Stormwater pipe infrastructure collects and conveys surface runoff resulting from rainfall or snowmelt to nearby streams. Traditionally, stormwater pipe systems were integrated with wastewater infrastructure through a combined sewer system. Many of these systems are being separated due to the impact of environmental laws and regulations; and the same factors have led to the creation of stormwater utilities. However, in the current ASCE Infrastructure Report Card, stormwater infrastructure is considered a sub-category of wastewater infrastructure. Stormwater infrastructure has always lacked attention compared to water and wastewater infrastructure. However, this notion has begun to shift, as aging stormwater pipes coupled with changes in climatic patterns and urban landscapes makes stormwater infrastructure more complex to manage. These changes and lack of needed maintenance has resulted in increased rates of deterioration and capacity. Stormwater utility managers have limited resources and funds to manage their pipe system. To effectively make decisions on allocating limited resources and funds, a utility should be able to understand and assess the performance of its pipe system. There is no standard rating system or comprehensive list of performance parameters for stormwater pipe infrastructure. Previous research has identified performance parameters affecting stormwater pipes and developed a performance index using a weighted factor method. However, the weighted performance index model does not capture interdependencies between performance parameters. This research developed a comprehensive list of parameters affecting stormwater pipe performance. This research also developed a performance index using fuzzy inference method to capture interdependencies among parameters. The performance index was evaluated and validated with the pipe ratings provided by one stormwater utility to document its effectiveness in real world conditions. / Master of Science

Intensive agricultural developments and increasing human population has caused severe lowland-forest loss and fragmentation in the western coastal plain in Taiwan over the past centuries. The goal of this study is to explore the multiscale impacts of forest fragmentation on species richness and community composition of lowland-forest birds in Taiwan. At a regional scale, Island Biogeography Theory was applied to examine area and isolation effects on species richness of lowland-forest birds using bird data derived from Breeding Bird Survey Taiwan in 2009 and 2010. I also investigate the differential responses of two functional groups (forest specialists and generalists) to area and isolation effects Furthermore, I examine the relative influences of environmental variables at regional, landscape and local scales on avian community indices and composition in northern Taiwan with a hierarchical multiscale approach. Finally, species vulnerable to forest fragmentation and the ecological traits associated with specie vulnerability to forest fragmentation were identified. Only forest specialist species responded to the regional-scale area and isolation effects. The species richness of forest specialists increased with the size of forest islands, and the community similarity of forest specialist species declined with increasing the distance from the sources of immigrants. Structurally isolated forests may not function as real habitat patches from the view of forest generalists because of their flexibility in utilizing the non-forest matrix. After accounting for the influences of environmental variables at other spatial scales, the regional-scale isolation effect still played a key role in determining avian community composition based on the  presence/absence data set. But local-scale forest condition also explained a considerable amount of variability in the presence/absence data set. The regional-scale isolation effect, however, didn't show significant influences on community composition based on the abundance data set. In contrast, the landscape-scale variables explained the largest amount of variability in the abundance data set at the entire community level. There were six bird species (Parus varius, Dicrurus aeneus, Treron sieboldii, Pericrocotu solaris, Erporniszan tholeuca and Alcippe brunnea) whose occurrence and abundance were both vulnerable to forest fragmentation. Habitat specialization was the ecological traits most strongly associated with their vulnerability / Ph. D.

