Counterinsurgents frequently rely on mass arrests to impede rebel operations, but in so doing, risk detaining innocent civilians. Wrongful detention can backfire, fueling insurgent violence by alienating detainees and their kin. Can counterinsurgents mitigate wrongful detention through targeted compensation? I study this question using project-level data on US payments to individuals deemed innocent and released from Coalition custody in Iraq between 2004 and 2008. Leveraging plausibly exogenous variation in the allocation of detainee release payments, I document a robust, negative association between counterinsurgent compensation for wrongful detention and insurgent violence. The violence-reducing effects of detainee release payments were greatest in Sunni and mixed sectarian areas; for the types of insurgent attacks, most prone to civilian informing; and when detainee release was complemented by other population-centric reforms. These results suggest that post-harm mitigation helps shift civilian perceptions, inducing civilians to share more information with counterinsurgent forces.


The research to identify measures to prevent glass-sourced injury is one target of an injury prevention and safety promotion project in Cherbourg, a 1200 resident community 250 kilometres north-west of Brisbane.

Funded by Health Promotion Queensland and the Queensland Injury Prevention Council, the Cherbourg Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion Project (CIPSPP) was established in 2008. Five areas were identified for action, one of which was the environment, in which there was a specific interest in broken glass litter.

Exact data on glass-sourced injury were poor as records from the public hospital, the Aboriginal Medical Service clinic or school-based laceration clinic did not specify cause or location of injury. However the volume of anecdotal evidence backed by community concerns about glass as a cause of injury has resulted in focused activities to reduce litter and prevent injury.

The broken glass project has three principal objectives of determining the extent of the problem, devising workable strategies within the local context and assessing the outcome and impact following implementation of those strategies.

Determining the extent of the problem was supported by Photovoice, undertaken by the local school children, community survey and interview with community members, health service providers and other stakeholders. Photovoice, in which the school children captured over 100 photographs of potential injury hazards in the community, identified the principal area of interest, glass litter. Fifty three survey respondents and 20 interviewees revealed the perception of glass litter being an increasing problem which was exacerbated by a number of factors including lack of garbage collection and decline in social responsibility in particular by youth.

A number of strategies were designed and implemented that dovetail into the overall safety and injury prevention plan. A Council-driven alcohol management plan has contributed to reducing the amount of glass in the community. This has been supported by a community clean-up campaign and a resumption of a household garbage collection service. Rubbish bins have been purchased and located in high traffic areas.

Education is a key component of the strategy and a poster competition was initiated as part of the litter awareness and education campaign. Glass as the cause of injury to humans and animals, the unattractiveness of litter and the benefits of wearing shoes were the foci of the poster competition. The five winning posters were generated into an anti-litter message for the community.


Aims Substance use initiation and frequency are associated with reduced educational attainments among adolescents. We examined if decreases in substance use substantially improve youths' school attendance. Design A total of 1084 US adolescents followed quarterly for 1 year after entering substance abuse treatment. Methods Random and fixed effects regression models were used to differentiate the lagged effects of drug use from other time-varying and time-invariant covariates. Self-reports of alcohol, marijuana, stimulants, sedatives, hallucinogens and other drug use were used to predict subsequent school attendance, after controlling for demographic and drug use history characteristics, problem indices and other covariates. Findings Reductions in the frequency of alcohol, stimulants and other drug use and the elimination of marijuana use were each associated independently with increased likelihoods of school attendance. Conclusions Because years of completed schooling is highly correlated with long-term social and economic outcomes, the possibility that reductions in substance use may improve school attendance has significant implications for the cost-effectiveness of substance abuse treatment and other interventions designed to reduce adolescents' substance use.


Convulsive Syncope can be difficult to distinguish from seizures at times. We present a young adult with cardiogenic convulsive syncope that mimic seizures. Continuous cardiac monitoring revealed various arrythmias during seizure like activity. She had a viral prodrome. Cardiac MRI was diagnostic for myocarditis. More detailed studies for the role of a noninvasive cardiac testing such as Cardiac MRI (CMR) and newer treatment modalities such as anti-thymocyte immunoglobulin are required for the management of Viral Myocarditis. Case report: A 32-year-old female was brought to the Emergency Department after a cardiac arrest at work. She was found to be pulseless, so three rounds of CPR were performed, and four shocks were delivered. While in hospital she had multiple episodes of arrythmias associated with pulselessness requiring transvenous pacing. She had a prodrome of viral illness and transferred to a tertiary care center for cardiac MRI and placement of an Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator (ICD). Cardiac MRI revealed signs of early myocarditis. *Corresponding author: Mandeep Kaur, Department of Cardiology, The Brooklyn Hospital Center, New York, United States of America CAse RePoRt


The purpose of this paper is based on the cement-based materials by adding fibers and mineral admixtures for composite, to cement the improvement of liquidity. Experiment with the intensity level of 42.5 ordinary portland cement, by adding polypropylene fibers, slag and fly ash cement mortar as a mineral admixture, the production of cement mortar matrix for the test, were conducted on a variety of mix Fluidity test. Experiments show that the addition of polypropylene fiber is not conducive to the mobility of mortar, especially monofilament fiber was more obvious than the reticular fibers. To join the slag, fly ash, mortar fluidity increased, indicating that slag and fly ash added to improve the workability of cement-based materials. When the fiber content reaches the maximum degree of maximum flow, indicating that slag, fly ash and polypropylene fibers will increase the combined effect of fluidity value. This innovation is obtained by adding fiber cement-based materials for toughening effect, with the use of mineral admixture can improve the overall performance of cement based materials, with further research and promotion value.


OBJECTIVE
Early-stage glottic cancer (ESGC) is a malignancy of the head and neck. Besides disease control, preservation and improvement of voice quality are essential. To enable expectation management and well-informed decision-making, patients should be sufficiently counseled with individualized information on expected voice quality. This study aims to develop an individualized dynamic prediction model for patient-reported voice quality. This model should be able to provide individualized predictions at every time point from intake to the end of follow-up.

STUDY DESIGN
Longitudinal cohort study.

SETTING
Tertiary cancer center.

METHODS
Patients treated for ESGC were included in this study (N = 294). The Voice Handicap Index was obtained prospectively. The framework of mixed and joint models was used. The prognostic factors used are treatment, age, gender, comorbidity, performance score, smoking, T-stage, and involvement of the anterior commissure. The overall performance of these models was assessed during an internal cross-validation procedure and presentation of absolute errors using box plots.

RESULTS
The mean age in this cohort was 67 years and 81.3% are male. Patients were treated with transoral CO2 laser microsurgery (57.8%), single vocal cord irradiation up to (24.5), or local radiotherapy (17.5%). The mean follow-up was 43.4 months (SD 21.5). Including more measurements during prediction improves predictive performance. Including more clinical and demographic variables did not provide better predictions. Little differences in predictive performance between models were found.

CONCLUSION
We developed a dynamic individualized prediction model for patient-reported voice quality. This model has the potential to empower patients and professionals in making well-informed decisions and enables tailor-made counseling.


Per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have been identified in two lakes near Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst (JBMDL) in New Jersey—Little Pine Lake in Pemberton Township and Pine Lake in Manchester Township. The streams that enter these lakes begin in or near JBMDL where sources of PFAS contamination are located. The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the U.S. Air Force Civil Engineer Center, performed a study of the hydrogeol - ogy and the gaining or losing conditions associated with these lakes. Hydrogeologic characteristics in the vicinity of both lakes were assessed using qualitative vertical hydraulic profiling of the subsurface. Groundwater was pumped from test intervals at various depths below land surface, then groundwater levels were measured until they recovered to static conditions. Low permeability aquifer intervals were identified within the aqui - fer underlying both lakes, consistent with silty and (or) clayey subunits of the Kirkwood-Cohansey aquifer system indicated on geophysical and lithologic logs. Gaining or losing conditions between groundwater and lake surface water were assessed with continuous monitor - ing of water levels and temperature in the lakes and in three piezometers per lake screened at different depths in the underlying aquifer from August 2020 through May 2021. At Little Pine Lake, surface water levels were consistently lower than groundwater levels, which is indicative of a gaining condition with groundwater flowing into the lake. Gaining conditions also support the lack of diurnal temperature fluctuations observed in groundwater, but poor response of surface-water temperature prevents complete analysis. The potential for losing conditions at other locations around Little Pine Lake necessitates further assessment in regard to pos - sible PFAS contamination of groundwater in the underlying aquifer. Temperature results were inconclusive at Pine Lake, but


Objective: To determine whether primary eye care training of teachers plays a role in knowledge improvement of teachers about primary eye care or not.  Material and Methods : A total number of 300 teachers (150 trained and 150 teachers without any formal training in primary eye care) were assessed in this comparative cross sectional study. All 300 teachers were from Government. Data were collected by Performa designed for this purpose which includes different variables like teacher's levels of education and experience etc. Each teacher was asked a few questions about primary eye care.  Results: Most of the trained and untrained teachers were highly experienced. Many of the untrained teachers had serious misconceptions about primary eyecare. Trained teachers showed better knowledge in most areas of primary eye. There was less difference in knowledge of trained and untrained teachers about nutrition for eye care, referring the child with eye disease or refractive error, red eye infection and deviated eyes. There was, however, a lack of knowledge even in trained teachers about giving first aid in chemical burns of the eyes and to make immediate referral for foreign body patient etc.  Conclusion: Teachers' training is an effective primary eye care service to early identify some diseases and refractive errors in developing countries with lack of general eye care facilities and eye care professionals. But there are some weak areas where teachers' training can be improved with proper supervision.  Key Words: Primary eye care, trained vs. untrained teachers, childhood blindness.


