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The interquartile range is a statistical measure well suited to describe the variability of the data at hand, both at the population level and for sample data. The interquartile range is particularly useful when the distribution of the data is asymmetric or irregularly shaped. Here, the use of the interquartile range is investigated when the main aim is to compare the variability of two distributions using two independent random samples, without the need to make any distributional assumptions. Several techniques are compared through numerical studies and real data examples, with a particular attention given to the use of sample quantiles based on the Harrel-Davis estimator or the quantile regression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public opinion has been identified as one of the main drivers of political action in support of sustainable-transport transitions, making it essential to understand when aiming for effective transport policy. Drawing from both quantitative and qualitative data from the 2021 Montréal Mobility Survey, this paper analyzes public perceptions towards two transport projects—a light-rail transit (LRT) and a bus-rapid transit (BRT). Quantitative statements pertaining to five project impacts were compared between the two projects. Both projects had high levels of agreement (between 67% and 80%) regarding expected regional and environmental impacts, but agreement levels were lower for expected neighborhood, cultural, and residential displacement impacts (between 49% and 30%). To contextualize the quantitative findings, qualitative data were pulled from open-ended questions for both projects and analyzed using an applied-thematic-analysis approach. The qualitative responses focused primarily on negative perceptions, providing insight into potential factors contributing to the erosion of social acceptability. Our analysis of open-ended questions underscored contrasting perceptions between the two projects in terms of improvements in accessibility to destinations (minimal for the BRT vs noticeable for the LRT), governance (transparent for the BRT vs opaque for the LRT), consultation processes (adequate for the BRT vs insufficient for the LRT), and construction impacts (lengthy and disruptive for the BRT vs rapid for the LRT). These contrasting quantitative and qualitative results highlight the need for mixed methods when assessing public perceptions. Findings from this paper can be of benefit to practitioners and policy makers as they aim to ramp up efforts to expand public-transit systems. • Adequate public consultation can contribute to positive public perceptions. • Suburbanites' opposition to change may hinder LRT effectiveness. • Perceived equity of public transit projects can influence social adhesion. • Better communication is warranted on benefits and impacts of transport projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extended Abstract Background: Lentil is a popular legume crop in the Mediterranean region, widely grown for its nutritious seeds and improving soil fertility. Interest in legumes is increasing as a protein source to replace meat in the future. Identification of high-yield genotypes with adaptation to a wide range of environments is one of the major goals in crop and lentil breeding programs. Combining the best linear unbiased predictions (BLUP), additive main effects, and multiplicative interaction (AMMI) methods in multi-environment experiments and multi-trait stability selection (MTSI) helps to better evaluate plant genotypes and achieve more accurate results. Additive main effect and multiplicative interaction (AMMI) and BLUP are two methods for analyzing multi-environment trials. The linear mixed effects model (LMM) and the restricted maximum likelihood (REML) estimator methods are among the important methods that have been proposed to analyze the data of multi-environmental experiments. In this regard, the BLUPs obtained from the interaction of genotype and environment are performed with principal component analysis or single value analysis on the matrix. This method uses the stability index of the weighted average of absolute scores of the best unbiased linear forecasts (WAASB), the weighted average of the stability index of WAASB, and the dependent variable (WAASBY). Researchers have also proposed an MTSI based on factor analysis, in which grain yield, other traits, and the stability of each are simultaneously used to identify stable genotypes. This research aimed to identify stable and high-yielding lentil genotypes in autumn cultivation. Methods: To evaluate the seed yield stability of 12 lentil genotypes along with three check genotypes, including Kimia, Bileh Sawar, and local landrace, an experiment was conducted as a randomized complete block design with three replications at Agricultural Research Stations of Khorramabad (Lorestan), Zanjireh (Ilam), and Sararoud (Kermanshah) in three cropping years (2019-2022). Each plot consisted of four lines with a length of 4 m and a distance of 25 cm from each other. iIn addition to the usual crop care such as weeding and pest control, the desired traits and characteristics, such as the number of days to 50% flowering, plant height, and number of days to maturity, were measured during the growing season. Hundred-seed weights and the yield of each plot were measured after the maturity and harvesting of experiments. Combined analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed using SAS software, and the average traits of the treatments were compared using the LSD test. For statistical analyses, the Metan Ver.1.9.0 (multi-environment trial analysis) package was used in the R software environment. To estimate stability quantities, singular value decomposition (SVD) was applied to the matrix of BLUPs obtained from genotype-by-environment interactions with an LMM. Variance components were estimated by the REML method. After analyzing the variance of the data, the stability parameters of WAASB and WAASBY (for simultaneous selection based on average performance and stability) were estimated using the eigenvalues obtained from the AMMI analysis on BLUP, and the best genotypes were selected with these two indicators. Genotypic stability values were obtained from the Harmonic Average of the Genotypic Values (HMGV) index. The compatibility of genotypes was evaluated based on the relative performance index of genotypic values (RPGV). The harmonic mean index and relative performance of genotypic value (HMRPGV) were used to simultaneously evaluate stability, compatibility, and seed yield. Results: The effect of environment, genotype, and genotype × environment interaction were significant on seed yield, plant height, days to flowering, days to maturity, seed filling period, seed filling ratio, seed yield formation rate, rainfall efficiency, and single seed weight. The genotype effect was significant on all traits, except for the seed-filling period. Based on the biplot analysis, genotypes 4, 6, 7, 9, and 10 had higher yield stability in addition to the highest seed yield. The Scree test showed that the first three principal components explained 45.41, 19.13, and 14.34% of the genotype × environment interaction variation obtained from BLUP for grain yield, respectively; in total, they justified 78.87% of the variation. Based on a weighted average of absolute scores of WAASB, genotypes 6, 10, and 12 were high-yielding and stable. Genotypes 1 and 10 were superior based on the (MTSI). The harmonic mean and HMRPGV introduced genotypes 10, 9, 4, and 12 as the genotypes that had high stability and compatibility in addition to high seed yields. Conclusion: Based on all the analyses, genotype 10 was the most stable genotype, which, in addition to seed yield, was superior to other genotypes in terms of the other measured traits and can be a candidate for introduction as a new cultivar.

