Fueling Fair Practices: A Road Map to Improved Public Policy for Used Car Sales and Financing

Examines inequalities in the used car sales and financing market and recommends federal and state reforms to protect buyers from abuse, dangerous cars, and arbitrary repossession and ensure the strongest protections

Application of mixed integer programming to a large scale logistics problem

Integer Programming;Logistics;production

Pyrolysis oil utilization in 50KWE gas turbine

The concept of using pyrolysis oil (PO) derived from biomass via a fast pyrolysis route for power and heat generation encounters problems due to an incompatibility between properties (physical and chemical) of bio-oil and gas turbines designed for fossil fuels. An extensive research has been performed on the production and improvement of pyrolysis oil but only few investigations were carried out on its utilization. The latter have shown a major difference in behavior of pyrolysis oil compared to fossil fuels during combustion processes. In this work, pyrolysis oil is co-fired with diesel in a 50 kWe gas turbine operating in idle mode. Stable mixtures with up to 20 wt.% of pyrolysis oil and diesel fuel were produced with utilization of a surfactant agent. To prevent feeding line deterioration due to acidic character of pyrolysis oil, a stainless steel nozzle was employed. Furthermore, the fuel emulsion was preheated up to maximum temperature of 80 oC in order to reduce the effect of high viscosity on the atomization process. Diesel distillate #2 was used as a reference fuel for a comparison of gas turbine performance and emissions with various PO content in the blends. During the combustion investigations, the amount of pyrolysis oil was gradually increased with simultaneous decrease of preheating temperature. In all investigated cases, the gas turbine was running stable at its maximum rotational speed (RPM). The CO level resulting from the study with different blends was generally slightly higher in relation to the diesel distillate fuel. NO emissions were in the range of few ppm and almost no detectable with common gas analyzing equipment. After a few hours of continuous operation, there were no signs of deterioration or contaminations inside the combustor. The study shows that pyrolysis oil gradually can be introduced in the market of fossil fuels and benefit to green power generation

Accounting Boot Camp For College Juniors

We describe a day-long introduction to new accounting majors, which we call a boot camp.  Boot camp it is an effort to make juniors more aware of their identity, career purposes and learning resources that are now parts of their world, much of which is not covered explicitly in the accounting curriculum.  This paper provides an overview of the activities included in our initial boot camp.  In addition, we provide information useful in organizing boot camp type activities at other universities.

Metabolic and respiratory pathways controlling vibrio cholerae colonization

Vibrio cholerae is an enteric pathogen of the human small intestine that proliferates to high cell density during human infection. Although not typically classified as a virulence factor, metabolism is a cornerstone for fitness in the host environment. In this work, I explore the essential role of aerobic metabolism, including oxidative respiration, for successful colonization of V. cholerae in the infant mouse model. Oxidative respiration is the most efficient energy generating metabolic pathway in living organisms and supports the rapid proliferation of V. cholerae in the small intestinal environment. Despite knowledge that oxygen diffuses from the host epithelium into the gut lumen, the role of oxygen in supporting colonization and proliferation of V. cholerae had not been explored prior to the work presented here in Chapters 2 and 3.In Chapter 2, by targeting the pyruvate dehydrogenase (PDH) complex, an enzyme required to convert pyruvate to acetyl-CoA under aerobic conditions, I show that aerobic metabolism through the PDH complex is required for population expansion in the infant mouse. As the gut was predominantly considered anaerobic and exists in a state of low oxygen tension, I also examined the contribution of anaerobic metabolism to infant mouse colonization. By targeting cognate pyruvate formate-lyase (PFL) that similarly converts pyruvate to acetyl-CoA, but only under anaerobic conditions, I determined that anaerobic respiration is dispensable for colonization. In Chapter 3, I directly test the importance of aerobic and anaerobic respiration by targeting the complete set of terminal oxidases and terminal reductases encoded by V. cholerae. Using a modified Multiplex Genome Editing by Natural Transformation (MuGENT) approach, I generated strains denoted Aero7 and Ana4. Aero7 is a functionally strict anaerobe derivative of V. cholerae, lacking all four terminal oxidases (cbb3, bd-I, bd-II, and bd-III), whereas Ana4 lacked functionality in each of the four terminal reductase complexes (fumarate, trimethylamine-N-oxide, nitrate, and biotin sulfoxide reductases). Disruption in the oxidase complexes in strain Aero7 severely attenuated V. cholerae colonization in the infant mouse, however, no attenuation was observed for Ana4. These data supported our findings in Chapter 2 that aerobic, but not anaerobic metabolism was critical for V. cholerae growth in the infant mouse. Furthermore, I determined that the bd-I oxidase, and to a lesser extent the cbb3 oxidase, support oxidative respiration during infection with bd-II and bd-III oxidases being dispensable for colonization.In summation, aerobic metabolism through the PDH complex and the terminal reduction of oxygen by the bd-I oxidase are essential to V. cholerae colonization of the infant mouse. Through this work, I uncovered a role for oxidative metabolism for V. cholerae colonization. These findings expand our knowledge of V. cholerae biology and pathogenicity in the gastrointestinal tract and implicate oxygen as a critical electron acceptor that shapes the progression of enteric infections.Thesis (Ph. D.)--Michigan State University. Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, 2021Includes bibliographical references (pages 156-183

