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2012

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Pataya: Suatu Tinjauan Konstruksi Tempat Ngèbèr Komunitas Gay Di Surabaya, Kathleen Azali Dec 2012

Pataya: Suatu Tinjauan Konstruksi Tempat Ngèbèr Komunitas Gay Di Surabaya, Kathleen Azali

Makara Human Behavior Studies in Asia

Tempat ngèbèr, or hanging-out places where gay men in Indonesia meet, can be found in various—though relatively hidden—public places across Indonesia. Tempat ngèbèr as one of the more prominent sites in the constellation of gay serves not only as a space to find sexual partners, but also to socialize, to be open in expressing oneself, and to gain acceptance from one’s peers. Surabaya has a number of famous, well-known tempat ngèbèr, with Pataya being one of the largest places. Yet changes within the last few years have diminished its popularity. Through participant observation and non-formal interviews, this research attempts to …

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Lactobacillus Casei Strain Shirota Selectively Modulates Macrophage Subset Cytokine Production, N Habil, J Beal, Ad Foey Dec 2012

Lactobacillus Casei Strain Shirota Selectively Modulates Macrophage Subset Cytokine Production, N Habil, J Beal, Ad Foey

School of Biomedical Sciences

Probiotics confer health benefits through many mechanisms including modulation of the gut immune system, dut macrophages regulate immune homeostasis, mounting tolerogenic responses to food and commensal bacteria or immune inflammatory responses to pathogens. Local environment and macrophage subset determine immune response and tolerance, associated with an M2-like phenotype and inflammatory activation with an Ml-like phenotype. Subset predominance will determine immunomodulatory effects of probiotic species such as Lactobacillus casei strain Shirota (LcS). The aim of this study was to investigate differential regulatory effects of LcS on Ml and M2 macrophage subsets. PMA or vitamin D3 differentiated THP-1 human monocytic cells were …

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Optimum Multi-Hop Transmission Strategies For Energy Constrained Wireless Sensor Networks, Jingxian Wu, Yahong Rosa Zheng Dec 2012

Optimum Multi-Hop Transmission Strategies For Energy Constrained Wireless Sensor Networks, Jingxian Wu, Yahong Rosa Zheng

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This paper presents optimum multi-hop transmission strategies (MHTS) for energy constrained wireless sensor networks (WSNs). Nodes in a multi-hop WSN need to transmit their own information and to relay each other's information to a base station (BS), and there are usually multiple available paths between a node and the BS. the optimum MHTS derived in this paper answers three questions: 1) how should a node divide its limited energy between the transmission of the self-information and the relay-information? 2) whether a single path or a combination of multiple paths should be used to route the information from a node to …

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Effect Of Business Intelligence And It Infrastructure Flexibility On Organizational Agility, Xiaofeng Chen, Keng Siau Dec 2012

Effect Of Business Intelligence And It Infrastructure Flexibility On Organizational Agility, Xiaofeng Chen, Keng Siau

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

There is a growing use of business intelligence (BI) for better management decisions in different industries. However, empirical studies on BI are still scarce in academic research. This research investigates BI from an organizational agility perspective. Organizational agility is the ability to sense and respond to market opportunities and threats with speed. Drawing on systems theory and literature on organizational agility, business intelligence, and IT infrastructure flexibility, we hypothesize that BI use and IT infrastructure flexibility are two major antecedents to organizational agility. We developed a research model to examine the effect of BI use and IT infrastructure flexibility on …

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Zheng Classification In Traditional Chinese Medicine Based On Modified Specular-Free Tongue Images, Ratchadaporn Kanawong, Tayo Obafemi-Ajayi, Jun Yu, Dong Xu, Shao Li, Ye Duan Dec 2012

Zheng Classification In Traditional Chinese Medicine Based On Modified Specular-Free Tongue Images, Ratchadaporn Kanawong, Tayo Obafemi-Ajayi, Jun Yu, Dong Xu, Shao Li, Ye Duan

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioners usually observe the color and coating of a patient's tongue to determine ZHENG (such as Cold or Hot ZHENG) and to diagnose different stomach disorders including gastritis. In our previous work, we explored new modalities for clinical characterization of ZHENG in gastritis patients via tongue image analysis using various supervised machine-learning algorithms. We proposed a system that learns from the clinical practitioner's subjective data how to classify a patients health status by extracting meaningful features from tongue images based on color-space models. In this paper, we propose an enhancement to the ZHENG classification system: a coating …

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Reputation As Public Policy For Internet Security: A Field Study, Qian Tang, Leigh L. Linden, John S. Quarterman, Andrew Whinston Dec 2012

