Assessment of Dowel Bar Research, August 2002

This report presents the latest technological gaps in dowel bar research based upon completed and ongoing dowel bar research from across the nation. In order to obtain this collection of information about dowel bars, a search was conducted on a nationwide level. The technological gaps and duplications of the research were then determined. In addition, this report also provides a brief annotated bibliography of all sources used to determine the gaps in technology and knowledge for dowel bar and alternative dowel bar topics as applied to highway pavements.

Wage inequality and unemployment with overeducation

A skill-biased change in technology can account at once for the changes observed in a number of important variables of the US labour market between 1970 and 1990. These include the increasing inequality in wages, both between and within education groups, and the increase in unemployment at all levels of education. In contrast, in previous literature this type of technology shock cannot account for all of these changes. The paper uses a matching model with a segmented labour market, an imperfect correlation between individual ability and education, and a fixed cost of setting up a job. The endogenous increase in overeducation is key to understand the response of unemployment to the technology shock.

Cape Verde - Diagnostic Trade Inttegration study Update - 2013

This Report is an update of the Cape Verde Diagnostic Trade Integration Study, titled Cape Verde’s Insertion into the Global Economy, produced and validated by the Government of Cape Verde in December 2008. Like the previous 2008 study, this Cape Verde Diagnostic Trade Integration Study Update provides a critical examination of the major institutional and production constraints that hinder Cape Verde’s ability to capitalize fully on the growth and welfare gains from its integration into the world economy. As a policy report, this study offers a set of priority policies and measures that can be implemented by both the public and private sectors to mitigate and surmount these supply side and institutional constraints. These recommendations are summarized in an Action Matrix. The Report is fruit of the generous support of the multi-donor program the Enhanced Integrated Framework (EIF). In every crisis there is an opportunity. Four years after the validation of the country’s first Diagnostic Trade Integration Study in 2008, Cape Verde finds itself in a drastically altered external environment. Cape Verde faces a worsened external environment than four years ago, when it was also traversing years of crisis as global food and energy prices escalated. Just as the country was validating its first trade study in late 2008, and celebrating its graduation from the list of Least Developed Countries, the onset of the deepest global recession in recent memory triggered an even worse external situation as the country’s principal source of markets, investments, remittances and aid, the Eurozone, unraveled economically and politically. As the Eurozone crisis spread, it was Cape Verde’s misfortune that the crisis contaminated precisely its biggest Eurozone partners and donors, such as Portugal, Spain and Italy. For such a highly dependent and exposed economy like that of Cape Verde, the deteriorating external sector has had a substantial negative impact on its macroeconomic performance. At the time of the validation workshop and graduation in 2008, no one could have foreseen or predicted the severity of the global crisis that followed. Despite traversing these years of adversity and external shocks, and suffering palpable setbacks, Cape Verde’s economy had proven surprisingly resilient, especially its principal sector, tourism. To its great credit, the country’s economic fundamentals are solid, and have been carefully and prudently managed over the years. For this reason alone, the country has thus far weathered the global and Eurozone crisis. Yet the near and medium term future remains uncertain. The country’s margin for maneuver has narrowed, its options far more limited, and hard choices lie ahead. Thus, there is no better time than now to analyze Cape Verde’s position in the global economy, and to examine the many challenges and opportunities it faces. The first diagnostic trade study outlined an ambitious agenda and set of policy strategies to enhance Cape Verde’s participation in the global economy. Written prior to the global crisis, the study did not, and could not, anticipate the scope and depth of the subsequent global and Eurozone crises. A few short months before the validation of the first DTIS Cape Verde joined the World Trade Organization (WTO). It has spent these four years adjusting to this status and implementing its commitments. At the same time, the country seeks greater economic integration with the European Union. Since 2008 the government has been investing heavily in the country’s economic infrastructure, focusing especially on fostering transformation in key sectors like agriculture, fisheries, tourism and creative industries. For these and many other reasons, it is both timely and urgent to review the road traveled since 2008. It is an opportune moment to reassess the country’s options, to rethink strategies, and to chart a new way forward that it is practical, implementable, and that builds on the country’s competitive advantages and current successes.

