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Full-Text Articles in Business

Applying The Multiple Multidimensional Knapsack Assignment Problem To A Cargo Allocation And Transportation Problem With Stochastic Demand, Jocelin S. Maus Mar 2019

Applying The Multiple Multidimensional Knapsack Assignment Problem To A Cargo Allocation And Transportation Problem With Stochastic Demand, Jocelin S. Maus

Theses and Dissertations

The US military relies on airlift to not only deploy and sustain U.S. armed forces anywhere in the world but also to rapidly mobilize humanitarian efforts and supplies. Operations already impacted by the limited capacity of aircraft also fall prey to dynamic requirements and differing priorities of multiple global locations. A growing concern for the modern military budget is how to provide airlift functions expediently and economically while mitigating the costs of shortfalls and overages. Utilizing fiscal year 2017-2018 cargo data published by the 618th Air Operations Center and modeling this problem as a multiple multidimensional knapsack assignment problem (MMKAP), …

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Predicting Failures Of The Brazilian Air Force Tucano Fleet Using Survival Analysis, Luciana Mesquita Monteiro Mar 2019

Predicting Failures Of The Brazilian Air Force Tucano Fleet Using Survival Analysis, Luciana Mesquita Monteiro

Theses and Dissertations

During the life of an aircraft, several failures may occur causing unplanned maintenance and costs of parts, labor, transportation, lost opportunities, and operations, among others. The prediction of these events becomes especially difficult for new airframes, since they do not have many flight hours or enough data to observe failures. This study analyzes and model the time between failures (TBF) of the Brazilian Air Force T-27 Tucano fleet by applying various non-parametric, semi-parametric, and parametric statistical models, to the TBF, such as the descriptive statistics, Kaplan-Meier estimators, Cox proportional hazards models, with or without frailty, and survival regression models, with …

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Fuzzy Inference Systems For Risk Appraisal In Military Operational Planning, Curtis B. Nelson Mar 2019

Fuzzy Inference Systems For Risk Appraisal In Military Operational Planning, Curtis B. Nelson

Theses and Dissertations

Advances in computing and mathematical techniques have given rise to increasingly complex models employed in the management of risk across numerous disciplines. While current military doctrine embraces sound practices for identifying, communicating, and mitigating risk, the complex nature of modern operational environments prevents the enumeration of risk factors and consequences necessary to leverage anything beyond rudimentary risk models. Efforts to model military operational risk in quantitative terms are stymied by the interaction of incomplete, inadequate, and unreliable knowledge. Specifically, it is evident that joint and inter-Service literature on risk are inconsistent, ill-defined, and prescribe imprecise approaches to codifying risk. Notably, …

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A Cost-Benefit Analysis Of Pilot Training Next, Talon M. Pope Mar 2019

A Cost-Benefit Analysis Of Pilot Training Next, Talon M. Pope

Theses and Dissertations

The United States Air Force (USAF) is currently facing a 2,400-pilot shortage in an increasingly constrained budgetary environment. Without pilots to engage the enemy, deliver weapons, and provide logistics support for operations, the USAF could lose the ability to fly, fight, and win global engagements and defend the homeland. This study focused on Undergraduate Pilot Training (UPT) as a means of producing the USAF’s pilots to offset the current shortage. Specifically, this study compared UPT to the recently initiated Pilot Training-Next (PTN) program through a cost-benefit analysis. Like any new technology integration, PTN’s virtual reality training will require further study …

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Examining The Express Supportability Module: Implementing An Autoregressive Distributed Lag Approach With Air Force Maintenance Data, Troy J. St Peter Mar 2019

Examining The Express Supportability Module: Implementing An Autoregressive Distributed Lag Approach With Air Force Maintenance Data, Troy J. St Peter

Theses and Dissertations

Launched in 1996, EXPRESS (Execution and Prioritization of Repairs Support System) is a program integral to the Air Force reparable supply chain. Daily, EXPRESS relies on a number of data sources and individual modules like the Supportability Module to determine which necessary repairs can and should be made. The Supportability Module examines the prioritized list of repairs and checks four constraints in order to decide whether each repair can be made given current resources. According to the logic of the module, a single constraint failure means that subsequent resource checks are not made before evaluating the next repair. Unfortunately, this …

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Simulating Maritime Chokepoint Disruption In The Global Food Supply, Ryan B. Walton Mar 2019

Simulating Maritime Chokepoint Disruption In The Global Food Supply, Ryan B. Walton