Reputation As Public Policy For Internet Security: A Field Study, Qian Tang, Leigh L. Linden, John S. Quarterman, Andrew Whinston

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Cybersecurity is a national priority in this big data era. Because of the lack of incentives and the existence of negative externality, companies often underinvest in addressing security risks and accidents, despite government and industry recommendations. In the present article, we propose a method that utilizes reputation through information disclosure to motivate companies to behave pro-socially, improving their Internet security. Using outbound spam as a proxy for Internet security, we conducted a quasiexperimental field study for eight countries through SpamRankings.net. This outgoingspam-based study shows that information disclosure on outgoing spam can help reduce outgoing spam, approximately by 16 percent. This …

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An Automated Pathological Class Level Annotation System For Volumetric Brain Images, Thien Anh Dinh, Tomi Silander, C. C. Tchoyoson Lim, Tze-Yun Leong Dec 2012

An Automated Pathological Class Level Annotation System For Volumetric Brain Images, Thien Anh Dinh, Tomi Silander, C. C. Tchoyoson Lim, Tze-Yun Leong

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

We introduce an automated, pathological class level annotation system for medical volumetric brain images. While much of the earlier work has mainly focused on annotating regions of interest in medical images, our system does not require annotated region level training data nor assumes perfect segmentation results for the regions of interest; the time and effort needed for acquiring training data are hence significantly reduced. This capability of handling high-dimensional noisy data, however, poses additional technical challenges, since statistical estimation of models for such data is prone to over-fitting. We propose a framework that combines a regularized logistic regression method and …

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The Effects Of Check-In/Check-Out And Check-In/Check-Out In Combination With Social Skills Training For Students Who Exhibit Disruptive Classroom Behavior, Aimee Maldonado Dec 2012

The Effects Of Check-In/Check-Out And Check-In/Check-Out In Combination With Social Skills Training For Students Who Exhibit Disruptive Classroom Behavior, Aimee Maldonado

Master's Theses

The purpose was to investigate the additive effects of Social Skills Training (SST) to Check-in/Check-out (CICO) on academic engagement of students. Participants were 3 elementary students who exhibited disruptive behavior who were nominated by teachers. The two dependent variables were the level of Appropriately Engaged Behavior (AEB) of the student as well as the student's behavior ratings indicated by teacher responses on the Daily Behavior Report Card (DBRC) with and without SST. A noncurrent multiple baseline across students design was used to examine both dependent variables. Goldstein and McGinnis' program, Skillstreaming the Elementary School Child, was used during SST. The …

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Perceptions And Realities Of The Irish Republican Army During The Second World War, L.B. Wilson Iii Dec 2012

Perceptions And Realities Of The Irish Republican Army During The Second World War, L.B. Wilson Iii

Master's Theses

This thesis investigates the British and German perception of the IRA and claims that the organization represented an insurmountable obstacle to the progress of both German intelligence and British counter-intelligence. The IRA was also the primary contributor to the political troubles oflrish neutrality during World War II. It examines the perceived threat of the IRA in the minds of the Irish Prime Minister Eamon de Valera and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and those ministers' respective governments. The thesis looks at official debates in the British Parliament and the Irish Dail as well as interwar newspapers and official records. Additionally, …

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Hadoop-Cc (Collaborative Caching) In Real Time Hdfs, Meenakshi Shrivastava Dec 2012

Hadoop-Cc (Collaborative Caching) In Real Time Hdfs, Meenakshi Shrivastava

Theses

Data is being generated at an enormous rate, due to online activities and use of resources related to computing. To access and handle such enormous amount of data spread, dis- tributed systems is an efficient mechanism. One such widely used distributed filesystem is Hadoop distributed filesystem (HDFS). HDFS follows a cluster approach in order to store huge amounts of data, it is scalable and works on low commodity. It uses MapRe- duce framework to perform analysis and carry computations parallely on these large data sets. Hadoop follows the master/slave architecture decoupling system metadata and appli- cation data where metadata is …

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Maddy The Mathasaurus: An Interactive Math Game That Introduces The Concept And Properties Of Multiplication And Designed With Consideration For Children With Adhd, Mansi Vora Dec 2012

Maddy The Mathasaurus: An Interactive Math Game That Introduces The Concept And Properties Of Multiplication And Designed With Consideration For Children With Adhd, Mansi Vora

Theses

ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) is one of the most commonly diagnosed behavioral disorder in kids, and is estimated to affect about 8-10% of school-aged children. Research shows that out of these children about 26% particularly have Math learning disabilities. The cognitive ability to understand and solve complex mathematical problems requires high level of concentration over a longer duration of time. This ability is disrupted in certain children due to ADHD. Therefore these students are likely to receive lower grades or even failure in standardized measures. However, if an educational environment is created that is specifically targeted towards reducing the …

