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This research is about the utilization of two solid wastes in concrete: foundry sand from the steel smelting process and residual aggregate powder from the asphalt mix production. The solid wastes were added to concrete in contents of 0.0, 5.0, 10, 15, and 20 wt% with respect to cement, and tested in concrete with a design resistance of 280 kgf/cm2 (27.5 MPa). The effects of these wastes in concrete were compared with commercially available metakaolin, a typical admixture added to concrete, in contents of 0.0, 5.0, 10, 15, and 20 wt% replacing cement content. For all samples, the resistant activity index was evaluated at 28 days. Slump test, air content, density, and compressive strength tests were conducted. The materials’ microstructures were evaluated with SEM and XRD after 270 days, in samples immersed in water. Results show that both by-products have pozzolanic activity, classified as N-type pozzolans. Besides, concrete with the residual aggregate powder gave a strength of 541 kgf/cm2 (53.1 MPa), which corresponds to sample M4 (concrete containing 15% residual aggregate powder), consistent with 93% improvement with respect to the strength resistance. Furthermore, concrete with the foundry sand powder gave a strength of 561 kgf/cm2 (55 MPa), consistent with 100% improvement with respect to the strength resistance, which corresponds to M15 (concrete containing 20% foundry sand). Concrete with the metakaolin powder presented a strength of 609 kgf/cm2 (59.7 MPa), which corresponds to M9 (concrete containing 15% metakaolin), consistent with 116% improvement with respect to the strength resistance. The concrete developed with the by-products can be produced at lower costs than traditional admixtures, which guarantees the feasibility of the environmental solution.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to review the dramatic entry of collaborative robotics into applications. It also examines the current state of the art for collaborative robotics, factors driving their entry and their outlook for the future. Design/methodology/approach The paper includes discussions with key managers of robot companies. Attendance at the International Federation for Robotics round table discussion on collaboration and another industry round table meeting on collaborative robotics. Attendance at the CIRP technical conference on automation. Attendance at the Robotics Industry Association International Collaborative Robots Workshop. Findings Collaborative robotics are addressing many previously unmet applications while saving money, improving productivity, simplifying programming and speeding the time to return investment. It is forecast that collaborative robotics systems can address almost 100 million assembly and logistics tasks not previously addressable with traditional robotics technology. Practical implications The paper implies a major examination of collaborative robot technology now and in the future. Readers may be very excited to learn the many new tasks that collaborative robots are addressing, the many tools that have been developed to aid in selecting, designing and gaining worker acceptance and the many unique benefits that are provided, as well as the systems already available. Originality/value The paper implies a major examination of collaborative robot technology now and in the future. Readers may be very excited to learn the many new tasks that collaborative robots are addressing, the many tools that have been developed to aid in selecting, designing and gaining worker acceptance and the many unique benefits that are provided, as well as the systems already available.

Background: Chronic Kidney disease (CKD) accounts for approximately 82 billion dollars of Medicare spend. Implementing culturally competent, community-based programs may be a strategy for changing utilization behaviors and lowering cost while maintaining quality in this population. Methods: A longitudinal claims based study was carried out from April 2023 to August 2024 in the state of CA to assess the impact of the program on cost, utilization, and quality metrics. A propensity matched approach was leveraged yielding of 203 pairs of CKD Medicare Advantage (MA) enrollees. A comparison of the difference of differences was performed between utilization, and available claims-based quality metrics. Results: Enrollees in the peer support program, Connect For Life (CFL) generated significantly lower costs of $461 pmpm (95% CI = −1037 to −10 037; P = .016) significantly lower inpatient utilization of 172 per 1000 (95% CI = −10 to −330; P = .037) and significantly higher outpatient utilization of 1212 per 1000 (95% CI = 90 to 2340; P = .035). No differences were found in available quality metrics. Conclusions: For CKD MA enrollees in the intervention population, more efficient utilization patterns and lower costs while maintaining quality were observed. The tight propensity match left the study underpowered to detect significant changes for other care settings or individual stages of CKD.