Els Factors competitius de les pimes a Catalunya

El principal objectiu d'aquest estudi és reflectir quins són els principals factors competitius per a les pymes a Catalunya. Per això, es va escollir una mostra de 1000 empreses de diferents sectors i amb els límits que marca la Unió Europea per a definir una pyme. A partir d'aquí, es va analitzar la informació financera. Amb aquesta font d'informació, es va poder arribar a la conclusió que tots aquells aspectes relacionats amb el personal i reflectits a través de ràtios, eren els més significatius estadísticament per a poder explicar la rendibilitat en les empreses. També es va enviar un qüestionari a la mostra esmentada i es va preguntar el punt de vista del gestor o empresari. Només 50 empreses van contestar, i una vegada més, el factor humà es va revelar com el més important. S'ha d'assenyalar que altres elements tals com la inversió en tecnologia, que s'esperava fossin significatius, no van donar els resultats esperats en el sentit que cap altre fos considerat tan rellevant com els recursos humans.

Els Factors competitius de les pimes a Catalunya

El principal objectiu d'aquest estudi és reflectir quins són els principals factors competitius per a les pymes a Catalunya. Per això, es va escollir una mostra de 1000 empreses de diferents sectors i amb els límits que marca la Unió Europea per a definir una pyme. A partir d'aquí, es va analitzar la informació financera. Amb aquesta font d'informació, es va poder arribar a la conclusió que tots aquells aspectes relacionats amb el personal i reflectits a través de ràtios, eren els més significatius estadísticament per a poder explicar la rendibilitat en les empreses. També es va enviar un qüestionari a la mostra esmentada i es va preguntar el punt de vista del gestor o empresari. Només 50 empreses van contestar, i una vegada més, el factor humà es va revelar com el més important. S'ha d'assenyalar que altres elements tals com la inversió en tecnologia, que s'esperava fossin significatius, no van donar els resultats esperats en el sentit que cap altre fos considerat tan rellevant com els recursos humans.

Online teaching of inflammatory skin pathology by a French-speaking international university network

Introduction: Developments in technology, webbased teaching and whole slide imaging have broadened the teaching horizon in anatomic pathology. Creating online learning material including many types of media like radiologic images, videos, clinical and macroscopic photographs and whole slides imaging is now accessible to almost every university. Unfortunately, a major limiting factor to maintain and update the learning material is the amount of work, time and resources needed. In this perspective, a French national university network was initiated in 2011 to build mutualised online teaching pathology modules with clinical cases and tests. This network has been extended to an international level in 2012-2014 (Quebec, Switzerland and Ivory Coast). Method: One of the first steps of the international project was to build a learning module on inflammatory skin pathology intended for interns and residents of pathology and dermatology. A pathology resident from Quebec spent 6 weeks in France and Switzerland to develop the contents and build the module on an e-learning Moodle platform (http: //moodle.sorbonne-paris-cite.fr) under the supervision of two dermatopathologists (BV, MB). The learning module contains text, interactive clinical cases, tests with feedback, whole slides images (WSI), images and clinical photographs. For that module, the virtual slides are decentralized in 2 universities (Bordeaux and Paris 7). Each university is responsible of its own slide scanning, image storage and online display with virtual slide viewers. Results: The module on inflammatory skin pathology includes more than 50 web pages with French original content, tests and clinical cases, links to over 45 WSI and more than 50 micro and clinical photographs. The whole learning module is currently being revised by four dermatopathologists and two senior pathologists. It will be accessible to interns and residents in spring 2014. The experience and knowledge gained from that work will be transferred to the next international fellowship intern whose work will be aimed at creating lung and breast pathology learning modules. Conclusion: The challenges of sustaining a project of this scope are numerous. The technical aspect of whole-slide imaging and storage needs to be developed by each university or group. The content needs to be regularly updated, completed and its use and existence needs to be promoted by the different actors in pathology. Of the great benefits of that kind of project are the international partnerships and connections that have been established between numerous Frenchspeaking universities and pathologists with the common goals of promoting education in pathology and the use of technology including whole slide imaging. * The Moodle website is hosted by PRES Sorbonne Paris Cité, and financial supports for hardware have been obtained from UNF3S (http://www.unf3s.org/) and PRES Sorbonne Paris Cité. Financial support for international fellowships has been obtained from CFQCU (http://www.cfqcu.org/).

The co-evolution of social institutions, demography, and large-scale human cooperation.