Background: Lattice radiation therapy (LRT) alternates regions of high and low doses within the target. The heterogeneous dose distribution is delivered to a geometrical structure of vertices segmented inside the tumor. LRT is typically used to treat patients with large tumor volumes with cytoreduction intent. Due to the geometric complexity of the target volume and the required dose distribution, LRT treatment planning demands additional resources, which may limit clinical integration. Purpose: We introduce a fully automated method to (1) generate an ordered lattice of vertices with various sizes and center‐to‐center distances and (2) perform dose optimization and calculation. We aim to report the dosimetry associated with these lattices to help clinical decision‐making. Methods: Sarcoma cancer patients with tumor volume between 100 cm3 and 1500 cm3 who received radiotherapy treatment between 2010 and 2018 at our institution were considered for inclusion. Automated segmentation and dose optimization/calculation were performed by using the Eclipse Scripting Application Programming Interface (ESAPI, v16, Varian Medical Systems, Palo Alto, USA). Vertices were modeled by spheres segmented within the gross tumor volume (GTV) with 1 cm/1.5 cm/2 cm diameters (LRT‐1 cm/1.5 cm/2 cm) and 2 to 5 cm center‐to‐center distance on square lattices alternating along the superior‐inferior direction. Organs at risk were modeled by subtracting the GTV from the body structure (body‐GTV). The prescription dose was that 50% of the vertice volume should receive at least 20 Gy in one fraction. The automated dose optimization included three stages. The vertices optimization objectives were refined during optimization according to their values at the end of the first and second stages. Lattices were classified according to a score based on the minimization of body‐GTV max dose and the maximization of GTV dose uniformity (measured with the equivalent uniform dose [EUD]), GTV dose heterogeneity (measured with the GTV D90%/D10% ratio), and the number of patients with more than one vertex inserted in the GTV. Plan complexity was measured with the modulation complexity score (MCS). Correlations were assessed with the Spearman correlation coefficient (r) and its associated p‐value. Results: Thirty‐three patients with GTV volumes between 150 and 1350 cm3 (median GTV volume = 494 cm3, IQR = 272–779 cm3 were included. The median time required for segmentation/planning was 1 min/21 min. The number of vertices was strongly correlated with GTV volume in each LRT lattice for each center‐to‐center distance (r > 0.85, p‐values < 0.001 in each case). Lattices with center‐to‐center distance = 2.5 cm/3 cm/3.5 cm in LRT‐1.5 cm and center‐to‐center distance = 4 cm in LRT‐1 cm had the best scores. These lattices were characterized by high heterogeneity (median GTV D90%/D10% between 0.06 and 0.19). The generated plans were moderately complex (median MCS ranged between 0.19 and 0.40). Conclusions: The automated LRT planning method allows for the efficacious generation of vertices arranged in an ordered lattice and the refinement of planning objectives during dose optimization, enabling the systematic evaluation of LRT dosimetry from various lattice geometries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Riwayat: Educational Journal of History & Humanities is the property of Riwayat: Educational Journal of History & Humanities and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Riwayat: Educational Journal of History & Humanities is the property of Riwayat: Educational Journal of History & Humanities and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In this study, the asymptotic distributions of the likelihood ratio test (LRT), the restricted likelihood ratio test (RLRT), the F and the sequence kernel association test (SKAT) statistics for testing an additive effect of the expected familial relatedness (FR) in a linear mixed model are examined based on an eigenvalue approach. First, the covariance structure for modeling the FR effect in a LMM is presented. Then, the multiplicity of eigenvalues for the log‐likelihood and restricted log‐likelihood is established under a replicate family setting and extended to a more general replicate family setting (GRFS) as well. After that, the asymptotic null distributions of LRT, RLRT, F and SKAT statistics under GRFS are derived. The asymptotic null distribution of SKAT for testing genetic rare variants is also constructed. In addition, a simple formula for sample size calculation is provided based on the restricted maximum likelihood estimate of the effect size for the expected FR. Finally, a power comparison of these test statistics on hypothesis test of the expected FR effect is made via simulation. The four test statistics are also applied to a data set from the UK Biobank. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Georges F Hatoum,1,&ast; H Thomas Temple,2,&ast; Silvio A Garcia,1 Yi Zheng,1,3 Fouad Kfoury,4 Jill Kinley,5 Xiaodong Wu1,3 1Department of Radiation Oncology, HCA Florida JFK Medical Center Comprehensive Cancer Institute, Lake Worth, FL, USA; 2Department of Orthopedic Surgery, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL, USA; 3Department of Research and Development, Executive Medical Physics Associates, North Miami Beach, FL, USA; 4Pharmacy Department, South Miami Hospital, South Miami, FL, USA; 5Department of Clinical Research, HCA Florida JFK Medical Center, Atlantis, FL, USA&ast;These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Xiaodong Wu, Executive Medical Physics Associates, 19470 NE 22nd Road, North Miami Beach, FL, 33179, USA, Tel +1 305 775 0333, Email drxiaodongwu@yahoo.comPurpose: To report a case of large extremity soft tissue sarcoma (2933 cc), safely treated with a novel approach of interdigitating high-dose LATTICE radiation therapy (LRT) with standard radiation therapy as a neoadjuvant treatment to surgery.Patients and Methods: Four sessions of high-dose LRT were delivered in a weekly interval, interdigitated with standard radiation therapy. The LRT plan consisted of 15 high-dose vertices receiving a dose > 12 Gy per session, with 2– 3 Gy to the peripheral margin of the tumor. The patient underwent surgical excision 2 months after the new regimen of induction radiation therapy.Results and Discussion: The patient tolerated the radiation therapy regimen well. The post-operative assessment revealed a negative surgical margin and over 95% necrosis of the total tumor volume. The post-surgical wound complication was mitigated by outpatient wound care. Interdigitating multiple sessions of high-dose LATTICE radiation treatments with standard neoadjuvant radiation therapy as a neoadjuvant therapy for soft tissue sarcoma was feasible and did not incur additional toxicity in this clinical case. A phase-I/II trial will be conducted to further evaluate the toxicity and efficacy of the new treatment strategy with the intent to increase the rate of pathologic necrosis, which has been shown to positively correlate with the overall survival.Keywords: sarcoma, SFRT, LATTICE radiotherapy, LRT, chemotherapy, surgery, necrosis

