The Economic Contributions of the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the economic significance of the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District within the Kenai Peninsula Borough. We use an Alaska-specific Input-Output (I-O) model created by Dr. Scott Goldsmith of ISER, which is custom designed for the Alaska economy to “relate changes in spending in a particular industry to total changes in jobs and income in the Alaska economy.1” In the 2009/2010 school year, the school district directly created 1468.4 jobs, and about $109 million dollars was spent in south central Alaska. Based on the results of the model, this created 628.6 jobs, mostly in the borough, but with some located in Anchorage. These figures highlight the school district's role in the private as well as the public sector of the Kenai Peninsula Borough economy.Kenai Peninsula Borough School DistrictSummary of Findings / Introduction / Economy of the Kenai Peninsula / Methodology / District Overview / Revenue and Expenditures / Economic Significance of the KPBSD / Other School District Related Spending / Conclusion / References / Appendixe

Poland and the Ukraine War: A Geopolitical Analysis

Poland’s geopolitical role has enhanced since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. As such, Poland’s ambitions have increasingly important implications for regional, European, and global security. The paper attempts to address this phenomenon by posing the following research question: how does Poland pursue its interests in the Ukraine War? Employing qualitative methods on data collected from three formal interviews, one virtual interview, one informal interview, four statements from Poland’s leaders, and a variety of secondary sources, the study aims to answer this question modeling Gyula Csurgai’s (2019) geopolitical analysis framework. The research question is addressed in two ways. First, the author examines why it is in Poland’s interests to support Ukraine in the conflict using seven geopolitical factors. Second, this paper identifies four of Poland’s strategic objectives. In doing so, it highlights how geopolitical factors influence Polish strategy and how Poland pursues its geopolitical goals. Overall, the study finds that Poland’s motivations in the conflict are multidimensional; additionally, that the Ukraine War presents both a threat and an opportunity for Polish ambitions

Calibration of neural networks using genetic algorithms, with application to optimal path planning

Genetic algorithms (GA) are used to search the synaptic weight space of artificial neural systems (ANS) for weight vectors that optimize some network performance function. GAs do not suffer from some of the architectural constraints involved with other techniques and it is straightforward to incorporate terms into the performance function concerning the metastructure of the ANS. Hence GAs offer a remarkably general approach to calibrating ANS. GAs are applied to the problem of calibrating an ANS that finds optimal paths over a given surface. This problem involves training an ANS on a relatively small set of paths and then examining whether the calibrated ANS is able to find good paths between arbitrary start and end points on the surface

Reconstruction of the Shapes of Gold Nanocrystals using Coherent X-ray Diffraction

Inverse problems arise frequently in physics: The magnitude of the Fourier transform of some function is measurable, but not its phase. The “phase problem” in crystallography arises because the number of discrete measurements (Bragg peak intensities) is only half the number of unknowns (electron density points in space). Sayre first proposed that oversampling of diffraction data should allow a solution, and this has recently been demonstrated. Here we report the successful phasing of an oversampled hard x-ray diffraction pattern measured from a single nanocrystal of gold

Unlocking the Chamber Doors: Limiting Confidentiality in Proceedings Before the Virginia Judicial Inquiry and Review Commission

In a Mississippi case, a judge imposed and collected criminal fines, then willfully and fraudulently documented the case as dismissed, keeping the money for himself. In California, the Commission of Judicial Qualifications removed a judge for prodding an attorney with a dildo, grabbing a court commissioner by his testicles in a public hallway, and habitually making offensive sexual remarks at his office. A Massachusetts judge received public censure for making derogatory and obscene references to members of the bench and bar, becoming intoxicated and urinating in public, and setting unusually high bail for African-American defendants. After a Federal Bureau of Investigation sting operation, four Dade County Circuit Court judges were indicted for allegedly accepting more than $250,000 in bribes for judicial favors

The Effect of Managed and Traditional Care Insurance Plans on Horizontal Inequity in Access to Health Care in the United States

