The major damage to bridges occurs due to scour of the bed materials around piers and abutments during severe floods. This study involves the experimental investigations of the various scour patterns forming around abutment models tested with and without collars as scour countermeasures. The experiments were conducted in a rectangular channel under clear-water scour conditions. In the first part of this study, 34 experiments were conducted with semi-circular end abutment models with and without a collar for a period of 3 hours. Collars of various sizes were placed at different elevations on the abutment models, and the scour reduction efficiencies of collars were investigated for the different flow depths. Based on the results of the experimental studies, the optimum locations of collars on the abutments, which result in minimum scour depth around the abutments, are obtained at the bed level and below the bed level depending on the flow intensity values. In the second part of this study, the effects of flow depth and abutment length on the temporal development of local scour at bridge abutments were studied. 20 experiments were performed without collars for a time period of 8 hours. It was observed that at the upstream of the abutment, the depth of the local scour increases rapidly within the first three hours of the experiment for the different flow depths.

Thesis (M.A.)--West Virginia University, 2001. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains v, 68 p. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 49-68).

The growing trend of insurance fraud continues to cost US consumers billions of dollars a year through increased premiums. In 2015, the Coalition Against Insurance Fraud estimated the cost of insurance fraud as being at least $80 billion dollars a year. Even though an increasing number of criminals are drawn to the low risk, high reward of insurance fraud, little criminological literature has explored this topic and the public remains relatively unaware of the extent of the problem. One alarming aspect of insurance fraud is the involvement of organized criminal groups. These organized criminal enterprises are formed for the sole purpose of defrauding the insurance industry. Often, these enterprises are believed to have ties to traditional organized criminal groups, such as the Italian Mafia or the Russian Mob. In order to combat these criminal organizations, it is important to understand the behavior and motivation of such groups. The present study aims to analyze the generally held belief throughout the insurance industry that organized insurance fraud rings are more likely to operate in states with mandatory Personal Injury Protection (PIP) policies. This analysis was conducted by examining staged automobile accidents reported to the National Insurance Crime Bureau. The results of this analysis were mixed. Although a larger percentage of states with mandatory PIP displayed higher staged accident rate, some mandatory PIP states did not, and multiple non-PIP states also demonstrated a high staged accident rate. In an attempt to better understand this crime, further criminological research is needed.

It has been claimed by some that Hong Kong, the world’s freest economy, is without corruption or other kinds of white-collar crime. Statistical sources suggest that these crimes are indeed rare in the city. This study examined those claims by looking at the practices of Hong Kong’s real estate industry, specifically through the lens of a case study on 39 Conduit Road. The property development known as 39 Conduit Road became the centre of controversy in June 2010 when the developer, Henderson Land, was accused of market manipulation. The study found that many common practices in the real estate industry, such as intimidation and deception, could constitute an abuse of power by real estate developers. The abuse of power, especially when done in the course of an occupation, is a fundamental part of the sociological discourse of white-collar crime. The study concluded therefore that it was not that white-collar crime did not exist in Hong Kong but more that these behaviours were structurally rendered invisible. The study located the failure to observe these abuses in the city’s power structure where the local government used its economic policy of laissez faire to turn issues into non-issues, and in its legal culture where ambiguity in the law was construed as a right to act. / published_or_final_version / Sociology / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

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ABSTRACT SCOUR AND SCOUR PROTECTION AT BRIDGE ABUTMENTS Kayat&uuml / rk, Serife Yurdag&uuml / l Ph. D., Department of Civil Engineering Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Mustafa G&ouml / g&uuml / S Co-Supervisor: Dr. Mehmet Ali K&ouml / kpinar January 2005, 213 pages Bridge failures are mainly caused by scouring the bed material around bridge foundations during flood. In this study, scour phenomenon around bridge abutments is experimentally studied. Effect of abutment size, location and size of the collars placed around the abutments, time evaluation of scour hole around the abutment, scour characteristics of abutment and pier interaction were experimentally investigated. Scour measurements were conducted in a rectangular channel of 30 m long and 1.5 m wide filled with erodable uniform sediment. In the first part of the study, in order to investigate the size effect of the abutment on the maximum scour depth, abutments of nine different sizes were tested for three different water depths. It was found that the length of the abutment is more important parameter than the width of it. Secondly, efficiency of various sizes of collars, which are used to reduce the local scour depth, located at different elevations around the abutments was determined. It was noticed that when the collar width was increased and placed at or below the bed level, the reduction in scour depth increases considerably. Some tests for partial-collar arrangements around the abutments were conducted and it was shown that instead of full-collar one can use partial-collar arrangements around the abutments to achieve the same efficiency as the full-collar. Time development of scour holes around the abutments with and without collar cases were recorded. It was observed considerable reductions in scour depths around the abutments can be obtained with collars compared to the cases in which there are no collars over the same time period. Finally, a series of experiments were carried out to investigate the interaction between bridge abutments and piers related to the local scour around them. Based on the experiments conducted with two different abutment lengths and pier diameters varying the lateral distances between them it was observed that scour depth reduction capacities of collars vary significantly while comparing a single abutment or pier.

