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Tools, called ‘diet/dietary quality indices’, evaluate the level of adherence to a specified pattern or a set of recommendations in populations. Yet, there are no review studies providing unanimous comprehensive results of dietary indices on obesity. We reviewed observational studies, focusing on the association of diet quality indices with general obesity or abdominal obesity in adults. We systematically conducted a search in all English language publications available on MEDLINE, ISI Web of Science and Embase between January 1990 and January 2016. Among the wide variety of indices and weight-derived variables, studies with dietary-guideline-based indices and mean changes for weight gain or OR for general obesity and abdominal obesity were selected. From a total of 479 articles, thirty-four studies were selected for the current review, ten of which had prospective designs and twenty-six had cross-sectional designs. Associations of weight status with the original Healthy Eating Index (HEI) and other versions of the HEI including alternative HEI, HEI-2005 and HEI-05 were examined in thirteen studies, with ten studies revealing significant associations. The HEI was a better general obesity predictor in men than in women. Diet scores lacked efficacy in assessing overall diet quality and demonstrated no significant findings in developing countries, in comparison with US populations. In addition, indices based on dietary diversity scores were directly associated with weight gain. Despite the insufficient evidence to draw definitive conclusions about the relation between dietary indices and obesity, HEI was found to be inversely associated with obesity and diversity-based indices were positively associated with obesity. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study determines the impact of E-commerce (EC) on some of important economic criteria including total factor productivity( TFP) of Iran country as a developing country in comparison with US standard as a developed country through analyzing and calculating interrelated issues. The model is based on both econometrics and growth accounting approach to fill the gaps of previous studies. On the first step, this research fulfills the gap of economic growth by transforming the US and Iran ecommerce model to parametric model and providing statistical analysis. On the second step, the two parametric models are compared to each other. The results showed that the impact of e -commerce on Iran could be even stronger than that on US as a developed country because the scope for reducing inefficiencies and increasing productivity is much larger in Iran. The results also are showing that although during the last decade Ecommerce has always been an attentive issue to Iranian governments and Iran made some policies to develop and enhance e-commerce in the country, but statistics are showing the necessity of more comprehensive and organized policies for developing and localizing e-commerce in the way of universal standards accomplishment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most of the movable bridges in the United States have open grid steel decks, primarily because they are factory assembled, lightweight, and easy to install. Open grid steel decks, however, are not as skid resistant as solid decks. Costly maintenance, high noise levels, poor riding comfort, and susceptibility to vibrations are among the other disadvantages of these decks. The objective of the research presented in this paper is to evaluate an alternative lightweight extruded aluminum deck system that has a solid surface and meets the loading requirements as well as weight and thickness limits for movable bridge decks. These aluminum deck panels with their tongue and groove connections have previously been used in Europe, mainly in Sweden. A detailed experimental evaluation of the aluminum deck system has been carried out, including static and fatigue load testing on the deck panels, as well as ancillary tests on the connections with the girders. On the basis of the in-depth experimental evaluation and the subsequent finite-element (FE) modeling and predictions, the extruded aluminum deck is shown to be a feasible alternative to the open grid steel deck and ready for implementation on movable bridges as well as bridges that require a lightweight deck. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the growing rate of deterioration in the nation's infrastructure, the necessity for including non-destructive testing (NDT) and field instrumentation in engineering curriculum has become more apparent than ever before. Implementation of a National Science Foundation project for enhancing concrete laboratory with NDT and instrumentation modules is discussed. The new laboratory significantly increased student's interest in, and learning from the course. A national survey of civil engineering programs showed that less than 1 out 12 schools include NDT methods in their labs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]