Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) and Other Digital Initiatives

Forget basketball and March madness. Aside from always pressing financial issues, it is “MOOC madness” that has emerged as the topic du jour at a growing number of American colleges and universities. Indeed, in boardrooms all across the country, people are grappling with what the advent of MOOCs—massive open online courses—means to their institutions

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) and Other Digital Initiatives

Forget basketball and March madness. Aside from always pressing financial issues, it is “MOOC madness” that has emerged as the topic du jour at a growing number of American colleges and universities. Indeed, in boardrooms all across the country, people are grappling with what the advent of MOOCs—massive open online courses—means to their institutions

Infection frequently triggers thrombotic microangiopathy in patients with preexisting risk factors : a single-institution experience

Thrombotic microangiopathies are rare conditions characterized by microangiopathic hemolytic anemia, microthrombi, and multiorgan insult. The disorders, which include hemolytic uremic syndrome and thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura, are often acute and life threatening. We report a retrospective analysis of 65 patients presenting to our institution from 1997 to 2008 with all forms of thrombotic microangiopathy. Therapeutic plasma exchange was a requirement for analysis and 65 patients were referred to our institution; 66% of patients were female and median age at presentation was 52 years. Bacterial infection was the most commonly identified etiologic factor and in the multivariate model was the only significant variable associated with survival outcome (odds ratio 5.1, 95% confidence interval, 1.2-21.7). As infection can be considered a common trigger event for thrombotic microangiopathy, patients with hepatobiliary sepsis may benefit from elective cholecystectomy. We conclude that bacterial infection frequently triggers TTP and other thrombotic microangiopathies in patients with preexisting risk factors and propose a model for the development of these syndromes

Science or Experience; what is more relevant ?

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 the establishment of a reliable basis of fact. because at the end of a trial, a Judge or a Jury will be compelled to reduce a complex slice of human experience with all its subtlety, to what is, in essence, a one line answer: “I believe you, or I don\u27t.”

Just -in -time selling: Relation to market orientation, organizational structure and organizational performance

The purpose of this dissertation is to answer the following research questions related to the efficacy of a Just-in-Time (JIT) selling strategy: (1) What is the nature of the relationships among market orientation, JIT selling, organizational structure, and organizational performance constructs? (2) Does JIT selling mediate and/or moderate the relationships among market orientation and organizational structure and organizational performance? The market orientation model theorized by Kohli and Jaworski (1990) and the JIT selling model theorized and tested by Germain, Dröge and Daugherty (1994) and Claycomb, Dröge and Germain (1999) are combined to facilitate investigation of the link between market orientation and JIT selling. Generally, the combined model incorporates market orientation as an antecedent to JIT selling and organizational structure and performance as consequences. Data relating to all constructs were collected from 177 marketing oriented representatives from manufacturing firms using a combined Internet survey and traditional mailing methodology. A multiple regression and structural equation modeling approach returned results indicating that market orientation and JIT selling are positively linked, that market orientation and JIT selling are positively associated with organizational performance and with the integration, formalization and specialization components of organizational structure but not with the decentralization component. JIT selling partially mediates the relationship between market orientation and organizational performance but neither mediates nor moderates the relations among market orientation and integration, formalization and specialization. Managers implementing a JIT selling strategy within the context of an organization exhibiting a high market orientation may expect improvements in organizational performance. A JIT selling strategy requires development of long-term, single-source relationships with buyers and efforts by the organization\u27s sales representatives to build value during the selling process based on established organizational abilities to deliver zero-defect products precisely on-time and in the precise quantities desired by customers while minimizing total waste and total cost throughout the supply chain

Scalable Reliable SD Erlang Design

This technical report presents the design of Scalable Distributed (SD) Erlang: a set of language-level changes that aims to enable Distributed Erlang to scale for server applications on commodity hardware with at most 100,000 cores. We cover a number of aspects, specifically anticipated architecture, anticipated failures, scalable data structures, and scalable computation. Other two components that guided us in the design of SD Erlang are design principles and typical Erlang applications. The design principles summarise the type of modifications we aim to allow Erlang scalability. Erlang exemplars help us to identify the main Erlang scalability issues and hypothetically validate the SD Erlang design

Using Solid, Bulk Blended Mix-Grade Fertilizers

Most solid, mixed fertilizers used in Kentucky are prepared by physically mixing two or more fertilizer materials to a desired analysis. The ingredient materials most commonly used to prepare mixed fertilizers in Kentucky are diammonium phosphate, urea, ammonium nitrate, muriate of potash, and sulfate of potash. During the period January - June, 1990, these 5 materials made up 60% of the 700,000 tons of fertilizer used in Kentucky. And just three of them ... urea, diammonium phosphate and muriate of potash ... made up 47% of the total used during that period

Evaluation of Pavement Marking Performance

The objective of the investigation was to evaluate the useful life of pavement markings. The Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) provides general guidelines for the application and installation of pavement markings. However, performance requirements for various types of pavement markings are not included. Retroreflectivity data were collected throughout Kentucky on various longitudinal pavement markings using mobile and manual techniques. Data were collected on two-year old and one-year old lines. The retroreflectivity levels were analyzed and the several recommendations were made. Minimum levels of retroreflectivity should be set for determining what roads to restripe annually. These values should be lower than the passing/bonus thresholds used in the Quality Control/Quality Assurance (QA/QC) program. It is recommended that yellow lines should be above 100 mcd/m2/lux and white lines should be above 150 mcd/m2/lux. Retroreflectivity measurements should be collected and used to determine which roads should be painted each year. The current Maintenance Rating Program (MRP) can be used to facilitate this process. An inventory of striped roads should be maintained to allow a determination of when specific roadway sections were last restriped. The effect of the amount of beads per gallon on retroreflectivity should be studied further; however it seems fewer beads could be used