An Analysis of Success in Rural Economic Development: The Case of Daviess County, Kentucky

Over the last half-century, numerous factors have resulted in a significant economic downturn in American manufacturing, with particularly negative impacts on rural regions throughout the country. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine one rural Kentucky community’s attempts to bolster its industrial relevance, as well as the region’s overall economy, by employing an economic development strategy known as Kentucky’s Work Ready Communities (WRC). This initiative, introduced by the Kentucky Workforce Innovation Board in 2012, aims to attract new or expanding industry to communities or regions by demonstrating a strong infrastructure and a sustainable workforce that is prepared to meet the needs of industry. Daviess County, located in northwestern Kentucky, was the first Kentucky community to earn the certification. This study chronicles one community’s success in earning the certification, while also aiming to identify specific economic impacts related to the certification and how this economic development program has impacted workforce development strategies and collaboration within the Daviess County community. Interviews with key stakeholders who were actively involved in the community strategy were conducted to gather perception data related to economic improvements that have resulted from achievement of the certification and to determine if workforce development strategies have improved as a result of the WRC certification initiative. The results of the study yielded positive findings for both research questions posed. Further, the results of this case serve to inform other rural communities that may look to replicate success in strengthening the local economy by espousing a similar economic strategy

Archistrategos

Title from PDF of title page, viewed July 17, 2014Thesis advisor: James MobberleyVitaThesis (M. A.)--Conservatory of Music and Dance. University of Missouri--Kansas City, 2014A few years ago I became interested in Christian Orthodoxy, a faith tradition as old as my own -- Roman Catholicism -- yet unfamiliar to most in the Western world. I was seduced by the mysticism and sensuality of Orthodoxy, from the more poetic approach to theology to the engagement of the senses during the Divine Liturgy. Of particular interest has been the dazzling artwork ubiquitous to Orthodox churches around the world known as iconography. Usually a painting or mosaic presented on a flat panel, an icon depicts a holy individual or individuals, either alone or within the context of a specific event from scripture or sacred tradition. Orthodoxy considers icons to be first and foremost didactic in nature, each one serving to convey a specific teaching or theological concept, facilitated in part through universally familiar symbolism. But despite many artistic restraints, iconography is astonishingly nuanced and capable of elevating ones attention to the heavens. Archistrategos is a musical reaction to various iconographic depictions of Michael the Archangel. In choosing materials, I reflected on the dual nature of the angel who is both a military leader charged with leading heavens armies against the Gates of Hell ("Archistrategos," an ancient Greek military term for a commanding officer, is a common Orthodox reference to Michael) and a peaceful, protective entity. This duality gives rise to contrasting materials: sections marked by agitated rhythms, sharp attacks, short phrase lengths, dissonant pitch collections, and militant percussion writing are juxtaposed against passages of more tranquil, celestial music characterized by expansive, legato phrasing and a more consonant harmonic palette. In the climax of the work, elements from both musical domains are combined. The aforementioned mysticism and sensuality of Orthodoxy inspired the unusual timbres (e.g. bowed woodblock and rubbed cowbells) and the sparseness and drawn-out pacing of the middle sectionAbstract -- Instrumentation -- Performance notes -- Acknowledgments -- Scor

Interacting Dark Energy -- constraints and degeneracies

In standard cosmologies, dark energy interacts only gravitationally with dark matter. There could be a non-gravitational interaction in the dark sector, leading to changes in the effective DE equation of state, in the redshift dependence of the DM density and in structure formation. We use CMB, BAO and SNIa data to constrain a model where the energy transfer in the dark sector is proportional to the DE density. There are two subclasses, defined by the vanishing of momentum transfer either in the DM or the DE frame. We conduct a Markov-Chain Monte-Carlo analysis to obtain best-fit parameters. The background evolution allows large interaction strengths, and the constraints from CMB anisotropies are weak. The growth of DM density perturbations is much more sensitive to the interaction, and can deviate strongly from the standard case. However, the deviations are degenerate with galaxy bias and thus more difficult to constrain. Interestingly, the ISW signature is suppressed since the non-standard background evolution can compensate for high growth rates. We also discuss the partial degeneracy between interacting DE and modified gravity, and how this can be broken.Comment: 12 pages, 18 figures. Clarification on instabilities. Accepted by PR

Real-Time Decentralized Information Processing and Returns to Scale

We study the properties of real-time decentralized information processing, as a model of human information processing in organizations, and use the model to understand how constraints on human information processing affect the returns to scale of firms. With real-time processing, decentralization does not unambiguously reduce delay, because processing a subordinate's report precludes processing current data. Because decision rules are endogenous, delay does not inexorably lead to eventually decreasing returns to scale; however, returns are more likely to be decreasing when computation constraints, rat her than sampling costs, limit the information upon which decisions are conditioned. The results illustrate that the requirement of informational integration causes a breakdown of the replication arguments that are often used to establish non-decreasing returns.Information Systems Working Papers Serie

Real-Time Decentralization Information Processing and Returns to Scale

We use a model of real-time decentralized information processing to understand how constraints on human information processing affect the returns to scale of organizations. We identify three informational (dis)economies of scale: diversification of heterogeneous risks (positive), sharing of information and of costs (positive), and crowding out of recent information due to information processing delay (negative). Because decision rules are endogenous, delay does not inexorably lead to decreasing returns to scale. However, returns are more likely to be decreasing when computation constraints, rather than sampling costs, limit the information upon which decisions are conditioned. The results illustrate how information processing constraints together with the requirement of informational integration cause a breakdown of the replication arguments that have been used to establish nondecreasing technological returns to scale.Information Systems Working Papers Serie

The off-axis channel macroplate

High-gain microchannel plates (MCPs) which utilize curvature of the channel to inhibit ion feedback (C-plate MCRs) have demonstrated excellent performance characteristics. However, C-plate MCPs are at present costly to fabricate, and the shearing process used to curve the channels produces a low device yield. Described here is a totally new type of high-gain MCP structure in which each channel has an axially symmetric curvature. Initial tests of proof-of-concept units of these MCPs with 75-micron-diameter channels (macroplates) suggest that their performance characteristics have the potential to be equal to those of a C-plate MCP while the fabrication process is no more complex than that of a conventional straight-channel MCP

The Iowa Physics Project: Past, Present, and Future

Iowa, along with many other states, has been faced with a loss of qualified physics teachers to the private sector for better salaries. This has created a shortage of people qualified to teach physics. A study by Howe and Gerlovich (1983) indicated that the majority of states in the United States are experiencing serious shortages of qualified science and math teachers. Science consultants from each state were asked to rate the supply of science and mathematics teachers on a Likert Scale ranging from one to five (1 = surplus and 5 = critical shortage) in the years from 1980 to 1982. The summary in Table 1 shows the degree of shortage of physics, chemistry and mathematics teachers and permits a comparison of physics with chemistry and mathematics teachers