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Montana Business Quarterly, Summer 2005, University Of Montana--Missoula. Bureau Of Business And Economic Research

Montana Business Quarterly, 1949-2021

This is an academic publication produced by the Bureau of Business and Economic Research (BBER) at the University of Montana’s College of Business. This is volume 43, number 2.

Approximate Strategic Reasoning Through Hierarchical Reduction Of Large Symmetric Games, Michael P. Wellman, Daniel M. Reeves, Kevin M. Lochner, Shih-Fen Cheng, Rahul Suri

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

To deal with exponential growth in the size of a game with the number of agents, we propose an approximation based on a hierarchy of reduced games. The reduced game achieves savings by restricting the number of agents playing any strategy to fixed multiples. We validate the idea through experiments on randomly generated local-effect games. An extended application to strategic reasoning about a complex trading scenario motivates the approach, and demonstrates methods for game-theoretic reasoning over incompletely-specified games at multiple levels of granularity.

Focus, 2005, Summer, Andrews University

Focus

FOCUS (ISSN 1077-9345) is published quarterly, free of charge, for alumni and friends of Andrews University, an institution owned and operated by the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

Loss, Attachment, And Place: A Case Study Of Grand Isle, Louisiana, David Burley, Pam Jenkins, Joanne Darlington, Brian Azcona

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

This study examines how residents of a Louisiana barrier island think about place in light of slow and rapid onset of coastal land loss. The island community has always faced change due to hurricanes, development, and erosion. Today the island, as well as the region, is faced with great environmental change due to coastal land loss. This paper uses a phenomenological approach to examine how change, caused by a range of environmental factors, is transmitted and understood by residents of Grand Isle, Louisiana. Residents convey a heightened awareness of place attachment, communicated through elements of fragility and uniqueness, that we …

Nurturing Sense Of Place Through The Literature Of The Bioregion, Patrick Howard

Reconstruction: Studies in Contemporary Culture

This paper explores the possibility that a participatory engagement with the literature of the bioregion, in this case the North Atlantic coast, may work against the life alienating tendencies of our modern culture, to reaffirm and renew our children’s consciousness of and sensitivity for their place in a larger Earth community. We are in need of another way of knowing our place, a way to activate and reactivate the complex articulations and relations of things. Through the literature of the bioregion and a bodily, imaginative and participatory engagement with the other-than-human, children can return to the conditions of human embeddedness …

Bayes' Law, Sequential Uncertainties, And Evidence Of Causation In Toxic Tort Cases, Neal C. Stout, Peter A. Valberg

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Judges are the gatekeepers of evidence. Arguably, the most difficult duty for a judicial gatekeeper is to screen the reliability of expert opinions in scientific fields such as medicine that are beyond the ken of most judges. Yet, judges have a duty to scrutinize such expert opinion evidence to determine its reliability and admissibility. In toxic tort cases, the issue of causation-whether the alleged exposures actually caused the plaintiffs injury-is nearly always the central dispute, and determining admissibility of expert causation opinion is a daunting challenge for most judges. We present a comprehensive review of the courts' struggles with the …

Lake Whatcom Water Quality Model, Chris Berger

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

A water quality model of Lake Whatcom, Washington was developed as part of a Total Maximum Daily Load Study for the Washington Department of Ecology. Lake Whatcom is a large natural lake which is listed on the 1998 Washington State 303(d) list of waterbodies which do not meet the criterion for dissolved oxygen. Located next to the city of Bellingham, it is approximately 10 miles long and has a surface area of approximately 5000 acres and a maximum depth of over 100 meters. Eutrophication processes in the lake have been accelerated in recent years perhaps by the availability of nutrients …

The Case For Thoroughly Testing Complex System Dynamic Models, Wayne Wakeland, Megan Hoarfrost

Complex Systems Faculty Publications and Presentations

In order to determine whether model testing is as useful as suggested by modeling experts, the full battery of model tests recommended by Forrester, Senge, Sterman, and others was applied retrospectively to a complex previously-published system dynamics model. The time required to carry out each type of test was captured, and the benefits that resulted from applying each test was determined subjectively. The resulting benefit to cost ratios are reported. These ratios suggest that rather than focusing primarily on sensitivity testing, modelers should consider other types of model tests such as extreme condition tests and family member tests. The study …

News And Notes: Volume 22.3, Faith And Philosophy Journal

Faith and Philosophy: Journal of the Society of Christian Philosophers

No abstract provided.

