Alien Registration- Lilley, Willie B. (Saint Agatha, Aroostook County)

https://digitalmaine.com/alien_docs/33354/thumbnail.jp

An analysis of the organization and operation of selected negro retail business establishments in Mississippi

Thesis (M.B.A.)--University of Kansas, Business Administration, 1958

CAPITALIZATION OF GREEN SPACE AND WATER QUALITY INTO RESIDENTIAL HOUSING VALUES

This thesis investigates how proximity to parks, historic district designations, and water quality are valued at residential housing prices. The first essay argues that the negative influences of parks and historic districts, if not noticed, could promote negative externalities and unincentivized investments. I find a negative impact on housing values for a close proximity to a park, suggesting disamenities in park features. When the boundary discontinuity and park amenities are considered, I find a positive valuation for a park. Overall, these results imply a mixed influence of parks on homeowners. From the historic district standpoint, I find a positive valuation of the local historic districts over the surrounding neighborhoods. The latter findings indicate that the benefits of locally designated areas outweigh the negative impacts. The second essay researches a probable lead risk in the water supply on the residential market. I argue strongly for the possibility of hidden-type information relative to lead in water supplies. I find that the influence of lead risk in their water supply is not statistically significant. The test for asymmetric information validates the expectation that homes in the relatively high lead-risk neighborhoods might not be informed of the level of lead-risk in their water supply

Automating the Surveillance of Mosquito Vectors from Trapped Specimens Using Computer Vision Techniques

Among all animals, mosquitoes are responsible for the most deaths worldwide. Interestingly, not all types of mosquitoes spread diseases, but rather, a select few alone are competent enough to do so. In the case of any disease outbreak, an important first step is surveillance of vectors (i.e., those mosquitoes capable of spreading diseases). To do this today, public health workers lay several mosquito traps in the area of interest. Hundreds of mosquitoes will get trapped. Naturally, among these hundreds, taxonomists have to identify only the vectors to gauge their density. This process today is manual, requires complex expertise/ training, and is based on visual inspection of each trapped specimen under a microscope. It is long, stressful and self-limiting. This paper presents an innovative solution to this problem. Our technique assumes the presence of an embedded camera (similar to those in smart-phones) that can take pictures of trapped mosquitoes. Our techniques proposed here will then process these images to automatically classify the genus and species type. Our CNN model based on Inception-ResNet V2 and Transfer Learning yielded an overall accuracy of 80% in classifying mosquitoes when trained on 25,867 images of 250 trapped mosquito vector specimens captured via many smart-phone cameras. In particular, the accuracy of our model in classifying Aedes aegypti and Anopheles stephensi mosquitoes (both of which are deadly vectors) is amongst the highest. We present important lessons learned and practical impact of our techniques towards the end of the paper

Hedonic Pricing of Chocolate Quality Characteristics: Is there A Difference for Fruit or Nut Chocolate?

Chocolate campaigns in the United States have focused on the production of premier quality and healthy blend chocolate bars. We expect that merchandising efforts will offer a higher price for fruit or nut blend chocolates. Using online retail data from Amazon, eBay, and Walmart, we applied the hedonic function to estimate retailers offer price for a blended bar. The findings show that online retailers have mixed offer prices for a blend or plain bar. The paper suggests that studies would learn much more from a data and analysis that control for quantity sold and time effects in the chocolate market

Religious/Spiritual Coping in Older African American Women

The purpose of this study was to identify religious/spiritual coping behaviors of African American women with hypertension (HTN) and explore how religious/spiritual coping influences adherence to high blood pressure (HBP) therapy in older African American women. A mixed-method research design guided this study. Twenty African American women with primary HTN were enrolled in this study using a mixed methods concurrent triangulation design. Data collection included physiologic, descriptive, and sociodemographic data. Adherence was measured using the Hill-Bone Compliance to High Blood Pressure Therapy scale (Kim, Hill, Bone, & Levine, 2000), and religious/spiritual coping was evaluated with the Brief Religious/Spiritual Coping scale. Qualitative data were obtained by audiotaped interviews using a semi-structured interview guide. Descriptive, physiologic data and data from questionnaires were analyzed. Five themes emerged. (a) Feelings of dizziness, lightheadedness, and feeling sick; (b) Belief in God or a Supreme Being, (c) Prayer as the primary coping mechanism, (d) Adherence conceptualized as obedience to God’s will, and (e) Need for healthcare providers to pray and provide more health information. This study provided insight into the influence of religious/spiritual coping behaviors on adherence to HTN treatment in older African American women with HTN in a rural medically underserved area. Nurses and other healthcare providers are in a key position to influence positive health outcomes in rural settings with limited resources using culturally appropriate strategies

The Cerebral Hercules and the Bankruptcy Hydra: How Judge Schermer Slayed a Multi-Headed Monster While Deep in the Heart of Texas (and What Any of This Lone Star State-Grecian Hero Analogy Has to Do with Just a Little Bit of Yiddish)

This Article revisits Judge Barry Schermer’s approaches to complex matters as a bankruptcy mediator. In Part I, Judge Rendlen explains Judge Schermer’s jurisprudence while mediating the particularly complicated Chapter 11 bankruptcy case, In re U.S. Fidelis, Inc., which helped attain a decision that prevented the estate’s assets drying up in litigation and protect hundreds of thousands of victims of deceptive practices by U.S. Fidelis. In Part II, Willie attests to Judge Schermer’s humanity, which allows him to focus on important underlying matters rather than simply attaining a resolution