Is the policy for economic development in Alberta directed by the Alberta economic development authority?

The province of Alberta’s economic development policy has shifted from rural-led policy development to a corporate-led direction creating significant changes in recent history.  While positive outcomes have come about, the change has also resulted in increased bureaucracy, a rise in individualized approaches to program delivery, taxpayer dissatisfaction and a sizable financial debt. This paper traces the historical political climate and addresses the issues that have come to light as a result of this shift. The author also considers how the involvement of the Alberta Economic Development Authority – a group of business, education, community leaders and legislators tasked to recommend to government policy direction and changes – have influenced the province.Keywords: economic development policy, Alberta Economic Development Authority, government

Technology for Justice : How Information Technology Can Support Judicial Reform

Oskamp, A. [Promotor]Harding, A.J. [Copromotor

Creating a Better Browser Fingerprint

Web browser fingerprinting is used to analyze client behavior through retrieval of browser attributes unique to the user’s browser, network and hardware profile. Third-party trackers are prevalent on the top Alexa sites and use JavaScript to retrieve and store user machine information in a stateless fashion. Stateless fingerprinting is performed through acquisition of client machine specifiers through an embedded JavaScript, which then forwards the information to a server. The client information is purportedly used to provide tailored advertising and enhance the browsing experience. However, the depth of captured client information often extends into the realm of personally identifiable information. The user is often unaware of privacy issues and how their information is disseminated for profit, or the risk of such data being used by hackers to exploit divulged vulnerabilities. We review fingerprinting techniques from previous works that delineate seminal methods and countermeasures, and present a novel fingerprinting JavaScript that measure over 200 Windows and Navigator object properties. The results reveal new parameters that can be used to generate unique user identifiers, and accurately track individual browsing behavior. These findings may be used by developers of anti-tracking software to improve efficacy and preserve individual privacy

Review of Stevick, Richard. 2014[2007]. \u3cem\u3eGrowing Up Amish: The Rumspringa Years\u3c/em\u3e [2nd edition]. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.

The first thing that should have caught my attention when I received my copy of Richard Stevick’s second edition of Growing Up Amish was that he had changed the cover image from one of a male and female adolescent riding in an open-top buggy—the picture of traditional conformity—to an image of a single male, walking down the road in a blatantly cocky fashion, under his own power rather than being conveyed, staring unabashed, straight into the camera. His black vest is flapping open, and his white shirt is partially untucked, loose, and gaping around the collar, so big as to be ill-fitting. He is taking a long, cool drag on a cigarette. A decade ago, I would have honed-in right off on this image as rather inappropriate for a jacket cover of a book about the generalities of Amish youth culture. Apparently it has become far too commonplace to see images of Amish deviance for me to have noticed. This is what Stevick brings new to his second edition: what has changed seemingly so quickly. [First paragraph

MRP1: A TARGET FOR HEMATOPOIETIC STEM CELL DISEASES

Multidrug resistance-associated protein 1 (MRP1) is a member of the adenosine 5’-triphosphate (ATP)-binding cassette (ABC) transporters. MRP1 actively effluxes a variety of endogenous and exogenous substrates from cells, ultimately, working to remove these compounds from the body. MRP1 was initially discovered based on its ability to confer resistance against a variety of chemotherapeutics when overexpressed in cancer cells lines. MRP1 function is important for a number of physiological processes, including regulating cellular and extracellular levels of the anti-inflammatory leukotriene C4 (LTC4) and the antioxidant glutathione (GSH). Our studies have focused on the role of MRP1 in regulating hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) self-renewal and differentiation and the role of CK2 as a regulator of MRP1 function. Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) cellular levels are tightly regulated and fluctuations in ROS levels affect many cellular processes, including the self-renewal and differentiation of hematopoietic stem cells and kinase signaling pathways. MRP1 regulates ROS through the transport of reduced and oxidized GSH. MRP1 is highly expressed in HSCs, therefore we hypothesized that MRP1 regulates ROS levels in HSCs via efflux of GSH. We have shown that MRP1 regulates HSC self-renewal by modulating cellular ROS via the efflux of GSH. The decrease in ROS results in downregulation of p38 activity and altered expression of a number of redox response genes. CK2 is a master regulator of the cell and controls cell growth, proliferation, death and survival. Yeast studies from our lab using Ycf1p (a homologue of MRP1) and Cka1p (a homologue of CK2) have found that Cka1p regulates Ycf1p function. This result suggests that CK2 regulates MRP1 function via phosphorylation. We have found that CK2 does regulate MRP1 function via phosphorylation of the N-terminal extension at Thr249. Using A549, H460, and HeLa cancer cell lines, we found that inhibition of CK2 with tetrabromobenzimidazole (TBBz) reduces MRP1 function and increases cellular toxicity to known MRP1 substrates

Smart Power in the Iraq Surge 2007-2008

This dissertation explores U.S. actions in the military “Surge” in Iraq from 2007-2008. Focus is on the entwined utilization of coercive and attractive power or smart power as an enabler of success and change from prior U.S. strategies in Operation IRAQI FREEDOM. The analysis is based upon an extensive set of interviews with operational participants in the Surge from across the Executive Branch. Results show that smart power was an important element of the Surge and its use facilitated success, but that doing smart power was not a simple matter of achieving some mix of ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ power, but rather effectively marshalling and combining attractive and coercive power resources to meet the problems at hand. The lessons learned during the Surge of developing the right “smart power” synergy of hard and soft power can be utilized in current or future counterinsurgency or “near war” environments the United States may find itself in around the world. The key contributor to this work was the interviewees themselves, who patiently answered my questions regarding events that happened over a decade ago. The most fun part of this project was the hour (or two+!) spent doing live interviews with the people who actually made the Surge happen. Often and unsurprisingly these individuals have subsequently gone on to bigger things, so their graciousness in volunteering their time as well as providing names of other people who could contribute made “snowballing” possible. Thank you for providing me the opportunity to tell your story

Virus diseases of geraniums

Typescript (photocopy) Thesis (M.S.)--Iowa State College, 1953. Includes bibliography