Road Commission Research Articles

Influence of Hydrological Variation Pointers and Incorporated Muskingum Flow Scrutiny on Flooding Frequency in the Upper and Lower Ikpoba Stream, Southern Nigeria

Flood frequency curve using River Ikpoba as Case study was estimated for a return period of 100 years, the flood magnitude is 461 m3/s as against the 380m3/s which was observed to be the highest discharge value throughout the simulation period. This value was found to have occurred in September 2012. The flood frequency curve therefore can aid in flood hazard preparedness since it can be employed to forecast the flood magnitude at different recurrent intervals. There is an increase in the number of wetted with corresponding increase in recurrence interval. For example, for 50yrs and 100 years return period, the number of wetted cells was observed to be 26171with a runoff volume of value of 0.14 x 108m3/s. Using the computed volume of runoff and the corresponding number of wetted cells, the spatial extent of flooding for each return period was generated. Similarly, red spots which are seen in areas such as Lucky Igbinedion Way, Temboga, Second Lagos Road, Mission Road, Ewah Road, Federal Road, Ikpoba, Oregbeni and MM Way shows that these areas are flood prone areas and requires adequate attention and effective early warnings systems in order to alleviate the magnitude of destruction that is caused by flood. Likewise, there is an indicate that as the day’s progress the flow rate was increasing for consecutive 30 days but at low flow rate, but at 90 days it declines. For maximum value as day progress the values decreases.

Antibiogram of faecal Streptococci isolates for pollution source determination in the Ikpoba river, Benin City

Water samples from various sites of the Ikpoba River, Benin City, were bacteriologically analysed to determine bacterial indicators of faecal pollution and heterotrophic bacterial concentration. Sampling points 1 was the point of drainage discharge from the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, 2 was at the Bridge at Upper Mission Road, 3 was the point of effluent discharge from Oredo Local Government Area Abbatoir, 4 was at the Bridge along Benin-Agbor Road and 5 was the point of effluent discharge from Guinness Nigeria PLC. Faecal coliform count was generally high in all sample sites with the point of discharge of effluent from the Abbatoir showing the highest mean count of 1.51 × 107 cfu/ml; and the Bridge at Upper Mission Road had the lowest mean count of 1.20 × 107 cfu/ml. Faecal streptococci count was highest at the point of discharge of effluent from Guinness Nigeria PLC at 8.21 × 107 cfu/ml. while the Bridge at Upper Mission Road had the lowest faecal streptococcus count of 5.83 × 106 cfu/ml. Antibiotic Resistance Patterns of faecal streptococci isolates on day 1 were observed to be more susceptible to the battery of antibiotics than faecal streptococci isolates on days 2 and 3. The results of the ratio of faecal coliform to faecal streptococci and the antibiotic resistance pattern on faecal streptococci showed that faecal pollution of the Ikpoba River has both human and animal origin. There are undoubted risks to human health from surface water polluted with animal faeces, nevertheless, it is human faeces that represent a much greater risk and thus constant investigations should be carried out by environment monitoring agencies to evaluate the pollution status of the river and residents around the river should administer filtration techniques before domestic use.
 Keywords: faecal pollution, faecal streptococci, antibiotic resistance patterns

Unlocking well productivity drivers in Eagle Ford and Utica unconventional resources through data analytics