Human cooperation is typically coordinated by institutions, which determine the outcome structure of the social interactions individuals engage in. Explaining the Neolithic transition from small- to large-scale societies involves understanding how these institutions co-evolve with demography. We study this using a demographically explicit model of institution formation in a patch-structured population. Each patch supports both social and asocial niches. Social individuals create an institution, at a cost to themselves, by negotiating how much of the costly public good provided by cooperators is invested into sanctioning defectors. The remainder of their public good is invested in technology that increases carrying capacity, such as irrigation systems. We show that social individuals can invade a population of asocials, and form institutions that support high levels of cooperation. We then demonstrate conditions where the co-evolution of cooperation, institutions, and demographic carrying capacity creates a transition from small- to large-scale social groups.

Correlation of the Roughometer to the High-Speed Laser Profiler, MLR-97-7, 1997

The Iowa Department of Transportation has been using the Bureau of Public Roads (BPR) Roughometer as part of its detour analysis process for more than 20 years. Advances in technology have made the BPR Roughometer obsolete for ride quality testing. High-speed profilers that can collect the profile of the road at highway speeds are the standard ride instruments for determining ride quality on pavements. The objective of the project was to develop a correlation between the BPR Roughometer and the high-speed laser South Dakota type Profiler (SD Profiler). Nineteen pavement sections were chosen to represent the range of types and conditions for detours. Three computer simulation models were tested on the profiler profiles. The first model is the International Ride Index (IRI) which is considered the standard index for reporting ride quality in the United States. The second model is the Ride Number (RN) developed by the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute and the third model used is a quarter-car simulation of the BPR Roughometer (ASTM E-1170) which should match the speed and range of roadway features experienced by Iowa's BPR Roughometer Unit. The BPR Roughometer quarter-car model provided the best overall correlation with Iowa's BPR Roughometer.

Online teaching of inflammatory skin pathology by a French-speaking International University Network

INTRODUCTION: Developments in technology, web-based teaching and whole slide imaging have broadened the teaching horizon in anatomic pathology. Creating online learning material including many types of media such as radiologic images, whole slides, videos, clinical and macroscopic photographs, is now accessible to most universities. Unfortunately, a major limiting factor to maintain and update the learning material is the amount of resources needed. In this perspective, a French-national university network was initiated in 2011 to build joint online teaching modules consisting of clinical cases and tests. The network has since expanded internationally to Québec, Switzerland and Ivory Coast. METHOD: One of the first steps of the project was to build a learning module on inflammatory skin pathology for interns and residents in pathology and dermatology. A pathology resident from Québec spent 6 weeks in France and Switzerland to develop the contents and build the module on an e-learning Moodle platform under the supervision of two dermatopathologists. The learning module contains text, interactive clinical cases, tests with feedback, virtual slides, images and clinical photographs. For that module, the virtual slides are decentralized in 2 universities (Bordeaux and Paris 7). Each university is responsible of its own slide scanning, image storage and online display with virtual slide viewers. RESULTS: The module on inflammatory skin pathology includes more than 50 web pages with French original content, tests and clinical cases, links to over 45 virtual images and more than 50 microscopic and clinical photographs. The whole learning module is being revised by four dermatopathologists and two senior pathologists. It will be accessible to interns and residents in the spring of 2014. The experience and knowledge gained from that work will be transferred to the next international resident whose work will be aimed at creating lung and breast pathology learning modules. CONCLUSION: The challenges of sustaining a project of this scope are numerous. The technical aspect of whole-slide imaging and storage needs to be developed by each university or group. The content needs to be regularly updated and its accuracy reviewed by experts in each individual domain. The learning modules also need to be promoted within the academic community to ensure maximal benefit for trainees. A collateral benefit of the project was the establishment of international partnerships between French-speaking universities and pathologists with the common goal of promoting pathology education through the use of multi-media technology including whole slide imaging.

Revision to the SUDAS Traffic Signal Design Guide, TR-546, 2009

Changes in technology have an impact on standard practice, materials, and equipment. The traffic signal industry is constantly producing more energy-efficient and durable equipment, better communications, and more sophisticated detection and monitoring capabilities. Accordingly, this project provides an update to the traffic signal content within the Statewide Urban Design and Specifications (SUDAS) Design Manual and Standard Specifications. This work was completed through a technical advisory committee with a variety of participants representing contractors, the Iowa Department of Transportation, cities, consultants, vendors, and university research and support staff.