Observatory‐scale data collection efforts allow unprecedented opportunities for integrative, multidisciplinary investigations in large, complex watersheds, which can affect management decisions and policy. Through the National Science Foundation‐funded REACH (REsilience under Accelerated CHange) project, in collaboration with the Intensively Managed Landscapes‐Critical Zone Observatory, we have collected a series of multidisciplinary data sets throughout the Minnesota River Basin in south‐central Minnesota, USA, a 43,400‐km2 tributary to the Upper Mississippi River. Postglacial incision within the Minnesota River valley created an erosional landscape highly responsive to hydrologic change, allowing for transdisciplinary research into the complex cascade of environmental changes that occur due to hydrology and land use alterations from intensive agricultural management and climate change. Data sets collected include water chemistry and biogeochemical data, geochemical fingerprinting of major sediment sources, high‐resolution monitoring of river bluff erosion, and repeat channel cross‐sectional and bathymetry data following major floods. The data collection efforts led to development of a series of integrative reduced complexity models that provide deeper insight into how water, sediment, and nutrients route and transform through a large channel network and respond to change. These models represent the culmination of efforts to integrate interdisciplinary data sets and science to gain new insights into watershed‐scale processes in order to advance management and decision making. The purpose of this paper is to present a synthesis of the data sets and models, disseminate them to the community for further research, and identify mechanisms used to expand the temporal and spatial extent of short‐term observatory‐scale data collection efforts.


Abstract. Soil in alpine environments plays a key role in the development of ecosystem services and in order to maintain and preserve this important resource, information is required on processes that lead to soil erosion. Similar to other mountain alpine environments, the Benasque catchment is characterised by temperatures below freezing that can last from November to April, intense rainfall events, typically in spring and autumn, and rugged topography which makes assessment of erosion challenging. Indirect approaches to soil erosion assessment, such as combined model approaches, offer an opportunity to evaluate soil erosion in such areas. In this study (i) the SWAT (Soil and Water Assessment Tool) hydrological and erosion model and (ii) sediment fingerprinting procedures were used in parallel to assess the viability of a combined modelling and tracing approach to evaluate soil erosion processes in the area of the Posets-Maladeta Natural Park (central Spanish Pyrenees). Soil erosion rates and sediment contribution of potential sediment sources defined by soil type (Kastanozems/Phaeozems; Fluvisols and Cambisols) were assessed. The SWAT model suggested that, with the highest specific sediment yields, Cambisols are the main source of sediment in the Benasque catchment and Phaeozems and Fluvisols were identified as the lowest sediment contributors. Spring and winter model runs gave the highest and lowest specific sediment yield, respectively. In contrast, sediment fingerprinting analysis identified Fluvisols, which dominate the riparian zone, as the main sediment source at the time of sampling. This indicates the importance of connectivity as well as potential differences in the source dynamic of material in storage versus that transported efficiently from the system at times of high flow. The combined approach enabled us to better understand soil erosion processes in the Benasque alpine catchment, wherein SWAT identified areas of potential high sediment yield in large flood events but sediment fingerprinting identified areas that, due to high connectivity, contribute more to channel-stored sediment deposits.


In the last three decades, more than 200 monoclonal antibodies have been raised against most classes of plant cell wall polysaccharides by different laboratories world-wide. These antibodies are widely used to identify differences in plant cell wall components in mutants, organ and tissue types, and developmental stages. Despite their importance and broad use, the precise binding epitope for only a few of these antibodies has been determined. Here, we use a plant glycan microarray equipped with 88 synthetic oligosaccharides to comprehensively map the epitopes of plant cell wall glycan-directed antibodies. Our results reveal the binding epitopes for 78 arabinogalactan-, rhamnogalacturonan-, xylan-, and xyloglucan-directed antibodies. We demonstrate that, with knowledge of the exact epitopes recognized by individual antibodies, specific glycosyl hydrolases can be implemented into immunological cell wall analyses, providing a framework to obtain structural information on plant cell wall glycans with unprecedented molecular precision.


Abstract. Open sea and inland waterways are the most widely used mode for transporting goods worldwide. It is the International Maritime Organization (IMO) that defines the requirements for position fixing equipment for a worldwide radio-navigation system, in terms of accuracy, integrity, continuity, availability and coverage for the various phases of navigation. Satellite positioning systems can contribute to meet these requirements, as well as optimize marine transportation. Marine navigation usually consists of three major phases identified as Ocean/Coastal/Port approach/Inland waterway, in port navigation and automatic docking with alert limit ranges from 25 m to 0.25 m. GPS positioning is widely used for many applications and is currently recognized by IMO for a future maritime navigation. With the advancement in autonomous GPS positioning techniques such as Precise Point Positioning (PPP) and with the advent of new real-time GNSS correction services such as IGS-Real-Time-Service (RTS), it is necessary to investigate the integrity of the PPP-based positioning technique along with IGS-RTS service in terms of availability and reliability for safe navigation in maritime application. This paper monitors the integrity of an autonomous real-time PPP-based GPS positioning system using the IGS real-time service (RTS) for maritime applications that require minimum availability of integrity of 99.8 % to fulfil the IMO integrity standards. To examine the integrity of the real-time IGS-RTS PPP-based technique for maritime applications, kinematic data from a dual frequency GPS receiver is collected onboard a vessel and investigated with the real-time IGS-RTS PPP-based GPS positioning technique. It is shown that the availability of integrity of the real-time IGS-RTS PPP-based GPS solution is 100 % for all navigation phases and therefore fulfil the IMO integrity standards (99.8 % availability) immediately (after 1 second), after 2 minutes and after 42 minutes of convergence time for Ocean/Coastal/Port approach/Inland waterway, in port navigation and automatic docking, respectively. Moreover, the misleading information is about 2 % for all navigation phases that is considered less safe is not in immediate danger because the horizontal position error is less than the navigation alert limits.


th May 2013 Abstract: The core aim of the higher education policy in any country is establishing a competitive, qualitative higher education with efficiently operating institutions. The question of efficiency needs special attention not only because of the decline of the state support but also the rapid raise of the student mass. In the education system, especially higher education, it's not easy to measure its efficiency. The situation is more complicated since those institutions have multiple inputs and outputs, and not all these outputs could be economically measured. In this case a possible method of determining efficiency is Data Envelopment Analysis. In this paper I adopt the two stage efficiency analysis and use it to compare the efficiency of African higher education systems in fifteen countries using DEA and then I use the tobit regression to determine the most environmental factors that affecting the efficiency of this institute. The analysis shows that the most influential factors affecting efficiency are the growth rate, private share, and public expenditure on education.


Modern memory systems play a critical role in the performance of applications, but a detailed understanding of the application behavior in the memory system is not trivial to attain. It requires time consuming simulations and detailed modeling of the memory hierarchy, often using long address traces. It is increasingly possible to access hardware performance counters to count relevant events in the memory system, but the measurements are coarse-grained and better suited for performance summaries than providing instruction level feedback. The availability of a low cost, online, and accurate methodology for deriving finegrained memory behavior profiles can prove extremely useful for runtime analysis and optimization of programs. This paper presents a new methodology for Ubiquitous Memory Introspection (UMI). It is an online and lightweight methodology that uses fast mini-simulations to analyze short memory access traces recorded from frequently executed code regions. The simulations provide profiling results at varying granularities, down to that of a single instruction or address. UMI naturally complements runtime optimizations and enables new opportunities for online memory specific optimizations. We present a prototype runtime system implementing UMI. The prototype has an average runtime overhead of 14%. This overhead is only 1% more than a state of the art binary instrumentation tool. We used 32 benchmarks, including the full suite of SPEC CPU2000 benchmarks, for evaluation. We show that the mini-simulations accurately reflect the cache performance of two existing memory systems, an Intel Pentium 4 and an AMD Athlon MP (K7). We also demonstrate that UMI predicts delinquent load instructions with an 88% rate of accuracy for applications with a relatively high number of cache misses, and 61% overall. The online profiling results are used at runtime to implement a simple software prefetching strategy that achieves an overall speedup of 64% in the best case.


We demonstrate that modulation of the local strength of the cubic self-focusing (SF) nonlinearity in the two-dimensional geometry, in the form of a circle with contrast Δg of the SF coefficient relative to the ambient medium with a weaker nonlinearity, stabilizes a family of fundamental solitons against the critical collapse. The result is obtained in an analytical form, using the variational approximation and Vakhitov-Kolokolov stability criterion, and corroborated by numerical computations. For the small contrast, the stability interval of the soliton's norm scales as ΔN~Δg (the replacement of the circle by an annulus leads to a reduction of the stability region by perturbations breaking the axial symmetry). To further illustrate this mechanism, we demonstrate, in an exact form, the stabilization of one-dimensional solitons against the critical collapse under the action of a locally enhanced quintic SF nonlinearity.


Abstract The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) Amendments of 1997 require that if a student's behavior impedes his or her learning or the learning of others, then that student's Individualized Education Program (IEP) must address the problem behavior in a proactive manner. To do this, the IEP team conducts a functional behavioral assessment (FBA), writes an IEP based on the assessment, and develops a behavior intervention plan (BIP). Additionally, the IDEA requires that FBAs must be performed when students with disabilities are suspended in excess of 10 school days. The purpose of this article is to (a) present the legal requirements of the IDEA Amendments regarding IEPs, FBAs, and BIPs for special education students with problem behavior; (b) describe the initial policy letters and due process hearings that are helping to clarify the requirements; and (c) discuss the implications of the law for school psychologists and other members of IEP teams.