Die Gesellschaft altert und es erhalten vermehrt geriatrische Patienten radikale urologische Eingriffe. Alte Patienten haben im Rahmen derartiger Operationen ein erhöhtes Risiko sowohl für Komplikation, verschlechtertes funktionelles Outcome und Mortalität. Da alte Patienten dennoch von den Operationen profitieren können und diese auch weitgehend sicher bei diesen durchgeführt werden können, gilt es das geriatrische Patientenklientel in Bezug auf ihre Konstitution präoperativ genauer zu evaluieren. Die Erlanger Pilotstudie, an die sich vorliegende Arbeit anlehnt, hat dazu einen Index für Patienten ≥ 70 Jahre mit geplanter Prostatektomie, Nephrektomie und Zystektomie entwickelt, der sowohl das postoperative funktionelle Outcome nach 30 bzw. 180 Tagen, wie auch die Mortalität, nicht aber Komplikationen signifikant korrekt vorhersagen konnte. Ziel vorliegender Arbeit war es, die Prädiktivität des Erlangen Index hinsichtlich dieser vier Endpunkte in einer prospektiv angelegten Studie mit n=46 Patienten ≥ 65 Jahre am Universitätsklinikum Würzburg zu validieren. Es sollte dabei im Speziellen die in der Erlanger Pilotstudie erfasste gute Prädiktivität des Erlangen Index für das funktionelle Outcome nach 180 Tagen überprüft werden. In dieser Arbeit zeigte sich der Erlangen Index prädiktiv für das funktionelle Outcome nach 180 Tagen. Für die anderen Endpunkte konnte keine Prädiktivität des Erlangen Index festgestellt werden. Durch vorliegende Studie konnte die schlechte Prädiktion der Komplikationen durch den EI bestätigt werden. Anders als in der Pilotstudie war der Erlangen Index in vorliegender Studie zur Vorhersage des funktionellen Outcome nach 30 Tagen und der Mortalität nicht geeignet. Bei Betrachtung der Untergruppen nach Art der Operation zeigte der EI starke Korrelationen für die Prädiktion des funktionellen Outcome nach 180 Tagen in den Gruppen der Patienten nach Prostata- und Harnblasenoperation. Die Ergebnisse decken sich somit nur teilweise mit den Ergebnissen aus der Pilotstudie in Erlangen, in der der Erlangen Index bzgl. des funktionellen Outcome nach 180 Tagen die größte Korrelation in der Untergruppe der Patienten nach Nephrektomie zeigte. Der Index erwies sich als schnell durchführbares Assessment, das wenig Personal erfordert. Es ist weiter zu prüfen, ob sich durch Anwendung dieses Assessment tatsächlich Änderungen im klinischen Therapieregime ergeben bzw. ob sich die Modifizierungen der Therapie auch in einem verbesserten Outcome der Patienten auswirken. / The society is aging steadily and there is a rising number of geriatric patients receiving major urologic surgery. Older patients tend to be more in danger of postoperative complications, deteriorated functional outcome and mortality undergoing these major surgical interventions. Since some older patients still may benefit from radical treatments and since these surgical treatments can potentially be performed safely also in older people, their functional constitution should be assessed prior to surgery. In order to tackle this goal the Erlangen pilot trial, which our trial refers to, developed an index for people older than 70 years undergoing prostatectomy, nephrectomy and cystectomy. This Index proved to be suitable to predict the functional outcome atfer 30 and 180 days, as well as the mortality significantly, whereas complications couldn`t be predicted properly. In this prospective trial, comprising n=46 patients ≥ 65 Jahre, we aimed to validate the predictivity of the Erlangen Index according to these 4 endpoints, especially focussing on the functional outcome after 180 days, for which Erlangen Index was shown to be predictive in the pilot trial. In our validation trial the Erlangen Index was shown to be predicitve for the functional outcome after 180 days. However, for the other three endpoints there were no significant findings. Hence in this trial we were able to confirm the low predictivity of Erlangen Index for complications. In contrast to the pilot trial, in this very trial the Erlangen Index was shown not to be predicitve for functional outcome after 30 days, as well as mortality. Taking a look at the subgroups the Erlangen Index showed strongest correlation in predicting the functional outcome after 180 days in the subgroup of patients undergoing prostatectomy and cystectomy. According to that our findings only seem to match partially with the findings of the pilot trial, where Erlangen Index showed strongest correlation in predicting the functional outcome after 180 days in the subgroup of patients with nephrectomy. The Erlangen Index showed to be a quick and feasible tool, requiring only little staff. It still has to be investigated, whether the use of geriatric assessments will eventually lead to changes in therapeutic regimen and whether therapeutical modifications will finally end up in an improved functional outcome of patients.