Ambient air pollution is a very considerable and complex physicochemical and environmental issue. Particulate matter (PM) is one of the fundamental pollutants constituted in ambient air. Rapidly expanding urban transformations in city of Novi Sad, Serbia, produces high concentrations of PM. The vast and growing number of construction sites as pollution emission hotspots induce constant nuisance for the people, build surrounding and environment in total. Serbian legislation has set PM pollution limit values for daily emissions, but the air pollutant registry still does not recognize construction sites as severe sources of PM emergence. Understanding the importance and the effects of PM emission from construction sites is crucial in environmental preservation. For the preparation and application of methods and techniques for prevention and mitigation, suitable environmental pollution modeling needs to be achieved. The aim of the research is to assess and determine the utility of Tier 1 prediction model designed by Environmental Protection Agency and environmental modeling software ADMS URBAN on observed construction sites in Novi Sad, Serbia. Assessing monitoring data confirms construction sites as significant PM10 and PM2.5 pollution sources. Two sets of correction coefficients were calculated for PM10 and PM2.5, using average and median values, 2.56-2.54 and 1.03-0.97 respectively. The research study was for the first time conducted in Novi Sad, Serbia in the case of construction sites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of involvement of common viral organisms R. equi and K. pneumoniae and their clinicopathological and radiological features in respiratory disease of Malaysian domestic cats. A total of 34 feline cases with acute/chronic infectious respiratory disease signs were followed prospectively to investigate respiratory disease due to R. equi and K. pneumoniae and their relationship with concurrent viral infections in disease manifestation. All sampled cats (n = 27) were positive for FCoV antibodies and negative for FeLV. A significantly high antibody titer for FCV in n = 26 cases was also noticed. A single sample of pyothorax from a 3-months-old, non-vaccinated kitten was positive for R. equi. Bronchopneumonia with severe infiltration of the polymorphs and mononuclear inflammatory cells were prominent features of lungs histopathology from the kitten positive for R. equi. K. pneumoniae subsp. pneumoniae was confirmed from tracheal swabs of two cats. Histologically, the tracheal tissues of the two cats positive for K. pneumoniae were normal. In diagnostic imaging, epicenter of the infectious URT disease was nasal conchae rostrally and nasal turbinates caudally, however for infectious LRT disease was bronchial tree. Conclusively, infectious respiratory disease is a complex illness in cats, predominantly for unvaccinated kittens and young adult cats, especially those kept in multi-cat household or shelter environments because of the involvement of multiple bacterial and viral organisms as primary or secondary invaders. Clinicians should not preclude feline rhodococcosis from differentials, especially in kittens with pyothorax and less than one year of age. Unlike R. equi, K. pneumoniae has the potential to colonize URT of cats which might be disseminating further to cause LRT disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work demonstrates the safety and feasibility of Lattice Radiotherapy (LRT) for large soft tissue sarcoma in neoadjuvant radiotherapy. The treatment consisted of two courses: the LRT course with a single fraction of 20 Gy delivered to high dose nuclei (HDN) regions and the conventional course with 25 fractions of 2 Gy delivered to the planning target volume. HDN shaped as cylinders with a 1 cm diameter and 1 cm height were placed within the gross tumour volume. The number of HDNs and their position were determined based on tumor size and proximity to organs at risk. Three patients were irradiated using the LRT technique.