North America's unconventional resources are viewed as statistical plays because of the wide variability in the performance of hydraulically fractured wells. Attempts to unlock the primary drivers of productivity yield different interpretations because of the over-parameterized stimulation processes, diverse geoscience concepts and non-unique solutions of associated reservoir flow modeling. An opportunity to derive insights on the yet-to-be fully understood flow mechanisms lies in the interrogation of acquired stimulation and production data. In search of causation relationships, a data analytics approach was used to profile and associate well productivity with multiple hydraulic fracturing stimulation parameters for Eagle Ford and Utica horizontal wells in areas with similar geological settings. Data for the study was retrieved from public-accessible databases managed by the Rail Road Commission of Texas, Department of Natural Resources of Ohio and Chemical Disclosure Registry of FracFocus. Results from the approach show multiple apparent causal relationships between production and stimulation parameters with the latter evolving in tandem. As a result, a priori knowledge was incorporated in decoupling dependencies for sole contributions of parameters. Among the most critical trends, the amount of proppant and fracturing fluid volume correlated with productivity. The average proppant concentration, used to decouple this association, correlated poorly with cumulative hydrocarbon production. Better performing wells in which the amount of proppant was high coincidentally had been stimulated with large amounts of fracturing fluid; thus, motivating the latter to be interpreted as a primary driver for Eagle Ford and Utica production enhancement. It was speculated that the induced hydraulic fracture length is effective; thus, use of large amounts of high quality proppant to create conductive fractures might be yielding limited value. Additional results provided insights on interdependences between injected proppant, lateral length, fracturing stages, perforation clusters and fracturing fluid volume. The identification of stimulation parameters that correlated with well productivity provided ground for speculating that unconventional resources are not statistical as portrayed and repeatable well performance can be realized if stimulation operations are systematically constrained. Further reflection on the results backed postulations on attributes of reservoir flow physics such as matrix permeability, fracture conductivity and effective fracture length. In conclusion, data analytics shed light on dominant productivity drivers in the subject unconventional resources and provided ground for hypotheses that will improve knowledge-driven simulation models.

Study of The Nature of Urban Flood In Benin City, Edo State; Nigeria

The Niger Delta region of Nigeria is mostly flat, low lying, swampy basin resulting in severe regular flooding which has led to a limited land area available for human habitat. Approximately 7000km2 of land cannot be used owing to flooding. This study assessed the nature of urban flood in Benin City, Edo State; Nigeria. Thirty-five streets and roads were identified as areas prone to regular flooding and twelve of these streets including Uselu – Ugbowo Road, New Lagos- Uselu Road, Sakpoba – Oka Road, Plymouth – Oliha Road, Uwasota-Ogida road, Ogida-textile-Urubi Road, Television Road, Erhummunse Road, Upper Mission Road, Wire road, Forestry Road were identified as the most critical. The types of flood experienced are flash flood and flood pondages. 52% of the total area is inundated for more than two hours during flood episodes with an average water height of 1m. Laboratory analyses of soil samples collected from the twelve streets and roads show a greater clay fraction than any other soil fraction with clay as 52.23%, sand 28% and silt 19%. Permeability is low with a value of 1.17 x 10-3cm/sec. Bulk density ranged from 1.9gcm3 at Forestry road to 3.12gcm3 at Sakpoba – Okah road. The degree of variability between and within locations of the factors of flooding in Benin City showed that there is no significant variation between the locations of the flooded area in Benin City at P>0.05 level of significance. However, there was significant difference in the variation among the parameters with Clay varying significantly at P>0.05 level of significance from all others, while silt and sand are not different from each other as similarities exist between the other parameters. By this implication, Clay is the dominant soil type of the study area. In consonance with dominance of the clay soil in the study area, bulk density is high. It is therefore concluded that the soil condition is a major determinant of flooding in Benin City. The flooding problems has resulted in traffic congestion and lost of man-hours giving rise to lopsided concentration of vehicular traffic.

Making Asset Management Work

Although the concepts of transportation asset management are generic in nature, the adoption of asset management by local agencies (counties, county road commissions, cities, villages, towns, and townships) takes shape in as many ways as there are types of agencies. Asset management adoption brings about a melding of engineering, finance, and agency culture, with politics and accountability to the taxpaying public. Michigan is using an innovative approach to help local agencies incorporate the principles of asset management in their transportation management process–-focusing first on pavements and later moving on to other assets. While most activities are not unique, innovation lies in bringing all activities together in a coordinated effort. This includes training opportunities for every level of stakeholder and providing the tools necessary for roadway data collection and asset management analysis. Early adopters are seeing direct results; others are at varying stages within the process of change. The benefits of adoption are noted by Tim O'Rourke, manager of the Rosscommon County, Michigan, Road Commission: “What you are really doing is telling a story. A story about levels of investment, a mix of maintenance fixes, and the condition of the road network in 10 years. It's a story people can understand.” This paper details the components that have led to making local agency asset management work in Michigan and provides agency case examples.