Theses and Dissertations

The three food crops of wheat, maize, and rice make up almost two-thirds of the world's dietary energy needs. Of these three, just six countries provide 70% of the global supply. Furthermore, soybeans account for three-quarters of global livestock feed, and only three countries provide 80% of the global supply. Considering over half of the world's exported supply of these four commodities are exported via maritime means, the free ow of marine traffic becomes paramount. Current models lack the ability to capture the inherent variance displayed in the maritime transport system, which can lead to inaccurate assumptions about how the …

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Using Simulation To Model Reserve Officer Training Corps Cadet Flow, Marydell V. Westman Mar 2019

Using Simulation To Model Reserve Officer Training Corps Cadet Flow, Marydell V. Westman

Theses and Dissertations

The Army Cadet Command oversees the Army Reserve Officer Training. It receives mission goals every year along with a budget. It is their responsibility to recruit enough cadets to fulfill mission goal and remain under budget, while ensuring the recruited cadets have the correct percentages of race, gender, and majors. This research provides a tool that can change the numbers and percentages of incoming cadets, what year of school they enter, as well as their gender, race, and STEM or non-STEM parameters, in order to explore the composition of graduated commissioned cadets. This study finds that changing the percentage of …

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Estimating Total Cost Of Ownership For United States Air Force Chiller Assets, William C. Berner Mar 2019

Estimating Total Cost Of Ownership For United States Air Force Chiller Assets, William C. Berner

Theses and Dissertations

In order to make the most cost-effective choice when purchasing high-value assets, organizations must be able to quantify and compare the costs associated with acquiring, maintaining and disposing the alternatives. Currently, the United States Air Force (USAF) Civil Engineer (CE) enterprise has no standardized model to accurately and efficiently predict the total cost of ownership (TCO) for the acquisition of new assets. As such, acquisition efforts throughout the enterprise are disjointed and performed without leveraging the considerable buying power wielded by an organization as large as the USAF. This research developed a TCO model using a standard, dollar-based approach that …

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An Analysis Of Estimate Variance In Program Office Estimates, Benjamin J. Bonenfant Mar 2019

An Analysis Of Estimate Variance In Program Office Estimates, Benjamin J. Bonenfant

Theses and Dissertations

Past research has shown that predicting the cost growth within DoD systems is an important topic. Total program cost growth and predictors of program cost growth have been studied. Kozlak (2017) studied cost growth at four major reviews: Critical Design Review, First Flight, Development Test and Evaluation End, and Initial Operating Capability. This research attempts to assess cost growth and cost variance at similar points in a program life cycle. In the past the majority of studies have been done identifying programs as either: Acquisition Category (ACAT) I and non-ACAT I programs, or Major Defense Acquisition Programs (MDAP) and non-MDAP …

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Investigating Schedule Length Of Space And Missile Systems Center Contracts, Loyd A. Bradley Jr. Mar 2019

Investigating Schedule Length Of Space And Missile Systems Center Contracts, Loyd A. Bradley Jr.

Theses and Dissertations

Acquisition reform has long been the goal of the Department of Defense to save, recover and redistribute funds in an efficient manner. The Space and Missile Systems Center Program Management and Integration Directorate (SMC/PI) and Acquisitions Center of Excellence (ACE) have shared the same effort and have made strides to better their acquisition processes. Many different angles have been examined to try to discover cost and schedule growth however, little research has been done to find the drivers of schedule length. This research is aimed at finding contributing factors to the length of schedule of the pre-acquisition process. By using …

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A Case Study Of Epa Clauses As They Apply To Fixed Price Contracts, Trevor A. Enos Mar 2019

A Case Study Of Epa Clauses As They Apply To Fixed Price Contracts, Trevor A. Enos

Theses and Dissertations

Adjusting fixed price contract prices over long periods of performance is vital to protect both the government and contractor from market price fluctuations. This is accomplished via an Economic Price Adjustment (EPA) clause which currently utilize forecasts of producer price indexes (PPI) as a baseline. There is currently a lack of research on if the use of these forecasts as a baseline for calculating EPAs is the best alternative. This research involves determining the validity of using Global Insight (GI) forecasts for the purpose of calculating EPAs in fixed price contracts. Two EPA clauses are examined as a case study …

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Examining The Critical Success Factors Of Rapid Acquisition: A Human Capital Perspective, Christine J. Jestice Mar 2019

Examining The Critical Success Factors Of Rapid Acquisition: A Human Capital Perspective, Christine J. Jestice