The world wide web contains vast amounts of data, but only a small portion of it is accessible in an operational form by machines. The rest of this vast collection is behind a presentation layer that renders web pages in a human-friendly form but also hampers machine-processing of data. The task of converting web data into operational form is the task of data extraction. Current approaches to data extraction from the web either require human-effort to guide supervised learning algorithms or are customized to extract a narrow range of data types in specific domains. We focus on the broader problem of discovering the underlying structure of any database-generated web site. Our approach automatically discovers relational data that is hidden behind these web sites by combining experts that identify the relationship between surface structure and the underlying structure.
Our approach is to have a set of software experts that analyze a web site's pages. Each of these experts is specialized to recognize a particular type of structure. These experts discover similarities between data items within the context of the particular types of structure they analyze and output their discoveries as hypotheses in a common hypothesis language. We find the most likely clustering of data using a probabilistic framework in which the hypotheses provide the evidence. From the clusters, the relational form of the data is derived.
We develop two frameworks following the principles of our approach. The first framework introduces a common hypothesis language in which heterogeneous experts express their discoveries. The second framework extends the common language to allow experts to assign confidence scores to their hypotheses.
We experiment in the web domain by comparing the output of our approach to the data extracted by a supervised wrapper-induction system and validated manually. Our results show that our approach performs well in the data extraction task on a variety of web sites.
Our approach is applicable to other structure discovery problems as well. We demonstrate this by successfully applying our approach in the record deduplication domain.


Electrocoagulation (EC) was tested as an alternative method for satisfactory removal of direct blue dye from aqueous medium. Batch EC studies were performed using Iron electrodes to evaluate the influence of various experimental parameters, i.e., Initial pH: 2-10 , current density (CD): 25-250 A/m, electrolysis time (t): 2-10 min, and initial concentration (CO): 25 – 200 mg/L, on the removal of direct blue dye. Additionally, the effects of these parameters on electrical energy consumption were studies under the optimum conditions. The results showed that 98.71 % of direct blue was decolorized and 1.7 KWh/m of energy consumed for initial dye concentration of 100 mg/L with the current density of 200 A/m, solution conductivity of 1.16 mS/cm, at room temperature of approximately 298±2 K, interelectrode distance of 1.5 cm, and initial pH of 4 at the end of 6 min of time of electrolysis.


Abstract Hendra virus (HeV) and Nipah virus (NiV), belonging to the genus Henipavirus, are among the most pathogenic of viruses in humans. Old World fruit bats (family Pteropodidae) are the natural reservoir hosts. Molecular and serological studies found evidence of henipavirus infection in fruit bats from several African countries. However, little is known about the potential for spillover into domestic animals in East Africa, particularly pigs, which served as amplifying hosts during the first outbreak of NiV in Malaysia and Singapore. We collected sera from 661 pigs presented for slaughter in Uganda between December 2015 and October 2016. Using HeV G and NiV G indirect ELISAs, 14 pigs (2%) were seroreactive in at least one ELISA. Seroprevalence increased to 5.4% in October 2016, when pigs were 9.5 times more likely to be seroreactive than pigs sampled in December 2015 (p = 0.04). Eight of the 14 ELISA‐positive samples reacted with HeV N antigen in Western blot. None of the sera neutralized HeV or NiV in plaque reduction neutralization tests. Although we did not detect neutralizing antibodies, our results suggest that pigs in Uganda are exposed to henipaviruses or henipa‐like viruses. Pigs in this study were sourced from many farms throughout Uganda, suggesting multiple (albeit rare) introductions of henipaviruses into the pig population. We postulate that given the widespread distribution of Old World fruit bats in Africa, spillover of henipaviruses from fruit bats to pigs in Uganda could result in exposure of pigs at multiple locations. A higher risk of a spillover event at the end of the dry season might be explained by higher densities of bats and contact with pigs at this time of the year, exacerbated by nutritional stress in bat populations and their reproductive cycle. Future studies should prioritize determining the risk of spillover of henipaviruses from pigs to people, so that potential risks can be mitigated.


We test the galactic outflow model by probing associated galaxies of four strong intergalactic C iv absorbers at z = 5–6 using the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) ramp narrowband filters. The four strong C iv absorbers reside at z = 5.74, 5.52, 4.95, and 4.87, with column densities ranging from NC iv = 1013.8 to 1014.8 cm−2. At z = 5.74, we detect an i-dropout Lyα emitter (LAE) candidate with a projected impact parameter of 42 physical kpc from the C iv absorber. This LAE candidate has a Lyα-based star formation rate (SFRLyα) of 2 M⊙ yr−1 and a UV-based SFR of 4 M⊙ yr−1. Although we cannot completely rule out that this i-dropout emitter may be an [O ii] interloper, its measured properties are consistent with the C iv powered galaxy at z = 5.74. For C iv absorbers at z = 4.95 and z = 4.87, although we detect two LAE candidates with impact parameters of 160 and 200 kpc, such distances are larger than that predicted from the simulations. Therefore, we treat them as nondetections. For the system at z = 5.52, we do not detect LAE candidates, placing a 3σ upper limit of SFRLyα ≈ 1.5 M⊙ yr−1. In summary, in these four cases, we only detect one plausible C iv source at z = 5.74. Combining the modest SFR of the one detection and the three nondetections, our HST observations strongly support that smaller galaxies (SFRLyα ≲ 2 M⊙ yr−1) are main sources of intergalactic C iv absorbers, and such small galaxies play a major role in the metal enrichment of the intergalactic medium at z ≳ 5.


A 62-year-old patient had complained of recurring colicky pain in the right renal bed, seven days before he was admitted as an inpatient. Macrohaematuria was an accompanying sign during one of these attacks. Sonography revealed right urinary obstruction of medium severity; the right kidney could not be demonstrated by urography. Since CT did not yield any clue, retrograde ureteropyelography was performed. An obstructive tumour of the right ureter was identified. This tumour, which had a length of 3.5 cm and a width of 1.2 cm, was completely resected by ureteronephrectomy. Examination revealed an extraskeletal mesenchymal chondrosarcoma of predominantly intraluminal growth, and a tumour-free external ureteral wall. A chondrosarcoma at this site has not been reported as yet. Pathogenesis may be ascribed either to degeneration of an existing chorista or to the development of a pluripotent tumour parent cell.


Roundup Ready® Wheat (RRW) was one of the first genetically modified (GM) traits for the wheat sector and was under review by regulatory agencies in the United States and Canada when Monsanto withdrew it from further consideration. There are a multitude of issues associated with the ex ante evaluation of this decision. These include market acceptance and segregation, as well as the varying sources of cost savings and productivity gains. In this article, we develop a spatial partial equilibrium model of the higher-protein hard wheat market and assess the changes in the distribution of welfare associated with release and adoption of RRW. It incorporates segments for GM aversion in each market and segregation costs for each segment. Major conclusions indicate that in the most likely scenario, producer welfare increases by $301 million and consumer welfare increases by $252 million. Producers of hard red spring (HRS) wheat in the United States and Canada win, while hard red winter (HRW) wheat growers lose.


Pressure vessels and their components are commonly designed with the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Codes. One of the requirements when pursuing the design by analysis route is to design these equipment against ductile local failure criterion provided in the codes. However, the ductile local failure criterion in the ASME codes only accounts for the stress triaxiality (T) as a stress state measure. Recent work has shown that ductile failure highly depends on the stress state characterized by both T and the Lode parameter L, which is related to the third deviatoric stress invariant. In this study, the effect of stress state characterized by both T and L is investigated for six different steel grades with different material strength levels. To establish the ductile failure loci for the six steel grades with respect to T and L, experiments were conducted on two different specimen geometries. The L parameter is controlled by the specimen configuration, where the round notched bar specimen corresponds to axisymmetric tensile conditions (L = −1) and the flat notched specimen corresponds to plane strain loading conditions (L = 0), whereas T is controlled by introducing a notch at the center of the specimens. A Lode sensitivity parameter (LS) is defined based on the experimental results and revealed that the steel grades with ultimate strength higher than a certain threshold value (450 MPa) exhibit sensitivity to the Lode parameter. The Lode sensitivity was quantified, and the results showed that the LS increases with increase in the ultimate strength of the steel grade. The results were incorporated to enhance the original ASME local failure criterion by accounting for T, L, and LS to accurately assess ductile failure in high-strength steels. The application of the enhanced failure locus in a design analysis of a pressure vessel made of a high-strength steel grade is demonstrated, which showed that the original ASME criterion, as compared to the enhanced criterion in this study, is not capable of predicting ductile failure and hence rendering a rather nonconservative design. It is concluded that the enhanced local failure criterion is recommended to be used for the design of pressure vessels and their components made of steel grades with an ultimate strength higher than the threshold value.


: Since compromises must be accepted in emergency Caesarean sections in respect of preparation, anaesthesia and hygienic standards, 143 emergency caesarean sections out of a total number of 37,583 deliveries were analysed during 1981-1990 from four different obstetrical departments as well as risks, complications, maternal and foetal morbidity and mortality were studied. In connection with these operations, which are not influenced only by medical factors but also by logistics, two mothers died (1.4%). Perinatal mortality was 3.3% (unpurified perinatal mortality: 8.5%). Neither the influence of time, when the Caesarean section was performed, nor the place of operation (theatre or labor bed), nor the indication for the operation on foetal outcome and maternal morbidity were found. Maternal morbidity was mainly contributed to pre- and intraoperative bleeding. Intraoperatively 12.6% and postoperatively 10.5% of the patients had to be given heterologous blood conserves. In more than a third of the newborn, which had been delivered by emergency Caesarean section, because of a pathological cardiotocogram, the pH values showed no pathological findings. The benefit of an antibiotic prophylaxis in emergency Caesarean sections could be significantly demonstrated, showing the different rates of secondary healing complications. A particular problem exists in emergency Caesarean sections for the delivery of the second twin following spontaneous delivery of the first one (2.8%).