Twenty-five years and two days

Winter 2008 - Volume 12 Number 1 “Twenty-five years and two days” India ink, oil paint, and plastic pearls on Yupo paper 24” x 18” By Marilyn Mitchell, RN Ms Mitchell is a nurse in the Education and Consulting Department at the San Diego Mission Road Medical

Leadership

Dianne Mackey, BSN, RN, CWOCN, Wound/Skin Coordinator, Kaiser Permanente, Home Health/Hospice Department, San Diego, Calif. Correspondence: Dianne Mackey, BSN, RN, CWOCN, Wound/Skin Coordinator, Kaiser Permanente, Home Health/Hospice Department, 10992 San Diego Mission Road, San Diego, CA 92108.

Wetland mitigation compliance in the western upper peninsula of Michigan.

The Army Corps of Engineers (ACE) is generally responsible for the implementation of federal Clean Water Act wetland regulations. It therefore plays an important role in the protection of wetlands within the United States. Unfortunately, past evaluators of ACE's implementation of these regulations found low rates of regulatory compliance. However, the fact that two states have taken responsibility for the implementation of these regulations within their boundaries provided the opportunity to assess whether one of these states might be doing a better job of enforcement. This paper reports on compliance with some of these regulations within one Michigan region. We evaluated permittee compliance with paperwork filing requirements related to wetland mitigation projects. Sixty-seven percent of county road commission permittees were out of compliance with at least one filing requirement. Forty percent of private and non-county government permittees were out of compliance. Our results therefore suggest that serious problems exist with Michigan's implementation of wetland regulations. They do not suggest that compliance in this state is significantly better than in states under ACE administration. We believe that increased agency monitoring and enforcement would improve compliance.

External stimuli.

Division of Maternal Fetal Medicine, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, LAC & USC Women's and Children's Hospital, Los Angeles, California Correspondence: David A. Miller, MD, Division of Maternal Fetal Medicine, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, LAC + USC Women's and Children's Hospital, 5K-40 1240 North Mission Road, Los Angeles, CA 90033. E-mail: [email protected] or [email protected]

Introduction: the role of hormone replacement therapy in prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease in postmenopausal women

C disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death among US women. Despite this fact, CVD is perceived mainly as a disease of middle-aged men. Female patients often seriously underestimate the risk of CVD faced by themselves and other women, focusing instead on other causes of morbidity and mortality, such as cancer.1 At the same time, physicians may underdiagnose heart disease in women because of a lack of awareness. Women often present differently from men, with atypical chest pain and less specificity for exercise stress testing. Perhaps, because of missed diagnoses, women tend to have more advanced disease at the time of diagnosis and less favorable outcomes after first or subsequent myocardial infarctions.2 The risk of CVD in women increases substantially after menopause. This finding is believed to be caused in part by the loss of estrogen, which has multiple protective effects on the vascular system (reviewed by Mendelsohn and Karas).3 Numerous observational studies have shown a cardioprotective benefit when estrogen replacement therapy/hormone replacement therapy (ERT/HRT) is given to healthy women after menopause. However, recent randomized trials (Heart and Estrogen/ progestin Replacement Study [HERS], Estrogen Replacement and Atherosclerosis [ERA] trial) have suggested that in women with well established CVD, ERT and HRT do not have a protective effect, and they may even lead to an increased risk of coronary events in their first year of use.4,5 It is important to emphasize that these trials were for secondary CVD prevention in older postmenopausal women with established CVD only, and that they included only a single combination HRT regimen. The results obtained in these trials are therefore not relevant to the potential effect of primary prevention of CVD in healthy women or to use of the newer HRT formulations that are now available. Unfortunately, these studies have been extensively overinterpreted as well as misinterpreted.6 Because of the misinterpretation of these studies, there is considerable confusion in the medical community about the use of HRT and its potential effects on CVD risk. Table 1 lists some of the most common misconceptions. These issues were addressed at a roundtable discussion held in Los Angeles on June 21, 2001, attended by a multidisciplinary panel of physicians with expertise in the fields of cardiology, obstetrics and gynecology, and epidemiology. The objecFrom the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA; and Tufts University School of Medicine, Molecular Cardiology Research Institute, Tufts–New England Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. Address for reprints: Daniel R. Mishell, Jr., MD, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Mail Code 999, Building WCH L-1009, 1240 North Mission Road, Los Angeles, California 90033.

