Articles: BenchMark 2001 No. 3

China Project: High-tech Jet Engine Testing
It may not be the Great Wall, but an 80,000-square-foot jet engine testing facility being designed by Burns & McDonnell for General Electric in China has an equally large purpose.

Crossing Guide: Technology Aids Railroad Safety Program
The safety of public roadway/rail grade crossings is an important component of any state’s transportation system, but gathering information on more than 6,000 crossings could be, to say the least, a daunting task.

Doing It Right
A biologist bends to place a small flag next to a yellow and brown flower no bigger than the tip of a thumb. The flag identifies the spot where workers will dig and move the rare native orchid to safe ground. It also marks a new merging of business and environmental concerns.

GASB 34
The decisions cities and counties make now on new federally mandated Governmental Accounting Standards Board (GASB) regulations will have implications for the long term.

Home Base
Within sight of the Nautilus museum in New London, Conn., the latest in a new class of facilities designed to better service nuclear submarines and save taxpayers money will soon be operational.

Quality of Life — Our Common Concern
California’s energy crisis dramatized the importance of balancing environmental concerns with the need for electrical power. In many communities, dwindling water resources, increasingly crowded airports, overloaded electrical transmission lines and congested highways could reach crisis stage in the coming decades.

The Rumplestiltskin Effect
Nofsinger is putting BCI’s patented genetically modified bacteria to work converting biomass materials such as rice straw to fuel-grade ethanol.