Marine cyanobacteria from the genus Synechococcus are found throughout the world's oceans and as primary producers, they have a significant role in the global carbon cycle. They are also genetically diverse with at least 10 described clades and physiologically diverse capable of motility, using different sources of nitrogen or phosphorus, or modifying the composition of their photosynthetic pigments, for example. As more is learned of their diversity, however, it has become less clear how their genetic diversity reflects their physiological diversity and the ecological niches that they occupy. By developing novel, culture-independent methods, biogeographic patterns were uncovered to provide a framework to link the genetic, physiological, and ecological diversity of marine Synechococcus. Quantitative PCR was used to show that the coastal Southern California Bight is dominated by two Synechococcus clades. Relative to each other, the abundance of these clades varied seasonally indicating that they occupied distinct ecological niches. Synechococcus biogeography was explored further using a novel high-throughput hybridization method (Luminex) to examine the distribution of sub-clades within the two co-existing clades. Even at this scale of diversity, ecological differentiation was apparent. Most interestingly, in mesotrophic environments of the Southern California Bight a sub-clade was abundant in deep water (50 m) while most other sub-clades preferred surface waters. Environmental metagenomic sequences were used to investigate the role of selection in shaping the diversity of Synechococcus populations. The large majority of genes have evolved under purifying selection. Genes that were well represented in environmental populations and may be essential for the population in the coastal Southern California Bight tended to be more evolutionarily conserved. Genes that may have been positively selected were mostly hypothetical genes and were more rare in the environment. For this dissertation, the diversity, biogeography, and evolution of Synechococcus were examined at a level of detail not previously available. The results of this research formed a foundation for further investigations into the genetic and environmental factors regulating the ecological functions and niches of Synechococcus populations. More generally, this research addressed the scales at which bacterial evolution and diversification occur, and how bacterial populations are adapted to their environment


We examined the importance of the introduced Asian golden mussel (Limnoperna fortunei) in structuring invertebrate communities in South American rresnwaters. An experiment using artificial substrata (i.e., concrete tiles with either a layer of living mussels, a layer of intact empty shells that mimicked living mussels, or blank tiles) showed that, when considered in bulk, invertebrates (density and biomass) are enhanced significantly in the presence of live mussels (as compared with shells only and blank tiles). On a taxon-by-taxon basis, however, significantly higher densities and biomass on live mussel tiles than on blank and/or shells-only tiles were found only for Oligochaeta, which would especially benefit from the feces and pseudofeces produced by the living mussel beds. At the end of the experiment, the amount of accumulated sediment on the tiles differed greatly among treatments, with values up to three times higher on shells-only tiles than on live-mussel and blank tiles. Dead mussels act as a sediment trap, whereas the activity of live mussels helps keep the tiles less clogged with sediments. On the other hand, proportions of organic matter were two times higher in the presence of live mussels than in the other two treatments. Although the physical structure created by mussel shells plays a significant role, we conclude that the activity of living mussels is of major importance for controlling invertebrate numbers, biomass and diversity.


An amplification for single pass operation was demonstrated by using Zirconia-based erbium-doped fiber (Zr-EDF). 1 m is the optimum length due to overall high gain and minimal noise figure from 1520 nm to 1620 nm. The highest gain is 28.62 dB at 1555 nm with the input signal and pump power are fixed at -30 dBm and 130 mW, respectively. At input signal -10 dBm, a wide and flat-gain of 19.36 dB is obtained with very small variation gain of 0.27 dB from 1530 nm to 1570 nm. Meanwhile, the noise figure for both input signals were maintained below than 12 dBm for the specific regions.


In order to determine if the measured beta activity for a solution containing potassium was exactly as predicted, particularly since the CES gas counter is not calibrated specifically with K-40, an experiment was conducted to compare measured activities from two radioanalytical methods (gamma spectroscopy and gas proportional counting) to calculated activities across a range of potassium concentrations. Potassium, being ubiquitous and naturally radioactive, is a well-known and common interference in gross beta counting methods. By measuring the observed beta activity due to K-40 in potassium-containing solutions across a wide range of concentrations, it was found that the observed beta activity agrees well with the beta activity calculated from the potassium concentration measured by standard inorganic analytical techniques, such as ICP-OES, and that using the measured potassium concentration to calculate the expected beta activity, and comparing this to the observed beta activity to determine if potassium can account for all the observed activity in a sample, is a valid technique. It was also observed that gamma spectroscopy is not an effective means of measuring K-40 activity below approximately 700 pCi/L, which corresponds to a solution with approximately 833 mg/L total potassium. Gas proportional counting for gross beta activity has a muchmore » lower detection limit, typically 20-50 picoCi/L for a liquid low in total dissolved solids, which corresponds to a potassium concentration of approximately 30-70 ppm K.« less


Osteopenia and osteoporosis are bone disorders characterized by reduced bone mineral density (BMD), altered bone microarchitecture and increased bone fragility. Because of global aging, their incidence is rapidly increasing worldwide and novel treatments that would be more efficient at preventing disease progression and at reducing the risk of bone fractures are needed. Preclinical studies are today a major bottleneck to the collection of new data and the discovery of new drugs, since they are commonly based on rodent in vivo systems that are time consuming and expensive, or in vitro systems that do not exactly recapitulate the complexity of low BMD disorders. In this regard, teleost fish, in particular zebrafish and medaka, have recently emerged as suitable alternatives to study bone formation and mineralization and to model human bone disorders. In addition to the many technical advantages that allow faster and larger studies, the availability of several fish models that efficiently mimic human osteopenia and osteoporosis phenotypes has stimulated the interest of the academia and industry toward a better understanding of the mechanisms of pathogenesis but also toward the discovery of new bone anabolic or antiresorptive compounds. This mini review recapitulates the in vivo teleost fish systems available to study low BMD disorders and highlights their applications and the recent advances in the field.


ABSTRACT Protein transfection is a versatile tool to study or manipulate cellular processes and also shows great therapeutic potential. However, the repertoire of cost effective techniques for efficient and minimally cytotoxic delivery remains limited. Mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNs) are multifunctional nanocarriers for cellular delivery of a wide range of molecules, they are simple and economical to synthesize and have shown great promise for protein delivery. In this work we present a general strategy to optimize the delivery of active protein to the nucleus. We generated a bimolecular Venus based optical sensor that exclusively detects active and bioavailable protein for the performance of multi-parameter optimization of protein delivery. In conjunction with cell viability tests we maximized MSN protein delivery and biocompatibility and achieved highly efficient protein transfection rates of 80%. Using the sensor to measure live-cell protein delivery kinetics, we observed heterogeneous timings within cell populations which could have a confounding effect on function studies. To address this problem we fused a split or dimerization dependent protein of interest to chemically induced dimerization (CID) components, permitting control over its activity following cellular delivery. Using the split Venus protein we directly show that addition of a small molecule dimerizer causes synchronous activation of the delivered protein across the entire cell population. This combination of cellular delivery and triggered activation provides a defined starting point for functional studies and could be applied to other protein transfection methods.


Adaptor protein 4 (AP-4) is an ancient membrane trafficking complex, whose function has largely remained elusive. In humans, AP-4 deficiency causes a severe neurological disorder of unknown aetiology. We apply multiple unbiased proteomic methods, including 'Dynamic Organellar Maps', to find proteins whose subcellular localisation depends on AP-4. We identify three highly conserved transmembrane cargo proteins, ATG9A, SERINC1 and SERINC3, and two AP-4 accessory proteins, RUSC1 and RUSC2. We demonstrate that AP-4 deficiency causes missorting of ATG9A in diverse cell types, including neuroblastoma and AP-4 patient-derived cells, as well as dysregulation of autophagy. Furthermore, we show that RUSC2 facilitates the microtubule plus-end-directed transport of AP-4-derived, ATG9A-positive vesicles from the TGN to the cell periphery. Since ATG9A has essential functions in neuronal homeostasis, our data not only uncover the ubiquitous function of the AP-4 pathway, but also begin to explain the molecular pathomechanism of AP-4 deficiency.


By complementing appropriate gal lesions in Escherichia coli K802, we were able to isolate the galactokinase (galK) and galactose-1-phosphate uridyl transferase (galT) genes of Lactobacillus helveticus. Tn10 transposon mutagenesis, together with in vivo complementation analysis and in vitro enzyme activity measurements, allowed us to map these two genes. The DNA sequences of the genes and the flanking regions were determined. These revealed that the two genes are organized in the order galK-galT in an operonlike structure. In an in vitro transcription-translation assay, the galK and galT gene products were identified as 44- and 53-kDa proteins, respectively, data which corresponded well with the DNA sequencing data. The deduced amino acid sequence of the galK gene product showed significant homologies to other prokaryotic and eukaryotic galactokinase sequences, whereas galactose-1-phosphate uridyl transferase did not show any sequence similarities to other known proteins. This observation, together with a comparison of known gal operon structures, suggested that the L. helveticus operon developed independently to a translational expression unit having a different gene order than that in E. coli, Streptococcus lividans, or Saccharomyces cerevisiae. DNA sequencing of the flanking regions revealed an open reading frame downstream of the galKT operon. It was tentatively identified as galM (mutarotase) on the basis of the significant amino acid sequence homology with the corresponding Streptococcus thermophilus gene.