Expediting Infrastructure Projects through Public Agency Partnering

An innovative public agency partnership between a city, a state department of transportation (DOT), and a county road commission (CRC) led to the early construction of a new interstate ramp to relieve congestion in a central commercial hub. To achieve this, the city and the CRC purchased the property, addressed environmental concerns, and performed preliminary design. This grassroots approach was the first in the state and among the first in the country. The DOT in fact had to seek approval from the Federal Highway Administration, which then classified it under its innovative financing pilot program. The DOT is open to working with similar public agency partnerships in the state to expedite project construction. However, as the city discovered, gaining community consensus is paramount to success.

Pyelonephritis.

University of Southern California School of Medicine, Los Angeles, California Correspondence: Deborah A. Wing, MD, Women's & Children's Hospital, 1240 N. Mission Road, Room 5K40, Los Angeles, CA 90033; e-mail: [email protected].

Hyperemesis gravidarum.

University of Southern California, Women's and Children's Hospital, Los Angeles, California Correspondence: T. Murphy Goodwin, MD, Division of Maternal Fetal Medicine, University of Southern California, Women's and Children's Hospital, Room 5-K 40, 1240 North Mission Road, Los Angeles, CA 91016.

Lost in the Library

s International is recommended for many literature searches. The Periodical Reading Room Two delightful sets of Saturday Evening Post fiction came closer to the marketing target than most of the books I read in my youth. The Alexander Botts stories by William H. Upson dealt with an incredibly inept salesman for the Earthworm (pun on Caterpillar?) tractor company, whose egregious blunders always had remarkably fortunate unforeseen consequences. These stories were couched in the form of memoranda and telegrams (the e-mail of the period) between Botts and his sales manager. Many of these stories have been collected in the book Botts in War, Botts in Peace; Earthworms Can Take Anything. In a typical story, Botts would demonstrate Earthworm's most powerful machine by attempting to straighten a tilted pillar on the front porch of a prosperous farmer's home. Of course, the powerful tractor would pull the porch, house, and foundation off the subsoil, and Botts would be fired by the sales manager, who had arrived late and missed the opportunity to stop the episode. The seeming havoc, however, would uncover a previously unknown mineral, petroleum, or buried treasure. Botts would sell several machines to the farmer and the county road commission that the farmer happened to chair. The other, more tangential Tugboat Annie series, written by Norman R. Raine, involved a weather-beaten widow who operated her late husband's vessel and used her superior knowledge of Puget Sound tides and currents to outwit the nefarious schemes of a rival fleet owner. These stories were enshrined in at least one movie that featured Marie Dressler and Wallace Berry. Those series exhibited nostalgia for oldfashioned rock-ribbed independence and suspicion of big business monopolization. They were appropriate to a magazine that put Norman Rockwell Americana paintings on its covers while serving as a major promotional engine for the growth of a mass production/mass marketing/mass consumption/mass culture society. More serious literature included the leading marketing trade paper of the time, Printers' Ink, which I started reading as about the only adult-oriented publication in a surprisingly inadequate high school library. Some of it was not understandable at first, but it provided a good background for marketing studies. I now ask marketing history students to select and analyze a volume from the long run of this journal, dating back to the turn of the century, that we have in our library. They seem to find this a very stimulating assignment. Incidentally, given the students' diverse backgrounds and the highly technical and consumer behaviororiented nature of some graduate marketing education today, this sometimes becomes the students' first exposure to a trade magazine. In any future iteration of the course, I would ask them also to look at a 1930s volume of a luxury consumer journal. They might focus on Esquire, which began during that decade as a men's fashion magazine to be distributed in upscale clothing stores. That might help them appreciate the more complex and perhaps twoor three-tier nature of the Great Depression economy that often is depicted in current accounts as a time of utter desolation. Trade journals also are very useful historical research tools, as Hermann Levy pointed out in the forward to his Retail Trade Associations (1944). The trade journals have their limitations. They normally are written from an industry point of view, which may induce a certain bias. Their contents may be influenced strongly by press releases, which are, for example, more likely to emphasize venture launches than terminations. Time and financial restrictions may inhibit journalistic rigor. But they demonstrate what editors believe is of contemporary interest to the trade. Some journals do thorough investigative reporting, and

