Digital Commons Network^™

The Weekly Challenger, December 1, 2011, The Weekly Challenger, Et Al

Weekly Challenger Newspaper Collection

The December 1, 2011, issue of The Weekly Challenger.

Good Governance, Transparency And Regulatory Issues In Financial Sector Development And Stability., B. Owasanoye

Economic and Financial Review

The paper examines the effects of good governance and transparency in fixing regulatory issues in the financial sector for development and stability.

Policy Choices And Challenges In Expanding Access To Finance For Growth In Rural Nigeria., A. E. Akinlo

Economic and Financial Review

Rural finance is now recognised as an important tool in the fight to reduce poverty, increase growth and enhance donors‘ development effectiveness agenda. It encompasses all savings, lending, financing and risk-minimising opportunities (formal and informal) and related norms and institutions in rural areas. In addition to fostering rural development, rural finance is increasingly used as an incentive to promote sustainable use of natural resources, use of alternative energies, and environmentally-sound behaviour. However, despite the importance of rural finance for growth and the significant demand for financial services, financial service providers, such as banks, credit unions, microfinance institutions or insurance companies, …

Contents, Anon

Washington Law Review

No abstract provided.

The "Strong Medicine" Of The Overbreadth Doctrine: When Statutory Exceptions Are No More Than A Placebo, Christopher A. Pierce

Federal Communications Law Journal

In United States v. Stevens, the United States Supreme Court invalidated a federal statute criminalizing the interstate sale and distribution of depictions of animal cruelty on First Amendment grounds. While Stevens demonstrates the Court's reluctance to create a new category of speech outside of First Amendment protection, Stevens also stands for the proposition that borrowing the exceptions clause from the Court's obscenity standard will not adequately protect a statute from invalidation as overbroad. This Note discusses the use of the obscenity standard's exceptions clause in nonobscenity statutes and the Court's treatment of the exceptions clause in Stevens. This Note concludes …

Factors Determining Media Coverage Of Meat And Poultry Recalls: Evidence From The Ap Newswire, Thais Fregonesi Carvalho

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Food safety is an important public health issue. Product recalls are an important part of the overall food safety system and occur when potentially unsafe products enter the marketplace. However, it is important that information about the recall ultimately reaches the public. This research assesses the publicity that recalls receive by the popular media. The focus is specifically on recalls of meat and poultry products. Publicity is measured by coverage in the AP Newswire. Data were gathered from the United States Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) and cover meat and poultry recalls from 1982 to 2009. …

State Space Model With Hidden Variables For Reconstruction Of Gene Regulatory Networks, Xi Wu, Peng Li, Nan Wang, Ping Gong, Edward J. Perkins, Youping Deng, Chaoyang Zhang

Faculty Publications

Background: State Space Model (SSM) is a relatively new approach to inferring gene regulatory networks. It requires less computational time than Dynamic Bayesian Networks (DBN). There are two types of variables in the linear SSM, observed variables and hidden variables. SSM uses an iterative method, namely Expectation-Maximization, to infer regulatory relationships from microarray datasets. The hidden variables cannot be directly observed from experiments. How to determine the number of hidden variables has a significant impact on the accuracy of network inference. In this study, we used SSM to infer Gene regulatory networks (GRNs) from synthetic time series datasets, investigated …

Patterns Of Information Behavior And Prostate Cancer Knowledge Among African-American Men, Levi Ross, Tyra Dark, Heather Orom, Willie Underwood Iii, Charkarra T. Anderson-Lewis, Jarrett Johnson, Deborah O. Erwin

Faculty Publications

The purposes of this study are to explore cancer information acquisition patterns among African-American men and to evaluate relationships between information acquisition patterns and prostate cancer prevention and control knowledge. A random sample of 268 men participated in a statewide interviewer-administered, telephone survey. Men classified as non-seekers, non-medical source seekers, and medical source seekers of prostate cancer information differed on household income, level of education, and beliefs about personal risk for developing prostate cancer. Results from multiple regression analysis indicated that age, education, and information-seeking status were associated with overall levels of prostate cancer knowledge. Results from logistic regression analyses …

Dealing With The Threats Inherent In Unproctored Internet Testing Of Cognitive Ability: Results From A Large-Scale Operational Test Program, Filip Lievens, Eugene Burke

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

There is little information available about operational systems of unproctored Internet testing (UIT) of cognitive ability and how they deal with the threats inherent in UIT. This descriptive study provides a much-needed empirical examination of a large-scale operational UIT system of cognitive ability that implemented test design and verification testing for increasing test security and honest responding. Test security evaluations showed item exposure and test overlap rates were acceptable. Aberrant score evaluations revealed that negative score change (higher unproctored scores than proctored ones) was negligible. Implications for UIT research are discussed.