Theses and Dissertations

Department of Defense (DoD) acquisition programs continue to encounter schedule delays and cost overruns despite past reforms. Global threat uncertainties and high-velocity technological advances are also prevailing. Given the current rate at which program offices are fielding weapon systems, the United States (US) may be fighting with obsolete weapons and technology. Gaining superiority demands a new approach – to expedite the rate of capability delivery through rapid acquisition programs who have demonstrated success in delivering capabilities with speed. This research examines whether the attributes in the people dimension of an expedited framework contribute to success of rapid defense acquisition programs. …

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Operations Research Methods For Multi-Domain Campaign Phase Planning, John A. Schlicht Mar 2019

Operations Research Methods For Multi-Domain Campaign Phase Planning, John A. Schlicht

Theses and Dissertations

In "Antiaccess Warfare as Strategy," Tangredi posits the question and need to consider multiple domains and governmental and warfighting functions in various phases of campaign execution. Multi-domain integration within and across various phases of the joint campaign presents a host of non-linear factors that are compounded and amplified by uncertainties. Colonel Blotto is a simple game that is suited to compare traditional force-on-force military engagements where mass wins the day, but have had limited application to more complex military planning. This thesis explores the formulation schema, data-driven parameters, methods of calculation, and scenarios applicable to a generalized Colonel Blotto (General …

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Analysis Of Cross-Cultural Training Efforts, Competencies And Implications, And How Cross-Cultural Competency Affects The Success Of Construction Projects On Air Force Installations Overseas, Katie L. Macgregor Mar 2019

Analysis Of Cross-Cultural Training Efforts, Competencies And Implications, And How Cross-Cultural Competency Affects The Success Of Construction Projects On Air Force Installations Overseas, Katie L. Macgregor

Theses and Dissertations

US Air Force (AF) Civil Engineer (CE) Officers stationed at overseas bases lead and manage construction and engineering efforts for projects totaling billions of dollars annually. Budget overruns in the Department of Defense (DoD) and specifically the AF, have been under stringent investigation by government officials in recent years. 92% of CE Officers overseas work with local nationals (LN) and the host nation weekly or daily, but most receive less than 2 hours of formal cross-cultural training prior to arrival overseas. Host nation partners include foreign military, local contractors, LN workforce and local government agencies. Based on a previous Delphi …

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Developing Standard Emd Cost Factors For Major Defense Acquisition Program (Mdap) Platforms, Matthew R. Markman Mar 2019

Developing Standard Emd Cost Factors For Major Defense Acquisition Program (Mdap) Platforms, Matthew R. Markman

Theses and Dissertations

This research involves the creation of standard factors that more accurately reflect observed outcomes in the development stages of major programs. Traditionally, estimation techniques such as analogy, parametric, engineering build-up, and factors are utilized to develop budgets and serve as the baseline for measuring project progress. This effort accomplishes the development and creation of 443 new standard cost factors that are delineated by five categories: commodity type, contract type, contractor type, development type, and service. The factors are developed for those elements that are "common" in a wide array of projects such as program management, systems engineering, data, training or …

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An Analysis Of Defense Contractor Profit Margin Percentages, Sara K. O'Connor Mar 2019

An Analysis Of Defense Contractor Profit Margin Percentages, Sara K. O'Connor

Theses and Dissertations

Profit earned by defense contractors is a controversial issue among government officials and the defense industry. It is recognized that profits earned by defense contractors are not strictly the product of the dynamics of a competitive market, but of federal profit statutes, contractual incentive schemes, the quality of government oversight, and in a market of less than full competition. As such, there is always concern of whether contractors are earning “excessive" profit -- through policy or failed oversight. The purpose of this research is to investigate the question of reasonable profits from one particular angle -- whether profit margins differ …

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Commercialization Analysis Of Sbir Funded Technologies, Theodore A. Rask Mar 2019

Commercialization Analysis Of Sbir Funded Technologies, Theodore A. Rask

Theses and Dissertations

The United States Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program invests $2.2 billion annually into domestic innovation stimulation. The Department of Defense (DoD) contributes almost $1 billion of that investment; of which the Air Force accounts for 25%. Commercialization, either the transfer to programs of record or further industrial investment, is the program’s objective. Data from this research indicates that Air Force programs have a 7.6% commercialization rate; representing an opportunity to improve. Leveraging best practices from industry; this research provides a method to align investments with needed capabilities. This method exploits established user need taxonomies, the DoD Joint Capability Area …

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Selecting A Construction Contract Acquisition Strategy To Support Foreign Military Sales Facility Construction, Robert H. Shuler Mar 2019

Selecting A Construction Contract Acquisition Strategy To Support Foreign Military Sales Facility Construction, Robert H. Shuler

