Digital Commons Network^™

Theoretical And Conceptual Issues In Economic Reforms: Application To Nigeria's Downstream Petroleum Sector., N. O. Magbagbeola

Economic and Financial Review

This paper examines the theoretical and conceptual issues pertaining 10 economic reforms. The author adopted a survey method approach to discussed the classification of economic reforms into first-generation and second-generation reforms, and examines their categories, namely, institutional, labour, financial market and product market reforms. On the speed and sequencing of economic reforms, the paper investigates two alternative paths of economic reforms for an economy that has a large public sector like Nigeria. The two paths are gradual approach and "big-bang" approach. Related to the discussion about the speed of adjustment, the paper examines the economics of petroleum product pricing in …

Voices Raised, Issue 06, University Of Dayton. Women's Center

Women’s Center Newsletter

Included in this issue: Immaculate Mary; Grants augment women’s research; Mentoring grows; Women’s Studies take root in the neighborhood; Solution-oriented VP to retire; Muslim students strive to educate, support; Don’t let stress ruin your holidays; Dining services dishes up more than you’d expect; Marianist Images Across Campus; Confronting Disrespect: We Owe it to Each Other.

Oxidation Of Titanium In Alpha-Calf Serum Solution, Ali Stait Ismailoglu

Masters Theses

Titanium and its alloys have been used extensively in orthopedic implants mainly because of its excellent biocompatibility. This biocompatibility is attributed to its surface oxide film (3-7 nm thickness) that forms immediately upon exposure of titanium to air. In the research, the oxidation of Ti-6Al-4V in alpha-calf serum solution was studied. Four different immersion times were tested. Characterization of surface topography and its chemical composition was examined using Atomic force microscopy (AFM), Fourier transform-infrared radiation (FT-IR), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The AFM results clearly show the gradual change that occurred in the samples topography which is associated with more-rounded …

A Multicomponent Intervention System Using Human Performance Technology Concepts To Improve Performance In Small Service Businesses, Doug Lafleur

Masters Theses

A small business servicing dealerships in the chimney lining industry was responsible for training and resupplying contractors in a propriety chimney lining system. A process was developed for sharing and comparing the dealerships' financial reports and business processes. The process involved a small group of dealers attending regular 6- month meetings called Impact Groups. Dealers took turns hosting the meetings and having the attending dealers analyze their business. A detailed list of problems and solutions was provided to each host business.

Redefining The Movement: Art Activism, Michael Shank, Forward By Howard Zinn

Seattle Journal for Social Justice

No abstract provided.

A Watershed-Based Classification System For Lakes In Agriculturally-Dominated Ecosystems: A Case Study Of Nebraska Reservoirs, Henry N. N. Bulley

Department of Geography: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

In recent decades substantial progress has been made in improving the quality of surface waters in the United States (Hawkins et al., 2000; EPA, 2000; EPA, 2001); nevertheless, much work remains to be done in assessing the state of impairment of lake waters. Impairment implies that the existing water quality of a lake, as measured by selected criteria (e.g., nitrogen, phosphorus, chlorophyll-a, Secchi depth), exceeds a threshold value or standard that presumably reflects optimal attainable lake water quality conditions (or "reference" conditions) (Hughes, 1995; EPA, 2000; EPA, 2001). Such impaired waters are not suitable for designated uses such as drinking, …

Justilm: Few-Shot Justification Generation For Explainable Fact-Checking Of Real-World Claims, Fengzhu Zeng, Wei Gao

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Justification is an explanation that supports the verdict assigned to a claim in fact-checking. However, the task of justification generation is previously oversimplified as summarization of fact-check article authored by professional checkers. In this work, we propose a realistic approach to generate justification based on retrieved evidence. We present a new benchmark dataset called ExClaim for Explainable Claim verification, and introduce JustiLM, a novel few-shot retrieval-augmented language model to learn justification generation by leveraging fact-check articles as auxiliary resource during training. Our results show that JustiLM outperforms in-context learning (ICL)-enabled LMs including Flan-T5 and Llama2, and the retrieval-augmented model Atlas …

Method For Identifying Individuals, Manoj Thulasidas

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

A method and system for identifying a subject comprises obtaining a digitised recording of an electrocardiogram measurement of the subject to be identified, the digitised recording being a cyclic waveform having a peak amplitude. The digitised recording is normalised to reduce variations due to physiological effects, and the normalised recording is processed to determine a feature vector in the frequency domain. The distance between the determined feature vector and a predetermined feature vector is measured to identify the subject.

