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Water and wastewater pipe product standards, e.g., those developed by AWWA or ASTM, are commonly cited in project specifications and largely relied upon in project design. Different pipe materials have different standards, and many materials have more than one pipe standard. These pipe standards outline the minimum requirements, but do not contain all of the engineering and administrative information normally contained in specifications. In addition to standard dimensions and minimum QA/QC testing requirements, most pressure pipe standards include pressure class (PC) or pressure rating (PR) designations that provide for some margin of safety. This paper reviews the standards for several commonly specified water/wastewater pipe products with regard to their methodology for arriving at the recommended pressure class designations. Both similarities and differences in the methodologies employed are explained. Their impact with regard to various pipe applications is also evaluated. This review includes recent proposals that advocate a less conservative approach to assigning pressure class for some water and pressurized wastewater pipe products. The effects that different pressure classification approaches have on in-service performance, reliability, longevity, and sustainability are discussed. Pressure pipe design factors should not be raised, or safety factors reduced, until in-service or simulated service evaluations substantiating equivalent risk and life expectancy have been well documented. In the absence of such test results, allowing a lower safety factor or higher design factor is not in the public’s best interest.

There is a limited but growing literature which suggests that stalking is a variant of intimate violence. The purpose of this study was to examine physical, psychological, and stalking victimization and perpetration among males and females. Alcohol use was also examined. The sample was 46 male and 84 female undergraduate students who reported stalking victimization and perpetration after a difficult breakup, and psychological and physical victimization and perpetration during that specific relationship. Overall, 27% of the sample study was classified into the stalking victimization group, which is consistent with other stalking prevalence rates among college samples. For females, stalking victimization was significantly associated with physical and psychological abuse victimization. For males, stalking victimization was significantly associated with psychological abuse victimization. However, there was also a strong significant reciprocal relationship of stalking and psychological abuse victimization and perpetration, especially for males. Also, alcohol use was significantly associated with victimization and perpetration of stalking and psychological abuse for males. The data from this study contribute to the hypothesis that stalking is a variant of or extension of intimate violence, especially for females. Implications and recommendations for future research are discussed.

In the water and wastewater industry, the sustainable properties of pipe materials are often presented in a form not suitable for a quantifiable comparison of alternate pipe materials. To quantify how and where a pipe material would impact the environment is very complex. The complexity is not only in the collection and evaluation of pertinent data, but is also characterized by the variety of materials involved and the differences in design, manufacturing, and installation processes of various pipes for the intended

Wi-Health is an EC sponsored project to help a consortium of SMEs develop a unique combined AE (Acoustic Emission) and LRU (Long Range Ultrasonic) structural health monitoring system for a bridge. The aims of the project, which was started in October 2011, are described, along with some of the challenges which have to be overcome.

We look at how marginal education spaces are differently imagined and (re)produced. We trace aspects of learners’ journeys and the different pathways into Initial Teacher Training (ITT) made available through a university and an Adult Education-based networking organisation in the Lifelong Learning Sector (LLS) in England. We focus on urban localities and the venues used to offer and run PTLLS courses aimed at attracting Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) recruits to teaching careers. We compare the profiles of these trainee groups and the effect of the different approaches taken by these organisations. We look at organisational and spatial aspects of training ‘offers’ and provision, the impacts of this on the recruitment of learners and how teaching careers are differently imagined within this marginal space. We conclude with suggestions for altering the discourse used to review and plan the recruitment of BME teacher trainees.

For any material, a basic understanding of physical and mechanical properties forms the foundation upon which the best engineering design decisions can be made regarding the use of that material. This concept certainly applies to all current piping materials, including the plastic materials that have gained widespread acceptance and use in the range of buried pipeline applications. This paper examines the basic differences between the two most commonly used buried pipeline plastics - polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and high density polyethylene (HDPE). The differences will be traced back to their respective molecular compositions and structures, which provide a clear explanation and understanding of their variations in performance behavior. The discussion includes their impact on pipe applications and performance optimization. The physical properties covered and explained include molecular weight, molecular bonding forces, molecular structure (morphology), glass transition temperature, melt temperature, specific gravity, hardness, and resistance to some of the more common chemical environments. The mechanical properties examined include tensile strength, long-term stress capacity, modulus of elasticity, viscoelastic creep, thermal expansion/contraction, and static fracture toughness.