ABSTRACT: Multimodal facilities are being built in a majority of urban areas to accommodate both motorized and non-motorized traffic. The resulting transportation system is susceptible to complex interactions between different modes and users. These complex interactions are hard to quantify and capture on a regular basis. There is a need to rely on a microsimulation platform to replicate such real-world scenarios and forecast future conditions. This study focuses on assessing the effect of heterogeneous traffic conditions involving multiple modes like light rail transit (LRT), walking, bicycling, and motorized traffic on vehicle delay at intersections using Vissim traffic simulation software. A 2.5-mile urban arterial corridor comprising of seven at-grade and two grade-separated signalized intersections along US-29 route in the city of Charlotte, NC, USA was chosen for analysis and modeling. Base simulation model was developed by replicating the traffic scenario for the year 2018 (without LRT and non-motorized traffic). External controllers like VisVAP and Viswalk were used to assign signal priority and model heterogenous traffic conditions. The vehicle operational performance of the corridor improved along the major street after the addition of the LRT. An increase in vehicle delay on the major street was observed with an increase in the non-motorized traffic. Contrarily, the operational performance of the cross-streets at at-grade intersections did not see any significant change due to the addition of non-motorized traffic. The proposed framework assists planners to assess the impact of adding a new transit system like LRT and associated non-motorized traffic on the urban corridor.

Lexical Recognition Test (LRT) themes are one of the main methods that are widely used to measure language proficiency of some common languages such as English, German and Spanish. However, similar research for Arabic is still at development stages, and existing proposals mainly use human-crafted methods. In this paper, a new methodology, based on a newly developed algorithm, was proposed with the aim of automatically constructing high quality nonwords associated with a real quick measurement of Arabic proficiency levels (Arabic LRT). The suggested algorithm will automatically generate nonwords based on Arabic special characteristics they are orthography (spelling), phonology (pronunciation), n-grams and the word frequency map, which is an important factor to create a multi-level test. With the help of a large dataset of Arabic vocabulary, the proposed algorithm was experimented. For this purpose, a Web-based application, following the suggested methodology, was designed and implemented to facilitate the process of collecting and analyzing learners' responses. The experimental results have shown that the LRT questions that were automatically generated by the proposed system had confused the learners, this is clear from the output of the confusion matrix which showed that (1/3) of the generated nonwords were able to distract the learners (with accuracy 65%). Consequentially, the results of recall and precision have smaller values, 0.52 and 0.48, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We developed an automated LRT planning method personalised to the tumour size. • Efficient dosimetry was achieved with a low number of boost regions (<15). • Predicted vertex size = 0.19 (GTV volume)1/3 and spacing = 2 × vertex size, in cm. • Predicted number of vertices ≤ (24 × 3 %GTV volume)/[4π(vertex size)3] Lattice radiation therapy (LRT) alternates regions of high and low doses inside the tumour. Whilst this technique reported positive results in tumour size reduction, optimal lattice parameters are still unknown. We introduce an automated LRT planning method personalised to tumour shape and designed to allow investigation of lattice geometry. Patients with retroperitoneal sarcoma were considered for inclusion. Automation was performed with the Eclipse Scripting Application Interface (v16, Varian Medical Systems, Palo Alto). By iterating over vertex size (V) and centre-to-centre distance (D), vertices were segmented within the gross tumour volume (GTV) in an alternating square pattern. Iterations stopped when the number of inserted vertices was contained between a prespecified lower and upper bound. Forty sets of lattices were considered, produced by varying V and D in five lower/upper bound pairs. Best-scoring sets were determined with a score favouring the maximization of GTV dose uniformity and heterogeneity whilst minimizing the maximum dose to organs at risk. Fifty patients with tumour volumes between 150 cm3 and 10,000 cm3 were included. Best-scoring sets were characterised by a low number of vertices (<15). Based on the best-scoring set, the predicted parameters to use for new patients were V = 0.19 (GTV volume)1/3 and D = 2V, in centimetres. The number of vertices (N) to insert in the GTV can be estimated with N ≤ (24 × 3% GTV volume)/(4πV3). The automated LRT treatment planning personalised to tumour size allows investigation of lattice geometry over a large range of GTV volumes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is transmissible through lung transplantation, and outcomes among infected organ recipients may be severe. Transmission risk to extrapulmonary organ recipients and recent (within 30 days of transplantation) SARS-CoV-2–infected recipient outcomes are unclear. Methods During March 2020–March 2021, potential SARS-CoV-2 transmissions through solid organ transplantation were investigated. Assessments included SARS-CoV-2 testing, medical record review, determination of likely transmission route, and recent recipient outcomes. Results During March 2020–March 2021, approximately 42 740 organs were transplanted in the United States. Forty donors, who donated 140 organs to 125 recipients, were investigated. Nine (23%) donors and 25 (20%) recipients were SARS-CoV-2 positive by nucleic acid amplification test (NAAT). Most (22/25 [88%]) SARS-CoV-2–infected recipients had healthcare or community exposures. Nine SARS-CoV-2–infected donors donated 21 organs to 19 recipients. Of these, 3 lung recipients acquired SARS-CoV-2 infections from donors with negative SARS-CoV-2 testing of pretransplant upper respiratory tract specimens but from whom posttransplant lower respiratory tract (LRT) specimens were SARS-CoV-2 positive. Sixteen recipients of extrapulmonary organs from SARS-CoV-2–infected donors had no evidence of posttransplant COVID-19. All-cause mortality within 45 days after transplantation was 6-fold higher among SARS-CoV-2–infected recipients (9/25 [36%]) than those without (6/100 [6%]). Conclusions Transplant-transmission of SARS-CoV-2 is uncommon. Pretransplant NAAT of lung donor LRT specimens may prevent transmission of SARS-CoV-2 through transplantation. Extrapulmonary organs from SARS-CoV-2–infected donors may be safely usable, although further study is needed. Reducing recent recipient exposures to SARS-CoV-2 should remain a focus of prevention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the recent past, the CAT procedure introduced by Pal, Lim, and Ling has been successfully applied to obtain improved testing procedures in numerous applications. Having seen such results, practitioners may resort to the CAT procedure in all testing problems, assuming that improvement is assured in all applications. To avoid such myths, in this article, we present an important class of applications, where the CAT test performs poorly, and then discuss the type of applications where CAT procedure could be accepted or avoided. However, this does not mean that it is not possible to develop improved tests by taking the CAT approach, as we show in this article by employing the LRT statistic instead of ML/REML-based CAT tests, as authors of the original CAT article also now advocate. In fact, in terms of the Type I error, LRT-based CAT test performed well among tests we studied, except when k, the number of groups in one-way layout is small, in which case the generalized p-value-based tests can be employed. We believe this note will encourage further research to take full benefits of the CAT approach, in such problems as higher way ANOVA and mixed-effects regression models, for which generalized tests are currently available. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On November 6th, 2021, the first light rail transit (LRT) began operating in Vietnam after a decade of construction. This project aimed to alleviate traffic congestion in the road network of the Hanoi capital. However, despite the deployment of the transit service, passenger volume remains under-capacity, raising questions about how to encourage people, particularly young individuals, to use the new public transit. Hence, this study investigated students’ behavior in choosing the LRT as a means of transport. Statistical analysis of the questionnaire survey showed that the satisfaction level was the dominant factor affecting the mode choices of students. Besides, distance from home to school and LRT station accessibility significantly influenced students’ traveling behavior. These findings provide fundamental insight into young Vietnamese individuals’ behavior regarding a new transit service. We believe these outcomes would help support policy-makers and service providers in improving the LRT projects’ efficiency.