Supporting Field Study With Personalized Project Spaces In A Geographical Digital Library, Ee Peng Lim, Aixin Sun, Zehua Liu, John Hedberg, Chew-Hung Chang, Tiong-Sa Teh, Dion Hoe-Lian Goh, Yin-Leng Theng

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Digital libraries have been rather successful in supporting learning activities by providing learners with access to information and knowledge. However, this level of support is passive to learners and interactive and collaborative learning cannot be easily achieved. In this paper, we study how digital libraries could be extended to serve a more active role in collaborative learning activities. We focus on developing new services to support a common type of learning activity, field study, in a geospatial context. We propose the concept of personal project space that allows individuals to work in their personalized environment with a mix of private …

Reformed Worship (Rw) 74 - Lent / Easter (December 2004), Reformed Worship Editors

Reformed Worship Magazine

Features

Travels with Paul by Robert J. Keeley, Laura Keeley, and Marvin J. Hofman....3

Vigil of the Final Hours by Tracy Sybesma....6

Filthy Rags of Deadly Sings by Karen Van Bemden....14

Christ Has Died, Christ Is Risen, Christ Will Come Again by James Abbington and Emily R. Brink....16

God's Reply to Cries of the Heart by Len Kuyvenhoven....22

Traveling on Easter Sunday by Jane Vogel....24

If You Ask for Sunshine, Remember to Bring Sunscreen by Lisa A. Stracks....30

This Little Child from Far Away by Philip de Haan....33

Dear Rebecca Lee by …

An Architecture For Spam Regulation, David Dickinson

Federal Communications Law Journal

Junk email, commonly referred to as "spam," is the current scourge of the Internet. In late 2004, unwanted email messages were being delivered at a rate of 12.4 billion per day. The variety of tools used to combat spam have failed to make a significant impact. Legislative efforts, such as the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003, met with substantial enforcement complications. The communications industry responded with a variety of technical advances, such as filters and blacklists, but those innovations are still unable to reliably distinguish between wanted and unwanted messages. Real coordination between legislative and technical spam control tactics has yet …

Construction Law, Dennis J. Webb Jr., Henry L. Balkcom Iv, Dana R. Grantham

Mercer Law Review

This Article surveys construction law decisions handed down by Georgia appellate courts between June 1, 2003, and May 31, 2004. The cases discussed primarily fall within five categories: (1) contract; (2) tort; (3) mechanics' and materialmen's liens; (4) arbitration; and (5) legislation. The Article also includes a miscellaneous section covering noteworthy cases that do not fit neatly into the sections enumerated above.

Crow's Nest, December 1, 2004, Crow's Nest Staff

Crow's Nest

The December 1, 2004, issue of the Crow's Nest.

Drs Quarterly Council Report: Issue 9, Alec Robertson

Quarterly Council Reports

Reports in this QCR Issue include reviews of the Biennial Conference FUTUREGROUND hosted in November 2004 by Monash University, Melbourne, Australia. Different points of view are provided by Council members, Seymour Roworth-Stokes and Alec Robertson, along with Australia (West) ICM Terry Love. Vesna Popovic ICM for Australia (East) also provides Part 1 of an overview outlining design research within Universities of the region.

Contents

International Reports

Australia (West), Terence Love
Australia (East), Vesna Popovic

Council Officer Reports

Design Studies Editor (ex-officio), Nigel Cross
Events Secretary, Seymour Roworth-Stokes
Publications Officer, Alec Robertson

Contributory Copyright Liability In Napster Versus Grokster: A Distinction Without A Difference, David Corwin

Loyola of Los Angeles Entertainment Law Review

No abstract provided.