Air quality monitoring has traditionally been conducted using sparsely distributed, expensive reference monitors. To understand variations in PM2.5 on a finely resolved spatiotemporal scale a dense network of over 40 low-cost monitors was deployed throughout and around Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. Monitor locations covered a wide range of site types with varying traffic and restaurant density, varying influences from local sources, and varying socioeconomic (environmental justice, EJ) characteristics. Variability between and within site groupings was observed. Concentrations were higher near the source-influenced sites than the Urban or Suburban Residential sites. Gaseous pollutants (NO2 and SO2) were used to differentiate between traffic (higher NO2 concentrations) and industrial (higher SO2 concentrations) sources of PM2.5. Statistical analysis proved these differences to be significant (coefficient of divergence > 0.2). The highest mean PM2.5 concentrations were measured downwind (east) of the two industrial facilities while background level PM2.5 concentrations were measured at similar distances upwind (west) of the point sources. Socioeconomic factors, including the fraction of non-white population and fraction of population living under the poverty line, were not correlated with increases in PM2.5 or NO2 concentration. The analysis conducted here highlights differences in PM2.5 concentration within site groupings that have similar land use thus demonstrating the utility of a dense sensor network. Our network captures temporospatial pollutant patterns that sparse regulatory networks cannot.

Background Healthcare inequity drives high costs, worse outcomes and is heavily influenced by social determinants of health (SDOH). Addressing health behaviors and SDOH through a culturally competent community-based exposure may be effective in improving value for Medicaid enrollees. This study aims to evaluate whether such an exposure lowers costs at equal or improved quality. Methods A retrospective cohort study leveraging claims data was conducted in Detroit, Michigan from April 2021 to April 2022 to examine the impact of a community-based peer support program on clinical, utilization and financial outcomes. A one-to-one propensity matching of 738 pairs of African American Medicaid enrollees was generated, and compared the difference of differences between inpatient, emergency department, prescription and outpatient paid amounts, utilization, and available claims-based quality metrics. Results Compared to controls, peer support recipients generated significantly lower per member per month costs ($115, (95% CI $20.2 to $210)). Recipients showed a significant increase in the Adult Access to Preventative/Ambulatory Health Services 20–44 year old quality metric (8.31% (95% CI 0.35–16.3%)). Member retention in the health insurance plan was significantly higher for peer support recipients vs. the control group by 3.62% (p < 0.05). Peer support recipients displayed non-significant improvement on all other utilization and actuarial measures. No significant difference was found for any of the other examined quality metrics. Conclusions Among a population of African American Medicaid enrollees, a culturally competent community-based intervention was associated with lower cost and better member retention with preserved or improved quality.

We demonstrate how states that lifted restrictions on interstate bank expansions, thereby improving access to cheaper credit, experienced increased farm sales and net farm income. In our empirical analysis, we use nationwide county-level data from 1970 through 2001 and a difference-in-differences econometric framework, exploiting only within-state variation in banking deregulation, to distinguish the effect of an increase in bank competition from potential confounding factors. By including region-by-year fixed effects in our econometric equation, we compare changes in farm sales and expenditures in states that lift restrictions on interstate banking to changes in states that do not lift such restrictions within the same census region. Our estimates indicate that county-level farm sales increase by about 3.4% and county-level net farm income rises by $1.57 million (in 1982 dollars) after a state deregulates its banking sector by allowing interstate bank expansion. We also find evidence that farm expenditures, in particular expenditures on feed, fuel, machine and equipment rental, as well as interest payments, grew as a result of the banking deregulation. The positive impacts on farm sales, net income, and interest payments are larger in metropolitan counties than in rural counties, consistent with the notion that interstate bank entry following deregulation was concentrated in larger metropolitan markets, leading to a greater reduction in the cost of credit in those areas.