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Quantifying The Effect Of Nanoparticles On As(V) Ecotoxicity Exemplified By Nano-Fe2o3 (Magnetic) And Nano-Al2o3, Ji Hu, Demin Wang, Brett E. Forthaus, Jianmin Wang Dec 2012

Quantifying The Effect Of Nanoparticles On As(V) Ecotoxicity Exemplified By Nano-Fe2o3 (Magnetic) And Nano-Al2o3, Ji Hu, Demin Wang, Brett E. Forthaus, Jianmin Wang

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Nano-Fe2O3 (magnetic) and nano-Al2O3 are increasingly used in biomedical fields for cellular labeling and drug delivery, and in the industry as catalysts. However, they may also serve as carriers of toxic contaminants and negatively impact the environment and human health. in the present study, Ceriodaphnia dubia was used to assess the toxicity of these nanoparticles (NPs) with and without the presence of background arsenic(V) (As[V]). the results showed that although these NPs alone did not exhibit significant toxicity in the experimental concentration range, they could significantly enhance the toxicity of As(V). the accumulation of …

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Firewise Landscaping For Utah, Michael R. Kuhns Dec 2012

Firewise Landscaping For Utah, Michael R. Kuhns

All Current Publications

As Utah’s population grows, development merges the edges of cities and towns into wildlands. New developments also spring up within wildlands, including everything from a cabin in the woods to hundreds of vacation homes on slopes scattered through the forest. These areas are called the wildland-urban interface (WUI), where the places we live and play meet the wilds.

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Preparation And Characterization Of Conducting Polymer Materials For Electrochromic Devices, Lavina Astratine Dec 2012

Preparation And Characterization Of Conducting Polymer Materials For Electrochromic Devices, Lavina Astratine

Doctoral

An attempt has been made to improve the physical-chemical properties of conducting polymers by switching from aqueous solutions towards ionic liquids as novel electrolytic media in order to fabricate novel electrochromic materials. Formation and electrochemical characterization of Poly (2,3,5,6- Tetrafluoroaniline) (PTFA) was performed in aqueous solutions. The optical response was observed in order to establish the electrochromic properties of this material. Electrochromic activity of PTFA conducting polymer in aqueous conditions was investigated. Results indicated a slow colour change of 40 seconds, from delicate orange to a much intense orange colour. Electrochemical copolymerization of two monomers pyrrole (Py) and 3,4- ethylenedioxythiophene …

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A Mechanistic Model Of Early Fcεri Signaling: Lipid Rafts And The Question Of Protection From Dephosphorylation, Dipak Barua, Byron Goldstein Dec 2012

A Mechanistic Model Of Early Fcεri Signaling: Lipid Rafts And The Question Of Protection From Dephosphorylation, Dipak Barua, Byron Goldstein

Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

We present a model of the early events in mast cell signaling mediated by FcεRI where the plasma membrane is composed of many small ordered lipid domains (rafts), surrounded by a non-order region of lipids consisting of the remaining plasma membrane. The model treats the rafts as transient structures that constantly form and breakup, but that maintain a fixed average number per cell. The rafts have a high propensity for harboring Lyn kinase, aggregated, but not unaggregated receptors, and the linker for the activation of T cells (LAT). Phosphatase activity in the rafts is substantially reduced compared to the nonraft …

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Inquiry-Based Science Education As Multiple Outcome Interdisciplinary Research And Learning (Moirl), Allan Feldman, Angela M. Chapman, Vanessa Vernaza-Hernández, Dilek Ozalp, Fayez Alshehri Dec 2012

Inquiry-Based Science Education As Multiple Outcome Interdisciplinary Research And Learning (Moirl), Allan Feldman, Angela M. Chapman, Vanessa Vernaza-Hernández, Dilek Ozalp, Fayez Alshehri

Teaching and Learning Faculty Publications

The article provides the basis for a model of inquiry-based science education in which K-12 teachers’ and pupils’ engage in authentic science experiences as participants of a scientific research project, which we refer to as Multiple Outcome Interdisciplinary Research and Learning (MOIRL). We provide the basis for the model for inquiry based science education (IBSE) by first describing how the model came about through our 10 years of research on how people learn to do science in research groups. We then turn to the literature on the relationship among scientific inquiry, inquiry learning and MOIRL. As our case studies of …

