 seasons of ECHL players who suffered facial injuries to the upper-half of the face with and without half-visors. The upper-half of the face is the region purported to be protected by the half-visor. A total of 186 injuries were identified to the upper-half of the face (93 wore half-visors and 93 wore no protection). Setting: Johnstown Cambria County War Memorial Arena, Johnstown, PA. Results: High-sticking was the most common mechanism of injury. Injury severity scores for lacerations with standard deviations by injury location (ie, forehead, cheek) were statistically significant in the half-visor group when compared with the no-visor group. The injury severity scores for contusions due to collisions were statistically higher in the no-visor group compared with the half-visor group. Conclusions: Most injury mechanisms occur from an upward trajectory, which could easily slip under the half-visor and strike the upper-half of the face and eye region. The half-visor may not adequately protect the upper-half of the face from common injury mechanisms.

Hydrologic Characteristics of a 35-Year-Old Underground Mine Pool

The hydrology of a 14,672 acre (5,940 ha) coal mine complex in Cambria County, Pennsylvania, USA, was characterized. This flooded mine complex was evaluated to determine the potential of using the mine water for downstream agricultural purposes in an adjoining watershed. The hydrologic characteristics of the mine complex dictate the amounts and rates of mine water discharge that are available. The original coal extraction rate was known to be 63%, but post-mining subsidence has reduced the effective porosity to a mean of 11%. Thus, the mine stores considerably less mine water than was anticipated, a priori. The mine receives vertical recharge averaging 0.27 gallons (gal) per minute per acre (24.6 L/s per ha), which is equivalent to 11.6% of the mean precipitation. The recharge rate fluctuates about the mean by ±22%. The low storage capacity combined with the moderately low recharge rates allow the large mine complex to be rapidly drawn down when the pumping rate is raised from 4.68 to 9.36 × 106 gal (17.7–35.4 × 106 L/day). Conversely, the mine refills rapidly, up to 0.8 ft (0.24 m) or spatially 33 acres (13.4 ha) per day, once the pumping rate is reduced back to 4.68 × 106 gal/day (17.7 × 106 L/day), which is well below the total recharge rate. In addition to vertical recharge, 6.3–40.4% of the inflow into the mine pool complex occurs from coal barrier seepage from an adjacent flooded mine. The seepage rates are relatively constant and are estimated to be insensitive to changes in head up to 50 ft (15.2 m).

A population and economic overview of Cambria County, Pennsylvania following the 1977 Johnstown Flood

PurposeThis paper seeks to examine the extent of monetary damage, the loss of life and the effect on employment caused by 1977 Johnstown Flood and their subsequent effects on population, unemployment rate, poverty rate, per capita income, median household income, and education in Cambria County, Pennsylvania.Design/methodology/approachStatistics from 1980, 1990 and 2000 were used to create an economic and population overview of Cambria County. Short‐term and long‐term effects of the 1977 flood were examined to uncover possible trends regarding population and economics. Revealed trends might aid communities in recovering following a natural disaster.FindingsThere have been continuous decreases in population following the 1977 Johnstown Flood and a drastic increase in the unemployment rate following the flood. These findings suggest that the loss of key employers following a major natural disaster may lead to long‐term losses in the overall population.Research limitations/implicationsThese data relate to only Cambria County and may not relate to other areas. Implications suggest that following a similar natural disaster Crisis Counselors may aid community governments in rebuilding economic infrastructures and Career Counselors could assist displaced workers with retraining and job‐seeking.Originality/valueThis paper begins to explore the relationship between natural disasters and population changes.

A population and economic comparison of Story County, Iowa following the great flood of 1993 to Cambria County, Pennsylvania following the 1977 Johnstown flood

Purpose – This article seeks to compare the effects of the 1977 Johnstown Flood on Cambria County, Pennsylvania with the effects of the Great Flood of 1993 on Story County, Iowa. The article aims to specifically compare and contrast the effects of the floods on population, per capita income, employment, education, and poverty rate.Design/methodology/approach – Statistics ranging from 1970 to 2003 were used to create an economic and population overview of Story County, Iowa and Cambria County, Pennsylvania. Short‐term and long‐term effects from the floods are compared and contrasted to reveal possible trends in population and economics.Findings – The data show that Story County IA gained population and college graduates following the Great Flood of 1993. Conversely, Cambria County, PA lost population following the 1977 Johnstown Flood. This suggests that Story County may not have lost employers and may have gained employers due to the flood.Originality/value – These data support previous research by Spence...

