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2012

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Vermicomposting! Sustain Your Life: Utah State University Extension Sustainability, Roslynn Brain, H. Waldbillig, K. Ladd, J. Greene Jan 2012

Vermicomposting! Sustain Your Life: Utah State University Extension Sustainability, Roslynn Brain, H. Waldbillig, K. Ladd, J. Greene

Environment and Society Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

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Aggregation Of Probabilities And Illogic, Kevin M. Clermont Jan 2012

Aggregation Of Probabilities And Illogic, Kevin M. Clermont

Georgia Law Review

Classical logic and probability theory produce in law the
troublesome paradox of aggregation of claims: On the
other hand, logic seems to tell us that the aggregated
likelihood of alternative claims elevates in response to
probability's rules; thus, if the plaintiff almost proves
claim A and almost proves an alternative but independent
claim B, then the plaintiff should win one. On the other
hand, because the law requires each claim to meet the
standard of proof, and thus refuses to apply the proof
standard to the aggregation, the plaintiff loses in
actuality; legal scholars despair in consequences-
including Ariel Porat …

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Taxing Facebook Code: Debugging The Tax Code And Software, Xuan-Thao Nguyen, Jeffrey A. Maine Jan 2012

Taxing Facebook Code: Debugging The Tax Code And Software, Xuan-Thao Nguyen, Jeffrey A. Maine

Articles

This article sets out to analyze both intellectual property laws and tax systems as applied to computer software. It analyzes software within intellectual property's established doctrinal framework, a difficult task due to the fact that software can encompass some combination of the traits of copyrights, trade dress, patents, and trade secrets. It then examines both the federal and state tax systems governing software. It shows that fitting software within current tax schemes presents unique challenges, as software contains both tangible and intangible elements, is subject to varying intellectual property protections, and can be delivered through various media. The article argues …

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Built Environment And Its Influences On Walking Among Older Women: Use Of Standardized Geographic Units To Define Urban Forms, Vivian Siu, William E. Lambert, Rongwei Fu, Teresa A. Hillier, Mark Bosworth, Yvonne L. Michael Jan 2012

Built Environment And Its Influences On Walking Among Older Women: Use Of Standardized Geographic Units To Define Urban Forms, Vivian Siu, William E. Lambert, Rongwei Fu, Teresa A. Hillier, Mark Bosworth, Yvonne L. Michael

Institute of Metropolitan Studies Publications

Consensus is lacking on specific and policy-relevant measures of neighborhood attributes that may affect health outcomes. To address this limitation, we created small standardized geographic units measuring the transit, commercial, and park area access, intersection, and population density for the Portland, Oregon metropolitan area. Cluster analysis was used to identify six unique urban forms: central city, city periphery, suburb, urban fringe with poor commercial access, urban fringe with pool park access, and satellite city. The urban form information was linkable to the detailed physical activity, health, and socio-demographic data of 2,005 older women without the use of administrative boundaries. Evaluation …

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Albert Einstein In Switzerland: The Education Of The Most Famous Swiss American, Kurt Winkler Jan 2012

Albert Einstein In Switzerland: The Education Of The Most Famous Swiss American, Kurt Winkler

Faculty Publications

The most famous Swiss American, by far, was Albert Einstein. It is well known that Einstein worked in Germany starting in 1914, but he was forced to leave in 1933 as someone the Nazis had "not yet hanged," and he came to the United States where he taught at Princeton University for many years. However, Einstein had earlier lived in Switzerland for many years. Even though he became an American citizen in 1940, the great physicist retained ties to Switzerland, and he kept his Swiss passport all his life. Einstein spent his most productive years in Switzerland where he matured, …

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Fall '11-Winter '12 Jan 2012

Fall '11-Winter '12

University of Richmond Magazine

No abstract provided.

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Geochemical And Field Relationships Of Pillow And Dike Units In A Subglacial Pillow Unit Undirhliđar Quarry, Southwest Iceland, Lindsey J. Bowman Jan 2012

Geochemical And Field Relationships Of Pillow And Dike Units In A Subglacial Pillow Unit Undirhliđar Quarry, Southwest Iceland, Lindsey J. Bowman

Senior Independent Study Theses

Undirhlíðar quarry is located on the Sveifluhals ridge, a Pleistocene subglacial pillow ridge within the NE-SW trending Krísuvík fissure swarm on the Reykjanes peninsula in Southwest Iceland. The walls of Undirhlíðar quarry provide excellent exposures of the internal architecture of the pillow ridge, yielding insights into the sequence of eruptive and intrusive events that construct subglacial ridges. In particular, the south and east walls expose at least 5 different pillow units and 3 dikes. Also seen in the east wall is a black, glassy breccia unit that appears on both the north and south sections of the east wall. Preliminary …

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Gvsu Undergraduate And Graduate Catalog, 2012-2013, Grand Valley State University Jan 2012

Gvsu Undergraduate And Graduate Catalog, 2012-2013, Grand Valley State University

Course Catalogs, 1963 - Current

Grand Valley State University 2012-2013 undergraduate and/or graduate course catalog published annually to provide students with information and guidance for enrollment.