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Defect Detection In Railroad Tapered-Roller Bearings Using Vibration Analysis Techniques, Iris L. Alvarado Dec 2012

Defect Detection In Railroad Tapered-Roller Bearings Using Vibration Analysis Techniques, Iris L. Alvarado

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

Derailments can often lead to great damage, loss of lives, and massive costs associated with the railroad infrastructure. A significant cause of derailments is premature bearing failure, and therefore bearing condition-monitoring systems that can detect developing defects are of great importance. Based on an investigation conducted at the University of Texas-Pan American on the development of a vibration and temperature monitoring system, an algorithm is devised utilizing various vibration analysis techniques. The proposed algorithm determines whether a bearing is defective, the type of defect present, the defective component (i.e. cup, cone, or roller), and the size of the defect. Speed-dependent …

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Essays On Time-Varying Risk And Investor Sentiment: Evidence From The U.S. And G-7 Countries Using Multivariate Garch Modeling, David William Johnk Dec 2012

Essays On Time-Varying Risk And Investor Sentiment: Evidence From The U.S. And G-7 Countries Using Multivariate Garch Modeling, David William Johnk

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

This dissertation investigates the effects of investor sentiment on asset prices in both the U.S. equity market (chapter III) and international market (chapter IV). It employs a conditional version of the CAPM using a parsimonious generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity (GARCH) model in which the risk premia, betas, and correlations are time-varying. Investor sentiment is presented from two direct measures (surveys) and one indirect measure as conditional information variables; whereas, previous studies used macroeconomic fundamentals. Furthermore, investor sentiment is not assumed to be fully irrational. It is decomposed into its rational and irrational components. Both rational and irrational components are tested …

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Fabrication And Characterization Of Polylactic Acid And Polylactic Acid/Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotube Nanofibers Through Centrifugal Spinning, Richard Patlan Dec 2012

Fabrication And Characterization Of Polylactic Acid And Polylactic Acid/Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotube Nanofibers Through Centrifugal Spinning, Richard Patlan

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

Biocompatible polymer nanofibers hold great potential in the biomedical engineering field. Their biodegradable nature and enhanced properties could help solve a wide array of health related problems, particularly in the areas of tissue regeneration, drug delivery, and biosensor design. The novel ForcespinningTM method allows the production of submicron fibers without many of the drawbacks found in electrospinning, while also providing a substantial increase in fiber production. The aim of the study was to utilize this method to fabricate non-woven nanofibrous mats composed of polylactic acid (PLA) and polylactic acid/multi-walled carbon nanotube composite fibers. The morphology, thermal properties, and crystalline structure …

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Development Of A Vibration And Temperature Measurement Device For Railroad Bearings, Andrea P. Arguelles Dec 2012

Development Of A Vibration And Temperature Measurement Device For Railroad Bearings, Andrea P. Arguelles

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

Bearing related derailments cause very high cost and inconvenience to the railroad industry. Various wayside detection systems have been implemented to assess bearing condition and prevent premature failure. However, current devices fail to determine the internal condition of bearings or provide insight regarding the danger and severity of defects and abnormalities that may be present. To this end, a device combining both temperature and vibration detection was designed to be embedded in railroad bearing adapters. In order to efficiently design a railroad bearing condition-monitoring system, two factors that must be considered are the capabilities available to operate the different sensors …

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School Type And Student Achievement: Does School Type Affect Student Achievement In Hidalgo County, Texas?, Krystal Estarei Garcia Dec 2012

School Type And Student Achievement: Does School Type Affect Student Achievement In Hidalgo County, Texas?, Krystal Estarei Garcia

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

This study concentrates on identifying whether school type affects student achievement. Throughout this thesis, school type is the independent variable and student achievement is the dependent variable. School type was measured according to whether the school was classified as either a public school or charter school. In addition, school type was further defined according to the following variables: total academic and administrative staff, number of principals, number of assistant principals, school size, number of teachers, student teacher ratio, and student type. School expenditures, time, and method of teacher certification are the control variables. For the purpose of this thesis, student …

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Remediation In Mathematics: A Factor In The Retention Of Entering Freshmen At A Hispanic Serving Institution, Rolinda May Pena-Park Dec 2012

Remediation In Mathematics: A Factor In The Retention Of Entering Freshmen At A Hispanic Serving Institution, Rolinda May Pena-Park

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

Many institutions of higher education face a common challenge - retaining students in a time when higher education is of most importance as students must be prepared to compete in today's fast growing global market. Students are dropping out of college at an alarming rate due to the lack of academic readiness. The main area of academic deficiency is in the area of mathematics (National Center for Education Statistics, 2006). The purposes of this qualitative multiple case study were to explore the effectiveness of remediation courses in mathematics and identify the factors that influence success or failure of Hispanic students …