Throughout the last decades, light rail transit systems (LRT) have been built around the world due to their strengths: regularity, savings in CO2 emissions, flexibility, image and optimization of urban space. This research proposes the analyses of a group of LRTs by using a method supported by GIS. Some data and parameters have been stated in order to define the systems. The range of values obtained allow us to characterize the LRT systems operating in Spain: for instance, mean distance range between stations is 405 m to 685 m, and potential users range (people who live no more than 500 m from a station) is 18,000 to 30,000, and population density in the capture areas is never below 1514 pop/km2 (in cities with no metro system). The benefit of the present study is to establish common data values that could be useful in future studies and preliminary projects carried out in other Spanish cities interested in introducing an LRT in their urban grid, and also for comparison with LRT in other countries. The method could be also applied to other public transportation systems, and to other countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inaccurate forecasts of operating expenditures (OPEX) during the planning phase for new Light Rail Transit (LRT) projects in the United States underestimated future costs by up to 45% (Harmatuck, 2008). When OPEX exceeded projected levels, local transit agencies often reduced public transit services to operate within their respective annual budgets. Therefore, it is imperative for transit agencies to produce reasonably accurate planning estimates to secure sufficient funding to support future operations, maintenance, and service delivery associated with LRT systems. The research aimed to develop a more accurate LRT OPEX predictive model to be used during the planning stage. Traditional statistical analysis and various machine learning-based algorithms were utilized with input from 22 LRT systems in the United States spanning between 2008 and 2018 from various U.S. governmental public databases. This study extended the current state of practice that relied primarily on sum of unit-cost estimates (also known as the unit-cost method) which generally failed to produce accurate forecasts due to lack of engineering details at the planning stage. Existing research attempted to develop regression-based methodologies using system-based attributes but did not substantially increase prediction accuracy from using the unit-cost method. The research improved current practices and research by having developed a more accurate and replicable machine learning-based predictive model using available geographic, socio-economic and LRT system-related variables at the planning stage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A light rail transit system (LRT) has been proposed for the city of Colombo as a solution to traffic congestion and the first LRT line is under design stage. This proposed LRT is expecting a major mode shift from private vehicle users to LRT and thus integration of private to public mode (mainly cars to LRT) is essential for LRT to sustain. To reinforce this integration, a Park and Ride (P&R) system is proposed, which is a commonly used and well-accepted strategy in most cities around the world. However, application of this P&R concept was failed in Colombo, Sri Lanka in the past when implemented to promote bus transit due to various reasons. Therefore, there is a big question mark whether a park and ride facility would help to attract more private vehicle users to LRT in Colombo. This study is focused on assessing the effect of a park and ride facility in conjunction with the new Light Rail transportation, especially what parameters are predominant to attract more users. A Discrete Choice Experiment was used to evaluate potential users' choice. This experiment has revealed that potential users are more concerned about travel time savings and walking distance, while parking availability is also a significant factor with less probability. Travel cost savings and LRT frequency found to be trivial. To attract more users for a P&R among those who make short trips, walking distance to the parking facility is a crucial parameter to consider in the planning stage. The results of this study shed the light on key parameters that need to be considered when planning park and ride facilities as a supporting infrastructure to enhance the demand for new LRT lines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of transit-oriented development (TOD) is to create a livable urban environment by improving the integration between land-use and transportation systems. The capital city of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa, aims to promote a sustainable transportation system by launching its first light rail transit (LRT) network to control the current pattern of increased congestion and the need for mass transport. Planning for TOD around existing transit stations helps achieve improved transit choice and encourages local economic development. Therefore, this article proposes a methodology to quantitatively measure the existing TOD in terms of a TOD index within the walkable distance of transit nodes by measuring the criteria that define TOD levels. The TOD index is calculated for areas of 22 stations on the East-West LRT line of Addis Ababa. Depending on the value of the TOD index, certain stations are identified to have a potential TOD but poor transit accessibility. With these results, the recommendation to improve TOD planning can become accurate for each station, depending on its relevant factors. Such results also help identify each station's potential for TOD planning and its improvements toward future local developments.

