Economic Analysis Of Alternatives For Railroad Vegetation Control

Thesis (M.S.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 1990A survey was distributed to 174 railroads throughout the United States and selected foreign countries. The purpose of the survey was to determine which methods of vegetation control were used along railroad rights-of-way. Cost data were gathered from the railroads responding to the survey and the data were analyzed and compared to an independent cost analysis. Vegetation control by herbicide application, brush cutting, ballast regulating, reballasting, undercutting, and hand clearing were examined. The least expensive alternatives (in average U.S. data base, 1991 dollar base) were vegetation control with a ballast regulator at a cost of $330 per mile, herbicide application at \$485 per mile, and brush cutting with a cost of$554 per mile. An integrated vegetation management program should be developed using a combination of these methods to get the most effective and economic vegetation control. <p

A study of manpower issues in project management

This article is about factors of manpower issue in project management that affect the project running.Lacking of manpower will delay or suspend the progress of a project.The cause of lacking manpower can be ranged from base workers until the top management board of a company.Thus we need to minimize project delays and make recommendations for effective projects.We distributed 25 sets of survey questionnaires for data collection and do data analysis by calculating Relative Importance Index (RI).The result shown that contractor factor occupied the largest capacity among all factors

Role of ICT on Employees’ Knowledge Management and Academic Staff Retention in Tertiary Institutions in South-East Nigeria

This study examined the role of ICT on employees’ Knowledge management and academic staff retention in selected tertiary institutions in South East, Nigeria. The study was guided by objective which sought to examine the role of information communication technology (ICT) in knowledge management and academic staff retention in selected tertiary institutions in South East Nigeria. The research design adopted was a cross-sectional survey design. The sources of data, were primary and secondary. The main instrument used for primary data, was questionnaire and oral interview. The secondary data were sourced from journals, test books, internet, and libraries. The population of the study was 7,423 academic staff of the 10 selected institutions in the South East Nigeria. A total sample size of 555 was determined from the finite population formula. The instrument was checked for reliability using test-re-test method. The result gave a reliability co-efficient of 0.915 showing high degree of item reliability. The total number of questionnaire distributed for this study was five hundred and fifty- five (555) copies, while for hundred and thirty five (435) copies were completed and returned. The data generated from the field survey were presented and analyzed using percentage tables, pie chart, mean and standard deviation. The hypothesis was tested using Friedman chi-square statistics. The findings indicate that there is significant positive relationship between the role of ICT in knowledge management and academic staff retention (X2cal = 111.651 &gt; X2critical = 7.81, p &lt; 0.05). The study concludes that there is need for the instituting of ICT data base with the state-of-the-art-equipments to enable staff source useful materials from any part of the institution. Keywords: ICT, role, academic staff, Nigerian Universities.

The effects of site based decision making in elementary schools on student outcomes

This study intended to determine if there were differences in the perceptions of effectiveness of site-based management, differences in the perceptions of participation in shared decision making, and differences in the areas of decision making in which teachers should be involved, in schools using site-based management and in schools using traditional styles of management. Findings show that teachers that use site-based management did not appear to differ in their perceptions of shared decision making from those that use traditional style of management. This study intended to determine if there was a relationship between the perceptions of the effectiveness of site-based managements and shared decision making with student outcomes as measured by MEAP test scores for reading and mathematics. Findings indicated that students did not appear to perform better on MEAP tests in site-based managed schools when compared to results from schools using a traditional management structure. This research involved a nonexperimental, descriptive research design with 27 elementary schools in 21 school districts. Surveys were distributed to 270 full time academic teachers with a return rate of 30.0% (n=81). The instrument used to determine the effectiveness of site-based management and shared decision making was adapted from a larger survey developed by Dade County Public Schools. The instrument used to determine shared decision making was developed from a chart developed by Duke, Showers, and Imber (in Pikos, 1993). A demographic survey including age, gender, level of education, type of teacher, and professional experiences was included. Results of the data analyses showed there were no differences between teachers in the two schools on their perceptions of site-based management and current participation in shared decision making. Student outcomes, as measured by MEAP test scores did not differ significantly in site-base managed and traditionally managed schools

Survey of endoscopic skull base surgery practice patterns among otolaryngologists