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Institutions For Managing Ecosystem Services, Jennifer H. Allen, Jenny Duvander, Ida Kubiszewski, Elinor Ostrom Jan 2012

Institutions For Managing Ecosystem Services, Jennifer H. Allen, Jenny Duvander, Ida Kubiszewski, Elinor Ostrom

Institute for Sustainable Solutions Publications and Presentations

Two decades of research into the management of what economists call common-pool resources suggests that, under the right conditions, local communities can manage shared resources sustainably and successfully. These revolutionary findings challenge the long-held belief in the "tragedy of the commons." Instead, we have found that tragedy is not inevitable when a shared resource is at stake, provided that people communicate. In many places—from Swiss pastures to Japanese forests—communities have come together for the sake of the environment and their own long-term well-being. Common-pool resources have two features: first, they are shared resources whose use by one person makes them …

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A Fair Share Of The Information Commons, Ida Kubiszewski, Robert Costanza Jan 2012

A Fair Share Of The Information Commons, Ida Kubiszewski, Robert Costanza

Institute for Sustainable Solutions Publications and Presentations

In this chapter we discuss the special characteristics of information as a type of commons that needs special institutions to manage its production and use effectively and create greater overall economic efficiency, social justice and ecological sustainability. These methods include monetary prizes, publicly funded research from which the produced information is released into the public domain, and status driven incentive structures like those in academia and the open-source community.

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Survey Of Aquatic Invasive Species In Selected Umpqua National Forest Lakes And Ponds, Mark D. Sytsma, Rich Miller Jan 2012

Survey Of Aquatic Invasive Species In Selected Umpqua National Forest Lakes And Ponds, Mark D. Sytsma, Rich Miller

Center for Lakes and Reservoirs Publications and Presentations

Eleven lakes and ponds within the Umpqua National Forest were surveyed for invasive aquatic macrophytes, snails, bivalves, and crayfish during the summer of 2011. Yellow floating heart (Nymphoides peltata), an invasive floating leaf macrophyte species, was detected in Willow Sump within the Little River drainage. European ear snails (Radix auricularia), an invasive species present in several Umpqua National Forest waterbodies, were detected in Beaver Pond within the Steamboat Creek drainage. One native crayfish species, the signal crayfish (Pacifastacus leniusculus), was observed in Crayfish Lake within the Brice Creek drainage. Diverse assemblages of native plant species were observed in the lakes …

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The Application Of A Visual Data Mining Framework To Determine Soil, Climate And Land-Use Relationships, Yunous Vagh Jan 2012

The Application Of A Visual Data Mining Framework To Determine Soil, Climate And Land-Use Relationships, Yunous Vagh

Research outputs 2012

In this research study, the methodology of action research dynamics and a case study was employed in constructing a visual data mining framework for the processing and analysis of geographic land-use data in an agricultural context. The geographic data was made up of a digital elevation model (DEM), soil and land use profiles that were juxtaposed with previously captured climatic data from fixed weather stations in Australia. In this pilot study, monthly rainfall profiles for a selected study area were used to identify areas of soil variability. The rainfall was sampled for the beginning (April) of the rainy season for …

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Fire Suppression And Burnt Sediments: Effects On The Water Chemistry Of Fire-Affected Wetlands, David Blake, Hoa Lu, Pierre Horwitz, Mary Boyce Jan 2012

Fire Suppression And Burnt Sediments: Effects On The Water Chemistry Of Fire-Affected Wetlands, David Blake, Hoa Lu, Pierre Horwitz, Mary Boyce

Research outputs 2012

Preventing fire from entering wetland areas during seasonal or prolonged drought, or suppressing fire once it has entered a wetland, requires consideration of the consequences of the fire-management action on water quality. Two approaches can be taken to suppress such fires: chemical fire retardants or the flooding of sediments. We determine a lack of information relating to the effects of these approaches for water quality within fire-affected wetlands. The aim of this study was to gain a preliminary understanding of the effects of three treatments: two chemical treatments and saturation. Microcosms were established to test sediments from a wetland on …