Theses and Dissertations

“Strengthening Alliances and Attracting New Partners” is one of the three Department of Defense’s primary lines of effort as outlined in the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act. The Air Force Security Assistance and Cooperation Directorate (AFSAC) aides in the execution of this line of effort through the execution of Foreign Military Sales (FMS) cases. FMS cases vary in complexity depending on the type of end-item and the capabilities of the purchasing nation. AFSAC must balance multiple objectives and criteria to ensure the needs of the purchasing nation, the end-item, and U.S. government entities are met. A decision analysis model using …

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An Assessment Of The Air Force’S Return On Investment For Product Support Business Case Analysis Processes, Robert E. Tyson Jr. Mar 2019

An Assessment Of The Air Force’S Return On Investment For Product Support Business Case Analysis Processes, Robert E. Tyson Jr.

Theses and Dissertations

There have been many fiscal challenges over the years facing the Department of Defense (DOD). With these challenges, cost savings initiatives have become commonplace. To meet these fiscal challenges head-on, new policies to improve estimating and control costs have been implemented. Senior leaders within the cost analysis community are tasked with managing these changes while continuing to provide timely and accurate cost estimates. The purpose of this research is to focus on one of the more important cost savings initiatives -- Product Support Business Case Analyses (PS-BCA). Our research questions explore the current cost and impact of this DoD cost …

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Comparing Estimated To Actual Development Budgets For Air Force Space Programs, Christopher J. Elworth Mar 2019

Comparing Estimated To Actual Development Budgets For Air Force Space Programs, Christopher J. Elworth

Theses and Dissertations

The accuracy of budget estimates is vital in ensuring cost efficiency and decreasing the possibility of budget and schedule growth. The goal of this study was to determine when budget estimates increase and what may cause those increases. Percent schedule and linear interpolation was used to analyze the budget changes. Space program budget growth does not increase at a constant rate between Milestone B (MS B) and Initial Operational Capability (IOC). When an exponential curve was fit to the deviations in budget growth, the mean and median R2 for the programs in this study were .83 and .91, respectively. Many …

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U.S. Air Force Maintenance Group Aerial Ports: Strengths, Challenges, Opportunities, And Threats, Parker H. Alford Mar 2019

U.S. Air Force Maintenance Group Aerial Ports: Strengths, Challenges, Opportunities, And Threats, Parker H. Alford

Theses and Dissertations

In 2005 the Base Closure Realignment Commission and Secretary of Defense recommended joint basing; as an indirect result starting in 2009 and culminating the following year, Charleston, Dover, McChord, McGuire, and Travis maintenance groups (MXG) took command of aerial port squadrons (APS). Various entities have discussed at length the impact; however, there did not appear to be a documented hard look into the strengths, challenges, opportunities, and threats (SCOTs) which emerged. This study utilized the Delphi method to flesh out MXG APS SCOTs by anonymously surveying MXG and APS experts through three panel rounds. This study discovered and documented 24 …

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Turbojet Range, Loiter, And Altitude Tradeoff Estimations In Efficient Modeling And Optimization Formulations, Lauren M. Bramblett Mar 2019

Turbojet Range, Loiter, And Altitude Tradeoff Estimations In Efficient Modeling And Optimization Formulations, Lauren M. Bramblett

Theses and Dissertations

Identifying accurate tradeoffs between loiter time, range, and loiter altitude for jet aircraft are critical for mission planning, but current methods are cumbersome and time and labor intensive. This research introduces a new method for determining tradeoffs between loiter time, range, and loiter altitude for jet aircraft utilizing specific aircraft performance characteristics and the Bréguet range and endurance equations. Results from this new methodology are compared to the existing model used by the National Air and Space Intelligence Center for flight planning. This method is then extended and applied to several routing assignment problems, taking advantage of the incorporation of …

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An Analysis Of Profit Margin In Relation To The Better Buying Power Initiative, Jerry (Trey) L. Baker Iii Mar 2019

An Analysis Of Profit Margin In Relation To The Better Buying Power Initiative, Jerry (Trey) L. Baker Iii

Theses and Dissertations

Recent Better Buying Power (BBP) initiatives have sought to better contractually align contractor profit with performance. Profit should incentivize efficiency in cost and schedule and only be awarded when earned. The current research seeks evidence that BBP has been effective in improving performance. The first part of the research examines the trends of profit margin and cost growth both before and after the implementation of the first BBP initiative. BBP recommended the use of incentive type contracts over award fee contracts, where appropriate. This research found an increased use of incentive type contracts and a reduced use of award fee …

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Lessons Learned: Thomas C. Baxter, Jr., Esq., Alec Buchholtz, Rosalind Z. Wiggins Mar 2019

Lessons Learned: Thomas C. Baxter, Jr., Esq., Alec Buchholtz, Rosalind Z. Wiggins

Journal of Financial Crises

Baxter, who was General Counsel of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York during the crisis, gives us his take on how best to prepare for future crises.