J Am Coll Dent 2004 71 4

Journal of the American College of Dentists

The Journal of the American College of Dentists (JACD) publishes scholarly articles, editorials, essays, and reflections addressing the ethical, professional, and social dimensions of dentistry. The Journal serves as a forum for advancing ethics, professionalism, leadership, and excellence within the dental community. By fostering dialogue across disciplines and perspectives, JACD provides readers with insights that encourage ethical, professional practice, lifelong learning, and service to the public, reinforcing dentistry’s commitment to advancing oral healthcare and the common good.

Quantitative Models Of The Rat Pulmonary Arterial Tree Morphometry Applied To Hypoxia-Induced Arterial Remodeling, Robert C. Molthen, Kelly L. Karau, Christopher A. Dawson

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Little is known about the constituent hemodynamic consequences of structural changes that occur in the pulmonary arteries during the onset and progression of pulmonary arterial remodeling. Many disease processes are known to be responsible for vascular remodeling that leads to pulmonary arterial hypertension, cor pulmonale, and death. Histology has been the primary tool for evaluating pulmonary remodeling, but it does not provide information on intact vascular structure or the vessel mechanical properties. This study is an extension of our previous work in which we developed an alternative imaging technique to evaluate pulmonary arterial structure. The lungs from Sprague-Dawley rats were …

Hydrogeologic Model Of A Leachate Plume In An Unconfined Coastal Plain Aquifer And Chemical Transport Mechanisms Of Metals And Dense Non-Aqueous Phase Liquids, Thomas Lindblad

Theses and Dissertations

Groundwater contamination is of increasing environmental concern as many aquifers across the globe have experienced a decrease in water quality in recent time. The growth of the world's population over the last couple of decades has caused a dramatic increase in the rate of groundwater use. One potential source of groundwater contamination is waste material in landfills. The 1 st Division Road Sanitary landfill at Fort Benning Military Reservation was studied to evaluate the potential effect on local groundwater and a leachate plume was recognized using data from 16 groundwater monitoring wells located around the facility. The study site is …

The Opinion Volume 43 Issue 3 – December 1, 2004, The Opinion

The Opinion Newspaper (all issues)

The Opinion newspaper issue dated December 01, 2004

Cal Poly Magazine, Winter 2004

Cal Poly Magazine

No abstract provided.

Neutron Multiplicity Measurements For The Afci Program Quarterly Progress Report September-December 2004, Denis Beller

Transmutation Sciences Physics (TRP)

The U.S. Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative (AFCI) is a program to develop economic and environmental methods to reduce the impact of waste from commercial nuclear fuel cycles. One concept for near-complete destruction of waste isotopes from used nuclear fuel is accelerator driven transmutation. High-power accelerators would be used to produce high-energy charged particles, which then collide with heavy metal targets to create a cascade of neutrons. These neutrons then cause a nuclear chain reaction in subcritical systems. Fission neutrons then transmute fissile waste isotopes as well as other problematic isotopes such as technetium-99 and iodine-129. To design these systems, complex …

Dialogue: December 2004, Staff And Writers Of Dialogue

Dialogue

01 — What a Horrible Night for a Curse — Juan Garcia
02 — Editorial — Kevin Buist
04 — Installation view of untitled works — Raleigh Chadderdon
05 — Test #09 — Kyle Schultz
06 — Diddo #9 — Cody Shaffer
07 — I Shivered and Awoke — Jacklyn Abbas
07 — A fantasy on Oxford in Fall — Nathan Sytsma
08 — Growing is for Children — Ben Schaafsma
09 — Untitled — Jung Hyun (Peter), Nam
10 — Lost and Found on The Rapid — Stephen Kurczy
11 — Petrarch 140, Revisited — Ann Reilly
12 — …

Satellite Observations Of Annual Variability In Terrestrial Carbon Cycles And Seasonal Growing Seasons At High Northern Latitudes, John S. Kimball, Maosheng Zhao, Kyle C. Mcdonald, Faith Ann Heinsch, Steven W. Running

