Defects experienced during construction are costly and preventable. However, inspection programs employed today cannot adequately detect and manage defects that occur on construction sites, as they are based on measurements at specific locations and times, and are not integrated into complete electronic models. Emerging sensing technologies and project modeling capabilities motivate the development of a formalism that can be used for active quality control on construction sites. In this paper, we outline a process of acquiring and updating detailed design information, identifying inspection goals, inspection planning, as-built data acquisition and analysis, and defect detection and management. We discuss the validation of this formalism based on four case studies.

Weight reduction induces bone loss by several factors, and the effect of higher protein (HP) intake during caloric restriction on bone mineral density (BMD) is not known. Previous study designs examining the longer-term effects of HP diets have not controlled for total calcium intake between groups and have not examined the relationship between bone and endocrine changes. In this randomized, controlled study, we examined how BMD (areal and volumetric), turnover markers, and hormones [insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), IGF-binding protein 3 (IGFBP-3), 25-hydroxyvitamin D, parathyroid hormone (PTH), and estradiol] respond to caloric restriction during a 1-year trial using two levels of protein intake. Forty-seven postmenopausal women (58.0 AE 4.4 years; body mass index of 32.1 AE 4.6 kg/ m 2 ) completed the 1-year weight-loss trial and were on a higher (HP, 24%, n ¼ 26) or normal protein (NP, 18%, n ¼ 21) and fat intake (28%) with controlled calcium intake of 1.2 g/d. After 1 year, subjects lost 7.0% AE 4.5% of body weight, and protein intake was 86 and 60 g/d in the HP and NP groups, respectively. HP compared with NP diet attenuated loss of BMD at the ultradistal radius, lumbar spine, and total hip and trabecular volumetric BMD and bone mineral content of the tibia. This is consistent with the higher final values of IGF-1 and IGFBP-3 and lower bone-resorption marker (deoxypyridinoline) in the HP group than in the NP group ( p < .05). These data show that a higher dietary protein during weight reduction increases serum IGF-1 and attenuates total and trabecular bone loss at certain sites in postmenopausal women. ß

The progression of osteoarthritis (OA) can be monitored by measuring the minimum joint space width (mJSW) between the edges of the femoral condyle and the tibial plateau on radiographs of the knee. This is generally performed by a trained physician using a graduated magnifying lens and is prone to the subjectivity and variation associated with observer measurement. We have developed software that performs this measurement automatically on digitized radiographs. The test data consisted of 180 digitized radiographs of the knee (90 duplicate acquisitions) from 18 normal (nonarthritic) subjects and 38 images from 10 subjects with OA. These were digitized and manually cropped so that the images were free of nonanatomical structures and the knee was approximately centered. The software first determined the edge of the femoral condyle on 400 microm pixel subsampled images. Contours marking the location of the tibial plateau in the medial compartment were found on 100 microm images using the femoral edge as a reference. The algorithm was trained using an independent but similar data set and using a jackknife approach with the test data. The results were compared to contours drawn by a trained reader and the duplicate acquisitions were used to measure the reproducibility of the mJSW measurement. The reproducibility was 0.16 mm and 0.18 mm for normal and osteoarthritic knees, respectively, representing an improvement of approximately a factor of 2 over manual measurement. The algorithm also showed excellent agreement with the hand-drawn contours and with mJSW determined by the manual method.

Serum lead, whole blood lead, and lead in both tibia and calcaneus were measured in each of 49 active lead workers. Serum lead correlated more strongly with both in vivo bone lead measurements than did whole blood lead. The ratio of serum lead to whole blood lead varied from 0.8% to 2.5% and showed a positive correlation with tibia, and an even stronger correlation with calcaneus lead. This implies that lead released from bone (endogenous exposure) results in a higher proportion of whole blood lead being in serum than is the case for exogenous exposure. This observation needs to be confirmed, and the relationships amongst the parameters must be studied further, particularly in former or retired lead workers. If confirmed, since at least a portion of lead in serum is readily diffusible and thus toxicologically more immediately significant than lead bound to red cells, the health implications of endogenous exposure may have to be reassessed. © 1996 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.

Our purpose was to investigate the relationship between running volume and bone mineral mass in adult male runners. Whole body and regional bone mineral density were determined by dual-photon absorptiometry in 22 sedentary controls and 53 runners who were selected according to their running mileage to fall into a 5- to 10-, 15- to 20-, 25- to 30-, 40- to 55-, or 60- to 75-mile/wk group. All groups were of similar age (20-45 yr) and nutritional status, as determined by 7-day food records. Regional sites for bone density measurements included the trunk, spine, pelvis, thighs, and lower legs. In addition, serum total testosterone was determined in each subject and computed tomography scans were made of the lower legs in 34 subjects to assess bone cross-sectional area. No significant differences were detected for bone density measurements with the exception of the lower legs where it was significantly (P less than 0.05) greater for the 15- to 20-mile/wk group than for the control and 5- to 10-mile/wk groups. With mileage greater than 20 miles/wk, bone density of the lower legs showed no further increase and, in fact, tended to decrease, so that for the 60- to 75-mile/wk group it was similar to that of the controls. Cross-sectional area of the tibia and fibula when normalized to body weight tended to be greater as weekly mileage increased and was significantly greater in the 40- to 55-mile/wk runners than in the control group.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)