In this paper, the low molecular weight poly (p-phenylene terephthalamide) (LMW-PPTA) solutions with different end group were obtained through changing molar ratio of monomers. Then, the high molecular weight PPTA (HMW-PPTA) polymer was synthesis by Secondary copolymerization. At that time, the PPTA fiber may be produced by means of reaction spinning in one step. Hence, the possibility of one-step method processing for PPTA fiber was studied by investigating the polymerization degree and gelling time of secondary copolymerization under different situations. The one-step method processing for PPTA fiber is not only free from the dependence on concentrated sulfuric acid, but also able to be controllable easily. Remarkably, the facile procedure, lower cost and better environmental protection are significant for the manufacture of PPTA fiber.

We model the interaction of financial market transparency and different accounting regimes. This paper provides a theoretical rationale for the recently proposed shift in accounting standards from historic cost accounting to marking to market. The paper shows that mark to market can provide investors with an early warning mechanism while historical cost gives management a \"veil\" under which they can potentially mask a firm's true economic performance. The model provides new explanations for several empirical findings and has some novel implications. We show that greater opacity in financial markets leads to more frequent and more severe crashes in asset prices (under a historic-cost-accounting regime). Moreover, our model indicates that historic cost accounting can make the financial market more rather than less volatile, which runs counter to conventional wisdom. The mechanism shown in the model also sheds light on the cause of many financial scandals in recent years.

Endoscopic sinus surgery for patients with chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) unresponsive to medical therapy has traditionally been performed under general anesthesia and in the operating room. Balloons for catheter dilation of paranasal sinuses were introduced in 2005, allowing sinus surgery to be safely performed either in the operating room or the office care setting, under local anesthesia. This change in care setting has raised concerns of overuse or expanded indications for sinus surgery. This study was thus designed to evaluate changes in surgical volumes in the United States, for the period 2006-2011, and to evaluate the impact of the sinus balloons on surgical practice. The MarketScan(®) Commercial Claims and Encounter Database was queried for the period 2006 to 2011 using CRS International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision codes (473.X) and sinus surgery US-based Common Procedural Terminology (CPT) codes (endoscopic sinus surgery: CPT codes 31254-31294 and 31299; balloon catheter dilation: CPT codes 31295-31297). MarketScan's projection methodology was applied to estimate the nationwide prevalence of CRS and the incidence of sinus surgery. Procedural case mix and total average payment per surgery were analyzed. From 2006 to 2011, the yearly prevalence of CRS and sinus surgery volume remained flat with ~430 patients with CRS per 100,000 in the employer-sponsored insured population, of which ~117/100,000 underwent surgery. In 2006, 2.69 paranasal sinuses (95% confidence interval [95% CI]: 2.65-2.71) were treated during each individual sinus surgery, with an additional 1.11 nasal procedures (95% CI: 1.08-1.13) performed concurrently. By 2011, the procedural case mix had expanded to 2.90 sinus (95% CI: 2.87-2.93) and 1.16 nasal procedures (95% CI: 1.14-1.85) per surgery. Payments increased from $7,011.06 (α=$6,378.30; β=3.1490) in 2006 to $9,090.11 (α=$8,350.20; β=2.9535) in 2011, in line with US medical inflation. In the study population, approximately 1 in 3.7 patients diagnosed with CRS underwent sinus surgery. This ratio remained constant from 2006 to 2011. There was no evidence that the number of distinct sinus surgeries per 100,000 people increased despite the introduction and utilization of balloon catheter dilation tools that enabled migration of sinus surgery to the office.

Multiattribute-revealed preference data are used to investigate heterogeneity in a sample of kayakers for a panel of whitewater sites in Ireland. This article focuses on a comparison of preference heterogeneity using a random parameter logit model with correlated tastes and a latent class model, in terms of the implications for welfare measures of environmental quality and site-access changes. Recreationalists' skill levels are found to affect preferences in both approaches. Statistics for the estimated distribution of welfare changes for the average respondent are computed for changes in site attributes, but contrary to previous work, these are found to be of similar magnitude.