An Interactive, Hospital-based Injury Prevention Program for First-, Second-, and Third-grade Students

Brain and spinal cord injuries are the most devastating and costly type of injury, resulting in physical and psychological damage and years of lost productivity, with more than 22,000 childhood deaths from such injuries and an additional 30,000 who suffer permanent disabilities. 1. American Association of Neurological Surgeons and Congress of Neurological SurgeonsThinkFirst for kids, the brain and spinal cord injury prevention curriculum for teachers. ThinkFirst Foundation, Rolling Meadows (IL)1996 Google Scholar Approximately 11,000 new spinal cord injuries occur each year in the United States. In addition, researchers estimate that an additional 4860 persons with such injuries die before reaching the hospital. 2. ThinkFirst National Injury Prevention FoundationThinkFirst, facts and prevention tips spinal cord injury. http://www.thinkfirst.org/Documents/FastFacts/TFspinalcord340.pdf Google Scholar In the spring of 2001, the Injury Prevention Task Force of The Child and Adolescent Health and Wellness Council, a section of the Office of Community Health of the Conemaugh Health System in Johnstown, Pa, along with our level I trauma department, discovered that Cambria County, Pa, experienced pediatric head and spinal cord injuries at 5 times the state average.

Ruby-throated Hummingbird Death by Common Burdock (Arctium minus)

A Ruby-throated Hummingbird (Archilochus colubris) that had become entangled and died in the flowers of a common burdock (Arctium minus) was found 12 August 1999 in Cambria County, Pennsylvania.

Disinfectant Properties of Acid Mine Drainage: Its Effects on Enteric Bacteria in a Sewage-Contaminated Stream

Abstract Studies conducted in a Cambria County, Pennsylvania, acid mine drainage stream suggest that mine drainage rapidly reduces in situ populations of fecal bacteria associated with inputs of untreated sewage. The density of lactose-fermenting bacteria, mostly coliform species from sewage, declined 1000-fold over a distance of less than 100 m following the input of high acid (pH 3.5 to 4.0), high ferrous iron (45 mg/1) acid mine drainage. Enterobacteriaceae were isolated from the stream, identified, and tested for tolerance to acid mine drainage by exposing cells to drainage for 10 minutes at 0 or 37 °C. Populations of all tested isolates were reduced by this treatment, but some isolates were significantly less affected than others. Thus, while mine drainage may act as a disinfectant, it may not reduce all populations of disease-causing intestinal bacteria at an equal, rapid rate. Population reduction was also temperature- and plating medium-dependent.

Interpretation of Well and Field Data in a Heterogeneous Layered Aquifer Setting, Appalachian Plateau

ABSTRACTGround‐water flow systems in the Appalachian Plateau coalfield balance the conflicting controls of topographic relief and hydrostratigraphic layering. Appropriate use of field observations (springs, streams) and abundant domestic well information (water levels, pumping test results, records of yield, and water‐producing zones) helped resolve ambiguities about a typical system in Cambria County, Pennsylvania. The effective scale for hydrostratigraphic division is by sandstone‐dominated members as aquifers and intervening shale‐clay members as aquitards. The flow system is stratified in the intervalley ridges; heads, controlled primarily by the dissected aquifer outcrop, drop discretely to lower aquifers. Discrete ground‐water discharge and lateral head changes indicate local heterogeneity, enhanced by mine‐subsidence effects. The principal valleys carry a topographically controlled system, for which they serve as recharge feeders.

Environmental impact of an aviation kerosene spill on stream water quality in cambria county, Pennsylvania

A comprehensive survey of a small Cambria County, Pennsylvania, watershed contaminated by a British Petroleum aviation kerosene leak was conducted from 9 November 1982 until 20 December 1983. The biological data showed evidence of a rapid recolonization process by benthic macroinvertebrates that began at the last two downstream stations shortly after the spill. The recovery at stations located immediately below the spill was delayed because few organisms for repopulation were present in the clean, upstream section and because a drought eliminated most of the biota in the immediate headwaters during 1983. Measurements of species diversity of benthic invertebrates showed that most of the stations in the contaminated sections recovered between June and October 1983. Short-term in situ toxicity bioassays conducted with brook trout in April 1983 showed that the stream was again suitable for restocking with trout. In addition, a fish electroshocking program in May and October 1983 clearly demonstrated that the contaminated sections of the stream had recovered and again supported a diverse fish population, including trout and young-of-the-year minnows and sunfish. The results of chemical analyses and biochemical oxygen demand measurements indicated that the water quality in the contaminated section recovered between 30 November and 14 December 1982. The major factors that accelerated the recolonization process in the contaminated watershed were (a) immediate and effective cleanup activities; (b) a plentiful source of unpolluted dilution water; (c) the drift of benthic organisms available for recolonization; and (d) the immigration of fish from the unpolluted sections of the watershed.