VoIP playout buffer dimensioning has long been a challenging optimization problem, as the buffer size must maintain a balance between conversational interactivity and speech quality. The conversational quality may be affected by a number of factors, some of which may change over time. Although a great deal of research effort has been expended in trying to solve the problem, how the research results are applied in practice is unclear.
 In this paper, we investigate the playout buffer dimensioning algorithms applied in three popular VoIP applications, namely, Skype, Google Talk, and MSN Messenger. We conduct experiments to assess how the applications adjust their playout buffer sizes. Using an objective QoE (Quality of Experience) metric, we show that Google Talk and MSN Messenger do not adjust their respective buffer sizes appropriately, while Skype does not adjust its buffer at all. In other words, they could provide better QoE to users by improving their buffer dimensioning algorithms. Moreover, none of the applications adapts its buffer size to the network loss rate, which should also be considered to ensure optimal QoE provisioning.


We describe the experimental realization of planar plasmonic THz guided-wave devices using periodically perforated metal films. These perforated films behave as effective media for which the dielectric function can be broadly engineered. We initially use transmission measurements to measure the complex dielectric constants of these effective media and show experimentally that the effective plasma frequency corresponds to the cutoff frequency of the rectangular apertures. Using these structures, we demonstrate not only straight planar THz waveguides, but also more complex devices such as Y-splitters and 3-dB couplers. In each of these embodiments, we demonstrate that the propagating THz radiation is well confined in both the in-plane and out-of-plane axes. This approach opens exciting new avenues for both passive and active THz guided-wave devices and circuits.


Layered double hydroxides (LDHs) and derived materials have been widely used as heterogeneous catalysts for different types of reactions either in gas or in liquid phase. Among these processes, the valorization/upgrading of lignocellulosic biomass and derived molecules have attracted enormous attention because it constitutes a pivotal axis in the transition from an economic model based on fossil resources to one based on renewable biomass resources with preference for biomass waste streams. Proof of this is the increasing amount of literature reports regarding the rational design and implementation of LDHs and related materials in catalytic processes such as: depolymerization, hydrogenation, selective oxidations, and C–C coupling reactions, among others, where biomass-derived compounds are used. The major aim of this contribution is to situate the most recent advances on the implementation of these types of catalysts into a lignocellulosic-feedstock biorefinery scheme, highlighting the versatility of LDHs and derived materials as multifunctional, tunable, cheap and easy to produce heterogeneous catalysts.


Objectives Although the quality of one's own social relationships has been related to cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, whether a partner's social network quality can similarly influence one's cardiovascular risk is unknown. In this study we tested whether the quality of a partner's social networks influenced one's own ambulatory blood pressure (ABP). Methods The quality of 94 couples' social networks was determined using a comprehensive model of relationships that separates out social ties that are sources of positivity(supportive), negativity (aversive), and both positivity and negativity (ambivalent). We then utilized statistical models (actor-partner analyses) that allowed us to separate out the links between one's own social network quality on ABP (actor influences), a partner's social network quality on ABP (partner influences), and a couple's network quality combined on ABP (actor X partner interactions). Results Independent of one's own relationship quality, results showed that an individual's ABP was lower if their spouse had more supportive ties, and higher if a spouse had more aversive and ambivalent ties. In addition, couples' networks in combination were associated with higher ABP but only if both had a low number of supportive ties, or a high number of aversive or ambivalent ties. Conclusions These data suggest that the social ties of those we have close relationships with may influence our cardiovascular risk and opens new opportunities to capitalize on untapped social resources or to mitigate hidden sources of social strain.


Pimozide is widely used in psychiatry for chronic psychoses, schizophrenia, the syndrome of Gilles de la Tourette and to a certain extent, also in dermatology. The only dermatological indication is for delusions of parasitosis. Though there is a good rationale for using pimozide in this disease, the majority of the studies on pimozide in dermatology are uncontrolled trials and case reports.


The paper presents a 3D analysis (3DA) to evaluate the particle shape and size of silica and calcareous sands. The particles of calcareous sand are found to be less spherical than those of silica and crushed calcareous sands. Furthermore, the results indicate that the average sphericity (SPH) holds an inverse relationship to the particle size. However, in each sample the larger particles have higher SPHs than the smaller particles. In addition, the 3DA yields smaller particles than the sieve analysis (SA). Owing to a variety of particle shapes, causing particle interlocking, especially for calcareous sand, the particles cannot pass through the sieves by their shortest dimension. This paper discusses the effects of particle characteristics on the shear strength properties. Although the calcareous sand shows higher peak and residual shear strength properties, it tends to reach a lower shear strength at a small shear strain and a lower dilation than the silica sand. Moreover, the findings prove that the residual shear strength increases with the mean particle size. The sample with smaller particles shows less dilation under low vertical stress, while high vertical stress yields less compression. The relationship between the particle shape and shear strength properties is discussed based on the 3DA results.


This is the second part of an H-alpha kinematics follow-up survey of the Spitzer Infrared Nearby Galaxies Survey (SINGS) sample. The aim of this program is to shed new light on the role of baryons and their kinematics and on the dark/luminous matter relation in the star forming regions of galaxies, in relation with studies at other wavelengths. The data for 37 galaxies are presented. The observations were made using Fabry-Perot interferometry with the photon-counting camera FaNTOmM on 4 different telescopes, namely the Canada-France-Hawaii 3.6m, the ESO La Silla 3.6m, the William Herschel 4.2m, and the Observatoire du mont Megantic 1.6m telescopes. The velocity fields are computed using custom IDL routines designed for an optimal use of the data. The kinematical parameters and rotation curves are derived using the GIPSY software. It is shown that non-circular motions associated with galactic bars affect the kinematical parameters fitting and the velocity gradient of the rotation curves. This leads to incorrect determinations of the baryonic and dark matter distributions in the mass models derived from those rotation curves.


Peripheral artery disease (PAD) is a major health concern affecting more than 200 million people worldwide and studies have shown PAD to be a strong predictor of mortality, morbidity, and disability. The management of PAD is multi‐tiered and advancements in technology have given physicians more options for endovascular revascularization if medical therapy does not result in substantial improvement. Many randomized controlled trials have reported efficacy of various therapies including laser atherectomy, stent technology, and drug‐coated balloons over standard percutaneous transluminal angioplasty; however, uncertainty regarding the best standard of care remains unclear because of a lack of head to head comparisons between novel therapies. Furthermore, variability in the reported clinical outcomes exists and makes it difficult to evaluate the superiority of any specific treatment modality, especially for functional capacity and quality of life. Recently established consensus definitions for clinical outcomes coupled with investigators incorporating direct comparisons within clinical trials will be crucial to establish consistent care and meaningful gain in treatment for these patients. This review will highlight the treatment modalities, literature supporting each treatment modality, and insight into why they are being used and why variation exists around the United States.


The geochemistry of formation fluids (water and hydrocarbon gases) in the Uinta Basin, Utah, is evaluated at the regional scale based on fluid sampling and compilation of past records. The deep formation water is dominated by Na-Cl type where halite dissolution has the greatest effects on water chemistry. Its distribution and composition is controlled by both the lithology of geological formations and regional hydrodynamics. The origin of the saline waters in the southeastern basin is interpreted to be a mix of ancient evaporatively concentrated seawater with meteoric water recharged in the geological past, which has experienced water-rock interactions. At the basin scale, three-dimensional mapping of the dissolved solid contents further reveals that (1) in the northern Uinta Basin bordering the Uinta Mountains, significant flushing of the deep basinal brines up to 6-km (3.7-mi) depth by meteoric water has occurred, and (2) in the central basin groundwater discharge areas along the Green River Valley, regional upwelling of saline waters from 2- to 3-km (1.2- to 1.8-mi) depth is occurring. Moreover, gas composition and water-gas stable isotope characteristics in the central to southeastern basin indicate the presence of a deep, thermogenic, and regionally continuous gas deposit. In particular, gases sampled in this region from the Wasatch Formation and Mesaverde Group indicate a similar source rock (type III kerogen of the deeply buried, thermally mature Mesaverde Group in the central to northern basin) as well as migration from the Natural Buttes gas field toward the southeastern basin. Evidence for biogenic methane formation is observed only in the upper Green River Formation in the central to northern Uinta Basin. Here, the organic-rich, immature Green River shales experience meteoric water invasions and formation fluid chemistry, and stable isotope compositions are diagnostic of microbial methanogenesis.


Densely-packed but structured scientific data are typically presented in the form of tables, which often appear in raster image form. To interpret data from scanned tables, understanding their hierarchical structure is vital. To further address the vast variability of table representations, we propose a fully automatic methodology that uses a bottom-up reasoning that is independent on the existence of representation features, such as lines. We evaluate our approach on the ICDAR 2013 dataset and demonstrate its effectiveness on detecting tables cells and their content and classifying header and data cells. For detecting the cell hierarchy, we demonstrate results on synthetic data due to lack of ground truth.


Many empirical software engineering studies show that there is a need for repositories where source codes are acquired, filtered and classified. During the last few years, Ethereum block explorer services have emerged as a popular project to explore and search for Ethereum blockchain data such as transactions, addresses, tokens, smart contracts' source codes, prices and other activities taking place on the Ethereum blockchain. Despite the availability of this kind of service, retrieving specific information useful to empirical software engineering studies, such as the study of smart contracts' software metrics, might require many subtasks, such as searching for specific transactions in a block, parsing files in HTML format, and filtering the smart contracts to remove duplicated code or unused smart contracts. In this paper, we afford this problem by creating Smart Corpus, a corpus of smart contracts in an organized, reasoned and up-to-date repository where Solidity source code and other metadata about Ethereum smart contracts can easily and systematically be retrieved. We present Smart Corpus's design and its initial implementation, and we show how the data set of smart contracts' source codes in a variety of programming languages can be queried and processed to get useful information on smart contracts and their software metrics. Smart Corpus aims to create a smart-contract repository where smart-contract data (source code, application binary interface (ABI) and byte code) are freely and immediately available and are classified based on the main software metrics identified in the scientific literature. Smart contracts' source codes have been validated by EtherScan, and each contract comes with its own associated software metrics as computed by the freely available software PASO. Moreover, Smart Corpus can be easily extended as the number of new smart contracts increases day by day.