Background Endoscopic skull base surgery (ESBS) is a rapidly expanding field. Despite divergent reported preferences for reconstructive techniques and perioperative management, limited data exist regarding contemporary practice patterns among otolaryngologists performing ESBS. This study aims to elucidate current practice patterns, primarily the volumes of cases performed and secondarily a variety of other perioperative preferences. Methods An anonymous 32-item electronic survey examining perioperative ESBS preferences was distributed to the American Rhinologic Society membership. Statistical significance between variables was determined utilizing Student t, chi-square, and Fisher exact tests. Results Seventy otolaryngologists completed the survey. The effective response rate was approximately 22.5%. Sixty percent of respondents were in full-time academic practice and 70% had completed rhinology/skull base fellowships. Annually, 43.3 mean ESBS cases were performed (29.1 private practice vs. 52.9 academic practice, P = .009). Academic practice averaged 24.1 expanded cases versus only 11 in private practice (P = .01). Of respondents, 55.7% stood on the same side as the neurosurgeon and 72.9% remained present for the entire case. Current procedural terminology coding and antibiotic regimens were widely divergent; 31.4% never placed lumbar drains preoperatively, while 41.4% did so for anticipated high-flow cerebrospinal fluid leaks. While considerable variation in reconstructive techniques were noted, intradural defect repairs utilized vascularized flaps 86.3% of the time versus only 51.3% for extradural repairs (P < 0.001). Major complications were rare. Postoperative restrictions varied considerably, with most activity limitations between 2–8 weeks and positive airway pressure use for 2–6 weeks. Most respondents started saline irrigations 0–2 weeks postoperatively. Conclusions Based on responses from fellowship- and non-fellowship-trained otolaryngologists in various practice settings, there remains considerable variation in the perioperative management of patients undergoing ESBS. Level of Evidence

Will SDN be part of 5G?

For many, this is no longer a valid question and the case is considered settled with SDN/NFV (Software Defined Networking/Network Function Virtualization) providing the inevitable innovation enablers solving many outstanding management issues regarding 5G. However, given the monumental task of softwarization of radio access network (RAN) while 5G is just around the corner and some companies have started unveiling their 5G equipment already, the concern is very realistic that we may only see some point solutions involving SDN technology instead of a fully SDN-enabled RAN. This survey paper identifies all important obstacles in the way and looks at the state of the art of the relevant solutions. This survey is different from the previous surveys on SDN-based RAN as it focuses on the salient problems and discusses solutions proposed within and outside SDN literature. Our main focus is on fronthaul, backward compatibility, supposedly disruptive nature of SDN deployment, business cases and monetization of SDN related upgrades, latency of general purpose processors (GPP), and additional security vulnerabilities, softwarization brings along to the RAN. We have also provided a summary of the architectural developments in SDN-based RAN landscape as not all work can be covered under the focused issues. This paper provides a comprehensive survey on the state of the art of SDN-based RAN and clearly points out the gaps in the technology.Comment: 33 pages, 10 figure

Fog Computing: A Taxonomy, Survey and Future Directions

In recent years, the number of Internet of Things (IoT) devices/sensors has increased to a great extent. To support the computational demand of real-time latency-sensitive applications of largely geo-distributed IoT devices/sensors, a new computing paradigm named "Fog computing" has been introduced. Generally, Fog computing resides closer to the IoT devices/sensors and extends the Cloud-based computing, storage and networking facilities. In this chapter, we comprehensively analyse the challenges in Fogs acting as an intermediate layer between IoT devices/ sensors and Cloud datacentres and review the current developments in this field. We present a taxonomy of Fog computing according to the identified challenges and its key features.We also map the existing works to the taxonomy in order to identify current research gaps in the area of Fog computing. Moreover, based on the observations, we propose future directions for research

The Influence of Network Governance Factors on Success in Open Source Software Development Projects

The phenomenon of open source software has lately caught the attention of both the popular press and many researchers in such diverse fields as MIS, computer science, sociology, and management. The organizational challenges faced by open source development projects are significant, because a project must deal with the complexity of coordinating the efforts of a geographically distributed base of volunteers to create a working software product. Based on a theoretical framework of network governance, the influence of social mechanisms on the coordination and safeguarding of exchanges among project members, and how these influence project success are examined. Using survey and objective data, 38 open source projects are empirically investigated to test a formal path model of network governance in open source projects. The model of network governance provides a good explanation of how governance mechanisms can influence success in open source projects, namely, restricted access to the development team improves coordination within the project and safeguards exchanges among project members. Further, collective sanctions safeguard exchanges among project members, and the importance of reputation to project members aids in managing conflicts within the project. Finally, better coordination allows a project to be more successful, while safeguarding exchanges does not appear to impact project success