The Relationship Between Returns And Unexpected Earnings: A Comparison Of Australia And The United States

This paper examines a relatively short-term market reaction to unexpected earnings in Australia and the United States (U.S.).  Using data from 1987 to 1998, we test the existence of a short-term market reaction to the release of earnings in both countries. Because accounting standards, stock market characteristics and culture are similar in the two countries, we expect similar market responses to earnings releases.  The results indicate that both the Australian and the U.S. markets react relatively quickly to earnings releases. We also examine the incremental explanatory power of analysts’ forecast errors over the change in earnings per share.  Both the change in earnings per share and analysts’ forecast errors are expected to provide information to the market.  The results from this hypothesis conform to expectations, as both pieces of information are associated with market returns in the two countries.  Finally, we utilize t-tests to examine if the coefficients between Australia and the U.S. are different.  If so, differences in accounting, stock markets, and/or culture alter how information is processed between the two countries.  This hypothesis is not supported.  In sum, the U.S. and Australian stock markets react similarly to the release of unexpected earnings

"I Really Don't Need You to Talk for Me. I Can Talk for Myself" -- A Phenomenology of Participating in Life Decisions While in Foster Care

This study explores the lived experiences of foster youth in participating in decisions about their lives while in care. Using a research methodology grounded in hermeneutic phenomenology, the study sought to identify the "essence" of this experience through careful analysis of the self-reported experiences of eight former foster youth. Fifteen themes emerged from the interviews with those young adults: (1) No Control; (2) Being Voiceless; (3) A Focus on Now; (4) Not Being Heard; (5) Settling; (6) Living a Public Life; (7) I Can Talk for Myself; (8) Being Spoken For; (9) Powerlessness; (10) Not Knowing; (11) No One Cares; (12) Alone; (13) Confidence; (14) Broken Promises; and (15) Acting Out. Some of these themes -- such as "No Control," "Being Voiceless," "Not Being Heard," "I Can Talk for Myself" and "Being Spoken For" -- echo findings from earlier literature that identified a lack of meaningful opportunities for foster youth to participate in important decisions about their lives while in care. A second group of themes -- "Settling" and "Acting Out" -- captured the study participants' experience in reacting to having few opportunities to contribute to decisions about their lives while in care. The themes in the final group -- "A Focus On Now," "Living a Public Life," "Powerlessness," "An Unclear System," "No One Cares," "Alone," "Confidence" and "Broken Promises" -- provide a more nuanced understanding of the experience of being involved in decisions about one's life while in foster care. Findings from this study suggest that foster children would benefit from having increased opportunities to be involved in decisions about their lives while they are in care. Such opportunities can be facilitated by ensuring frequent, meaningful interaction between foster children and their caseworkers and law guardians; encouraging foster children to attend court proceedings; moving toward a child-centered practice paradigm in child welfare services; respecting the due process right of children; and improving legal representation in dependency cases

PoshRat? Whereto (Self) Publishing?

This essay reviews Cheryce Clayton's Low Rez and other tales from the world of self-publishing