Rapid transit (RT) systems are becoming increasingly attractive in the developing world as they improve transportation and mobility conditions in urban areas, reduce motorization impacts and offer high quality, yet cost effective services to travelers. Light rail transit (LRT) and bus rapid transit (BRT) are RT systems that combine high capacity with relatively low investment costs, and as such, they are preferred in developing countries over regular metro systems. This paper investigates traveler preferences over alternative, planned rapid transit options for the city of Multan, Pakistan. The analysis is based on a household information survey with over 2300 questionnaires completed via personal interviews. Intention to pay for improved PT services and choice between LRT and BRT systems are investigated, using appropriate econometric models. Findings of this study can assist in better understanding the factors and their effect on choice between BRT and LRT in developing countries. Results show that potential travelers, who prefer LRT are willing to pay more for better public transport services. On the other hand, commuters and elders express a taste towards BRT implementation. Based on model outputs policy makers can develop targeted marketing policies in order to promote BRT/LRT implementation and attract candidate travelers from different groups, improving the possibility that users would support a BRT or LRT project.

This paper focuses on transits available around the world. AC voltage transits and DC voltage transit are reviewed and compared. Emphasis is given to differences, advantages and disadvantages of voltage supplies and traction types. First, differences between bus rapid transit (BRT), metro, light rail transit (LRT) and light metro are covered, with special attention to statistical of annual passengers per year, an attribute that defines the type of railway transit. Mention is also made to the history of DC and AC overhead wires, other traction preferences for metro transit and highlighted differences between the third rail and fourth rail traction. Malaysian transit systems are then discussed, with special attention to LRT Kelana Jaya line, world's third DC transit that employs the fourth rail traction. The discussion have produced relevant statistical data that this paper is in part aimed at summarizing and at comparing with what accomplished on the same subject within the third rail traction framework. The increased in LRT Kelana Jaya line annual passengers per year is a proof of success for the fourth rail technology.

Infrastructure development in Indonesia creates massive impacts on the economy. The Light rail transit (LRT) of greater Jakarta (Jabodebek) project has been estimated to have cost more than 29 trillion rupiahs due to land acquisition and route planning. The urban transit development may impact to the price of property including residential, commercials and offices along the route. This research aims to determine variables affecting the price elasticity of property and the correlation to station proximity. Data mining through web scrapping was used to assess the degree of correlation between price elasticity and station location. The result shows that approximately 13% of the commercial property was spread over a distance of 1 km from the LRT station. The closer a property to transit station, the price will be twice cheaper compared to those located further. The findings also show variables that highly contribute to property prices including schools, hospitals, and proximity to some of transit stations located in city center of Jakarta and building density.

Within the challenging context of phase II dose-finding trials, longitudinal analyses may increase drug effect detection power compared to an end-of-treatment analysis. This work proposes cLRT-Mod, a pharmacometric adaptation of the MCP-Mod methodology, which allows the use of nonlinear mixed effect models to first detect a dose-response signal and then identify the doses for the confirmatory phase while accounting for model structure uncertainty. The method was evaluated through extensive clinical trial simulations of a hypothetical phase II dose-finding trial using different scenarios and comparing different methods such as MCP-Mod. The results show an increase in power using cLRT with longitudinal data compared to an EOT multiple contrast tests for scenarios with small sample size and weak drug effect while maintaining pre-specifiability of the models prior to data analysis and the nominal type I error. This work shows how model averaging provides better coverage probability of the drug effect in the prediction step, and avoids under-estimation of the size of the confidence interval. Finally, for illustration purpose cLRT-Mod was applied to the analysis of a real phase II dose-finding trial. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For the special case of balanced one-way random effects ANOVA, it has been established that the generalized likelihood ratio test (LRT) and Wald's test are largely equivalent in testing the variance component. We extend these results to explore the relationships between Wald's F test, and the LRT for a much broader class of linear mixed models; the generalized split-plot models. In particular, we explore when the two tests are equivalent and prove that when they are not equivalent, Wald's F test is more powerful, thus making the LRT test inadmissible. We show that inadmissibility arises in realistic situations with common number of degrees of freedom. Further, we derive the statistical distribution of the LRT under both the null and alternative hypotheses H 0 and H 1 where H 0 is the hypothesis that the between variance component is zero. Providing an exact distribution of the test statistic for the LRT in these models will help in calculating a more accurate p-value than the traditionally used p-value derived from the large sample chi-square mixture approximations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the asymptotic behavior of a particular type of information-plus-noise-type matrices, where the column and row numbers of the matrices are large and of the same order, while signals have diverged and the time delays of the channel are fixed. We prove that the empirical spectral distribution of the large dimension sample covariance matrix and a well-studied spiked central Wishart matrix converge to the same distribution. As an application, an asymptotic power function is presented for the generalized likelihood ratio statistics for testing the presence of the signal in large array signal processing.

