MS

thesisThere is a great deal of importance associated with the problem of location analysis, but there is an appreciable lack of adequate methods that can be used by an independent business having limited financial means and inadequate training. Because of this condition, a study was undertaken to determine if any patterns existed which could be used to test future locations. A secondary purpose of the study was to provide limited information on other competitive aspects indirectly related to location. One such example would be an increase in price awareness and the extent to which this has changed customer buying habits in regard to the convenience of a store location. The methodology employed to gain the information was to interview customers as they left six neighborhood independent retail pharmacies in Salt Lake County and determine their place of residence as well as some information about buying attitudes. The information was then punched on Key-Sort cards for ease of tabulation and the addresses were plotted on maps. The area around each store on the map was then divided into quadrants and half-mile increments. The results demonstrated some very definite customer patterns. The quadrant farthest away from the central business district had the largest number of customers (forty-five per cent). Nearly four-fifths (seventy-nine per cent) of the customers live within the first one and one-half miles of the stores. More customers live on the outboard side (sixty-five per cent), the area beyond the store site away from the central business district, than on the inboard side (thirty-five) per cent, the area between the store site and the central business district. Other results obtained from the interviews showed that sixty-seven per cent of the people were at the closest store to their home when they were interviewed, ninety-five per cent drove to the store, sixty-eight per cent did the majority of their purchasing at the store at which they were interviewed, and only sixteen per cent of the people shopped at a store that was not nearest to their home. The average purchase size was |2.52, the average age was 36.3 years, and more men (fifty-two and three-tenths per cent) were interviewed than women (forty-seven and seven-tenths per cent). This latter result is assumed to be due to the time of the day in which the interviews were performed. Definite customer patterns were noted for all the stores surveyed. One should be able to determine the feasibility of a given site with the application of three pattern tests derived. If the tests are affirmative, it is recommended that further evaluation of the site be done before a definite decision to locate is made. If the tests are negative, the costs of further testing can be avoided, Since the average purchase size was relatively small and most of the store's customers lived within a limited area, it is assumed that the convenience-goods concept is still in existence and that large chain drug stores have not greatly influenced a considerable segment of the buying public

Review of \u3cem\u3eHard Road West: History and Geology along the Gold Rush Trail\u3c/em\u3e by Keith Heyer Meldahl

The dust jacket of Hard Road West promises familiar pleasures to John McPhee lovers, and so I picked the book up with great anticipation. McPhee’s works have greatly heightened the interest of writers and readers in the genre of creative nonfiction, and while for me, Keith Meldahl’s work does not quite reach McPhee’s stratospheric heights, for the right audience it is definitely a very good read

Review of \u3cem\u3eLewis and Clark and the Geology of the Great Plains and Lewis and Clark and the Geology of Nebraska and Parts of Adjacent States\u3c/em\u3e

When it comes to science in general, and the geology of the Great Plains in particular, there is arguably an imbalance between the wealth of material written for experts and the relative paucity written for the general public. These publications help correct that imbalance at a time when the various Lewis and Clark celebrations create an especially receptive and engaged audience

RICO Meets Keiretsu: A Response to Predatory Transfer Pricing

Japanese cartels known as keiretsu pursue illegal transfer pricing policies which cost American taxpayers billions of dollars and place American businesses at a competitive disadvantage. Keiretsu-controlled subsidiaries located in the United States buy goods, financial products or services from their Japanese parent at fraudulently inflated prices. Their dual purpose is to create artificial business expenses and costs (thereby reducing taxable income and paying little or no United States corporate income tax) and to gain an edge on American businesses through tax evasion. Mr. Harmon proposes that American businesses respond to this problem with techniques normally used against organized crime. The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) can combat the anti-competitive market effects of keiretsu. When transfer pricing damages American businesses through tax evasion and money laundering, RICO\u27s treble damage provisions provide them with the means to recover lost profits. RICO provides a juridical approach to what has been treated as a matter of international diplomacy. By offering a domestic legal solution to curb corporate Japan\u27s predatory trade practices, Mr. Harmon undertakes to neutralize Japan\u27s powerful political resources and provide a private remedy for harmful trade practices which the Government has been unable to control

Iron ooid beds of the Carolinefjellet Formation, Spitsbergen, Norway

Iron ooid beds are unusual deposits that have been linked to greenhouse conditions and the transgressive flooding of shallow shelves, and which were globally prevalent during certain periods. Within the marine, Aptian-Albian, Carolinefjellet Formation of Spitsbergen, chamosite ooids have been found within distinctive sandstone beds at six localities, and at a consistent stratigraphic position within the basal Dalkjegla Member. Distinctive characteristics include the iron ooids themselves, a coarser grain size, intercalation with silty siderites, grading, cross-beds indicating offshore or longshore transport, and a lack of burrowing. The enclosing sands display planar and hummocky crossstratification and abundant oscillation ripple marks, and are interpreted as lagoon-attached bar complexes. The stratigraphic position and traits of the iron ooid sands are consistent with seaward storm transport and preservation within interbar swales. Ooids vary in shape considerably, and display evidence for multiple growth events. Nuclei of quartz, opaques, carbonate clasts and laminated crusts are typically encircled by finer grained tangential chamosite and opaque laminae, sometimes with outer overgrowths of calcite and/or radial chamosite. The Dalkjegla Member is the marine portion of a large-scale transgressive tract, attached to underlying fluvio-estuarine Helvetiafjellet Formation strata. A lagoonal environment associated with the basal shales of the Dalkjegla Member represents a logical setting, where riverine iron concentration and iron silicate growth could occur. The Spitsbergen iron ooid beds extend the known occurrence of Cretaceous examples, representing a less common High-Latitude example, and one not directly associated with a transgressive flooding surface

The Impact of Diabetic Conditions and AGE/RAGE Signaling on Cardiac Fibroblast Migration

© Copyright © 2020 Burr, Harmon and Stewart. Diabetic individuals have an increased risk for developing cardiovascular disease due to stiffening of the left ventricle (LV), which is thought to occur, in part, by increased AGE/RAGE signaling inducing fibroblast differentiation. Advanced glycated end-products (AGEs) accumulate within the body over time, and under hyperglycemic conditions, the formation and accumulation of AGEs is accelerated. AGEs exert their effect by binding to their receptor (RAGE) and can induce myofibroblast differentiation, leading to increased cell migration. Previous studies have focused on fibroblast migration during wound healing, in which diabetics have impaired fibroblast migration compared to healthy individuals. However, the impact of diabetic conditions as well as AGE/RAGE signaling has not been extensively studied in cardiac fibroblasts. Therefore, the goal of this study was to determine how the AGE/RAGE signaling pathway impacts cell migration in non-diabetic and diabetic cardiac fibroblasts. Cardiac fibroblasts were isolated from non-diabetic and diabetic mice with and without functional RAGE and used to perform a migration assay. Cardiac fibroblasts were plated on plastic, non-diabetic, or diabetic collagen, and when confluency was reached, a line of migration was generated by scratching the plate and followed by treatment with pharmacological agents that modify AGE/RAGE signaling. Modification of the AGE/RAGE signaling cascade was done with ERK1/2 and PKC-ζ inhibitors as well as treatment with exogenous AGEs. Diabetic fibroblasts displayed an increase in migration compared to non-diabetic fibroblasts whereas inhibiting the AGE/RAGE signaling pathway resulted in a significant increase in migration. The results indicate that the AGE/RAGE signaling cascade causes a decrease in cardiac fibroblast migration and altering the pathway will produce alterations in cardiac fibroblast migration