Querying Private Data In Moving-Object Environments, Reynold Cheng, Yu Zhang, Elisa Bertino, Sunil Prabhakar

Department of Computer Science Technical Reports

No abstract provided.

Po2v: Network Layer Position Verification In Multi-Hopo Wireless Networks, Xizoxin Wu, Cristina Nita-Rotaru

Department of Computer Science Technical Reports

No abstract provided.

Sole: Scalable On-Line Execution Of Continuous Queries On Spatio-Temporal Data Streams, Mohamed F. Mokbel, Walid G. Aref

Department of Computer Science Technical Reports

No abstract provided.

An Informatization Of Society Approach To E-Government: Analyzing Singapore’S E-Government Efforts, Calvin M. L. Chan, Yi Meng Lau

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Despite the much publicized benefits of e-government, many countries are experiencing difficulty in yielding success in their e-government initiatives. Studies which adopt the national e-government initiatives as the unit of analysis remain largely rare. This paper aspires to provide an analysis of Singapore’s widely acclaimed success in the e-government effort at the national level to allow other countries to learn and gain from its experience. Using the ‘Conceptual Framework for the Informatization of Society’ in facilitating the data analysis, implications are drawn to offer insights for the considerations of e-government practitioners. Theoretical implications are also derived through positing that the …

Power Transmission Control Using Distributed Max-Flow, Bruce M. Mcmillin, Austin Armbruster, Mariesa Crow, Michael R. Gosnell

Computer Science Faculty Research & Creative Works

Existing maximum flow algorithms use one processor for all calculations or one processor per vertex in a graph to calculate the maximum possible flow through a graph's vertices. This is not suitable for practical implementation. We extend the max-flow work of Goldberg and Tarjan to a distributed algorithm to calculate maximum flow where the number of processors is less than the number of vertices in a graph. Our algorithm is applied to maximizing electrical flow within a power network where the power grid is modeled as a graph. Error detection measures are included to detect problems in a simulated power …

Multibiometrics Based On Palmprint And Handgeometry, Xiao-Yong Wei, Dan Xu, Chong-Wah Ngo

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

This paper described our approach of multibiometrics in a single image. Firstly, a new method for capturing the key points of hand geometry is proposed. Then, we described our new method of palmprint feature extracting. By using projection transform and wavelet transform, this method considered both the global feature and local detail of a palmprint texture and proposed a new kind of palmprint feature. We also proposed a twice segmentation method for handgeometry feature extraction. In the processing of feature matching, we analyzed the weakness of the traditional Euclidian Square Norm method, and introduced an improved method. The experimental results …

Life After The Reference Desk: Co-Creating A Digital Age Library, Mary M. Somerville, Barbara Schader

University Libraries Librarian and Staff Articles and Papers

No abstract provided.

Mobility-Pattern Based Localization Update Algorithm For Mobile Wireless Sensor Networks, Mohammad Yacoub Al-Laho

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

In mobile wireless sensor networks, sensors move in the monitored area at any direction and speed. Unlike many other networking hosts, sensor nodes do not have global addresses. They are often identified by using a location-based addressing scheme. Therefore, it is important to have the knowledge of the sensor location indicating where the data came from. In this thesis, three localization update algorithms were designed, Specifically, a sensor movement is divided into three states: Pause, Linear, and Random. Each state adopts different localization update algorithm. Since complex movement involves different mobility patterns, a state transition model is developed to …

Principal Component Regression For Construction Of Wing Weight Estimation Models, Humberto Rocha

Mathematics & Statistics Theses & Dissertations

The multivariate data fitting problem occurs frequently in many branches of science and engineering. It is very easy to fit a data set exactly by a mathematical model no matter how the data points are distributed. But building a response by using a limited number of poorly distributed data points is very unreliable, yet necessary in conceptual design process. This thesis documents the lessons learned from fitting the wing weight data of 41 subsonic transports by three types of interpolation methods---least polynomial interpolation, radial basis function interpolation, and Kriging interpolation. The objective of this thesis is to develop an automatic …

Investigation And Applications Of Latin Hypercube Sampling Methods, Prashant K. Patel

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The Latin hypercube sampling method, sometimes called the stratified sampling method, is a commonly used variance reduction method. Recently, the optimal Latin hypercube sampling method (OLH) and the modified optimal Latin hypercube sampling method (MOLH) are introduced in the literature, which use the genetic algorithm to adjust the distance between sampled points.