Introduction and aim. Combined hepatocellular-cholangiocarcinoma (HCC-CCA) is a rare liver malignancy distinct from either hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) or cholangiocarcinoma. Liver transplantation (LT) is not recommended for HCC-CCA because of suboptimal outcomes. Non-invasive diagnosis of HCC-CCA is extremely challenging; thus, some HCC-CCAs are presumed as HCC on imaging and listed for LT with the correct diagnosis ultimately made on explant pathology. We compared HCC-CCA with HCC to determine the utility of response to pre-transplant loco-regional therapy (LRT) in predicting outcomes for HCC-CCA after LT as a potential means of identifying appropriate HCC-CCA patients for LT.Material and methods. Retrospective review of 19 patients with pathologically confirmed HCC-CCA were individually matched to 38 HCC patients (1:2) based on age, sex, and Milan criteria at listing was performed. The modified response evaluation criteria in solid tumors was used to categorize patients as responders or non-responders to pre-transplant LRT based on imaging performed before and after LRT. Overall survival (OS) and recurrence-free survival (RFS) were examined.Results. OS at 3 years post-transplant was 74% for HCC-CCA and 87% for HCC. RFS at 3 years was 74% for HCC-CCA, and 87% for HCC. Among responders to LRT, the 3-year OS was 92% for HCC-CCA and 88% for HCC; among non-responders, 3-year OS was 43% for HCC-CCA and 83% for HCC. Higher 3-year OS was observed among HCC-CCA responders (77%) compared with HCC-CCA non-responders (23%).Conclusions. OS was similarly high among responders to pre-transplant LRT irrespective of tumor type. Radiologic response to LRT could potentially be used to select appropriate HCC-CCA patients for LT if the findings are validated in independent studies.

Throughout the last decades, light rail transit systems (LRT) have been built around the world due to their strengths: regularity, savings in CO2 emissions, flexibility, image and optimization of urban space. This research proposes the analyses of a group of LRTs by using a method supported by GIS. Some data and parameters have been stated in order to define the systems. The range of values obtained allow us to characterize the LRT systems operating in Spain: for instance, mean distance range between stations is 405 m to 685 m, and potential users range (people who live no more than 500 m from a station) is 18,000 to 30,000, and population density in the capture areas is never below 1514 pop/km2 (in cities with no metro system). The benefit of the present study is to establish common data values that could be useful in future studies and preliminary projects carried out in other Spanish cities interested in introducing an LRT in their urban grid, and also for comparison with LRT in other countries. The method could be also applied to other public transportation systems, and to other countries.

In 2015, the Indonesian government issued regulations to accelerate the implementation of integrated Light-Rail Transit (LRT) in the capital region and its surroundings. In order to ensure its operational safety, experimental work is required to test components’ strength of the manufactured LRT structures. Following the JIS 7105 standard test method, the strain and deflection of the structures were measured by vertical load, compression, rotation, and three-point load support test. The critical area estimated in the railroad structure were conducted according to the finite element method, in which strain gauges are installed in areas where the stress concentration exceeds nominal pressure, namely notches, bends, and junction areas. The result shows that the maximum stress on the LRT train structure occurs at the door, where maximum compressive strain value is -1082 μe » -75.74 MPa on the left and the maximum tensile strain value is 597 μe » 41.79 MPa at the right door. The results of fatigue load analysis represent the average stress (σm) and voltage amplitude (σa) at the coordinate system located in the Søderberg triangle. Meanwhile, the camber value with the full vertical load still has a positive value of 3.03 mm, which indicates a safe limit.

Abstract In this paper, spatial and statistical analysis methods were integrated to analyze the spatial accessibility, user population, and coverage of the Light Rail Transit of Addis Ababa. Stations were found to be the least accessible due to five types of land use and road network-related causes: government and social institutions with large area compounds, low road network density, open spaces devoid of road network, natural barriers such as water courses and large area public squares. The study explicitly revealed stations with overlaps in their service areas as well as stations having neighborhoods which are uncovered with the current service areas, i.e., 4.7 km2 and 19.9 km2 uncovered areas are found within walking distances of 1200–1500 m and 1500–2000 m, respectively; nonetheless, stations have fairly adequate coverage within 400 m and 800 m walking distance. Depending on the causes, stations were grouped into three categories. Service area-based determination of potential users is estimated to be 888,502, while the total number of the daily average actual users is around 67,624. Generally an increase in the accessible population is associated with an increase in the service area coverage. However, the population accessibility and service area coverage do not directly imply more number of actual users. Stations with large overlap of service area have reduced number of actual users due to the fact that the accessible population is divided between shared stations. Therefore, unnecessary large service area overlap is a wastage that does not contribute to more number of users. Future studies in the current study area might focus on considering the nexus between the accessibility and modal share as well as the long-term dynamics of the population of users.