Background: Enterococcus spp. are resistant to many antimicrobials including vancomycin. They may be found in foods and water. Objective: In the current study, van genes were investigated in vancomycin resistant enterococci (VRE) isolated from dried vegetables in Tehran, Iran. Materials and Methods: In this study, 140 dried vegetable samples were collected from local retailers in Tehran, Iran, 2015. Bacteria were isolated using culture, biochemistry and molecular methods. Susceptibility of the enterococcal isolates was assessed to six antibiotics of ampicillin, chloramphenicol, erythromycin, gentamicin, tetracycline and vancomycin using Kirby-Bauer method. The prevalence of vanA, B, C, D, E genes was molecularly studied in VRE using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and sequencing techniques. Results: Of 140 dried vegetable samples, Enterococcus spp. strains were isolated from 84 samples (60%). Totally, 48% of the isolates were resistant to vancomycin. Of 41 vancomycinresistant enterococcal isolates, vanA was found in 23 (56.1%), vanB in 8 (19.5%) and vanC in 2 (4.9%) isolates. No vanD or vanE was found in the isolates. Results have shown a high rate of contamination with Enterococcus spp., especially VRE, in dried vegetables in Tehran. Conclusion: Therefore, further hygienic regulations such as personal training and food processing, transportation, storage and marketing must be routine in food industries and local retailers.


Following the approach of R. M. Hartwell, the influential historian of the British Industrial Revolution, these essays explore the cultural contexts and institutional constraints that have shaped growth and development over the past two centuries. Capitalism in Context offers new perspectives on why economic development took place where and when it did. Thirteen chapters cover: social progress during economic development; the influence of cultural values on social and economic change; economic foundations of development—labor, capital, and technology; and organizational arrangements—property rights, government, and markets. These studies will appeal to economists, historians, and social scientists alike for their wide-ranging treatments of economic development and cultural change. The contributors are N. F. R. Crafts, Lance E. Davis, Stanley L. Engerman, David W. Galenson, Robert E. Gallman, Stephen Innes, John A. James, Eric L. Jones, Thomas W. Laqueur, Gary D. Libecap, Joel Mokyr, Douglass C. North, Mark Thomas, John J. Wallis, Jeffrey G. Williamson.


Objective of the study: The present survey studies relationship between organizational justice and employees' performance in one of the pharmaceutical companies of Borojerd  township in Iran. Tools and methods : Organizational justice has been analyzed in this survey with three dimensions of distributive justice, procedural justice, and interactional justice and employees' performance has been considered with two indexes of effectiveness and efficiency. Statistical population of the survey included one-hundred seventy nine (179) persons of Damloran–Razak Pharmaceutical Company in Borojerd Township. Number of the sample was calculated equal to one-hundred twenty three (123) employees and thirty three (33) managers. Sampling was conducted through classified random method. Data analysis was accomplished using correlation test, Kolmogoroff-Smirnoff and binomial test. Findings: according to the research results, there was not any positive and significant relationship between organizational justice and employees' performance. Conclusion: factors of distributive justice, procedural justice and interactional justice and generally organizational justice haven't been in a desirable status in the organization under study. This may have plausible results for the organization in the long-term. Therefore, all organizations generally and Damloran-Razak Pharmaceutical Company specially must do their best to reinforce the process of justice in distribution of consequences, procedures and social interactions.


. Quantifying the contribution of habitat dynamics relative to intrinsic population processes in regulating species persistence remains an ongoing challenge in ecological and applied conservation. Understanding these drivers and their relationship is essential for managing habitat-dependent species, especially those that specialize in transitional habitats. Limitations in the ability of natural disturbance to mediate transitional habitat dynamics have resulted in a decline in early- and mid-successional vegetation structure and prompted the need for aggressive habitat management to replace natural perturbations and increase habitat structural complexity. We describe a collaborative effort with a group of independent land managers to design an adaptive management program for restoring an imperiled ecosystem and recover-ing declining populations of an endemic habitat specialist. We developed a set of integrated, hierarchical models to estimate management-mediated transition rates among vegetation classes in two dominant scrub communities and the species response (local colonization and extinction probabilities) as a function of habitat state. Models were fi t using a long-term data set of habitat and occupancy observations from 361 Florida scrub-jay territories across two Florida counties. Occupancy model results correspond closely to previous approaches of estimating differential survival and reproductive success associated with habitat conditions, with highest colonization and lowest extinction rates estimated for those habitat states found to have the highest rates of survival and reproduction. In addition to offering an innovative approach for jointly modeling habitat and species population dynamics, the program we describe will also be of interest from a management perspective by providing guidance for developing collaborative, adaptive management frameworks from the ground up. We engaged land managers via workshops to specify objectives and desired state-variable conditions, identify management alternatives, and elicit consensus opinions on model parameters. Treating expert opinions as pseudo-observations to de fi ne Dirichlet priors allowed us to make use of existing management knowledge. Formal learning was then accumulated by updating transition probability estimates as management activities were implemented over the study period. We believe this adaptive management framework provides a useful approach for increasing our understanding of complex ecological relationships and hope that it will be adopted by others who have interest in informing management and conservation efforts.


Background: Various taboos and myths exist in different cultures surrounding menses and these have contributed to lifestyle restrictions and induced preventable stresses for many women. Several studies have highlighted that it is important we promote education, so future doctors have a holistic understanding
of this topic and are able to provide destigmatising care. There is currently minimal literature describing medical students' knowledge, attitudes, and practices regarding menstruation.

Materials and methods: A cross-sectional questionnaire study was conducted to explore the current knowledge, attitudes, and practices surrounding menstruation among final year medical students at James Cook University (JCU). Quantitative analysis was applied to closed questions, and open-coded questions were thematically grouped.

Results:
The overall findings (n=65; response rate=35%) highlight that while misconceptions on menstruation exist in Australian society, university is a vital source of menstrual health knowledge. Approximately half of
the students felt that studying medicine normalised menstruation, while the rest felt there was no change in their attitudes as they were comfortable with this topic prior to medical school. Studying medicine also contributed to changes in 20% of female students' menstrual practices. The forms of social stigma identified by students were grouped into 4 themes (n=24): (1) religious and lifestyle restrictions, (2) stigma stemming from males in society, (3) the use of degrading language when referring to menstruation, and (4) unwillingness to discuss the topic. There were also varying views towards the use of medical interventions for the cessation of periods. Recommendations from students for improvements to the JCU medical curriculum included providing more information on (1) different cultural perceptions of menstruation, (2) practical elements linked with menstruation, and (3) medical knowledge relating to menstruation and menstrual health conditions.

Conclusion: Studying medicine is reported by medical students to improve knowledge, promote positive attitudes, and enforce hygienic practices regarding menstruation. This, in turn, can help reduce misconceptions and promote menstrual hygiene in the wider community.


DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS SAPKOTA, INDRA P. B. SC. TRIBHUVAN UNIVERSITY, 2005 M. SC. ST. JOSEPH'S COLLEGE, 2008 TUNABLE BAND GAP IN FUNCTIONALIZED EPITAXIAL GRAPHENE Committee Chair: Xiao-Qian Wang, Ph.D. Thesis dated July, 2013 Graphene is a two-dimensional system consisting of a single planar layer of carbon atoms with hexagonal arrangement. Various approaches have been proposed to control its physical and electronic properties. Graphite intercalation compounds are materials formed by inserting molecular layers of compounds between stacked sheets of graphene. We have studied the physical and electronic responses of two graphene layers intercalated with gold cluster. Quasi free-standing graphene with Dirac fermion behavior has been recently demonstrated through gold intercalated epitaxial graphene. Herein, we investigate the electronic characteristics of gold-intercepted epitaxial graphene under a perpendicularly applied electric field. Evolution of the band structure of intercalated epitaxial graphene as a function of the bias is investigated by means of density-functional theory including interlayer van der Waals interactions. Our results indicate that goldintercalated epitaxial graphene can lead to tunable band gap with the applied bias, which is important for future device. Hexagonal boron-nitride (fc-BN) is an ideal substrate for graphene due to its dielectric, insulating, and polarizing features. Our first-principles investigation reveals that the interaction of the /i-BN substrate with graphene induces a band gap. The zigzagedged graphene and /i-BN nanoribbon possess intrinsic half-metalicity, whereas the reconstructed edges with heptagonal and pentagonal alterations yield metallic states. The application of a transverse electric bias to a graphene boron nitride nanoribbon (GBNNR) promotes a transition from exhibiting semiconducting states to half metallic properties while GBNNR with reconstructed edges undergo transition from metallic to semiconducting properties. THE TUNABLE BAND GAP IN FUNCTIONALEED EPITAXIAL GRAPHENE ATHESIS SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF CLARK ATLANTA UNIVERSITY IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE MASTER OF SCIENCE


Increased attention on the relationships between customer service training and organizational results is prompting human resource development (HRD) scholars and practitioners to more broadly consider outcomes. This study examined the role of perceived external prestige, an underexplored area in the service excellence literature. We proposed that employee perceptions of organizational prestige relate positively with customer-oriented citizenship behaviors (COCBs). In the perceived external prestige–COCBs relationship, we also explored the mediating role of psychological empowerment, as well as the moderating effect of organization-based self-esteem (OBSE) and leader–member exchange (LMX). Valid and reliable self-report and supervisory evaluation measures were collected from a sample of employees from luxury hotels in South Korea. The results indicate that perceived external prestige was a significant predictor for service employees' citizenship performance and the perceived reputation impact was indirect through psychological empowerment. The study also identified LMX as a key precondition for service organizations to engage employees in customer-oriented behaviors beyond formal role. In discussing these results, we present significant insights in terms of reputation management as a motivational and competitive strategy to be included in HRD practices focused on customer service.