Soil liquefaction continues to be one of the leading causes of ground failure during earthquakes, resulting in significant damage to infrastructure around the world. The study presented herein aims to develop improved methodologies for predicting liquefaction triggering and the consequent damage potential such that the impacts of liquefaction on natural and built environment can be minimized. Towards this end, several research tasks are undertaken, with the primary focus being the development of a framework that consistently and sufficiently accounts for the mechanics of liquefaction triggering and surface manifestation. The four main contributions of this study include: (1) development of a framework for selecting an optimal factor of safety (FS) threshold for decision making based on project-specific costs of mispredicting liquefaction triggering, wherein the existing stress-based "simplified" model is used to predict liquefaction triggering; (2) rigorous investigation of manifestation severity index (MSI) thresholds for distinguishing cases with and without manifestation as a function of the average inferred soil-type within a soil profile, which may be employed to more accurately estimate liquefaction damage potential at sites having high fines-content, high plasticity soils; (3) development of a new manifestation model, termed Ishihara-inspired Liquefaction Severity Number (LSNish), that more fully accounts for the effects of non-liquefiable crust thickness and the effects of contractive/dilative tendencies of soil on the occurrence and severity of manifestation; and (4) development of a framework for deriving a "true" liquefaction triggering curve that is consistent with a defined manifestation model such that factors influential to triggering and manifestation are handled more rationally and consistently. While this study represents significant conceptual advance in how risk due to liquefaction is evaluated, additional work will be needed to further improve and validate the methodologies presented herein. / Doctor of Philosophy / Soil liquefaction continues to be one of the leading causes of ground failure during earthquakes, resulting in significant damage to infrastructure around the world (e.g., the 2010-2011 Canterbury earthquake sequence in New Zealand, 2010 Maule earthquake in Chile, and the 2011 Tohoku earthquake in Japan). Soil liquefaction refers to a condition wherein saturated sandy soil loses strength as a result of earthquake shaking. Surface manifestations of liquefaction include features that are visible at the ground surface such as sand boils, ejecta, cracks, and settlement. The severity of manifestation is often used as a proxy for damage potential of liquefaction. The overarching objective of this dissertation is to develop improved models for predicting triggering (i.e., occurrence) and surface manifestation of liquefaction such that the impacts of liquefaction on the natural and built environment can be minimized. Towards this end, this dissertation makes the following main contributions: (1) development of an approach for selecting an appropriate factor of safety (FS) against liquefaction for decision making based on project-specific consequences, or costs of mispredicting liquefaction; (2) development of an approach that allows better interpretations of predictions of manifestation severity made by the existing models in profiles having high fines-content, high plasticity soil strata (e.g., clayey and silty soils), given that the models perform poorly in such conditions; (3) development of a new model for predicting the severity of manifestation that more fully accounts for factors controlling manifestation; and (4) development of a framework for predicting liquefaction triggering and surface manifestation such that the distinct factors influential to each phenomenon are handled more rationally and consistently.

With the end of Moore's Law, computer architects have turned to multicore architecture to provide high performance. Unfortunately, to achieve higher performance, multicores require programs to be parallelized which is an untamed problem. Amdahl's law tells that the maximum theoretical speedup of a program is dictated by the size of the non-parallelizable section of a program. Hence to achieve higher performance, programmers need to reduce the size of sequential code in the program. This thesis explores asynchronous work as a means to reduce sequential portions of program. Using asynchronous work, a programmer can remove tasks which do not affect data consistency from the critical path and can be performed using background thread. Using this idea, the thesis introduces two systems. First, a synchronization mechanism, Multi-Version Read-Log-Update(MV-RLU), which extends Read-Log-Update (RLU) through multi-versioning. At the core of MV-RLU design is a concurrent garbage collection algorithm which reclaims obsolete versions asynchronously reducing blocking of threads. Second, a concurrent and highly scalable index-structure called Hydralist for multi-core. The key idea behind design of Hydralist is that an index-structure can be divided into two component (search layer and data layer) and updates to data layer can be done synchronously while updates to search layer can be propagated asynchronously using background threads. / Master of Science / Up until mid-2000s, Moore's law predicted that performance CPU doubled every two years. This is because improvement in transistor technology allowed smaller transistor which can switch at higher frequency leading to faster CPU clocks. But faster clock leads to higher heat dissipation and as chips reached their thermal limits, computer architects could no longer increase clock speeds. Hence they moved to multicore architecture, wherein a single die contains multiple CPUs, to allow higher performance. Now programmers are required to parallelize their code to take advangtage of all the CPUs in a chip which is a non trivial problem. The theoretical speedup achieved by a program on multicore architecture is dictated by Amdahl's law which describes the non parallelizable code in a program as the limiting factor for speedup. For example, a program with 99% parallelizable code can achieve speedup of 20 whereas a program with 50% parallelizable code can only achieve speedup of 2. Therefore to achieve high speedup, programmers need to reduce size of serial section in their program. One way to reduce sequential section in a program is to remove non-critical task from the sequential section and perform the tasks asynchronously using background thread. This thesis explores this technique in two systems. First, a synchronization mechanism which is used co-ordinate access to shared resource called Multi-Version Read-Log-Update (MV-RLU). MV-RLU achieves high performance by removing garbage collection from critical path and performing it asynchronously using background thread. Second, an index structure, Hydralist, which based on the insight that an index structure can be decomposed into two components, search layer and data layer, and decouples updates to both the layer which allows higher performance. Updates to search layer is done synchronously while updates to data layer is done asynchronously using background threads. Evaluation shows that both the systems perform better than state-of-the-art competitors in a variety of workloads.

