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IMPORTANCE: Few studies have compared surgical utilization between countries or how rates may differ according to patients' socioeconomic status. OBJECTIVE: To compare population-level utilization of 3 common nonemergent surgical procedures in New York State (US), Ontario (Canada), and New South Wales (Australia) and how utilization differs for residents of lower- and higher-income neighborhoods. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This cohort study included all adults aged 18 years and older who were hospitalized for pancreatectomy, radical prostatectomy, or nephrectomy between 2011 and 2016 in New York, between 2011 and 2018 in Ontario, and between 2013 and 2018 in New South Wales. Each patient's address of residence was linked to 2016 census data to ascertain neighborhood income. Data were analyzed from August 2019 to November 2020. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Primary outcomes were (1) each jurisdiction's per capita age- and sex-standardized utilization rates (procedures per 100 000 residents per year) for each surgery and (2) utilization rates among residents of lower- and higher-income neighborhoods. RESULTS: This study included 115 428 surgical patients (25 780 [22.3%] women); 5717, 21 752, and 24 617 patients in New York were hospitalized for pancreatectomy, radical prostatectomy, and nephrectomy, respectively; 4929, 19 125, and 16 916 patients in Ontario, respectively; and 2069, 13 499, and 6804 patients in New South Wales, respectively. Patients in New South Wales were older for all procedures (eg, radical prostatectomy, mean [SD] age in New South Wales, 64.8 [7.3] years; in New York, 62.7 [8.4] years; in Ontario, 62.8 [6.7] years; P < .001); patients in New York were more likely than those in other locations to be women for pancreatectomy (New York: 2926 [51.2%]; Ontario: 2372 [48.1%]; New South Wales, 1003 [48.5%]; P = .004) and nephrectomy (New York: 10 645 [43.2%]; Ontario: 6529 [38.6%]; 2605 [38.3%]; P < .001). With the exception of nephrectomy in Ontar

The Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) and the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) are jointly developing a system known as the Payload Alert Communications System (PACS) whose purpose is to decrease the statistical uncertainty in the location of resident space objects (RSOs). PACS is designed to augment the Joint Space Operations Center's (JSpOC) existing space object tracking capabilities which is expected to increase the accuracy of conjunction estimation. In the current PACS design, a small payload would be attached to certain RSOs prior their launch. It is envisioned that this payload would basically consist of a microcontroller, a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver, a communication transceiver, and a power source. Once on orbit, the PACS payload would collect GPS position information and then periodically, or upon demand, transmit the orbital information back to JSpOC. In this thesis, a study is performed to determine how the accuracy of conjunction analysis performed by the JSpOC would be impacted when RSOs are equipped with PACS. This effort requires the development an initial PACS system architecture, formulation of the mathematical models used in conjunction analysis, and the simulation and analysis of conjunction analysis under various scenarios., The original document contains color images.

The report is a summary of the progress made in the understanding of the absorption of sound in air due to molecular relaxation. The objectives and the results of the project are stated. All of the significant publications stemming from the study are contained in appendices. These appendices give the theory of predicting sound absorption in air, the experimental basis of the theory, a set of tables for absorption at 20C, and a set of analytical expressions which will reproduce the tables. (Author), See also AD-706 844.