Probiotic Bacterial Strains Differentially Modulate Macrophage Cytokine Production In A Strain-Dependent And Cell Subset-Specific Manner., N. Habil, W. Al-Murrani, J. Beal, A. D. Foey

School of Biomedical Sciences

Gut mucosal macrophages play a pivotal role in driving mucosal immune responses, resulting in either activation of inflammatory immune responses to pathogenic challenge or tolerance to beneficial luminal contents such as food and commensal bacteria. Macrophage responses elicited are dependent on tissue environment and the resulting cell subset, where homeostatic macrophages resemble the M2 macrophage subset and inflammatory macrophages resemble M1s. Probiotics can modulate macrophage function with outcome dependent on subset present. Using a THP-1 monocyte cell line-derived model of CD14high/low M1 and M2 macrophages, the aim of this study was to investigate the immunomodulatory effects of a panel of …

Modeling Multichannel Home Video Demand In The U.S. Motion Picture Industry, Anirban Mukherjee, Vrinda Kadiyali

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The U.S. motion picture industry has become increasingly reliant on posttheatrical channel profits. Two often-cited drivers of these profits are cross-channel substitution among posttheatrical channels and seasonality in consumer preferences for any movie. The authors use a differentiated products version of the multiplicative competitive interaction model to investigate these two phenomena. They estimate the model using data from 2000 and 2001 on two posttheatrical channels in the U.S. market: purchase and rental home viewing channels. Contrary to expectations based on business press commentary, after controlling for seasonality and movie attributes, the authors find low cross-channel price and availability elasticity for …

Technical Note: Cellular Bucket Brigades, Yun Fong Lim

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Workers in a bucket brigade production system perform unproductive travel when they walk to get more work from their colleagues. We introduce a new design of bucket brigades to reduce unproductive travel. Under the new design, each worker works on one side of an aisle when he proceeds in one direction and works on the other side when he proceeds in the reverse direction. We propose simple rules for workers to share work under the new design and find a sufficient condition for the system to self-balance. Numerical examples suggest that the improvement in throughput by the new design can …

Stochastic Capacity Investment And Flexible Vs. Dedicated Technology Choice In Imperfect Capital Markets, Onur Boyabatli, L. Bertil Toktay

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

This paper analyzes the impact of endogenous credit terms under capital market imperfections in a capacity investment setting. We model a monopolist firm that decides on its technology choice (flexible versus dedicated) and capacity level under demand uncertainty. Differing from the majority of the stochastic capacity investment literature, we assume that the firm is budget constrained and can relax its budget constraint by borrowing from a creditor. The creditor offers technology-specific loan contracts to the firm, after which the firm makes its technology choice and subsequent decisions. Capital market imperfections impose financing frictions on the firm. Our analysis contributes to …

A Multiechelon Inventory Problem With Secondary Market Sales, Alexandar Angelus

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

We consider a finite-horizon, multiechelon inventory system in which the surplus of stock can be sold (i.e., disposed) in the secondary markets at each stage in the system. What are called nested echelon order-up-to policies are shown to be optimal for jointly managing inventory replenishments and secondary market sales. Under a general restriction on model parameters, we establish that it is optimal not to both sell off excess stock and replenish inventory. Secondary market sales complicate the structure of the system, so that the classical Clark and Scarf echelon reformulation no longer allows for the decomposition of the objective function …

“Fools”: A Declaration To Seminarians, Professors, And Preachers, H. Peter Swanson

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Information Outlook, December 2011, Special Libraries Association

Information Outlook, 2011

Volume 15, Issue 8

Portraying The Role Of Ezra Chater In Tom Stoppard's Arcadia, Joshua David Kellman

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In January of 2011 I began working on the role of Ezra Chater

in Tom Stoppard's 1993 masterpiece

Arcadia . The production was under the

direction of Mavourneen Dwyer. After a month and a half of

rehearsal we opened on February 25th, 2011, and began a run of

performances that lasted until March 6th. Ezra Chater appears twice

over the course of the play, first in Act 1 scene 1, then in Act 1 Scene

III, and his character is integral to the mystery that connects the past

and present scenes together. In this paper I will be detailing the …

Institutionalization, Investment Adviser Regulation, And The Hedge Fund Problem, Anita K. Krug

UC Law Journal

This Article contends that more effective regulation of investment advisers could be achieved by recognizing that the growth of hedge funds, private equity funds, and other private funds in recent decades is a manifestation of institutionalization in the investment advisory context. That is, investment advisers today commonly advise these “institutions,” which have supplanted other, smaller investors as advisory clients. However, the federal securities statute governing investment advisers, the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, does not address the role of private funds as institutions that now intermediate those smaller investors’ relationships to investment advisers. Consistent with that failure, investment adviser regulation …

The Psychology Of Procedural Justice In The Federal Courts, Rebecca Hollander-Blumoff

UC Law Journal

This interdisciplinary Article examines our federal court system from the perspective of the psychology of procedural justice—that is, subjective perceptions about the fairness of process. The Article considers some of the central features of civil litigation from the standpoint of the psychology of procedural justice, highlighting some of the aspects of the system that are likely to increase perceptions of fair process, and exploring, conversely, rules and practices that may decrease those perceptions. The Article focuses on procedural justice in two contexts: basic rules and practices of civil procedure and more complex federal court doctrines that involve the allocation of …

Is There A Constitutional Right To Select The Genes Of One’S Offspring?, Andrew B. Coan