If a landowner‘s main objective is to maximize his/her profits from planted forest investments, questions such as when and where exactly they should fertilize, thin and clearcut must be answered. We take advantage of an experiment established in 5 different states in the US South. Forest inventory data was collected for different combinations of thinning densities where some of them received fertilization. We use the Land Expectation Value methodology where our assumptions are the infinite amount of Pine rotations while costs and stumpage prices are known and constant, and markets are perfect. One of the main results we found is that fertilization has a decreasing marginal benefit on site index quality. / M.S. / If the landowner‘s main objective is to maximize profit from forest investments, questions such as when and where they should fertilize, thin and clearcut must be answered. Fertilization‘s main objective is to provide essential nutrients for tree growth. Thinnings have two main objectives: a source of revenue in the middle of the forest rotation by selling the thinned trees and secondly to open space to the residual trees so they grown in diameter and gain value. We analyze how thinning and fertilization impact forest management from an economic perspective by checking their benefits and costs to landowners. We found that for low site index, fertilization has a positive impact in the sense its benefit is greater than the fertilization application cost. For better site indices, the opposite is true. For those who want to maximize economic benefits from planted forests. we end up with recommendations of which type of thinning and fertilization should be done according to the landowner site quality.

The southern pine beetle (SPB) (Dendroctonus frontalis Zimm.) is one of the most destructive forest insect pests in the southeastern United States and has historically had a large impact on the forests of North Carolina. Many characteristics of a forest can contribute to SPB susceptibility including stand density, growth rate, age, soil type, and position on the landscape. This work was undertaken in an effort to assist and improve on the current federal SPB hazard modeling being conducted for North Carolina by the USDA Forest Service – Forest Health Protection's Forest Health Technology Enterprise Team (FHTET). In our study, predictive SPB susceptibility models were developed for each physiographic region in North Carolina using two variables not currently included in the FHTET modeling, mean stand age and the in-stand percentage of sawtimber-sized pines. These variables were obtained from USDA Forest Service – Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) data and North Carolina Forest Service historical SPB records creating a dataset of both infested and non-infested stands and the models were developed using the CART® classification tree approach. Two model-derived age classes (older than and younger than 22 years) were identified on the landscape using current Landsat 5 Thematic Mapper (TM) imagery chronosequences of disturbance index (DI) â transformed scenes to identify stand-replacing disturbances, resulting in a kappa statistic of 0.6364 for the younger than 22 year age class and 0.7778 for the older than 22 years age class. A kappa value of 1 is ideal. The CART® modeling effort produced valid models in all three physiographic regions of North Carolina, though the complexity of the piedmont model makes it impractical for use in the field. The dependent variable in the classification tree was presence or absence of SPB outbreak and the test sample error percentages were similar across regions, with errors ranging between 23.76 - 34.95 percent. Overall prediction success, based on the software's internal cross-validation procedure, was likewise comparable across the regions with 72.28 - 89.56 percent correctly predicted. Based on our modeling, stand age and percent sawtimber should be included in future FHTET SPB hazard modeling efforts for the coastal plain and mountains, respectively. Age classes can be reasonably estimated using Landsat or other multispectral imagery. / Master of Science

