Investigation of the effects of construction and stage filling of reservoirs on the environment and energy

There are no author-identified significant results in this report

A Comparative Study of the Truth in Lending Act

Less than two generations ago America discovered mass production. Scarcely one generation ago America discovered mass distribution. In the present generation America is discovering mass finance. But since this adage was written, some forty years ago, America has rapidly progressed out of the discovery stage--it is not well into the application stage. While many people may regard consumer credit as a relatively new concept, such is not the case. It probably began in the United States early in the nineteenth century (a few years after it was initiated in England), but it has only in recent years acquired such a position of social and economic imminence. Today, credit is an integral part of our life style and the volume of consumer credit sales reaches monumental proportions. At the beginning of 1970 over half of all U.S. families were making installment payments of some kind other than mortgages. Consumer credit outstanding (excluding mortgage debt) totaled the phenomenal sum of 122.5 billion dollars. Consider also that consumers pay anywhere from 6% to 40% for the use of that money. Yet, while the consumer indebtedness is substantial enough to warrant concern, credit is not entirely unfavorable. It allows people to enjoy a higher standard of living than would otherwise be possible. There is also the element of convenience--it allows people to buy things before they can pay for them. There\u27s also the added period of enjoyment people get from using products and services while they are paying for them. On the other hand, the unwise use of credit has serious ramifications. Each year thousands of people have declared personal bankruptcy. Perhaps the primary reason being that they buy things they don\u27t need or can\u27t pay for. Many overextend their financial capacity due to their lack of sound financial skills and the comparative ease with which credit is granted. They then become credit risks after skipping payments and getting into trouble with creditors. Unfortunately, little can be done to protect the consumer from himself. Therefore, attention must focus on protecting the consumer-borrower from the lender

A Comparative Study of the Truth in Lending Act

Consumer credit probably began in the United States early in the nineteenth century, but it has only in recent years acquired such a position of social and economic imminence. Today, credit is an integral part of our life style and the volume of consumer credit sales reaches monumental proportions. Though credit use has benefits, the unwise use of credit has serious ramifications. Little can be done to protect the consumer from himself, so attention must focus on protecting the consumer-borrower from the lender. The full-disclosure facet of the Act assures consumer-borrowers that they will be informed as to the real cost of their credit. Lenders are criminally liable for willful and knowing violations of the Truth in Lending Act. The Act is the first substantial consumer credit protection legislation. Its appearance alone seems to serve as notification that emphasis is being shifted from Let the buyer beware and turned toward Let the seller beware

Investigation of the effects of construction and stage filling of reservoirs on the environment and ecology: Preproject baseline

The author has identified the following significant results: (1) LANDSAT imagery can be used effectively as a baseline for detection of environmental change, resulting from construction of a major inland reservoir. (2) Forest cover can be observed adequately on two-band composite enlargements at a scale of 1:130,000. (3) Forest cover delineated on LANDSAT enlargements compares accurately with ground truth at a scale of 1:250,000. (4) A dual image mapping technique superimposing winter, summer, and spring scenes using the zoom transfer scope facilitates the determination. (5) The same technique can be used to detect changes in the project area, resulting from construction activities. (6) High altitude aircraft imagery can also be used to interpret changes in land use and forest type. (7) Construction operations can be more clearly detailed on the air photos than on LANDSAT imagery

On black hole thermalization, D0 brane dynamics, and emergent spacetime

When matter falls past the horizon of a large black hole, the expectation from string theory is that the configuration thermalizes and the information in the probe is rather quickly scrambled away. The traditional view of a classical unique spacetime near a black hole horizon conflicts with this picture. The question then arises as to what spacetime does the probe actually see as it crosses a horizon, and how does the background geometry imprint its signature onto the thermal properties of the probe. In this work, we explore these questions through an extensive series of numerical simulations of D0 branes. We determine that the D0 branes quickly settle into an incompressible symmetric state -- thermalized within a few oscillations through a process driven entirely by internal non-linear dynamics. Surprisingly, thermal background fluctuations play no role in this mechanism. Signatures of the background fields in this thermal state arise either through fluxes, i.e. black hole hair; or if the probe expands to the size of the horizon -- which we see evidence of. We determine simple scaling relations for the D0 branes' equilibrium size, time to thermalize, lifetime, and temperature in terms of their number, initial energy, and the background fields. Our results are consistent with the conjecture that black holes are the fastest scramblers as seen by Matrix theory.Comment: 43 pages, 12 figures; v2: added analysis showing that results are consistent with and confirm Susskind conjecture on black hole thermalization. Added clarification about strong coupling regime. Citation adde

