| Greenhouse gases | (Environmental Engineering) Gases which trap solar radiation. Of the solar energy entering the earth's atmosphere a portion is reflected back and a portion penetrates onto the earth's surface. The portion reflected back from the earth's surface is at a different wavelength that when it entered. Carbon dioxide and other gases, which pass solar radiation, absorb this reflected radiation, increasing the earth's temperature. This is much like a greenhouse, hence the name. |
| Troposphere | (Environmental Engineering) The lower atmosphere, from the earth's surface to approximately 12 km. This portion of the earth's atmosphere contains about 95 percent of the atmospheric gases. The temperature gradually declines through this region. |
| Wetland | (Environmental Engineering) Semi-aquatic land, that is land that is either inundated or saturated by water for varying periods of time during each year, and that supports aquatic vegetation which is specifically adapted for saturated soil conditions. |
| Classic life cycle - | (Software Engineering) a linear, sequential approach to process modeling |
| Defect amplification - | (Software Engineering) when a defect is introduced early in the software process and remains undetected, it often is amplified into multiple defects later in the software process |
| Usability - | An informal measure of the ease with which a user interface can be learned and applied with efficiency and without errors |
| Construction Joint | (Concrete Engineering) The contact between the placed concrete and concrete surfaces, against or upon which concrete is to be placed and to which new concrete is to adhere, that has become so rigid that the new concrete cannot be incorporated integrally by vibration with that previously placed. Unformed construction joints are horizontally placed or nearly so. |
| GFRC - Glass Fiber Reinforced Concrete | (Concrete Engineering) Concrete panels, usually architectural designs, reinforced with a high zirconia (16% minimum), alkali-resistant glass fiber. Optimum glass fiber content of 5% by weight. Lower fiber content results in lower early ultimate strengths, higher fiber content can produce composite compaction and consolidation difficulties. |
| Ottawa Sand | (Concrete Engineering) A sand used as a standard in testing hydraulic cements by means of mortar test specimens. Sand is produced by processing silica rock particles obtained by hydraulic mining of the orthoquartzite situated in open-pit deposits near Ottawa, Illinois; naturally rounded grains of nearly pure quartz. |
| Tilt-up | (Concrete Engineering) A method of concrete construction such as where members are cast horizontally near their eventual position, usually on a recently placed slab, and then tilted into place after removal of forms. |