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A Data Mining Perspective Of The Dual Effect Of Rainfall And Temperature On Wheat Yield, Yunous Vagh, Jitian Xiao Jan 2012

A Data Mining Perspective Of The Dual Effect Of Rainfall And Temperature On Wheat Yield, Yunous Vagh, Jitian Xiao

Research outputs 2012

This paper presents the final investigation within the series of qualitative and quantitative investigations carried out for the processing and analysis of geographic land-use data in an agricultural context. The geographic data was made up of crop and cereal production land use profiles. These were linked to previously recorded climatic data from fixed weather stations in Australia that was interpolated using ordinary krigeing to fit a grid surface. In this study, the profiles for the stochastic average monthly temperature and rainfall for a selected study area were used to determine their simultaneous effects on crop production at the shire level. …

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A Theory Of The Mind As A Complex System, Craig Speelman, Kim Kirsner, Stephan Halloy Jan 2012

A Theory Of The Mind As A Complex System, Craig Speelman, Kim Kirsner, Stephan Halloy

Research outputs 2012

Five principles of skill acquisition are presented based on a review of research on human learning and expertise. Essentially these principles state that practice leads to faster and more efficient uses of knowledge. This enables faster performance and results in less demand on mental resources. In turn these outcomes enable higher level behaviours to be attempted. Ultimately skills are developed through refinement of many component processes. A theory of the mind is proposed that borrows from theories of complex adaptive systems. In this theory, the mind is conceived of as consisting of agents that compete for resources associated with processing …

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A Non-Parametric And Entropy Based Analysis Of The Relationship Between The Vix And S&P 500, David Allen, Michael Mcaleer, Robert J. Powell, Abhay K. Singh Jan 2012

A Non-Parametric And Entropy Based Analysis Of The Relationship Between The Vix And S&P 500, David Allen, Michael Mcaleer, Robert J. Powell, Abhay K. Singh

Research outputs 2012

This paper features an analysis of the relationship between the S&P 500 Index and the VIX using daily data obtained from both the CBOE website and SIRCA (The Securities Industry Research Centre of the Asia Pacific). We explore the relationship between the S&P 500 daily continuously compounded return series and a similar series for the VIX in terms of a long sample drawn from the CBOE running from 1990 to mid 2011 and a set of returns from SIRCA's TRTH datasets running from March 2005 to-date. We divide this shorter sample, which captures the behaviour of the new VIX, introduced …

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Biomedical Image Signal Processing For Reflection-Based Imaging, Paul Jansz, Steven Richardson, Graham Wild, Steven Hinckley Jan 2012

Biomedical Image Signal Processing For Reflection-Based Imaging, Paul Jansz, Steven Richardson, Graham Wild, Steven Hinckley

Research outputs 2012

Optical coherence tomography (OCT), ultrasound and other reflection based biomedical imaging technologies involve image signal processing that is primarily a filtering, digitizing and summing process so that the tissue cross-section can be visualized. In particular, in OCT, a series of adjacent one dimensional in-vivo axial interferograms (A-scan) are summed to form a two dimensional (B-scan) reflection map or reflectogram. Further graphical combinations can add adjacent B-scan together to form three dimensional C-scans. A physician can make a subjective interpretation and evaluation from the B and/or C-scans that may lead to actions impacting on the patient’s prognosis. More objective information can …

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Security Specialists Are From Mars; Healthcare Practitioners Are From Venus: The Case For A Community-Of-Practice Approach To Security Architectures For Healthcare, Elizabeth Coles-Kemp, Patricia Williams Jan 2012

Security Specialists Are From Mars; Healthcare Practitioners Are From Venus: The Case For A Community-Of-Practice Approach To Security Architectures For Healthcare, Elizabeth Coles-Kemp, Patricia Williams

Research outputs 2012

Information security is a necessary requirement of information sharing in the healthcare environment. Research shows that the application of security in this setting is sometimes subject to work-arounds where healthcare practitioners feel forced to incorporate practices that they have not had an input into and with which they have not engaged with. This can result in a sense of security practitioners and healthcare practitioners being culturally very different in their approach to information systems. As a result such practices do not constitute part of their community of practice nor their identity. In order to respond to this, systems designers typically …

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Cloud Security: A Case Study In Telemedicine, Michael Johnstone Jan 2012

Cloud Security: A Case Study In Telemedicine, Michael Johnstone

Research outputs 2012

Security as part of requirements engineering is now seen as an essential part of systems development in several modern methodologies. Unfortunately, medical systems are one domain where security is seen as an impediment to patient care and not as an essential part of a system. Cloud computing may offer a seamless way to allow medical data to be transferred from patient to medical practitioners, whilst maintaining security requirements. This paper uses a case study to investigate the use of cloud computing in a mobile application for Parkinson Disease. It was found that functionality took precedence over security requirements and standards.