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Zumba® Fitness As A Cultural Mediator, Cole E. Durain Dec 2012

Zumba® Fitness As A Cultural Mediator, Cole E. Durain

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

This ethnography describes local experience as it pertains to aspects of music, dance, and fitness which are compiled into Zumba® Fitness classes of the Rio Grande Valley. While Zumba is not unique to this region, it is locally interpreted based on geo-cultural factors of the Texas-Mexico border region. A large part of Zumba’s success in the Valley can be attributed to the way music is used to identify with regional popular culture and becomes a catalyst for changing the way locals think about health. Research gathered through participant-observation shows that Zumba has become a cultural expression where participants perform both …

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Development Of Algorithms And Criteria For Continuous Condition Monitoring Of Railroad Bearings, Sean Michael Woods Dec 2012

Development Of Algorithms And Criteria For Continuous Condition Monitoring Of Railroad Bearings, Sean Michael Woods

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

This thesis summarizes research conducted at the University of Texas-Pan American to investigate the implementation of condition monitoring algorithms for use with railway roller bearings equipped with wireless temperature sensor nodes. Current temperature based condition monitoring techniques utilize wayside detection equipment intermittently located along the track to garner sporadic bearing cup temperatures. Such devices are not capable of detecting brief transient temperature trending events. The developed algorithms were tested using a fleet of ten railway freight cars instrumented with wireless sensor nodes and operated by an Australian freight transportation company. Eighteen months of continuous monitoring combined with the inspection of …

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Evidence Of Olfactory And Visual Learning In The Asian Citrus Psyllid, Diaphorina Citri Kuwayama (Hemiptera: Psyllidae), Dara G. Stockton Dec 2012

Evidence Of Olfactory And Visual Learning In The Asian Citrus Psyllid, Diaphorina Citri Kuwayama (Hemiptera: Psyllidae), Dara G. Stockton

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

Investigation of the mechanisms underlying learning and memory can be achieved through research on neurobiologically simplified invertebrate species. As such, insects have been used for decades as ideal models of olfactory learning. The current study aimed to investigate the mechanisms of chemosensory attraction in an invasive insect, Diaphorina citri, the Asian citrus psyllid (ACP), through manipulation of olfactory stimuli. After classical conditioning to a non-innate cue (vanilla extract), psyllids displayed enhanced feeding behavior. There was, however, an inverse relationship between olfactory “noise” and feeding behavior. Preliminary data suggests ACP may also be visual learners, as evidenced by trials attempting to …

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Cortical Thickness In Neuropsychologically Near-Normal Schizophrenia, Derin J. Cobia, John G. Csernansky, Lei Wang Dec 2012

Cortical Thickness In Neuropsychologically Near-Normal Schizophrenia, Derin J. Cobia, John G. Csernansky, Lei Wang

Faculty Publications

Schizophrenia is a chronic and potentially disabling disorder with widespread neuroanatomical abnormalities thought to be caused by progressive brain changes (Andreasen, 2010), and an equally wide variety of impairments in cognitive functioning (Palmer et al., 2009). In general, individuals with schizophrenia demonstrate significantly impaired performance on a full range of neuropsychological tasks, often reaching greater than one standard deviation below the norm (Dickinson et al., 2007). One particularly puzzling issue is that approximately 15–30% of schizophrenia patients have been found to perform in the normal range of neuropsychological functioning (Kremen et al., 2000; Palmer et al., 1997). Given hypothesized relationships …

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Openline Newsletter, December 2012, Civil Service Council Dec 2012

Openline Newsletter, December 2012, Civil Service Council

OpenLine Newsletter

A monthly newsletter for Civil Service employees, Volume XXXVII, Number 6, December 2012.

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Program Committee Report December 2012, Regenstrief Center For Healthcare Engineering Nov 2012

Program Committee Report December 2012, Regenstrief Center For Healthcare Engineering

RCHE Reports

No abstract provided.

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The Right To Refuse Life Sustaining Medical Treatment And The Noncompetent Nonterminally Ill Patient: An Analysis Of Abridgment And Anarchy, Elizabeth Helene Adamson Nov 2012

The Right To Refuse Life Sustaining Medical Treatment And The Noncompetent Nonterminally Ill Patient: An Analysis Of Abridgment And Anarchy, Elizabeth Helene Adamson

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

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Standing To Sue A Carrier's Killers , Davis J. Howard Nov 2012

Standing To Sue A Carrier's Killers , Davis J. Howard

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

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