A Survey of Small Business Computer Users- What Small Business Owners and Managers Really Want in A Micro-Computer System

F B. Green is an Assistant Professor of Decision Sciences and Alden Peterson is an Assistant Professor of Management at Appalachian University

Maximum Mean Discrepancy Meets Neural Networks: The Radon-Kolmogorov-Smirnov Test

Maximum mean discrepancy (MMD) refers to a general class of nonparametric two-sample tests that are based on maximizing the mean difference over samples from one distribution $P$ versus another $Q$, over all choices of data transformations $f$ living in some function space $\mathcal{F}$. Inspired by recent work that connects what are known as functions of $\textit{Radon bounded variation}$ (RBV) and neural networks (Parhi and Nowak, 2021, 2023), we study the MMD defined by taking $\mathcal{F}$ to be the unit ball in the RBV space of a given smoothness order $k \geq 0$. This test, which we refer to as the $\textit{Radon-Kolmogorov-Smirnov}$ (RKS) test, can be viewed as a generalization of the well-known and classical Kolmogorov-Smirnov (KS) test to multiple dimensions and higher orders of smoothness. It is also intimately connected to neural networks: we prove that the witness in the RKS test -- the function $f$ achieving the maximum mean difference -- is always a ridge spline of degree $k$, i.e., a single neuron in a neural network. This allows us to leverage the power of modern deep learning toolkits to (approximately) optimize the criterion that underlies the RKS test. We prove that the RKS test has asymptotically full power at distinguishing any distinct pair $P \not= Q$ of distributions, derive its asymptotic null distribution, and carry out extensive experiments to elucidate the strengths and weakenesses of the RKS test versus the more traditional kernel MMD test

Developing a new conceptual framework of meaningful interaction for understanding social isolation and loneliness

Academic debate about social isolation and loneliness, and their adverse health and well-being implications, has resulted in many policy and programme interventions directed towards reducing both, especially among older people. However, definitions of the two concepts, their measurement, and the relationship between the two are not clearly articulated. This article redresses this and draws on theoretical constructs adapted from symbolic interactionism, together with the Good Relations Measurement Framework, developed for the Equality and Human Rights Commission in the UK, to challenge the way in which social isolation and loneliness are currently understood. It argues for a need to understand experiences of social relationships, particularly those which facilitate meaningful interaction, suggesting that opportunities and barriers to meaningful interaction are determined by wider societal issues. This is set out in a new conceptual framework which can be applied across the life course and facilitates a new discourse for understanding these challenging concepts

Experimental cross-correlation Nitrogen Q-branch CARS Thermometry in a Spark Ignition Engine

A purely experimental technique was employed to derive temperatures from nitrogen Q-branch Coherent Anti-Stokes Raman Scattering (CARS) spectra, obtained in a high pressure, high temperature environment (spark ignition Otto engine). This was in order to obviate any errors arising from deficiencies in the spectral scaling laws which are commonly used to represent nitrogen Q-branch CARS spectra at high pressure. The spectra obtained in the engine were compared with spectra obtained in a calibrated high pressure, high temperature cell, using direct cross-correlation in place of the minimisation of sums of squares of residuals. The technique is demonstrated through the measurement of air temperature as a function of crankshaft angle inside the cylinder of a motored single-cylinder Ricardo E6 research engine, followed by the measurement of fuel-air mixture temperatures obtained during the compression stroke in a knocking Ricardo E6 engine. A standard CARS program (SANDIA’s CARSFIT) was employed to calibrate the altered non-resonant background contribution to the CARS spectra that was caused by the alteration to the mole fraction of nitrogen in the unburned fuel-air mixture. The compression temperature profiles were extrapolated in order to predict the auto-ignition temperatures

A longer vernal window: The role of winter coldness and snowpack in driving spring thresholds and lags