Numerical Terradynamic Simulation Group Publications

Global satellite remote sensing records show evidence of recent vegetation greening and an advance in the onset of the growing season at high latitudes. We apply a terrestrial net primary production (NPP) model driven by satellite observations of vegetation properties and daily surface meteorology from an atmospheric GCM to assess spatial patterns, annual variability, and recent trends in vegetation productivity across Alaska and northwest Canada. We compare these results with regional observations of the timing of growing season onset derived from satellite passive microwave remote sensing measurements from the Special Sensor Microwave Imager, SSM/I. Our results show substantial variability in …

Soil Biota Facilitate Exotic Acer Invasions In Europe And North America, Kurt O. Reinhart, Ragan M. Callaway

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

The primary hypothesis for successful exotic plant invasions is that the invaders have escaped the specialist consumers that control them (Enemy Release Hypothesis). However, few studies have rigorously tested this assertion with biogeographical experiments or considered the effects of soil organisms. We tested the Enemy Release Hypothesis and the enhanced role of mutualisms by comparing density patterns of the North American Acer negundo and European A. platanoides trees in their native and nonnative ranges. Invaders that have escaped their natural enemies are predicted to attain greater densities in nonnative than native ranges. To determine whether interactions with soil biota could …

A Plan For Router Testing In Network-On-Chip, Zachariah Thomas Link

Open Access Master's Theses (through 2010)

This thesis presented a new method for testing routers and cores on Network-On-Chip (NoC) systems.It proposed a new algorithm for router testing that relies heavily on the reuse of the network infrastructure within an NoC. Possible wrapper architecture for the router was also presented. Combing the router and core wrapper into one wrapper can reduce the wrapper hardware and is important in the reuse of the network for router testing. Finally, an integrated algorithm for scheduling tests for routers and cores was presented. Simulations were run comparing results using this integrated algorithm to previous work based on boundary scan.

Advisor: …

Images Of The Senior Population Portrayed By The American Insurance Industry, Gina Magee

Student Work

The senior generation is a rapidly growing segment of our population. The need for corporate America to target these individuals for goods and service will continue to increase. One powerful image often used to capture a target audience is the photograph. A photograph used in advertising that portrays an older adult in a positive manner may increase the likelihood of seniors purchasing a good or service from the company that is the owner of the portrayal. Although there have been several studies regarding the portrayal of people in advertising, there have not been any studies found that analyze the portrayal …

Evaluation Of The Biological Sampling Kit (Biskit) For Large-Area Surface Sampling, Mark P. Buttner, Patrica Cruz, Linda Stetzenbach, Amy Klima-Comba

Environmental & Global Health Faculty Research

Current surface sampling methods for microbial contaminants are designed to sample small areas and utilize culture analysis. The total number of microbes recovered is low because a small area is sampled, making detection of a potential pathogen more difficult. Furthermore, sampling of small areas requires a greater number of samples to be collected, which delays the reporting of results, taxes laboratory resources and staffing, and increases analysis costs. A new biological surface sampling method, the Biological Sampling Kit (BiSKit), designed to sample large areas and to be compatible with testing with a variety of technologies, including PCR and immunoassay, was …

Government Privilege: A Cautionary Tale For Codifiers, Kenneth W. Graham Jr.

Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review

No abstract provided.

Pre-Impact Lower Extremity Posture And Brake Pedal Force Predict Foot And Ankle Forces During An Automobile Collision, Elizabeth C. Hardin, Anne Su, Antonie J. Van Den Bogert

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications

Background: The purpose of this study was to determine how a driver’s foot and ankle forces during a frontal vehicle collision depend on initial lower extremity posture and brake pedal force. Method of Approach: A 2D musculoskeletal model with seven segments and six right-side muscle groups was used. A simulation of a three-second braking task found 3647 sets of muscle activation levels that resulted in stable braking postures with realistic pedal force. These activation patterns were then used in impact simulations where vehicle deceleration was applied and driver movements and foot and ankle forces were simulated. Peak rearfoot ground reaction …

P2p: The Path To Prosperity, Philip S. Corwin, Lawrence M. Hadley

Loyola of Los Angeles Entertainment Law Review

No abstract provided.