More Guidance, Better Results? Three-Year Effects of an Enhanced Student Services Program at Two Community Colleges

In a program at Lorain County Community College and Owens Community College in Ohio, low-income students received enhanced counseling and advising services and were eligible to receive a modest stipend for two semesters. The program improved academic outcomes during the second semester and continued to have a positive effect on registration rates in the semester that followed, but it did not have any meaningful effects on academic outcomes in subsequent semesters

High-Speed Rail and Equine Issues

Community concerns have been raised about the possible negative impacts of high-speed rail (HSR) service on equestrian areas. Although much is known about the impact of aircraft noise on wild and domestic animals, relatively little information is available on the potential impact of HSR service on equine populations. This study will explore possible conflicts between HSR construction and operations in areas used for equestrian ranching, recreation, and related activities, and identify geographic areas where such conflicts could occur

Determination of the degree of reaction of fly ash in blended cement pastes

This paper gives a review over methods to determine the degree of reaction for supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) with focus on Portland cement - fly ash blends only and summarizes and highlights the most important findings which are detailed in a parallel paper published in Materials and Structures. Determination of the extent of the reaction of SCMs in mixtures is complicated for several reasons: (1) the physical presence of SCMs affects the rate and extent of the reaction of the ground clinker component – the so called “filler effect”; (2) SCMs are usually amorphous with complex and varied mineralogy which make them difficult to quantify by many classical techniques such as X-ray diffraction; (3) the rate of reaction of SCMs in a cement blend may be quite different from its rate of reaction in systems containing simply alkali or lime. From this review it is clear that measuring the degree of reaction of SCMs remains challenging. Nevertheless progress has been made in recent years to offer alternatives to the traditional selective dissolution methods. Unfortunately some of these – image analysis and EDS mapping in the scanning electron microscope, and NMR - depend on access to expensive equipment and are time consuming. With regard to fly ashes, NMR seems to be reliable but limited to fly ash with low iron content. New methods with quantitative EDS mapping to segment fly ash particles from the hydrated matrix and to follow the reaction of glass groups of disparate composition separately look very promising, but time consuming. Sources with a high proportion of fine particles will have higher errors due to lower limit of resolution (1-2 μm). Whereas for SCMs which react relatively fast (e.g. slag, calcined clay) the methods based on calorimetry and chemical shrinkage seem promising on a comparative basis, the very low reaction degree of fly ashes before 28 days means that the calorimetry method is not practical. There is a lack of data to assess the usefulness of long term chemical shrinkage measurements. The possibility to quantify the amorphous phase by XRD is promising as this is a widely available and rapid technique which can at the same time give a wealth of additional information on the phases formed. However, the different reaction rates of different glasses in compositionally heterogeneous fly ashes will need to be accounted for and may strongly reduce the accuracy of the profile decomposition method. This paper is the work of working group 2 of the RILEM TC 238-SCM “Hydration and microstructure of concrete with supplementary cementitious materials”

Utilisation d'un réseau de neurones pour appliquer le modèle de Muskingum aux réseaux d'assainissement