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This study examined the potential moderating effects that the fear of falling may have on potential white-collar crime perpetrators using rational choice and differential association theory perspectives. A self-report, factorial survey measurement tool utilizing three hypothetical vignettes placing respondents in a business situation with the potential to commit insider trading was given to 612 students at a Midwestern university. Results indicate that the fear of falling had no moderating effects, differential association theory was partially supported in Vignette 1, and rational choice theory was partially supported across all three vignettes.

A Leishmaniose visceral (LV) é uma zoonose de ampla distribuição, e atualmente, representa sério problema para a saúde pública. Nas Américas, agente etiológico é a Leishmania (Leishmania) infantum, transmitido, principalmente, pela picada da fêmea de Lutzomyia longipalpis (Diptera: Psychodidae) infectada. O cão doméstico é considerado o principal reservatório da doença. No Brasil, embora sejam utilizadas diversas estratégias para o controle da doença, a mesma persiste e continua sendo dispersada. Devido ao fato dessas estratégias apresentarem dificuldades, por sua complexidade e custo de seus protocolos, faz-se necessária a reavaliação da eficácia e viabilidade das mesmas em estudos teóricos. O uso da modelagem matemática tem auxiliado essas avaliações. Após a adaptação de um modelo já existente para LV, foi avaliada a eficácia do uso de intervenções em cães, como coleira impregnada com deltametrina, vacina e sacrifício, em diferentes coberturas e de modo regular e contínuo. Como base, foram utilizados dados característicos de áreas endêmicas do Brasil. Os cinco melhores cenários simulados foram capazes de diminuir as prevalências de cães e humanos, consideravelmente. Por ordem de eficácia são: 1) Coleira em 75% dos cães; 2) Sacrifício de 90% dos cães; 3) Coleira em 50% dos cães; 4) Sacrifício de 75% dos cães; 5) Vacina (eficácia vacinal de 80%) em 75% dos cães. Algumas medidas foram capazes de gerar cenários parecidos ou semelhantes, de prevalências em cães e humanos, quando utilizadas em diferentes coberturas de cães. Visto que a dinâmica da LV apresentou-se altamente dependente dos parâmetros relacionados ao vetor, e, uma vez que a coleira impregnada com inseticida interfere nestes parâmetros, o uso da mesma em cães se mostra como uma medida eficaz no controle da LV. Entretanto, o efeito repelente da coleira se mostrou eficaz quando se encoleira grande cobertura de animais. Sendo assim, todas medidas enfocadas em cães, simuladas no presente estudo, são capazes de controlar a prevalência da LV nas populações de cães e humanos, desde que utilizadas em alta cobertura de animais. / Visceral Leishmaniasis (VL) is a zoonosis of worldwide distribution, representing serious public health problem. At the Americas, the etiologic agent is Leishmania (Leishmania) infantum, transmitted, mainly, by the bite of the female of infected Lutzomyia longipalpis (Diptera: Psychodidae). The natural hosts are rodents, edentulous, marsupials, primates and canids, with the domestic dog considered the main reservoir of the disease. In Brazil, although several strategies to control the disease are used, the VL still persist and are dispersing. Due to the fact of the control for LV presents difficulties because its complexity and cost of its protocols, becomes necessary reassessment of their effectiveness and viability in theoretical studies. The mathematical modeling has helped these reassessments. After the adaptation of an existing model for LV, was evaluated the impact of the use of interventions in dogs, like as deltamethrin-impregnated collar, vaccine and sacrifice. Were used, as the basis, characteristic datas from endemic areas of Brazil. The top five simulated measures were: collar in 75% of dogs, sacrifice of 90% and 75% of the seropositive dogs, collar in 50% of the dogs and vaccine (vaccine effectiveness 80%) in 75% of seronegative dog. There was observed that different measures, to both prevention and control, resulted in similar scenarios of dogs and humans prevalence. The repellent effect of the collar was effective since a extensive coverage animals be conduced. The LV dynamics showed to be highly dependent on the parameters related to the vector, and because of this the use of deltamethrin-impregnated collar can be the best measure, to interfere directly in the both mortality of the same and inhibition of the bite. Thus, these measures, focused on dogs, in this study, are able to significantly decrease the populations of infected dogs and humans, since be used for high coverage of animals and are regularly implemented with the same intensities and for prolonged period.