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The Lehman Brothers Bankruptcy H: The Global Contagion, Rosalind Z. Wiggins, Andrew Metrick Mar 2019

The Lehman Brothers Bankruptcy H: The Global Contagion, Rosalind Z. Wiggins, Andrew Metrick

Journal of Financial Crises

When Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy on September 15, 2008, it was the largest such filing in U.S. history and a huge shock to the world’s financial markets, which were already stressed from the deflated housing bubble and questions about subprime mortgages. Lehman was the fourth-largest U.S. investment bank with assets of $639 billion and its operations spread across the globe. Lehman’s clients and counterparties began to disclose millions of dollars of potential losses as they accounted for their exposures. But the impact of Lehman’s demise was felt well beyond its counterparties. Concern regarding its real estate assets, its large …

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The Lehman Brothers Bankruptcy C: Managing The Balance Sheet Through The Use Of Repo 105, Rosalind Z. Wiggins, Andrew Metrick Mar 2019

The Lehman Brothers Bankruptcy C: Managing The Balance Sheet Through The Use Of Repo 105, Rosalind Z. Wiggins, Andrew Metrick

Journal of Financial Crises

The Lehman Brothers court-appointed bankruptcy examiner produced a 2,200-page report detailing possible claims that the estate might pursue. The most surprising revelation of the report was that during its last year Lehman had relied heavily on an unusual financing transaction—Repo 105. The examiner concluded that Lehman’s aggressive use of Repo 105 transactions enabled it to remove up to $50 billion of assets from its balance sheet at quarter-end and to manipulate its leverage ratio so that it could report more favorable results. This case considers in-depth Lehman’s questionable use of Repo 105 transactions and its impact.

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The Lehman Brothers Bankruptcy B: Risk Limits And Stress Tests, Rosalind Z. Wiggins, Andrew Metrick Mar 2019

The Lehman Brothers Bankruptcy B: Risk Limits And Stress Tests, Rosalind Z. Wiggins, Andrew Metrick

Journal of Financial Crises

Investment banks are in the business of taking calculated risks. Risk management infrastructure facilitates the safe pursuit of profits and the balancing of associated risks. By 2006, Lehman Brothers was thought to have a very respectable risk management system, and even its regulator, the Securities and Exchange Commission, viewed its risk framework as being fully compliant with regulatory requirements. In its public disclosures, Lehman characterized its risk controls as “meaningful constraints on its risk taking” and evidence of its continued financial stability. Beginning in late 2006, however, Lehman began dismantling its carefully crafted risk management framework as it pursued a …

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Nebraska Monthly Economic Indicators: March 20, 2019, Eric Thompson Mar 2019

Nebraska Monthly Economic Indicators: March 20, 2019, Eric Thompson

Leading Economic Indicator Reports

The Leading Economic Indicator – Nebraska (LEI-N) 1 rose by 0.38% during February of 2019. The increase in the LEI-N, which is designed to predict economic activity six months into the future, implies moderate economic growth in Nebraska through the third quarter of 2019. Strong business expectations were the primary reason for the increase in the leading indicator. Respondents to the February Survey of Nebraska Business reported plans to increase both sales and employment at their businesses over the next six months. Business expectations were at odds with other components of the indicator. Building permts for single-family homes and manufacturing …

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Is The Internet Bringing Down Language-Based Barriers To International Trade?, Erick Kitenge Mar 2019

Is The Internet Bringing Down Language-Based Barriers To International Trade?, Erick Kitenge

Seminars in Local and Global Regional Economies

Dr. Kitenge will discuss his collaborative research with Dr. Sajal Lahiri from Southern Illinois University Carbondale, reporting results from their analysis of bilateral aggregate export data from 205 countries over the period 1990-2014.

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Robert 0 . Scarborough, Jr Et Al., Order On Defendants' Motion For Judgment On The Pleadings As To Counts Iv, Vi, Vii Of The Fourth Amended Complaint, Elizabeth E. Long Mar 2019

Robert 0 . Scarborough, Jr Et Al., Order On Defendants' Motion For Judgment On The Pleadings As To Counts Iv, Vi, Vii Of The Fourth Amended Complaint, Elizabeth E. Long

Superior Court of Fulton County: Metro Atlanta Business Case Division Opinions

No abstract provided.

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