Carbohydrates and fats are the main fuel sources for energy production during exercise. Consumption of low glycemic index foods slows digestion and absorption in the small intestine. The slow digestibility of resistant starch containing foods contributes to the slow and sustained release of glucose into the bloodstream, minimizing occurrence of hyperinsulinemia-induced suppression of lipolysis. The objectives of this study were to determine the consumption of resistant starch (RS) by regular exercisers (Blacksburg and San Jose (SJ)); and to analyze the eating and exercise habits of the subjects. Subjects were recruited at gyms in SJ (n=27) and Blacksburg (n=26). Participants kept 3-day food records and completed a questionnaire on eating habits and physical activity. Mean body mass index for the subjects was similar (SJ: 23.06 Kg/m² ± 2.55; Blacksburg: 23.53 Kg/m² ± 3.09). Average exercise time was 12 hours/week, and > 50% engaged in weight training in addition to aerobic type exercise. Percentage contribution of carbohydrates to the total energy intake was significantly higher for SJ males (53.53% ± 8.06%) compared to Blacksburg males (48.39% ± 6.33%; alpha=0.10). Prominent RS food sources in both groups were pasta, potatoes, bananas, and corn. Rice and various legumes were more frequent in the SJ group. It appears that consumption of RS is higher among SJ subjects. Consumption of RS prior to prolonged exercise could cause stable glycemic and insulinemic responses that may help delay the onset of fatigue during exercise. / Master of Science

No / This study examines the impact of FTSE 100 index revisions on the informational efficiency of the underlying stocks. Our study spans the 1986–2009 period. We estimate the speed of price adjustment and price inefficiency from the partial adjustment with noise model of Amihud and Mendelson (1987). We report a significant improvement (no change) in the informational efficiency of the stocks added to (deleted from) the FTSE 100 index. The asymmetric effect of additions and deletions on informational efficiency can be attributed, at least partly, to certain aspects of liquidity and other fundamental characteristics, which improve following additions but do not diminish after deletions. Cross-sectional analysis also indicates that stocks with low pre-addition market quality benefit more from joining the index.

Yes / Background: The changes that occur in the microbiome of aging individuals are unclear, especially in light of the imperfect correlation of frailty with age. Studies in older human subjects have reported subtle effects, but these results may be confounded by other variables that often change with age such as diet and place of residence. To test these associations in a more controlled model system, we examined the relationship between age, frailty, and the gut microbiome of female C57BL/6 J mice. Results: The frailty index, which is based on the evaluation of 31 clinical signs of deterioration in mice, showed a near-perfect correlation with age. We observed a statistically significant relationship between age and the taxonomic composition of the corresponding microbiome. Consistent with previous human studies, the Rikenellaceae family, which includes the Alistipes genus, was the most significantly overrepresented taxon within middle-aged and older mice. The functional profile of the mouse gut microbiome also varied with host age and frailty. Bacterial-encoded functions that were underrepresented in older mice included cobalamin (B12) and biotin (B7) biosynthesis, and bacterial SOS genes associated with DNA repair. Conversely, creatine degradation, associated with muscle wasting, was overrepresented within the gut microbiomes of the older mice, as were bacterial-encoded β-glucuronidases, which can influence drug-induced epithelial cell toxicity. Older mice also showed an overabundance of monosaccharide utilization genes relative to di-, oligo-, and polysaccharide utilization genes, which may have a substantial impact on gut homeostasis. Conclusion: We have identified taxonomic and functional patterns that correlate with age and frailty in the mouse microbiome. Differences in functions related to host nutrition and drug pharmacology vary in an age-dependent manner, suggesting that the availability and timing of essential functions may differ significantly with age and frailty. Future work with larger cohorts of mice will aim to separate the effects of age and frailty, and other factors. / This work was supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) through an Emerging Team Grant to RGB, CIHR Operating Grants to Langille et al. Microbiome 2014, 2:50 Page 10 of 12 http://www.microbiomejournal.com/content/2/1/50 SEH (MOP 126018) and RAR (MOP 93718), and a CIHR Fellowship to MGIL. Infrastructure was supported by the Canada Foundation for Innovation through a grant to RGB. RGB also acknowledges the support of the Canada Research Chairs program.