This paper presents a comparison of simulation results for various time division duplex (TDD) UMTS receiver architectures. Uplink and downlink simulations are performed over frequency-selective time varying channels. Results indicate that in practice, satisfactory performance cannot be obtained using fixed branch receiver architectures. To overcome this limitation, a reconfigurable blind adaptive linear minimum mean square error (LMMSE) receiver is proposed to simultaneously track channel variations and mitigate the effects of multiple access interference and intersymbol interference. This new method is compared with the standard correlator, RAKE receiver and chip level equalisation techniques. System performance is studied in terms of uncoded bit error rate for low and medium levels of RMS delay spread. Simulations demonstrate that adaptive branch and parameter selection greatly reduces the interference floor in multi-user CDMA systems. More specifically, the proposed reconfigurable blind adaptive LMMSE is shown to offer competitive results at low relative complexity. This approach can be used to improve the performance and capacity of TDD mode UMTS networks.


Understanding the key ecological factors that moderate the relationship be- tween biodiversity and the productivity of ecosystems is a major challenge for ecological research. Here we show that the relationship between the species richness of primary producers and net rates of biomass production in streams depends on the history of dis- charge-related disturbances. Using common methods to study 83 streams in the mid-Atlantic United States, we demonstrate that a positive relationship between producer richness and the net production of biomass only occurs in streams characterized by highly variable, unpredictable discharge regimes that represent frequently disturbed environments to benthic organisms. This pattern is partly explained by predictable changes in the composition of species assemblages among disturbed streams. The pattern also results because, in disturbed systems, species have faster rates of biomass accumulation when they are a part of species- rich assemblages. We discuss several possible explanations for this result. Our study sup- ports qualitative predictions from theoretical and small-scale experimental work that the strength of the diversity-productivity relationship will depend explicitly on the disturbance regime of an ecosystem. The results have important implications for the management and conservation of aquatic resources as they suggest that changes to the productivity and diversity of streams may have their greatest impacts on organisms and systems that are most sensitive to disturbance.


Statistical evaluation of results in the treatment of malignant cutaneous lesions is scientifically impossible. Except for superficial small epitheliomas on fairly smooth areas of glabrous skin, all lesions differ in some respect. In deciding the method of treatment in any particular case, the following factors must be considered: 1. The age and general condition of the patient, including the mental status. With many patients, it is desirable to treat the lesion when the patient is first seen. This is especially true when an emotional anxiety state caused by diagnosis of cancer exists. Elderly infirm patients are frequently unable to carry out a protracted schedule of treatment. 2. The accessibility of the patient to proper treatment. When he must travel long distances from home to office or clinic, two to seven trips a week are often impossible. If a one treatment method is available, with results comparable to any other method,


Punk is western culture which actually has been accepted and applied in life by some Indonesia adolescents, and has caused ancestors culture eroded with negative values. Their negative behavior is not actually be arranged in KUHP peculiarly, but they earn was also imposed by Section 504 and 503 KUHP KUHP number 409 concerning un heavy Injustice ( Tipiring) if it is true proven make a mistake. Though the rules have just remained, community of Punk in Malang city often does transgression like doing Premanisme, asking for money forcibly, making a scene or riot with influence of liquor. And writer checked and analyzed that problem.
The rising problem of generated transgression that caused by punk community in malang city is how was law behavior and also impact of punk community which has bad effect on to environment security, and what are factors cause of punk community transgression, and how is Government officer role to transgressions which done by punk community in Malang city.
In obtaining data, writer use some techniques are Perception or observation, interview, documentation, and also study bibliography, and hereinafter writer process data with descriptive analyze method. The method means giving the image of concerning existing fact that will be analyzed to determine solution which finally can give conclusion and made the basis in giving opinion and suggestion of writer.
Pursuant to result of writer research which has done in Police of Resort Town (Polresta malang) Malang town concerning generated transgression of existence punk community in Malang can be concluded in six Factors pushing punk community do transgression in Malang, that are : Family, Education, Interaction, Personality, Group Friend Coeval ( peer of group), and Economic background. Later; Then there are some generated transgression forms or done by punk community in Malang town, that is : Premanisme, asking for money forcibly, making a scene or riot with influence of liquor. Hereinafter there are some police actions as government officer securities which in this case is Set of Unit of Samapta Malang which discover transgression which in generating from existence of punk community Malang by giving penalization like PBB ( Training of walk), gymnastic / sport, and run to encircle page; yard of Polresta to give effect discourage to them ( Community of Punk), and if proven them make a mistake have [done/conducted] transgression, hence will earn to be imposed by section 504 and 503 KUHP jo. 409 KUHP concerning un heavy Injustice ( Tipiring) and given them defense as part of promise and duty of Police.


Organic photovoltaic (OPV) devices show great promise in low-cost, flexible, lightweight, and large-area energy-generation applications. Nonetheless, most of the materials designed today always suffer from the inherent disadvantage of not having a broad absorption range, and relatively low mobility, which limit the utilization of the full solar spectrum. Tandem solar cells provide an effective way to harvest a broader spectrum of solar radiation by combining two or more solar cells with different absorption bands. However, for polymer solar cells, the performance of tandem devices lags behind single-layer solar cells mainly due to the lack of suitable low-bandgap polymers (near-IR absorbing polymers). In this dissertation, in order to achieve high performance, we focus on design and synthesis of novel low bandgap polymers specifically for tandem solar cells.In Chapter 3, I demonstrate highly efficient single junction and tandem polymer solar cells featuring a spectrally matched low-bandgap conjugated polymer (PBDTT-DPP: bandgap, ∼1.44 eV). The polymer has a backbone based on alternating benzodithiophene and diketopyrrolopyrrole units. A single-layer device based on the polymer provides a power conversion efficiency of ∼6%. When the polymer is applied to tandem solar cells, a power conversion efficiency of 8.62% is achieved, which was the highest certified efficiency for a polymer solar cell.To further improve this material system, in Chapter 4, I show that the reduction of the bandgap and the enhancement of the charge transport properties of the low bandgap polymer PBDTT-DPP can be accomplished simultaneously by substituting the sulfur atoms on the DPP unit with selenium atoms. The newly designed polymer PBDTT-SeDPP (Eg = 1.38 eV) shows excellent photovoltaic performance in single junction devices with PCEs over 7% and photo-response up to 900 nm. Tandem polymer solar cells based on PBDTT-SeDPP are also demonstrated with a 9.5% PCE, which are more than 10% enhancement over those based on PBDTT-DPP.Finally, in Chapter 5, I demonstrate a new polymer system based on alternating dithienopyran and benzothiadiazole units with a bandgap of 1.38 eV, high mobility, deep highest occupied molecular orbital. As a result, a single-junction device shows high external quantum efficiency of >60% and spectral response that extends to 900 nm, with a power conversion efficiency of 7.9%. The polymer enables a solution processed tandem solar cell with certified 10.6% power conversion efficiency under standard reporting conditions, which is the first certified polymer solar cell efficiency over 10%.


OBJECTIVE
Metabolic syndrome is associated with a high risk of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. The predominant cause of metabolic syndrome is an unhealthy lifestyle. Healthy habits are represented by Breslow's 7 healthy practices, Morimoto's 8 items and Ikeda's 6 healthy habits. This study was done to determine which set of healthy habits was most likely to result in a reduced risk of developing the metabolic syndrome.

METHODS
From April 1, 2000 through March 31, 2007, 6,765 males and 2,789 females underwent a medical check-up at Jikei University Hospital in Japan. They completed a simple, self-administered lifestyle questionnaire based on the 3 classifications of healthy habits. The responses were divided into 3 groups (poor, moderate and favorable) according to each of the healthy habit criteria. The incidence of metabolic syndrome was defined in participants who were newly diagnosed during the follow-up using Japanese-specific diagnostic criteria. The Kaplan-Meier cumulative 7-year incidence was calculated. Kaplan-Meier curves were compared using the long-rank test adjusted for age.

RESULTS
In females, Breslow's, Morimoto's and Ikeda's healthy habits showed significant differences in the incidence between poor and moderate groups, and between poor and favorable groups. In males, a significant difference was observed among the poor, moderate and favorable groups for Ikeda's healthy habits. However, no significant difference was observed for Breslow's healthy practices. Morimoto's items only showed a significant difference between the poor and moderate groups.

CONCLUSION
Among the 3 models tested, Ikeda's healthy habits were the most useful for decreasing the risk of metabolic syndrome in Japanese.


Schema matching plays a vital role in the information integration process from heterogeneous databases. Generally, the process of schema matching is to receive input, which are two databases (one as the source and another as a target), to match similarity attributes, and generate output in the form of mapping the similarity of the attribute pairs that are declared suitable. Furthermore, the user will assess these attribute pairs to determine whether the results obtained are correct or still need to be revised. Our previous study developed a model and software prototype of hybrid schema matching using a combination of constraint-based method and instance-based method. In this study, the model improved by adding new features. This paper discusses the increasing effectiveness of adding the features to customize the weight of matching criteria and string sizes matching. The hybrid model's best effectiveness is obtained when the weight of instance is 0.286, the type is 0.238, width is 0.190, nullable is 0.143, unique is 0.095, and the domain is 0.048. The matching process using a bigger string size increases the model effectiveness with the highest precision of 97.66 when the string size interval is between (length-100) and (length+100). The best combination of weight and string size variation obtains 97.66% precision, a 99.90% recall, and an f-measure of 98.74%.