Background EWS-FLI1 is a chimeric ETS transcription factor that is, due to a chromosomal rearrangement, specifically expressed in Ewing's sarcoma family tumors (ESFT) and is thought to initiate the development of the disease. Previous genomic profiling experiments have identified EWS-FLI1–regulated genes and genes that discriminate ESFT from other sarcomas, but so far a comprehensive analysis of EWS-FLI1–dependent molecular functions characterizing this aggressive cancer is lacking. Methodology/Principal Findings In this study, a molecular function map of ESFT was constructed based on an integrative analysis of gene expression profiling experiments following EWS-FLI1 knockdown in a panel of five ESFT cell lines, and on gene expression data from the same platform of 59 primary ESFT. Out of 80 normal tissues tested, mesenchymal progenitor cells (MPC) were found to fit the hypothesis that EWS-FLI1 is the driving transcriptional force in ESFT best and were therefore used as the reference tissue for the construction of the molecular function map. The interrelations of molecular pathways were visualized by measuring the similarity among annotated gene functions by gene sharing. The molecular function map highlighted distinct clusters of activities for EWS-FLI1 regulated genes in ESFT and revealed a striking difference between EWS-FLI1 up- and down-regulated genes: EWS-FLI1 induced genes mainly belong to cell cycle regulation, proliferation, and response to DNA damage, while repressed genes were associated with differentiation and cell communication. Conclusions/Significance This study revealed that EWS-FLI1 combines by distinct molecular mechanisms two important functions of cellular transformation in one protein, growth promotion and differentiation blockage. By taking MPC as a reference tissue, a significant EWS-FLI1 signature was discovered in ESFT that only partially overlapped with previously published EWS-FLI1–dependent gene expression patterns, identifying a series of novel targets for the chimeric protein in ESFT. Our results may guide target selection for future ESFT specific therapies.

While object-oriented programming and high-performance databases are now mainstream, programmers continue to struggle with persistent storage of objects. Juggling object persistence with requirements for simplicity, flexibility, maintainability, transparency, scalability and five-nines uptime can rattle even the most hardened architect.It has been 10 years since the last panel on objects and databases at OOPSLA. Solutions are still evolving rapidly and increasing in complexity, with no end in sight. At the same time developers continue to experiment with alternatives, both old and new. This panel will discuss the state of the union between objects and databases, as seen from the trenches, with focus on current trends in object-oriented databases and object-relational mapping.

Breast cancer is among the most common malignancies in women. It is well established that progesterone receptor (PR) is a major determinant in the development and progression of breast tumor, as well as in diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer. However, it is still not fully understood how PR affects downstream signaling pathways and cross talks with other intracellular signal transduction pathways. To better define the role played by PR in estrogen receptor (ER)-dependent gene regulation, we have used chromatin immunoprecipitation coupled with next generation sequencing (ChIP-Seq) to examine the in vivo DNA binding by PR. Whole-Genome ChIP-Seq analysis has identified large number of PR binding sites in T-47D breast cancer cells, which are ER-positive and PR-positive. PR binding sites were detected in proximal promoter regions as well as distal regions, with most located in non-proximal regions. The comparison of PR and ER binding sites revealed that a significant of portion of the PR binding sites overlaps with the ER binding sites, indicating a close relationship between PR and ER in ER-dependent gene regulation. The PR motifs were found to be among the most enriched sequence motifs within the PR binding sites. Further analysis using the chromosome conformation capture assay revealed that progesterone induces changes to the chromatin structures of known PR-regulated genes. The ChIP-Seq data, together with the expression profiling and other results, indicate that PR may cooperate with ER and play an important role in ER-dependent gene regulation, mammary epithelial differentiation and breast cancer development. Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 101st Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2010 Apr 17-21; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2010;70(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 4612.

Erythrocyte inclusion bodies that are now commonly referred to as Howell-Jolly Bodies (HJB) were originally discovered over 100 years ago by microscopy. These nuclear fragments are observed in the erythrocytes of patients lacking splenic function, but their precise genomic origins are vague. Here we report studies of the genetic content of HJB using a molecular cytogenetic method known as Comparative Genomic Hybridization (CGH). Peripheral blood samples from six splenectomized human donors were studied. All donors had undergone splenectomies prior to this study for diagnostic and therapeutic indications related to underlying neoplastic and autoimmune disease. Ultrasound testing was used to rule out the presence of accessory splenic tissue, and peripheral blood smears confirmed the presence of HJB. Nucleated cells were removed by density gradients and leukocyte filtration for use as patient-matched controls. DNA was isolated from the leukocytes and HJB-containing erythrocytes. The presence of high molecular weight HJB DNA was confirmed in each sample using gel electrophoresis. As expected, it was not possible to obtain sufficient quantities of DNA from the control erythrocytes of healthy individuals with normal splenic function. CGH was performed using equivalent amounts of reference genomic DNA co-hybridized with HJB DNA or matched donor leukocyte DNA. Agilent oligonucleotide CGH arrays were hybridized and scanned according to the manufacturer’s instructions. The control hybridizations (genomic DNA isolated from donor leukocytes) demonstrated standard patterns consistent with the donor’s karyotype. In contrast, the HJB hybridization signals demonstrated an unusual pattern of centromeric-to-telomeric enrichment on each chromatid of each chromosome. The HJB hybridization signals also increased as a function of distance from the centromere according to the chromatid size. The enhanced signal relative to centromeric distance varied considerably between chromosomes, but was remarkably consistent between donors. These data suggest Howell-Jolly Bodies contain a non-random distribution of centromere-depleted chromatin generated after DNA double-strand breakage during erythroid differentiation.