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Building Patient Trust In Electronic Health Records, Helen Cripps, Craig Standing Jan 2012

Building Patient Trust In Electronic Health Records, Helen Cripps, Craig Standing

Research outputs 2012

While electronic medical records have the potential to vastly improve a patient’s health care, their introduction also raises new and complex security and privacy issues. The challenge of preserving what patients’ believe as their privacy in the context of the introduction of the Personally Controlled Electronic Health Record (PCEHR), into the multi-layered and decentralised Australian health system is discussed. Based on a number of European case studies the paper outlines the institutional measures for privacy and security that have been put in place, and compares them with the current status in Australia. The implementation of the PCEHR has not been …

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Mobile Device Management For Personally Controlled Electronic Health Records: Effective Selection Of Evaluation Criteria, Murray Brand, Patricia Williams Jan 2012

Mobile Device Management For Personally Controlled Electronic Health Records: Effective Selection Of Evaluation Criteria, Murray Brand, Patricia Williams

Research outputs 2012

Enterprises are faced with the task of managing a plethora of mobile computing devices in the workplace that are employed for both business purposes and private use. This integration can contribute to the demands of security protection and add significant threats to the enterprise. The introduction of the Personally Controlled Electronic Health Record (PCEHR) system is a significant step in e-health for Australia and will likely result in sensitive information being accessed from mobile computing devices. Mobile Device Management (MDM) offers a potential solution to manage these devices, however there is a variety of vendors with a range of solutions. …

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A Technical Guide To Designing And Implementing Effective Web Surveys, Gregory Baatard Jan 2012

A Technical Guide To Designing And Implementing Effective Web Surveys, Gregory Baatard

Research outputs 2012

: The Internet is becoming an increasingly prominent medium for the administration of surveys. Although individual findings vary, the major‐ ity of the literature agrees that the appropriateness and response rates of web surveys is expected to rise in the future as we enter a generation of “digital natives” and mail‐based communication becomes increasingly an‐ tiquated. Just about every aspect and tenet of traditional survey metho‐ dology has received attention in academic literature, positioning it as one of the most mature data collection techniques and a mainstay in all areas of research. While much of this accumulated knowledge is applicable …

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Wikis: Transactive Memory Systems In Digital Form, Paul Jackson Jan 2012

Wikis: Transactive Memory Systems In Digital Form, Paul Jackson

Research outputs 2012

Wikis embed information about authors, tags, hyperlinks and other metadata into the information they create. Wiki functions use this metadata to provide pointers which allow users to track down, or be informed of, the information they need. In this paper we provide a firm theoretical conceptualization for this type of activity by showing how this metadata provides a digital foundation for a Transactive Memory System (TMS). TMS is a construct from group psychology which defines directory-based knowledge sharing processes to explain the phenomenon of "group mind". We analyzed the functions and data of two leading Wiki products to understand where …

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Use Of Information And Communication Technology (Ict) Tools By Rural Famers In Ratnagiri District Of Maharashtra, India, Leisa Armstrong, N. Gandhi Jan 2012

Use Of Information And Communication Technology (Ict) Tools By Rural Famers In Ratnagiri District Of Maharashtra, India, Leisa Armstrong, N. Gandhi

Research outputs 2012

This study made an attitude assessment of farmers from the rural villages of Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra in the dissemination of agricultural information using Information and Communication technologies. A structured questionnaire and interviews were used to gather information on a number of aspects related to the use of ICT from randomly selected farmers from one Tehsil and key stakeholders (government officials and agricultural industry workers). Two different questionnaires were provided to farmers and key stakeholders. The questionnaire completed by the farmer participants sought general demographic data, education level and information concerning household income and their agricultural activities. Information related to …

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From Autonomous To Performative Control Of Timbral Spatialisation, Stuart James Jan 2012

