What Lies Beneath? Who Owns British Defence Contractors and Does it Matter?

This paper presents the findings of research into the distribution of the rewards from capital used in defence production. Much existing research has examined the supply chain in the production of defence goods, but there have been few attempts to look at the ownership of suppliers. First, the paper examines two theoretical issues: why the identity of shareholders in defence contractors should have any economic or political significance, and whether the use of capital in defence industries should in principle be expected to be the same as that in any other industry. It then investigates the identity and ownership of the contractors concerned in 2003-4, using several case studies. It finds that many of the largest suppliers to the UK government are foreign-owned or controlled, and it finds evidence of a surprising degree of American equity participation in major British contractors.

Gendered Collegiate Sports:Athlete-Student or Student-Athlete?

This study examined the effects of gendered sports programs on the academic success of college athletics using data from the 2003-2012 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) survey and interviews with six athletic professionals. Data for the 2003-12 periods were disaggregated into two groups, 2003-2010 and 2011-2012, to capture the potential relevance of the Academic Progress Rates revisions made by NCAA in 2011. Programs that reported higher academic success rates received public recognition and fewer penalties. However, only larger male sports programs had lower academic success rates. Private, rather than public, institutions received more public approbation and had better academic success. These findings, not only illustrated the Structural Conflict and the manifest-latent dysfunctional (Merton) nature of collegiate athletics, but also added to literature in the sociology of collegiate sports

Water Usage Reduction at Food Processing Facility

Burke Corporation in Nevada, Iowa uses 25% of the city’s fresh water supply. The company spends $875,000/yr and uses 65,385,000 gal of water. Burke corporation wants to reduce these costs and in turn be more environmentally friendly

A multi-method approach to delineate and validate migratory corridors

Context: Managers are faced with numerous methods for delineating wildlife movement corridors, and often must make decisions with limited data. Delineated corridors should be robust to different data and models. Objectives: We present a multi-method approach for delineating and validating wildlife corridors using multiple data sources, which can be used conserve landscape connectivity. We used this approach to delineate and validate migration corridors for wildebeest (Connochaetes taurinus) in the Tarangire Ecosystem of northern Tanzania. Methods: We used two types of locational data (distance sampling detections and GPS collar locations), and three modeling methods (negative binomial regression, logistic regression, and Maxent), to generate resource selection functions (RSFs) and define resistance surfaces. We compared two corridor detection algorithms (cost-distance and circuit theory), to delineate corridors. We validated corridors by comparing random and wildebeest locations that fell within corridors, and cross-validated by data type. Results: Both data types produced similar RSFs. Wildebeest consistently selected migration habitat in flatter terrain farther from human settlements. Validation indicated three of the combinations of data type, modeling, and corridor detection algorithms (detection data with Maxent modeling, GPS collar data with logistic regression modeling, and GPS collar data with Maxent modeling, all using cost-distance) far outperformed the other seven. We merged the predictive corridors from these three data-method combinations to reveal habitat with highest probability of use. Conclusions: The use of multiple methods ensures that planning is able to prioritize conservation of migration corridors based on all available information

What effect does an after-school science, maths and English enhancement programme have on grade 10 to 12 students' learning of physical science?

Thesis (M.Ed.)--University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2012.The main purpose of this study was to determine whether a Physical Science intervention programme that has been running for three years at St John’s College for selected Grade 10-12 students from under-resourced schools in inner city Johannesburg, has had any impact on the final academic results of these selected students in the National Senior Certificate examination. There is little international or local research that deals with third world academic extension and enrichment programmes, particularly with respect to South Africa. A mixed methods case study on the programme was carried out. Numerical data was collected over a period of three years to be used to determine the effectiveness of the programme. Interviews with the participants and teachers on the programme were conducted and surveys were carried out with participants on the programme as well as students who were not on the programme from the three partner schools. The three instruments used in the research provided different forms of data which produced findings that were combined to look for common trends and understandings. The data collected from the surveys, interviews and term scores were coded, captured organised, analysed and interpreted. Among the more significant findings were: (a) Not all of the participants on the programme showed academic improvement; (b) The overall academic improvement of the two groups researched was marginally better than their peers who were not part of the programme; (c) In the view of the participants, the intervention had a greater influence on their academic achievements than the actual findings from analysis of the numerical data indicated; (d) There are a number of factors that determine the success of the programme; (e) The self-motivation is an important determinant for success of individuals on the programme. These findings could assist current programme organisers and institutions that seek to introduce similar types of intervention programmes in the future

Money Disorders and Locus of Control: Implications for Assessment and Treatment

Research has implicated locus of control (LOC) as a factor in the development of psychological disorders, but few studies have examined how LOC relates to money disorders, which occur when stress surrounding money negatively impacts financial health. The present study utilized hierarchical regression to examine how select demographic factors and LOC contribute to 7 distinct money disorders among a sample of 164 college students. Results demonstrate that the link between external LOC and money disorders is stronger than indicated by previous research. Unlike demographic factors, which are static and were not found to predict money disorders in the present study, LOC is amenable to change, and both financial planners and mental health professionals may wish to incorporate locus of control into assessment and intervention

AUTOMATING NETWORK DEVICE CONFIGURATION TEMPLATE DISCOVERY

Establishing network device golden configuration templates typically relies on largely manual efforts and a dialogue between network consulting engineers and customers. Techniques are presented herein that streamline the process of discovering and baselining network standards by examining underlying themes and relationships between micro-templates in customer environments. Aspects of the presented techniques employ a Masked-Language Model (MLM), in a way that an MLM was not necessarily intended, to detect locally significant attributes in network device configurations for the express purpose of identifying structures that are common across a set of devices. Under further aspects of the presented techniques, the creation of association rules between configuration blocks and the devices on which they are found allows for the identification of underlying themes in configurations that form the basis of network standards and platform-based templates