The Use and Abuse of Special-Purpose Entities in Public Finance

States increasingly are raising financing indirectly through special-purpose entities (SPEs), variously referred to as authorities, special authorities, or public authorities. Notwithstanding their long history and increasingly widespread use, relatively little is known or has been written about these entities. This article examines state SPEs and their functions, comparing them to SPEs used in corporate finance. States, even more than corporations, use these entities to reduce financial transparency and avoid public scrutiny, seriously threatening the integrity of public finance. The article analyzes how regulation could be designed in order to control that threat while maintaining the legitimate financing benefits provided by these state entities

Leading Change through User Experience: How End Users Are Changing the Library

Cline Library is centrally located on the Northern Arizona University (NAU) campus in Flagstaff, Arizona. The library has a staff of sixty-two, and an additional forty-six student staff. According to the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, NAU is classified as “R2: Doctoral Universities—Higher Research Activity.” Founded in 1899 with twenty-three students, NAU is now a public university with over 30,000 undergraduate and graduate students who learn on campus and online, across the state and beyond. NAU has built a reputation for research and scientific discovery, and over 1,000 undergraduates present at the annual Undergraduate Research Symposium. From the beginning, NAU placed students at the center, and students are the driving force behind what Cline Library does. Through a strategic planning process now underway, users and staff imagine the future for Cline Library as a people-focused experiential learning environment, which is dynamic, is proactive to user needs, and promotes both individual discovery and creative collaboration. The library’s newly crafted mission and vision state

On Rainbow Connection Number and Connectivity

Rainbow connection number, $rc(G)$, of a connected graph $G$ is the minimum number of colours needed to colour its edges, so that every pair of vertices is connected by at least one path in which no two edges are coloured the same. In this paper we investigate the relationship of rainbow connection number with vertex and edge connectivity. It is already known that for a connected graph with minimum degree $\delta$, the rainbow connection number is upper bounded by $3n/(\delta + 1) + 3$ [Chandran et al., 2010]. This directly gives an upper bound of $3n/(\lambda + 1) + 3$ and $3n/(\kappa + 1) + 3$ for rainbow connection number where $\lambda$ and $\kappa$, respectively, denote the edge and vertex connectivity of the graph. We show that the above bound in terms of edge connectivity is tight up-to additive constants and show that the bound in terms of vertex connectivity can be improved to $(2 + \epsilon)n/\kappa + 23/ \epsilon^2$, for any $\epsilon > 0$. We conjecture that rainbow connection number is upper bounded by $n/\kappa + O(1)$ and show that it is true for $\kappa = 2$. We also show that the conjecture is true for chordal graphs and graphs of girth at least 7.Comment: 10 page

ENHANCING SPIRITUAL AND EMOTIONAL WELL-BEING OF UNITED STATES NAVY SAILORS THROUGH THE VIRTUE OF TRANSCENDENCE

This thesis investigates current practices, policies, and gaps in promoting transcendence within the U.S. military, with a focus on enhancing the spiritual and emotional well-being of Navy Sailors. Transcendence, involving a connection to a higher purpose, holds potential for individuals to find meaning in life. Five character strengths associated with transcendence—gratitude, hope, appreciation of beauty, humor, and spirituality—play a significant role in facilitating well-being. The study employs a literature review and analysis of military policies and programs to assess the state of spiritual fitness initiatives. The findings inform evidence-based recommendations for improving spiritual fitness and well-being in the Navy. The research contributes to enhancing the quality of life for service members and offers insights for promoting well-being in other high-performance work environments. Limitations include a U.S. military focus and potential biases in self-reported data. Overall, this research provides a comprehensive examination of transcendence and spiritual fitness in the military, identifying gaps and offering recommendations for further improvement.Approved for public release. Distribution is unlimited.Lieutenant, United States Nav

Network synchronization: Optimal and Pessimal Scale-Free Topologies

By employing a recently introduced optimization algorithm we explicitely design optimally synchronizable (unweighted) networks for any given scale-free degree distribution. We explore how the optimization process affects degree-degree correlations and observe a generic tendency towards disassortativity. Still, we show that there is not a one-to-one correspondence between synchronizability and disassortativity. On the other hand, we study the nature of optimally un-synchronizable networks, that is, networks whose topology minimizes the range of stability of the synchronous state. The resulting ``pessimal networks'' turn out to have a highly assortative string-like structure. We also derive a rigorous lower bound for the Laplacian eigenvalue ratio controlling synchronizability, which helps understanding the impact of degree correlations on network synchronizability.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figs, submitted to J. Phys. A (proceedings of Complex Networks 2007

A method to compare and improve land cover datasets: Application to the GLC-2000 and MODIS land cover products

This paper presents a methodology for the comparison of different land cover datasets and illustrates how this can be extended to create a hybrid land cover product. The datasets used in this paper are the GLC-2000 and MODIS land cover products. The methodology addresses: 1) the harmonization of legend classes from different global land cover datasets and 2) the uncertainty associated with the classification of the images. The first part of the methodology involves mapping the spatial disagreement between the two land cover products using a combination of fuzzy logic and expert knowledge. Hotspots of disagreement between the land cover datasets are then identified to determine areas where other sources of data such as TM/ETM images or detailed regional and national maps can be used in the creation of a hybrid land cover dataset

Sources of Mycorrhizal Infection of Shorea Acuminata Seedlings Under Laboratory Conditions*)

Uninoculated dipterocarp seedlings raised in normal field soil in nurseries were always found to have mycorrhizas after a few months. This study set out to determine whether dipterocarp seedlings could continue to grow and develop in the absence of mycorrhizas and also to determine possible sources of mycorrhizal infection of dipterocarp seedlings raised under laboratory conditions using Shorea acuminata as a typical example. Seedlings were planted in capped or uncapped perspex boxes containing sterile or non-sterile field soil and watered daily with sterile water or tap water. Seedling growth and development of mycorrhizas were monitored at monthly intervals for up to seven months. Seedlings grown in sterile soil remained uninfected after seven months while infection was found in some of the seedlings grown in normal soil regardless of whether they had been watered with tap water or sterile water. This showed that field soil (i.e. under grass) far from the forest contained suitable inoculum for forest tree seedlings. Tap water and the air were not important sources of infection. However, mycorrhizal infection was very uneven indicating that the inoculum was probably very unevenly distributed in the soil or that the inoculum density was rather low. Seedlings grown in sterile soil showed better growth than those grown in normal soil and infection of roots by parasitic fungi in the latter was also observed