This paper will compare the basic Latin hypercube, the optimal Latin hypercube and the modified optimal Latin hypercube methods for generating the sample points for statistical application and curve fitting, in te1ms of accuracy and efficiency. Analytical and structural examples are used in this thesis to facilitate the …

Fine-Tuning Of Mass-Spring Model Properties For Simulating Realistic Soft Body Deformation, Sylva A. Girtelschmid

Computational Modeling & Simulation Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Obtaining a well behaved soft-tissue model is one of the most challenging and important tasks in the development of surgical simulation systems. Achieving both accurate and real-time deformation response from a soft-tissue model becomes more difficult as the complexity of the represented anatomy and the degree of deformation increases. One common approach to modeling deformable objects is the Mass-Spring (MS) system method. Mass-Spring systems are attractive to real-time applications due to their relatively low computational requirement and ease of implementation. However, their parameter determination is typically done manually, which becomes tedious when accurate approximation to real-world objects is desired. This …

From Intellectual Property Rights To Pharmaceutical R&D Investment: Considering The Potential Employment Effects Of Legalized Reimportation, Joseph Golec, John Vernon

Connecticut Journal of International Law

There are likely to be many economic consequences to the legalization and enforcement of pharmaceutical reimportation from such price-regulated markets as Canada and the European Union (EU). However, in most public policy debates, the focus remains on the short-run benefits to Americans of the potentially lower drug prices importation may bring. In earlier studies we utilized our published econometric results on the effect reimportation may have on research and development ("R&D") investment within the context of an infinite time-horizon R&D model. This allowed us to approximate the long-run economic costs in terms of foregone life expectancy such a policy might …

Iguana Iguana (Green Iguana). Predation., Richard M. Engeman, Elaine M. Sweet, Henry T. Smith

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

No abstract provided.

Diffusion Of Policy Innovation: The Case Of Individual Development Accounts (Idas) As An Asset-Building Policy, Michal Grinstein-Weiss, Kristen Wagner, Karen Edwards

Center for Social Development Research

Diffusion of a policy innovation from one state to another is an important component of social change. Several theories and models have been developed to explain how and under what circumstances policy innovation and diffusion occurs. This paper examines the policy diffusion process through the case of Individual Development Accounts (IDAs), a policy innovation designed to provide matched saving opportunities for low-income people to accumulate assets. While our examination supports several of the prominent theories of policy diffusion, we suggest that a fusion of policy theories may better guide policy makers in more adequately predicting and executing the diffusion of …

สรุปข่าว & กิจกรรมสิ่งแวดล้อม

Thai Environment

No abstract provided.

เมืองเขียวสดใสรวมใจวางแผนเพื่อโลก, กองบรรณาธิการ

Thai Environment

No abstract provided.

พลังงานจากขยะ : กรณีศึกษา ความสำเร็จจากการผสมผสาน กระบวนการมีส่วนร่วมของประชาชนกับเทคโนโลยีของเทศบาลเมืองระยอง, ธีรพล คังคะเกตุ

Thai Environment

No abstract provided.

การจัดการคุณภาพอากาศในประเทศไทย, นพภาพร พานิช

Thai Environment

No abstract provided.

นโยบายและแนวทางการจัดการขยะมูลฝอยชุมชน, มัธยา รักษาสัตย์

Thai Environment

No abstract provided.

เส้นทางการสะสมสารมลพิษตกค้างยาวนาน ในห่วงโซ่อาหารของเนื้อ/นมโค, เบญจลักษณ์ กาญจนเศรษฐ์

Thai Environment

No abstract provided.

วาระแห่งกรุงเทพมหานคร (Bangkok Agenda 21), สุพัตรา วิเศษสุข

Thai Environment

No abstract provided.