UC Law Journal

The Supreme Court has long recognized a due process right to make deeply personal decisions such as whether to bear or beget a child. Might this right extend to selecting the genes of one’s offspring? Perhaps more important, should courts interpret it to do so? Thus far, discussion of these questions has focused almost exclusively on the normative goals that a constitutional commitment to procreative liberty should be taken to embrace. That is undoubtedly an important issue, but it cannot tell us whether courts are the institution best suited to carry any particular goal into effect. This is a basic …

Career Changers As First-Year Teachers In Rural Schools, Sara Winstead Fry, Holly Anderson

Curriculum, Instruction, and Foundational Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

The challenges novice teachers face as they adjust to inservice teaching are well documented. However, relatively little attention has been given to beginning teachers in rural schools who have had previous careers in other professions. We used qualitative methods to examine the professional experiences and perceptions of four career-changing first-year teachers in rural schools, seeking to identify significant issues in their professional developmental processes. Three primary themes emerged: evidence of effectiveness as teachers; mentoring career changers, and; adjustment to rural school and community. We conclude with implications and recommendations for educators working to support this unique population of educators in …

Comparing The Understandability Of Alternative Data Warehouse Schemas: An Empirical Study, David Schuff, Karen Corral, Ozgur Turetken

IT and Supply Chain Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

An easily understood data warehouse model enables users to better identify and retrieve its data. It also makes it easier for users to suggest changes to its structure and content. Through an exploratory, empirical study, we compared the understandability of the star and traditional relational schemas. The results of our experiment contradict previous findings and show schema type did not lead to significant performance differences for a content identification task. Further, the relational schema actually led to slightly better results for a schema augmentation task. We discuss the implications of these findings for data warehouse design and future research.

Scotts Bluff National Monument Plant Community Composition And Structure Monitoring, 2011 Annual Report, Isabel W. Ashton, Michael Prowatzke, Michael R. Bynum, Tim Shepherd, Stephen K. Wilson, Kara Paintner-Green

United States National Park Service: Publications

Executive Summary

The Northern Great Plains Inventory & Monitoring Network (NGPN) was established to develop and provide scientifically credible information on the current status and long-term trends of the composition, structure, and function of ecosystems in thirteen parks located in five northern Great Plains states. NGPN identified upland plant communities, exotic plant early detection, and riparian lowland communities as vital signs that can be used to better understand the condition of terrestrial park ecosystems (Gitzen et al. 2010). Upland and riparian ecosystems are important targets for vegetation monitoring because the status and trends in plant communities provide critical insights into …

Agate Fossil Beds National Monument Plant Community Composition And Structure Monitoring, 2011 Annual Report, Isabel W. Ashton, Michael Prowatzke, Michael R. Bynum, Tim Shepherd, Stephen K. Wilson, Kara Paintner-Green

United States National Park Service: Publications

Executive Summary

The Northern Great Plains Inventory & Monitoring Network (NGPN) was established to develop and provide scientifically credible information on the current status and long-term trends of the composition, structure, and function of ecosystems in thirteen parks located in five northern Great Plains states. NGPN identified upland plant communities, exotic plant early detection, and riparian lowland communities as vital signs that can be used to better understand the condition of terrestrial park ecosystems (Gitzen et al. 2010). Upland and riparian ecosystems are important targets for vegetation monitoring because the status and trends in plant communities provide critical insights into …

Cellular Poly(C) Binding Proteins 1 And 2 Interact With Porcine Reproductive And Respiratory Syndrome Virus Nonstructural Protein 1Β And Support Viral Replication, Lalit Beura, Phat X. Dinh, Fernando A. Osorio, Asit K. Pattnaik

School of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences: Faculty Publications

Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) infection of swine results in substantial economic losses to the swine industry worldwide. Identification of cellular factors involved in PRRSV life cycle not only will enable a better understanding of virus biology but also has the potential for the development of antiviral therapeutics. The PRRSV nonstructural protein 1 (nsp1) has been shown to be involved in at least two important functions in the infected hosts: (i) mediation of viral subgenomic (sg) mRNA transcription and (ii) suppression of the host’s innate immune response mechanisms. To further our understanding of the role of the viral …

From Double Lie Groupoids To Local Lie 2-Groupoids, Rajan Amit Mehta, Xiang Tang

Mathematics Sciences: Faculty Publications

We apply the bar construction to the nerve of a double Lie groupoid to obtain a local Lie 2-groupoid. As an application, we recover Haefliger's fundamental groupoid from the fundamental double groupoid of a Lie groupoid. In the case of a symplectic double groupoid, we study the induced closed 2-form on the associated local Lie 2-groupoid, which leads us to propose a definition of a symplectic 2-groupoid.

Table Of Contents And Masthead (V. 18, No. 1)

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Why Gays Should Not Serve In The United States Armed Forces: A Gay Liberationist Statement Of Principle, Shannon Gilreath

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Turning Points: Challenges And Successes In Ending Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Michelle Benecke

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

The Few, The Proud, The Gays: Don't Ask, Don't Tell And The Trap Of Tolerance, Suzanna Danuta Walters

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

No abstract provided.