From Autonomous To Performative Control Of Timbral Spatialisation, Stuart James

Research outputs 2012

Timbral spatialisation is one such process that requires the independent control of potentially thousands of parameters (Torchia, et al., 2003). Current research on controlling timbral spatialisation has focussed either on automated generative systems, or suggested that to design trajectories in software is to write every movement line by line (Normandeau, 2009). This research proposes that Wave Terrain Synthesis may be used as an effective bridging control structure for timbral spatialisation, enabling the performative control of large numbers of parameter sets associated with software. This methodology also allows for compact interactive mapping possibilities for a physical controller, and may also be …

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Learning In Transformational Computer Games: Exploring Design Principles For A Nanotechnology Game, Martin Masek, Karen Murcia, Jason Morrison, Christopher Newhouse, Mark Hackling Jan 2012

Learning In Transformational Computer Games: Exploring Design Principles For A Nanotechnology Game, Martin Masek, Karen Murcia, Jason Morrison, Christopher Newhouse, Mark Hackling

Research outputs 2012

Transformational games are digital computer and video applications purposefully designed to create engaging and immersive learning environments for delivering specified learning goals, outcomes and experiences. The virtual world of a transformational game becomes the social environment within which learning occurs as an outcome of the complex interaction of persons and digital resources. Engaging individuals with learning in these societal situations means concepts and skills are connected to the context and remain a powerful tool for decision making and problem solving in the world. Yet, a range of barriers need to be overcome to make a game effective for its educational …

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Real-Time Evolutionary Learning Of Cooperative Predator-Prey Strategies, Mark Wittkamp, Luigi Barone, Philip Hingston, Lyndon While Jan 2012

Real-Time Evolutionary Learning Of Cooperative Predator-Prey Strategies, Mark Wittkamp, Luigi Barone, Philip Hingston, Lyndon While

Research outputs 2012

Despite games often being used as a testbed for new computational intelligence techniques, the majority of artificial intelligence in commercial games is scripted. This means that the computer agents are non-adaptive and often inherently exploitable because of it. In this paper, we describe a learning system designed for team strategy development in a real time multi-agent domain. We test our system in a prey and predators domain, evolving adaptive team strategies for the predators in real time against a single prey opponent. Our learning system works by continually training and updating the predator strategies, one at a time for a …

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Science Or Experience; What Is More Relevant ?, Kenneth Fowle, Hadyn Green Jan 2012

Science Or Experience; What Is More Relevant ?, Kenneth Fowle, Hadyn Green

Research outputs 2012

It is very important that when we use science to determine the validity of evidence or information that it is done in a manner that is acceptable to the scientific community and the legal community, but what happens when “experience” is used. The use of forensic practitioners to provide „expert‟ evidence and opinion must meet the Daubert/Frye and now Kumho tests. This paper will endeavour to demonstrate .what is best for a practitioner to have and what does the judiciary require for „expert‟ evidence to be accepted? Science and/or Experience, what is more relevant? Evidence and the Courts depend upon …

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An Examination Of The Effects Of Exchange Rates On Australia's Inbound Tourism Growth: A Multivariate Conditional Volatility Approach, Ghialy Choy Lee Yap Jan 2012

An Examination Of The Effects Of Exchange Rates On Australia's Inbound Tourism Growth: A Multivariate Conditional Volatility Approach, Ghialy Choy Lee Yap

Research outputs 2012

The appreciation of the Australian dollar has been a concern as Australia has become less competitive compared to neighbouring countries. This paper investigates to what extent exchange rates could adversely affect Australia's inbound tourism and whether volatility in exchange rates could increase the uncertainty in international tourist arrivals to Australia. The study is based on nine countries of origin, namely China, India, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, the UK and the USA for the period January 1991 to January 2011. It uses multivariate conditional volatility regressions to model the time-varying conditional variances of international tourism growth and exchange …

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Using Contextual Constructs Model To Frame Doctoral Research Methodology, Shirlee-Ann Knight, Donna Cross Jan 2012

Using Contextual Constructs Model To Frame Doctoral Research Methodology, Shirlee-Ann Knight, Donna Cross

Research outputs 2012

This paper presents a novel research model - Contextual Constructs Model (CCM) and the theory that underpins it - Contextual Constructs Theory (CCT). First developed as part of a complex project investigating user perceptions of information quality during Web-based information re-trieval, the CCM is not a single research method per se, but is a modelled research framework providing an over-arching perspective of scientific inquiry, by which a researcher is able to iden-tify multiple possible methods of study and analysis according to the identified research con-structs and their contexts. Central to CCM/CCT is that all research involves the fusion of two …

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