L'application du modèle de Muskingum pour simuler l'écoulement à surface libre dans les canaux d'irrigation a été largement utilisée et validée. Par extension, ce modèle est également employé pour simuler les écoulements en réseau d'assainissement. Or, nous avons pu montrer des erreurs allant jusqu'à 80% du débit de pointe entre le modèle de Muskingum à paramètres fixes et le modèle de référence de Barré de Saint-Venant. Nous proposons une nouvelle paramétrisation du modèle de Muskingum pour l'écoulement en collecteur circulaire en réseau d'assainissement et ceci pour un large domaine de longueurs, pentes et diamètres de collecteurs. Ce nouveau modèle non-linéaire a été calé par minimisation d'une fonction objectif traduisant la proximité du modèle proposé avec les résultats de la résolution des équations de Barré de Saint-Venant pour des hydrogrammes rectangulaires. Un réseau de neurones a été utilisé pour paramétrer le modèle. Cette nouvelle application des équations de Muskingum permet l'obtention d'erreurs relatives moyennes inférieures à 6% sur la valeur et l'instant du débit de pointe, ceci dans le cas de collecteurs ayant jusqu'à 6500 m de longueur, des pentes variant entre 0.5% et 1% et des diamètres entre 150 et 2500 mm et des hydrogrammes de débit de pointe proche de la capacité du collecteur. Le modèle a également été validé sur un hydrogramme de forme quelconque.Certain towns and cities frequently suffer from failures of their sewer networks, especially in rainy weather. Pollution of the host environment, as the direct consequence of occasionally untimely spills, is not appreciated by the natural environment or the human population. Improving the quality of the natural environment therefore involves an increasingly sophisticated control of the hydraulics and the pollutant load in drainage systems, and especially in sewer networks. Real-time management of sewer networks can provide a solution for the protection of the natural environment. In this case, control strategies are provided for the sluices and pumps of the sewer network during a rainy event to minimize the urban effluent. Moreover, a better understanding and modeling of the transport of pollution in the mains is required.To that end, not only must the hydraulic operation of the mains be correctly modeled (shape of the hydrograph, value and temporal position of the peak flow), but this numerical model must also be stable and converge towards the solution, irrespective of the initial conditions for modeling of the pollution, and the computer time must be compatible with the requirements of real-time management. The most representative model of unidimensional flows is that of Barré de Saint-Venant (1871). The non-linearity of the model, resulting in difficulties in solving these equations, together with the computer time required, are such that not all the criteria for a real-time application can be met. The conceptual equations model of Muskingum is another model that can be used.In the case of round sewerage mains with a slope ranging from practically nil to a few per-thousandths and a few kilometers long, the K and α coefficients traditionally used do not yield correct results with respect to the benchmark model of Barré de Saint-Venant. To keep the advantages of the simplification of the Muskingum equations, and to avoid having to solve the Barré de Saint Venant system, we propose new parameters for the Muskingum equations and we use optimization and correlation calculation techniques using neural networks.In modeling the mains of a sewer network, the discretization of their length, within the usual limits [50 m; 1000 m] is chosen empirically. This discretization plays an essential part in the propagation of the wave in a main. To take this effect into account, the round main of length L is discretized into N sections, and K is expressed on the basis of the maximum speed of the flow Vmax. The model setting parameters are now N and α, and will be calibrated for a wide range of slopes, lengths and flow rates for round mains with a constant roughness.The calculation procedure is as follows: - Setting of the optimal values of N and alpha giving results close to those calculated by Barré de Saint Venant; - Determination of correlations of the parameters N and alpha according to the slope, length and diameter; - Validation of the Muskingum model in relation to that of Barré de Saint-Venant. The parameters alpha and N are set by minimizing an objective function giving the agreement between the results of the hydraulic simulations by Barré de Saint-Venant and the simulations of the proposed model. The objective function is defined by the sum of the relative quadratic deviations of the values and times of maximum flow rates. The maximum errors are in fact reduced from 90% to 10% on peak flows and from 30% to 10% at a given point in time during the peak flow. The mean error is reduced forty-fold for peak flow, and five-fold in the temporal position, with a reduction of the same order for the standard deviations. Correlations of alpha and N are sought according to the slope, length and diameter of the mains modeled. As linear type relations failed to provide satisfactory results, the multi-layer Perceptron type (artificial) neural network model was used. The model includes 3 inputs and 2 outputs. The first, essential stage consists of finding the optimal number of neurons in the masked layer. It is important to mention that despite maximum errors of 40% and 20% on the prediction of time and peak flow rate, mean errors of only 3% and 4% are observed. Given this result, 4 neurons were chosen in the masked layer. This model therefore includes 3 inputs, 4 neurons in the masked layer, and 2 outputs. Following the learning phase with the results of the optimization phase, the so-called prediction phase was then performed. This consists of using the neural network with data with intermediary values with respect to those used in the learning phase. The neural network is used solely to predict values within the minimum and maximum limits of the learning phase. The prediction (or validation) phase revealed that the mean errors are in the order of 2.7% for the peak flow value and 5.5% for the instant of the same flow. The choice of 4 neurons in the masked layer during the prediction phase gives results with the same order of magnitude as in the learning phase, thus validating the structure of the neural network chosen. Subsequently, the proximity of the value and of the time position of the maximum flow rate for the propagation of rectangular hydrograms was studied. The performance of the model proposed is now verified by studying the propagation of a hydrogram of any given shape. Use of this model, validated on a hydrogram of any given shape and presenting several peaks of different intensities, yields a satisfactory reproduction of the output hydrogram and is a distinct improvement on the classic Muskingum model

Treatment of bone metastases from breast cancer with (3-amino-1-hydroxypropylidene)-1,1-bisphosphonate (APD).