Climate change is altering the timing and duration of the vernal window, a period that marks the end of winter and the start of the growing season when rapid transitions in ecosystem energy, water, nutrient, and carbon dynamics take place. Research on this period typically captures only a portion of the ecosystem in transition and focuses largely on the dates by which the system wakes up. Previous work has not addressed lags between transitions that represent delays in energy, water, nutrient, and carbon flows. The objectives of this study were to establish the sequence of physical and biogeochemical transitions and lags during the vernal window period and to understand how climate change may alter them. We synthesized observations from a statewide sensor network in New Hampshire, USA, that concurrently monitored climate, snow, soils, and streams over a three-year period and supplemented these observations with climate reanalysis data, snow data assimilation model output, and satellite spectral data. We found that some of the transitions that occurred within the vernal window were sequential, with air temperatures warming prior to snow melt, which preceded forest canopy closure. Other transitions were simultaneous with one another and had zero-length lags, such as snowpack disappearance, rapid soil warming, and peak stream discharge. We modeled lags as a function of both winter coldness and snow depth, both of which are expected to decline with climate change. Warmer winters with less snow resulted in longer lags and a more protracted vernal window. This lengthening of individual lags and of the entire vernal window carries important consequences for the thermodynamics and biogeochemistry of ecosystems, both during the winter-to-spring transition and throughout the rest of the year

UMP, SCUN seal bilateral collaborations

Universiti Malaysia Pahang (UMP) fortified its international networking when it sealed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with China’s South-Central University for Nationalities (SCUN) in Beijing, China, on June 1

Development of adenovirus immobilization strategies for in situ gene therapy

Background Regenerative gene therapy using viral vectors enables transduced cells to express bioactive factors in vivo . Viral delivery with spatial control can enhance transduction efficiency and may limit systemic infection. Consequently, we tethered biotinylated adenovirus via interactions with avidin on chitosan surfaces to gain robust control for in situ transduction. Methods Avidin was either directly conjugated to chitosan (virus–biotin–avidin-material; VBAM) or indirectly docked on biotinylated chitosan surfaces (virus–biotin–avidin–biotin-material; VBABM) to tether biotinylated adenovirus. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and spectroscopic analysis were performed to demonstrate the binding profiles. Biotin-alkaline phosphatase and biotinylated adenovirus were used as different sized particles to evaluate binding efficiencies and were compared by the Sips isotherm adsorption method. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) examination illustrated virus distribution, and the transduction efficiency was determined by in vitro cell transduction. Results ELISA and spectroscopic analysis both demonstrated that the VBAM system led to multilayer avidin formation on biomaterial surfaces, whereas VBABM formed a monolayer of avidin. Sips isotherm adsorption indicated that the VBAM method increased heterogeneity and steric hindrance of binding sites. By contrast, the VBABM method docked avidin on chitosan surfaces and orientated the binding sites to facilitate ligand binding. In addition, SEM images illustrated that the VBABM method led to more even viral distribution. In vitro cell infection experiments also demonstrated that the VBABM system enhanced virus immobilization and thus improved cell transduction efficiency over the VBAM system. Conclusions The VBABM strategy is a superior method for in situ transduction from biomaterials. This strategy could be adapted for use with a variety of biomaterials as well as viral vectors, and thus may be an alternative method for in vivo regenerative gene therapy. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/60964/1/1233_ftp.pd

The gravity of China's African export promise

Africa’s largest trade partner, China, criticised for exchanging resources for manufactures, has promised to increase imports and optimise the structure of trade with Africa. Using a gravity model of China’s imports for the years 1995- 2009, we explore potential dynamics for this promise, uniquely accounting for market economy recognition and Taiwan recognition. The former is associated with increased imports, while the latter effect is ambiguous and statistically insignificant. Comparison of projected against actual imports across three growth-path-aligned economic geography typologies - resource-rich; landlocked and resource-poor; coastal and resource-poor – sets out China’s imports trends in an abstract framework of African export potential. We find not only ‘under’ importing across a majority of resource-poor countries. We also find that current trade policy is the least applicable to these comparatively poor exporters’ trade with China. If the latter are to serve a broader catalytic role in Africa’s regional industrial transformation as compared to the role of coastal and resource poor countries in regional economic transformation in Asia and Latin America, China-Africa trade and investment policies may need additional thinking

The decision to moonlight: does second job holding by the self-employed and employed differ?

This paper considers drivers of second job holding amongst the self-employed in comparison with the employed. Econometric analysis of panel data explores whether the self-employed are more or less likely to take on a second job when already running their own business, than their employed counterparts. The findings contribute to the literature through identification of a need-based variable – difficulty in meeting housing costs – as a key driver of movements from self-employment to hybrid entrepreneurship. Findings, further, identify different patterns of second job holding by gender, particularly amongst self-employed individuals

Combo Night 2011

UNF Music Flagship Program Presents Combo Night Featuring UNF Jazz Studies Students Wednesday, October 5, 2011 UNF Fine Arts Center - Choir Room, 140