Intensities and Structural Setting of the Earthquakes of 19 April and 23 April, 1984 Lancaster County, Pennsylvania

Two small earthquakes and a series of aftershocks occurred in April–May 1984 in a north-south belt in faulted Cambrian and Ordovician rocks on the projection of a known north-south fault whose mapped portion ends eleven kilometers north of the recent epicenters. The April 23 earthquake was one of the largest which has occurred in Pennsylvania, being felt from Westchester County, New York to Cambria County in western Pennsylvania and south to Washington, D.C. and Sussex County, Delaware with a maximum intensity of Mercalli VI (magnitude = 4.2). The earthquakes were notable for their strong audible component, which may have extended the reported isoseismals beyond where they would normally have been mapped.

Field Corn, Corn Rootworm Larval Control, 1983

Abstract Two insecticide evaluation studies were conducted for rootworm control. The first test was conducted at the Pa. Agric. Exp. St. Farm at Rock Springs, Centre County. Northern corn rootworm is the species present at this location. The test field had been continuous corn with no insecticide treatments for 3 years. Corn was planted on 19 May, using a 6-row John Deere Max-Emerge no-till planter with 30-in. row spacing. Insecticides were applied to 15 by 90-ft plots in a randomized complete block design with untreated checks in five replications. Eight insecticides were compared at 15 material-rate combinations, using either an in-furrow or banded method of application. All granular treatments were applied at planting, 19 May. The banded treatments were applied in 7-in. bands over the row. Reduction sleeves were used to contain Lorsban to a 5-in. band. Stand germination counts were taken on 21 June. On 21 and 22 June, the plots were thinned to 114 plants per 90 ft of row or a population of 22,000 per acre. On 5 Aug., the five plants from each replication were evaluated for root damage ratings based on the Iowa 1 to 6 system. Yield was determined on 8 Nov. by mechanically harvesting two middle rows of each plot for shelled corn. The second test was conducted at the Yahner farm, Cambria County, Pa. Both northern and western corn rootworm were present in the field. Western corn rootworm was first detected in this county in 1982. The tilled test field had been continuous corn for more than 4 years. Corn was planted on 8 June, using a four-row John Deere no-till planter with 38-in. row spacing. Insecticides were applied to 7.5 by 126 ft plots in a randomized design with untreated checks in four replications. Four insecticides were compared at 1 lb(AI)/acre banded 7-in. over the row. All granular treatments were applied at planting. Plants were thinned to 125 plants per 100 ft row on 22 June. On 11 Aug., the five plants from each replication were evaluated for root damage ratings based on the Iowa 1 to 6 system. Yield was not measured due to drought.

Cross section of a floodplain in a moist region of moderate relief [Pennsylvania

The cross section of a small floodplain [Beaverdam Run, Cambria County, Pennsylvania] in the Appalachian Plateau was shown in excavations and borings for a dam. Deposits of vertical accretion, lateral accretion, lag deposits, channel fill, and colluvium fill the valley of an aggrading stream. Colluvium comprises almost 1/5 of the total valley fill and contains isolated lenses of vertical accretion. The colluvium built out from the valley side as the stream shifted laterally across the floodplain. Vertical and lateral accretion deposits may be sharply differentiated where exposed in a trench; the lateral accretion is composed of 70-75% sand size material and the vertical accretion of 35-60% clay size material.

Pentothal Sodium???Pharmacologic Action, Range of Usefulness, Complications and Their Management.*

Director of the Department of Anesthesia, University of Pittsburgh, School of Medicine, University Group Hospitals and St. Francis Hospital, Pittsburgh, Pa. *This paper was read at the Cambria County Medical Society Meeting on September 9, 1943.

Report of the Committee on the Cause of the Failure of the South Fork Dam

The Committee appointed June 5th, 1889, to visit the dam of the South Fork or Western Reservoir, in Croyle Township, Cambria County, and investigate the cause of its failure, following the great ra...