Evaluation des technologies médicales : travaux présentés pendant le Congrès TEKMED 87 = Assessment of medical technologies : the papers presented during the TEKMED 87 Congress

[Table des matières] Technology assessment in health care in the United States: an historical review / S. Perry. - The aims and methods of technology assessment / JH Glasser. - Evaluation des technologies de la santé / A. Griffiths. - Les données nécessaires pour l'évaluation des technologies médicales / R. Chrzanowski, F. Gutzwiller, F. Paccaud. - Economic issues in technology assessment/DR Lairson, JM Swint. - Two decades of experience in technology assessment: evaluating the safety, performance, and cost effectiveness of medical equipment / JJ Nobel. - Demography and technology assessment / H. Hansluwka. - Méthodes expérimentale et non expérimentale pour l'évaluation des innovations technologiques / R. Chrzanowski, F. Paccaud. - Skull radiography in head trauma: a successful case of technology assessment / NT Racoveanu. - Complications associées à l'anesthésie: une étude prospective en France / L. Tiret et al. - Impact de l'information publique sur les taux opératoires: le cas de l'hystérectomie / G. Domenighetti, P. Luraschi, A. Casabianca. - The clinical effectiveness of acupuncture for the relief of chronic pain / MS Patel, F. Gutzwiller, F. Paccaud, A. Marazzi. - Soins à domicile et hébergement à long terme: à la recherche d'un développement optimum / G. Tinturier. - Economic evaluation of six scenarios for the treatment of stones in the kidney and ureter by surgery or ESWL / MS Patel et al. - Technology assessment and medical practice / F. Gutzwiller. - Technology assessment and health policy / SJ Reiser. - Global programme on appropriate technology for health, its role and place within WHO / K. Staehr Johansen.

Online teaching of inflammatory skin pathology by a French-speaking International University Network.

INTRODUCTION: Developments in technology, web-based teaching and whole slide imaging have broadened the teaching horizon in anatomic pathology. Creating online learning material including many types of media such as radiologic images, whole slides, videos, clinical and macroscopic photographs, is now accessible to most universities. Unfortunately, a major limiting factor to maintain and update the learning material is the amount of resources needed. In this perspective, a French-national university network was initiated in 2011 to build joint online teaching modules consisting of clinical cases and tests. The network has since expanded internationally to Québec, Switzerland and Ivory Coast. METHOD: One of the first steps of the project was to build a learning module on inflammatory skin pathology for interns and residents in pathology and dermatology. A pathology resident from Québec spent 6 weeks in France and Switzerland to develop the contents and build the module on an e-learning Moodle platform under the supervision of two dermatopathologists. The learning module contains text, interactive clinical cases, tests with feedback, virtual slides, images and clinical photographs. For that module, the virtual slides are decentralized in 2 universities (Bordeaux and Paris 7). Each university is responsible of its own slide scanning, image storage and online display with virtual slide viewers. RESULTS: The module on inflammatory skin pathology includes more than 50 web pages with French original content, tests and clinical cases, links to over 45 virtual images and more than 50 microscopic and clinical photographs. The whole learning module is being revised by four dermatopathologists and two senior pathologists. It will be accessible to interns and residents in the spring of 2014. The experience and knowledge gained from that work will be transferred to the next international resident whose work will be aimed at creating lung and breast pathology learning modules. CONCLUSION: The challenges of sustaining a project of this scope are numerous. The technical aspect of whole-slide imaging and storage needs to be developed by each university or group. The content needs to be regularly updated and its accuracy reviewed by experts in each individual domain. The learning modules also need to be promoted within the academic community to ensure maximal benefit for trainees. A collateral benefit of the project was the establishment of international partnerships between French-speaking universities and pathologists with the common goal of promoting pathology education through the use of multi-media technology including whole slide imaging.