Twenty-eight patients with progressive symptomatic bone metastases from breast cancer received (3-amino-1-hydroxypropylidene)-1,1-bisphosphonate (APD) 30 mg in 500 ml of 0.9% saline infused over 2 h every 14 days. No other systemic therapy for breast cancer was prescribed. All patients had progressed on at least one previous systemic treatment. APD was continued until the disease progressed. Patients were assessed for objective response by the UICC criteria. In addition, subjective response was determined by a pain questionnaire. Radiological evidence of bone healing with sclerosis of lytic disease (UICC partial response) was seen in 4 patients. The median duration of response was 10 months. Eleven patients had stable disease for at least 3 months (median 5 months) and 9 progressed. Symptomatic response occurred in 9 patients and 12 reported an improvement in quality of life. Treatment was tolerated well with no significant toxicity. In conclusion, long-term inhibition of bone destruction is possible with APD therapy alone and both subjective and objective responses are seen

Impacto del uso de un cemento de bajo carbono en la mejora de la sostenibilidad de la producción de cemento

A preliminary assessment of conditions for the industrial manufacture of a new cementitious system based on clinker-calcined clay and limestone, developed by the authors, referred as “low carbon cement” is presented. The new cement enables the substitution of more than 50% of the mass of clinker without compromising performance. The paper presents the follow-up of an industrial trial carried out in Cuba to produce 130 tonnes of the new cement at a cement plant. The new material proved to fulfill national standards in applications such as the manufacture of hollow concrete blocks and precast concrete. No major differences either in the rheological or mechanical properties were found when compared with Portland cement. Environmental assessment of the ternary cement was made, which included comparison with other blended cements produced industrially in Cuba. The new cement has proven to contribute to the reduction of above 30% of carbon emissions on cement manufacture.Se presenta la evaluación preliminar de las condiciones de fabricación industrial de un nuevo sistema cementicio a partir del empleo de clínquer; arcillas calcinadas y piedra caliza; desarrollado por los autores; denominado “cemento de bajo carbono”. El nuevo cemento posibilita la reducción de más de un 50% de la masa de clínquer; sin comprometer el comportamiento del material. El presente trabajo presenta el monitoreo de la producción industrial en una planta en Cuba; de 130 t del nuevo cemento. El cemento obtenido cumple con las regulaciones nacionales de calidad y su empleo tiene similar rendimiento que el cemento Pórtland para la producción de bloques y hormigón de 25 MPa. Se realiza el análisis de impacto ambiental del cemento ternario mediante la comparación con otros cementos producidos industrialmente. El nuevo cemento puede contribuir a la reducción de más del 30% de las emisiones de CO2 asociadas a la manufactura de cemento

Accelerating Community College Graduation Rates: A Benefit–Cost Analysis

This article reports a benefit–cost evaluation of the Accelerated Study in Associate Programs (ASAP) of the City University of New York (CUNY). ASAP was designed to accelerate associate degree completion within 3 years of degree enrollment at CUNY’s community colleges. The program evaluation revealed that the completion rate for the examined cohort increased from 24.1% to 54.9%, and cost per graduate declined considerably (Levin & Garcia, 2012; Linderman & Kolenovic, 2012). The returns on investment to the taxpayer include the benefits from higher tax revenues and lower costs of spending on public health, criminal justice, and public assistance. For each dollar of investment in ASAP by taxpayers, the return was $3 to$4. For each additional graduate, the taxpayer gained an amount equal to a certificate of deposit with a value of $146,000 (net of the costs of the investment). Based on these estimated returns, a cohort of 1,000 students enrolled in ASAP would generate net fiscal benefits for the taxpayer of more than$46 million relative to enrolling in the conventional degree program. ASAP results demonstrate that an effective educational policy can generate returns to the taxpayer that vastly exceed the public investment required