SNP and Mutation Data on the Web – Hidden Treasures for Uncovering

SNP data has grown exponentially over the last two years, SNP database evolution has matched this growth, as initial development of several independent SNP databases has given way to one central SNP database, dbSNP. Other SNP databases have instead evolved to complement this central database by providing gene specific focus and an increased level of curation and analysis on subsets of data, derived from the central data set. By contrast, human mutation data, which has been collected over many years, is still stored in disparate sources, although moves are afoot to move to a similar central database. These developments are timely, human mutation and polymorphism data both hold complementary keys to a better understanding of how genes function and malfunction in disease. The impending availability of a complete human genome presents us with an ideal framework to integrate both these forms of data, as our understanding of the mechanisms of disease increase, the full genomic context of variation may become increasingly significant

Investigating knowledge management factors affecting Chinese ICT firms performance: An integrated KM framework

This is an Author's Accepted Manuscript of an article published in the Journal of Information Systems Management, 28(1), 19 - 29, 2011, copyright Taylor & Francis, available online at: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/10580530.2011.536107.This article sets out to investigate the critical factors of Knowledge Management (KM) which are considered to have an impact on the performance of Chinese information and communication technology (ICT) firms. This study confirms that the cultural environment of an enterprise is central to its success in the context of China. It shows that a collaborated, trusted, and learning environment within ICT firms will have a positive impact on their KM performance

Consumption caught in the cash nexus.

During the last thirty years, ‘consumption’ has become a major topic in the study of contemporary culture within anthropology, psychology and sociology. For many authors it has become central to understanding the nature of material culture in the modern world but this paper argues that the concept is, in British writing at least, too concerned with its economic origins in the selling and buying of consumer goods or commodities. It is argued that to understand material culture as determined through the monetary exchange for things - the cash nexus - leads to an inadequate sociological understanding of the social relations with objects. The work of Jean Baudrillard is used both to critique the concept of consumption as it leads to a focus on advertising, choice, money and shopping and to point to a more sociologically adequate approach to material culture that explores objects in a system of models and series, ‘atmosphere’, functionality, biography, interaction and mediation

Mutations of the BRAF gene in human cancer

Cancers arise owing to the accumulation of mutations in critical genes that alter normal programmes of cell proliferation, differentiation and death. As the first stage of a systematic genome-wide screen for these genes, we have prioritized for analysis signalling pathways in which at least one gene is mutated in human cancer. The RAS RAF MEK ERK MAP kinase pathway mediates cellular responses to growth signals. RAS is mutated to an oncogenic form in about 15% of human cancer. The three RAF genes code for cytoplasmic serine/threonine kinases that are regulated by binding RAS. Here we report BRAF somatic missense mutations in 66% of malignant melanomas and at lower frequency in a wide range of human cancers. All mutations are within the kinase domain, with a single substitution (V599E) accounting for 80%. Mutated BRAF proteins have elevated kinase activity and are transforming in NIH3T3 cells. Furthermore, RAS function is not required for the growth of cancer cell lines with the V599E mutation. As BRAF is a serine/threonine kinase that is commonly activated by somatic point mutation in human cancer, it may provide new therapeutic opportunities in malignant melanoma

Where is the Faith? Using a CBPR Approach to Propose Adaptations to an Evidence-Based HIV Prevention Intervention for Adolescents in African American Faith Settings

African American adolescents are at increased risk for HIV/AIDS. Using a community-based participatory research approach, we engaged three black churches in adapting an evidence-based HIV prevention intervention, Focus on Youth (FOY)+ImPACT, for faith settings. To identify potential adaptations to increase FOY's relevance, utility, and efficacy for faith settings, we conducted eight focus groups pre- and post-intervention. Recommendations for maintaining FOY's core elements and enhancing its cultural authenticity include the following: incorporating faith tools, building pastor capacity, strengthening parent-child communication skills, and expanding social support for parents and youth. Engaging faith communities in adapting and implementing evidence-based HIV prevention programs could reduce HIV/AIDS disparities