This study examines income inequity in access to health care in the United States. Given the predominant and growing presence of managed care organizations as a source of medical insurance and care in both the private and public settings, replacing traditional indemnity plans as a lower cost prophylactic alternative, we speculate that the presence of Managed Care Organizations would reduce, if not eliminate, any pro wealthy bias in access to health care for the insured population in the U.S. We rely on previously developed methodology from the EcuityII project, incorporating the health inequity index (HIWV), to estimate income inequity in traditional indemnity and managed care plans. Our results are surprisingly counterintuitive to the expected result that managed care was designed to have on access to care. The calculated HIWV indicates a relatively greater pro wealthy bias in the managed care group. This result has important and direct policy implications as public insurance programs in the U.S. contract with managed care organizations as a lower cost alternative for Medicaid and Medicare beneficiaries

Clique-Relaxed Graph Coloring

We define a generalization of the chromatic number of a graph G called the k-clique-relaxed chromatic number, denoted χ(k)(G). We prove bounds on χ(k)(G) for all graphs G, including corollaries for outerplanar and planar graphs. We also define the k-clique-relaxed game chromatic number, χg(k)(G), of a graph G. We prove χg(2)(G)≤ 4 for all outerplanar graphs G, and give an example of an outerplanar graph H with χg(2)(H) ≥ 3. Finally, we prove that if H is a member of a particular subclass of outerplanar graphs, then χg(2)(H) ≤ 3

Management and Labor Relations Techniques of Japanese-Owned Automotive Assembly Plants in the United States

This field project involves a study of the Japanese-owned automotive assembly plants, or “transplants,” in the United States and the management and labor-relations techniques that have made them successful. The management and labor-relations aspects of the transplants are compared and contrasted to those of the American-owned, Big Three auto plants. The success of the transplants is measured and analyzed using J.D. Power data for initial quality and Harbour Report data for plant efficiency. The study identifies six major factors that have led to the success of the Japanese transplants, in terms of management and labor relations. These are 1) Non-unionization (with some exceptions). 2) Organization of workers into empowered production teams. 3) Lean production systems. 4) No-layoff policies. 5)Recruitment socialization. 6) Excellent relations with suppliers. Each factor is discussed in detail. A literature review of authoritative books on the subject of the Japanese transplants is included, as well as a brief history of the transplant phenomenon over the past 25 years. It is anticipated that this study will provide a clearer understanding of the success of Japanese management and labor-relations techniques through their application in automotive manufacturing in the United States

Perceptions of Support Networks During the Graduate Assistant Athletic Trainer Experience

Context: The graduate-assistant position can be a highly influential experience because it is often the first time novice athletic trainers (ATs) are practicing autonomously. Objective: To gain an understanding of how graduate-assistant ATs (GAATs) perceive professional socialization and mentorship during their assistantships. Design: Semistructured phone interviews. Setting: Graduate-assistant ATs in various clinical settings. Patients or Other Participants: Twenty-five GAATs (20 women, 5 men) studying in 1 of 3 academic tracks (postprofessional athletic training = 8, athletic training-based curriculum = 11, non-athletic training-based curriculum = 6). Median age was 24 years. Data Collection and Analysis: Phone interviews were digitally recorded and transcribed verbatim. Data analysis used principles of the general inductive approach. Credibility was maintained using peer review, field notes, and intercoder reliability. Results: Participants identified peer support throughout their experiences, in both academic and clinical settings. The GAATs frequently relied on other GAATs for support due to shared experiences and understanding of workloads. Participants described difficulty receiving supervisor support from fulltime staff ATs due to the supervisors\u27 workload and time constraints, limiting their availability for mentoring. Guidance from academic support personnel occurred only in athletic training-centered academic programs. Communication emerged as helpful for incoming GAATs; the previous GAATs provided formal mentorship via job descriptions highlighting role responsibilities and expectations. Differences between assistantship types were noted only in terms of receiving balanced mentorship between the academic and clinical staffs, such that students studying in postprofessional athletic training programs perceived more balanced support. Conclusions: Our results confirm the literature regarding the GAAT\u27s pursuit of continued formal mentoring. The GAATs perceived less support from full-time AT staff members due to limited availability. Therefore, GAATs leaned on their peers for support during the graduate experience

Loans for farmers

Cover title.Includes bibliographical references