In the past few decades, a lot of optimization methods have been applied in estimating the parameter of photovoltaic (PV) models and obtained better results, but these methods still have some deficiencies, such as higher time complexity and poor stability. To tackle these problems, an enhanced success history adaptive DE with greedy mutation strategy (EBLSHADE) is employed to optimize parameters of PV models to propose a parameter optimization method in this paper. In the EBLSHADE, the linear population size reduction strategy is used to gradually reduce population to improve the search capabilities and balance the exploitation and exploration capabilities. The less and more greedy mutation strategy is used to enhance the exploitation capability and the exploration capability. Finally, a parameter optimization method based on EBLSHADE is proposed to optimize parameters of PV models. The different PV models are selected to prove the effectiveness of the proposed method. Comparison results demonstrate that the EBLSHADE is an effective and efficient method and the parameter optimization method is beneficial to design, control, and optimize the PV systems.


OBJECTIVE
To document the role job control and schedule control play in shaping women's physical activity, and how it delineates educational and racial variability in associations of job and social control with physical activity.

METHODS
Prospective data were obtained from a community-based sample of working women (N = 302). Validated instruments measured job control and schedule control. Steps per day were assessed using New Lifestyles 800 activity monitors.

RESULTS
Greater job control predicted more steps per day, whereas greater schedule control predicted fewer steps. Small indirect associations between ethnicity and physical activity were observed among women with a trade school degree or less but not for women with a college degree.

CONCLUSIONS
Low job control created barriers to physical activity among working women with a trade school degree or less. Greater schedule control predicted less physical activity, suggesting women do not use time "created" by schedule flexibility for personal health enhancement.


Automatic synchronization is one of the important functions of marine power station management system. Grasping of ACB (air circuit breaker of generator) closing opportunity is the difficult and key point of automatic synchronization control. This paper offers a rapid and simple method of automatic synchronization control based on PLC and emphasizes on discussing a new method of grasping ACB closing opportunity in synchronization control. The system researched makes the best use of the computing function of PLC program and reduces the hardware as possible to improve the reliability and economical efficiency. Similar triangle principle and a new timing mode based on PLC scan cycle are adopted in grasping ACB closing opportunity. Several years of operation in training lab proved that the automatic synchronization system is reliable and steady.


Managing livestock thru geo-positioning has the potential to improve several aspects of livestock production and management. While there are systems capable of tracking cattle, they are prohibitively expensive, since the average "profit" of a cow-calf operation is about $150 - $200 per year per head and current systems cost at least $100 per animal and needed by both pairs. Industry studies show about $20 per head annually is the maximum beef producers will pay for such technology. Our focus is on relatively simple systems using RFID technology as a base, limited to scanning about 30 inches for Phase 1 of this were we identify cows entering the mineral feeder apparatus. Cattle are identified and weekly electronic files are downloaded showing which animals and how often they access minerals. The mineral feeder also is connected to a sprayer that can apply either cattle insecticide to control ectoparasites or cows can be dewormed twice a year as called for. Insecticide is applied every 18 – 21 days, adjusting for wind and rain situations. Newer technology is used on a "creep feeder" accessible only by calves. It is attached to load cells which will allow constant monitoring of feed removal. Calves have newer technology electronic ID tags, allowing for monitoring when calves actually have their head in the creep feeder, dually monitoring feed disappearance matched to calve ID. The solar-powered feeding stations also have a short-range and long-range camera for visual inspection as directly remotely.


Abstract The paper presents a new and original method of m-point estimation of sinusoidal signal amplitude. In this method, an m-point estimator is calculated on the basis of m initial signal samples. The way the estimator is constructed is explained. It is shown that the starting point for constructing the estimator is two initial signal samples. Next, in order to determine the estimator general form, three and m subsequent initial signal samples appearing in a signal period are used. Some special cases of an estimator are considered. Such an estimator is compared with a four-point estimator proposed by Vizireanu and Halunga. It is shown that the m-point estimator makes it possible to estimate the signal amplitude more accurately.


One of the fundamental tasks for analytic activity is retrieving (i.e., reading) the value of a particular quantity in an information visualization. However, few previous studies have compared user performance in such value retrieval tasks for different visualizations. We present an experimental comparison of user performance (time and error distance) across four multivariate data visualizations. Three variants of scatterplot (SCP) visualizations, namely SCPs with common vertical axes (SCP‐common), SCPs with a staircase layout (SCP‐staircase), and SCPs with rotated axes between neighboring cells (SCP‐rotated), and a baseline parallel coordinate plots (PCP) were compared. Results show that the baseline PCP is better than SCP‐rotated and SCP‐staircase under all conditions, while the difference between SCP‐common and PCP depends on the dimensionality and density of the dataset. PCP shows advantages over SCP‐common when the dimensionality and density of the dataset are low, but SCP‐common eventually outperforms PCP as data dimensionality and density increase. The results suggest guidelines for the use of SCPs and PCPs that can benefit future researchers and practitioners.


Understanding industries in terms of the concepts of chains, clusters and networks is becoming increasingly important in economies around the world. Supply chain management for an individual organization is an emerging field of research in the construction management discipline, but less attention has been devoted to investigating the nature of the construction supply chains and their industrial organizational economic environment. This selected review of construction and mainstream management supply chain literature is organized around four themes; distribution, production, strategic procurement management and industrial organization economics, and highlights the need to develop an industrial organization economic supply chain framework for construction. The merging of the supply chain concept with the industrial organization model as a methodology for understanding firm conduct and industry structure and performance is an important contribution to both construction supply chain and construction economic theory. Much of the industrial organization supply chain literature has tended to focus upon manufacturing industries, where typically firms are permanent organizations. This raises issues as to the differences between industries founded upon temporary compared with permanent organizations. There is potential for the development of an industrial organization methodology applicable to the project based industry. Ultimately industrial organization research seeks to have direct implications for industry performance and government policies.


DOI:10.22044/jme.2021.10819.2052 Investigating the crack propagation mechanism is of paramount importance in analyzing the failure process of most materials. This process may be exposed during each kind of loading on the materials. In this work, the cracking mechanism in rock-like materials is studied using the numerical methods and compared with the experimental test results. However, the mechanism of crack growth in brittle materials such as rocks is influenced by different parameters. This research work focuses on the effect of the initial crack angles on the crack growth paths of these materials. Some cubic samples containing pre-existing cracks are tested in compression by considering different flaw orientations. The specimens are made of cement, water, and sand. Moreover, the mentioned process is numerically simulated using three different methods: the finite difference method for discontinuous bodies or discrete element method, the displacement discontinuity method, and the versatile finite element method. The micro-parameters for simulation are gained by the trial-and-error procedure for the discrete element method. Eventually, the crack growth paths observed in the experiments are compared with the numerically simulated models. The results obtained show that these central cracks propagate in two ways, which are dependent on their initial angle. By increasing the initial crack angle to greater than 30° (α > 30°), the wing crack path moves further away from the initial crack, and by decreasing α to smaller than 30° (α < 30°), only the shear cracks are initiated. Therefore, the validity and accuracy of the results are manifested by comparing all the corresponding results obtained by different methods. Based on these results, it can generally be concluded that the strength of the cubic (rock material) specimens increases with increase in the crack angles with respect to the applied loading direction. Keywords


ANBTRACT: Pipe Penetrating Radar (PPR) is the underground in-pipe application of GPR, a non-destructive testing method that can detect defects and cavities within and outside mainline diameter (>18 in/450 mm) nonmetallic (reinforced concrete, vitrified clay, PVC, HDPE, etc.) underground pipes. The key advantage of PPR is the unique ability to map pipe wall thickness and deterioration including voids outside the pipe, enabling accurate predictability of needed rehabilitation, and/or the timing of replacement. By having this information available, engineers and owners can better estimate the remaining life left in a pipeline, refine timing of rehabilitation, and ultimately better allocate funding for asset management. This paper presents recent advancement of PPR inspection technology together with two selected case studies from the U.S. The Weber Basin Water Conservancy District (WBWCD) Layton, UT and the Denver, CO case studies are discussed in detail. Carollo Engineers and WBWCD conducted a large condition assessment project on the Weber and Davis Aqueducts. The 26-mile aqueduct system (21 to 84-inches in diameter) was constructed in the early 1950s to convey raw water to several water treatment plants and irrigation providers. The aqueducts supply 250 MGD and serve as the primary water source for over 600,000 people. As part of the investigation, the team identified three leaky 60-inch reinforced concrete joints previously fixed with mechanical joint seals along with a "non-leaky" control joint to be assessed with PPR. PPR identified pipe wall thickness and confirmed the rebar configuration in the surveyed joints. Radar data mapped voids outside several of the joints. Small cracks in the bell of the joints were identified on all three of the joints. The "non-leaky" control joint did not exhibit any radar anomalies. With limited available funding and budget constraints becoming more prevalent, timing of rehabilitation and overall intelligent asset management is more critical than ever. Advanced pipe condition assessment technologies, such as PPR show promise as a cost-effective, nondestructive method of condition assessment to help refine the estimated remaining pipe life, accurately determine pipe degradation, as well as provide a basis for improved cost allocation and timing of rehabilitation efforts.