Kidney-sparing surgery for upper tract urothelial cancer.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: This article reviews and summarizes current knowledge on kidney-sparing surgery (KSS) for upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC). RECENT FINDINGS: Radical nephroureterectomy (RNU) has been central to the treatment of UTUC for decades, but KSS has been applied to a rising number of patients to preserve renal function. Ablation or resection through flexible ureteroscopy or the percutaneous route seems to provide comparable cancer-specific survival and overall survival to RNU, but the risk of local and bladder recurrence remains relatively high. Segmental ureterectomy is used for low-risk unifocal UTUC with recent studies confirming its oncologic safety and equivalence to RNU. Antegrade or retrograde instillation therapy may be considered as adjuvant treatment after conservative surgery, but their efficacy needs to be proven. Intravesical single-dose chemotherapy is likely to become part of the therapy algorithm of UTUC treated by KSS or RNU to lower bladder seeding and recurrence. Postoperative vigilant radiographic and endoscopic surveillance are obligatory because of the high probability of recurrence. SUMMARY: KSS should be regarded as a valid alternative to RNU in case of technically resectable low-risk upper tract urothelial cell carcinoma, even in case of a normal contralateral kidney. Advances in technology and biological and clinical risk estimation will make the management of UTUC more evidence based thereby lowering overtreatment.

Abolishing mammography screening programs?

Biller-Andorno and Jüni (2014), in a widely debated commentary published in the May 22 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, accept the concept that mammography every 2 years from age 50 can decrease breast cancer mortality by 20%, that is, from five to four deaths per 1000 women over a 10-year period. Both the absolute and the relative risk of breast cancer death may vary depending on the baseline mortality rates in various populations and on the impact of screening mammography in reducing breast cancer mortality, which may well vary around the 20% estimate adopted. We accept, therefore, that there are still uncertainties in the absolute and relative impact of mammography screening on breast cancer mortality, given the different study schemes and mammography intervals, the differences in populations, and the continuous improvements in technology (Warner, 2011; Independent UK Panel on Breast Cancer Screening, 2012). We also agree on the observation that mammography has an appreciable impact on breast cancer mortality (Bosetti et al., 2012), but clearly a much smaller one on total mortality.

MULTIMEDIATIETOPANKKI VERKOSSA

Työ käsittelee multimediatietopankin tietosisällön hallintaa ja kehittämistä. Multimediatietopankki verkossa –projektissa multimediatietopankilla tarkoitetaan vuorovaikutteista ja sisältörikasta liikkuvan ja staattisen kuvan (video, animaatio, valokuvat, 3D, grafiikka), äänten (musiikki ja muut äänet) ja tietokantojen yhdistelmää. Sisällön eri osa-alueet ja vuorovaikutteisuus tukevat kokonaisuutta, jolla on oma viestinnällinen tarkoituksensa. Tätä kokonaistoteutusta levitetään www:n, digitaalitelevision ja mobiililaitteiden välityksellä loppukäyttäjälle. Multimedia- ja matkaviestinteknologioiden nopea kehitys antaa mahdollisuuden kehittää uusia palveluja. Erilaisiin päätelaitteisiin ja vaihteleviin ympäristöihin tarkoitettujen helppokäyttöisten multimedia- ja mobiilipalvelujen kysyntä on jatkuvassa kasvussa. Multimediatietopankkiprojektissa esitetään kuinka multimediapalveluita voidaan toteuttaa integroidussa ympäristössä. Integroidulla ympäristöllä tässä työssä tarkoitetaan Internetin, mobiilien palvelujen, WAP:in, kämmentietokoneen, digitaalisen television sekä uusien multimediakännyköiden käyttöä multimediatietopankin tarjoamien palvelujen välittämisessä. Projekti on jaettu yksittäisiin lukuihin, joissa tarkoituksena on syventää multimediatietopankin yksityiskohtia sisällön tuottamisessa teknologian näkökannalta. Multimediatietokannan toteutuksessa mallinnetaan palvelun sisältö tietokantaan XHTML-muodossa mediaolioiden sisään sekä tallennetaan tietopankin metatietoa multimediarelaatiotietokantaan, josta on mahdollista hakea tietoa minkä tahansa päätelaitteen kyselyjen avulla.Tässä työssä keskitytään multimediatietokannan hallintajärjestelmän tehtäviin ja rakenteeseen, siihen miten multimediadata tallennetaan tietokantaan sekä siihen miten tietokannassa olevaa metatietoa haetaan käyttäen tietokannassa kehitettyjä hakumenetelmiä.