The aim of transit-oriented development (TOD) is to create a livable urban environment by improving the integration between land-use and transportation systems. The capital city of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa, aims to promote a sustainable transportation system by launching its first light rail transit (LRT) network to control the current pattern of increased congestion and the need for mass transport. Planning for TOD around existing transit stations helps achieve improved transit choice and encourages local economic development. Therefore, this article proposes a methodology to quantitatively measure the existing TOD in terms of a TOD index within the walkable distance of transit nodes by measuring the criteria that define TOD levels. The TOD index is calculated for areas of 22 stations on the East-West LRT line of Addis Ababa. Depending on the value of the TOD index, certain stations are identified to have a potential TOD but poor transit accessibility. With these results, the recommendation to improve TOD planning can become accurate for each station, depending on its relevant factors. Such results also help identify each station's potential for TOD planning and its improvements toward future local developments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Today Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) is used as a tool to create a livable urban environment by improving the integration between land-use and transportation systems. The capital city of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa, aims to promote a sustainable transportation system by launching its first Light Rail Transit (LRT) network. Mitigate the need for mass transport, congestion, make transit a better choice, and encourage local economic development. Hence, a method was introduced to analyze the spatial and statistical conditions of accessibility on the existing transit stations of Addis Ababa. The methodology proposed measured the impact of accessibility around the existing TOD by defining a criterion that establishes the accessibility level[5-6]. These criteria included proximity, urban densities, land-use diversity, and design of the urban spaces. The urban form of a place depends on accessibility. Mobility changes the character of a place. If the place changes, accessibility is likely to change. Therefore, TOD features that directly correlated with accessibility along the rail-based train stations will be explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Infrastructure development in Indonesia creates massive impacts on the economy. The Light rail transit (LRT) of greater Jakarta (Jabodebek) project has been estimated to have cost more than 29 trillion rupiahs due to land acquisition and route planning. The urban transit development may impact to the price of property including residential, commercials and offices along the route. This research aims to determine variables affecting the price elasticity of property and the correlation to station proximity. Data mining through web scrapping was used to assess the degree of correlation between price elasticity and station location. The result shows that approximately 13% of the commercial property was spread over a distance of 1 km from the LRT station. The closer a property to transit station, the price will be twice cheaper compared to those located further. The findings also show variables that highly contribute to property prices including schools, hospitals, and proximity to some of transit stations located in city center of Jakarta and building density. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper present a secure medical image watermarking technique applying spread-spectrum concept in wavelet transform domain is proposed. In the first step, discrete wavelet transform(DWT) decomposes the cover medical image into four frequency sub-bands using Mexican hat as mother wavelet and then corresponding to each pixel of the binary watermark a pair of Pseudo-Noise (PN) is embedded into a horizontal (HL) and a vertical (LH) sub-band. In order to maintain the imperceptibility of the watermarked image, strength of the generated PN sequence pair is adjusted according to specified document to watermark ratio (DWR). For the extraction the watermark, statistical profile of DWT coefficients of watermarked image is determined and the obtained probability distribution function (pdf) is utilized for designing the watermark detection procedure. Proposed detector considers the best fitted Cauchy statistical model of heavy-tailed family, which accurately models the non-Gaussian DWT coefficients of an image. The robustness of the method is examined for various kinds of attacks with varying watermark to document ratio. Further, experimental results show that the proposed technique offer more robustness than other state-of-the-art method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

CD4 cell count test is used to monitor the immunological status of the immune system. We took an attempt to check the efficacy of a HIV treatment based on the progression of CD4 cell count by means of higher order Markov chain. The main objective of this article is to study HIV disease progression using higher order Markov chain to determine the dependency between the current states of the patient to the previous states. The best model has been evaluated using EDC and LRT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction and aim. Combined hepatocellular-cholangiocarcinoma (HCC-CCA) is a rare liver malignancy distinct from either hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) or cholangiocarcinoma. Liver transplantation (LT) is not recommended for HCC-CCA because of suboptimal outcomes. Non-invasive diagnosis of HCC-CCA is extremely challenging; thus, some HCC-CCAs are presumed as HCC on imaging and listed for LT with the correct diagnosis ultimately made on explant pathology. We compared HCC-CCA with HCC to determine the utility of response to pre-transplant loco-regional therapy (LRT) in predicting outcomes for HCC-CCA after LT as a potential means of identifying appropriate HCC-CCA patients for LT. Material and methods. Retrospective review of 19 patients with pathologically confirmed HCC-CCA were individually matched to 38 HCC patients (1:2) based on age, sex, and Milan criteria at listing was performed. The modified response evaluation criteria in solid tumors was used to categorize patients as responders or non-responders to pre-transplant LRT based on imaging performed before and after LRT. Overall survival (OS) and recurrence- free survival (RFS) were examined. Results. OS at 3 years post-transplant was 74% for HCC-CCA and 87% for HCC. RFS at 3 years was 74% for HCC-CCA, and 87% for HCC. Among responders to LRT, the 3-year OS was 92% for HCC-CCA and 88% for HCC; among non-responders, 3-year OS was 43% for HCC-CCA and 83% for HCC. Higher 3-year OS was observed among HCC-CCA responders (77%) compared with HCC-CCA non-responders (23%). Conclusions. OS was similarly high among responders to pre-transplant LRT irrespective of tumor type. Radiologic response to LRT could potentially be used to select appropriate HCC-CCA patients for LT if the findings are validated in independent studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we consider tests for homogeneity of row effects against ordered alternatives in a randomized block design without interaction effects. Error variances in all cells are assumed to be heterogeneous and data are unbalanced. The likelihood ratio test (LRT) and two heuristic tests named Min-T and Max-T are proposed. Numerical procedures to find solutions of likelihood equations under null hypothesis space and full parameter space are developed. The existence and uniqueness of the solutions and the convergence of the algorithm are established. Parametric bootstrap (PB) is used to evaluate critical points and to estimate sizes and powers of these tests. Asymptotic distributions of the heuristic test statistics are derived and tests are proposed based on these also. Asymptotic accuracy of bootstrap procedures is established in all cases. Using Max-T test we have derived simultaneous confidence intervals for successive pair-wise differences of row-effects. An extensive simulation study shows that all the proposed PB tests maintain a preassigned type I error 0.05. Power comparison shows that LRT achieves more power values than all the other tests. However, Min-T and Max-T tests are easy to implement and take considerably less time as these do not need the evaluation of maximum likelihood estimators (MLEs). The robustness of all tests is also studied and it is seen that LRT is not robust for some skewed distributions. However, heuristic tests are robust in all cases. This is also one advantage of using Min-T and Max-T tests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]