Factors Associated with Privatization of Winter Maintenance Functions at Local Government Level

With the increasing cost of and dissatisfaction with services provided by government agencies, a new notion has appeared that gives hope to some and instills fear in others. Many believe that privatizing government services is the answer to the ills associated with today’s government-provided services. County road commissions in the state of Michigan are one of the many government entities examining privatization. High cost and poor service are concerns that have thrust road commission operations under the privatization spotlight. Snow and ice removal from roads is one operation currently under scrutiny. To come to conclusions about privatization and the winter maintenance services that road commissions perform, one must fully understand the road commission concept and how it functions within the state of Michigan as well as the idea of privatization. The nonquantitative factors that affect privatization at the local government level are described. Two road commissions in the state of Michigan and their winter maintenance operations are examined so that judgments can be made about the value of private delivery.

Archaeological Testing for the Mission Road Realignment Project, Phase II, at Mission Concepcion, San Antonio, Texas

In July 1988, the Center for Archaeological Research (CAR) contracted with the city of San Antonio to perform archaeological testing for the Mission Road Realignment Project. This project was designated as Phase II since CAR performed previous archaeological testing during February 1987 (Labadie 1989). The Mission Road Realignment Project, Phase II proposed to relocate the position of Mission Road outside the line of the original west wall of Mission Concepcion. The testing sought to determine whether any structural remains or cultural deposits that may have been located outside the mission wall would be impacted by the proposed roadway.

Archival Investigation of the Pyron Homestead (41BX278), New City Block 7657, San Antonio, Texas

The Center for Archaeological Research, The University of Texas at San Antonio, conducted an archival investigation on a portion of New City Block 7657 in southeast San Antonio for the Texas Trust Savings Bank of Marble Falls, Texas. The property contained the site of the historic Pyron House and thought to possibly also contain the buried remains of the San Jose acequia. The study revealed that the homestead was probably constructed in 1849, and although recently destroyed, the foundation remains in the ground. The research further revealed that the acequia did not pass through the property under study, but instead is located further to the west on the other side of Mission Road.

Archaeological and Historical Investigations for the Mission Road Realignment Project, San Antonio, Texas

The Mission Road Realignment Project proposes to relocate the current position of Mission Road, which transects the original Mission Concepcion quadrangle, farther west and in the vicinity of the road's 18th-century location. Archaeological testing conducted by the Center for Archaeological Research sought to determine if significant cultural resources would be adversely impacted by the road relocation project. Intensive testing established that no significant remains were located within or adjacent to the proposed right-of-way.

Paving Alaska's Trails: The Work of the Alaska Road Commission

Paving Alaska's Trails: The Work of the Alaska Road Commission

The in utero diagnosis of an interventricular septal cardiac rhabdomyoma by means of real-time-directed, M-mode echocardiography

Supported by a grant from The Thrasher Research Fund. Reprint requests: Greggory R. DeVore, M.D., LAC/USC Medical Center, Women’s Hospital, Room 5K22, 1240 North Mission Road, Los Angeles, California 90033. to the adult patient.’ In the neonate and young child, the most common primary cardiac tumor is a rhabdomyoma, a nonmalignant, smooth muscle hamartoma associated with concomitant tuberous sclerosis in 30% to 50% of cases.2 In one of the largest reported autopsy series of patients with cardiac rhabdomyomas, Fenoglio and associates’ observed a 33% mortality rate within the first 7 hours following birth; death was due primarily to intracavitary obstruction of blood flow by the tumor. Although the successful surgical removal of cardiac rhabdomyomas has been reported,3 the potential for neonatal salvage depends largely upon antenatal diagnosis followed by corrective operation. The following report describes the ultrasound findings in a case of an intracavitary rhabdomyoma of the fetal heart diagnosed in utero by means of real-timedirected, M-mode echocardiography.