State of Iowa Space Utilization and Building Study, October 9, 2000

Executive Summary Purposes of this Report: • Recommend the most logical and economical options to address state governmental space needs in the Polk County metropolitan area to the year 2010. • Include building size, location, phasing, financing, method of project delivery and estimated cost. • Develop a software tool to compare costs of leasing vs. ownership of space. Methodology: Identify: 1. Current amount and location of owned and leased space, by agency; 2. Types of space and whether best located on or off of the Capitol Complex; 3. Utilization of space, noting over-crowding and under-utilization; 4. Current number of workstations for full and part time employees, Personnel Employment Organization (PEO) workers, contractors, interns, etc.; and, 5. History of staff levels to assist in the prediction of staff growth. Scope: This report focuses on 10 state-owned buildings located on the Capitol Complex and 48 leased spaces in the Polk County metropolitan area. (See Figures 1 and 2.) • Due to a separate space study under way by the Legislature, implications of area and staff for the State Capitol building are included only for the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Treasurer, Secretary of State, Auditor and the Department of Management. • Because it is largely a museum building that does not have office space available for other agencies, the area and staff of the Historical Building are not fully addressed. • Only the parking implications of the new Judicial Building are included in this study because the building space is under the jurisdiction of the Judicial Branch and not available for other agencies. Several state-owned buildings are not included in the scope of this report, generally because they have highly focused purposes, and their space is not available for assignment to other agencies. Several leased locations are not included for similar reasons, including leases that do not fall within the authority of the Department of General Services.

Microclimatic characterization and productivity of coffee plants grown under shade of pigeon pea in Southern Brazil

Recent studies on coffee (Coffea arabica L.) cultivation in agroforestry systems in Southern Brazil have shown the potential of partial shading to improve management of this crop. The objective of this work was to evaluate microclimatic conditions and their effects on coffee production of plants shaded with pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan) in comparison to unshaded ones, from May 2001 to August 2002 in Londrina, State of Paraná, Brazil. The appraised microclimatic characteristics were: global radiation, photosynthetic and radiation balance; air, leaf and soil temperatures; and soil humidity. Shading caused significant reduction in incident global solar radiation, photosynthetically active radiation and net radiation, and attenuated maximum leaf, air and soil temperatures, during the day. Shade also reduced the rate of cooling of night air and leaf temperatures, especially during nights with radiative frost. Soil moisture at 0-10 cm depth was higher under shade. The shaded coffee plants produced larger cherries due to slower maturation, resulting in larger bean size. Nevertheless, plants under shade emitted less plagiotropic branches, with smaller number of nodes per branch, and fewer nodes with fruits, resulting in a large reduction in coffee production. These results show the need to find an optimal tree density and management that do not compromise coffee production and protect against extreme temperatures.

Biomass of tree species as a response to planting density and interspecific competition

Planting trees is an important way to promote the recovery of degraded areas in the Caatinga region. Experiments (E1, E2, and E3) were conducted in a randomized blocks design, with three, three, and five replicates, respectively. The objectives were to evaluate biomass of the shoots of: a) gliricidia (G) and sabiá (S), as a response to planting density; b) G, S, and neem (N) in competition; c) G, and S in agroforestry. E1 was conducted in split-plots, and planting densities (400, 600, 800, 1000, and 1200 plants ha-1) as subplots. E2 consisted of a factorial comprising the following plots: GGG, NGN, SGS, NNN, GNG, SNS, SSS, GSG, NSN (each letter represents a row of plants). E3 was conducted with G and S in agroforestry experiment. The trees were harvested after 54, 42, and 27 months old, in E1, E2 and E3, respectively. In E1, G presented higher green biomass of the stems and leaf at smaller densities than S, but lower green biomass of branches at most densities. The species did not differ for mean stem dry biomass and leaf dry biomass, but G showed higher branch dry biomass at most densities. Higher planting densities increased green and dry biomass of stems, branches, and leaves in S, but decreased those characteristics in G, with the exception of leaf dry mass, which was not influenced by density. In E2, the behavior of each species was identical in plots containing the same or different species. Griricidia showed the highest green biomass of stems and branches, and the highest values for geren biomass of the leaf were observed for gliricidia and neem. The highest stem, branch, and leaf dry biomass values were obtained for G, S, and N, respectively. In E3, G was superior for stem and leaf green biomass, and for stem and branch dry biomass. There were no differences between species for the other biomass values.

Systematization, description and territory of the caudal cerebral artery of the brain in broad-snouted Caiman (Caiman latirostris)

Thirty heads with the neck segment of Caiman latirostris were used. The animals were provided from a creation center called Mister Caiman, under the authorization of the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama). Animals were sacrificed according to the slaughtering routine of the abattoir, and the heads were sectioned at the level of the third cervical vertebra. The arterial system was washed with cold saline solution, with drainage through jugular veins. Subsequently, the system was filled with red colored latex injection. Pieces were than fixed in 20% formaldehyde, for seven days. The brains were removed, with a spinal cord segment, the duramater removed and the arteries dissected. At the level of the hypophysis, the internal carotid artery gave off a rostral branch, and a short caudal branch, continuing, naturally, as the caudal cerebral artery. This artery projected laterodorsalwards and, as it overpassed the optic tract, gave off its I (the first) central branch. Penetrated in the cerebral transverse fissure, emitting the diencephalic artery and next its II (second) central branch. Still inside the fissure, originated occipital hemispheric branches and a pineal branch. Emerged from the cerebral transverse fissure, over the occipital pole of the cerebral hemisphere. Projected rostralwards, sagital to the cerebral longitudinal fissure, as interhemispheric artery. This artery gave off medial and convex hemispheric branches to the respective surfaces of the cerebral hemispheres, anastomosed with its contralateral homologous, forming the common ethmoidal artery. This artery entered the fissure between the olfactory peduncles, emerging ventrally and dividing into ethmoidal arteries, right and left, which progressed towards the nasal cavities, vascularizing them. The territory of the caudal cerebral artery included the most caudal area of the base of the cerebral hemisphere, its convex surface, the olfactory peduncles and bulbs, the choroid plexuses and the diencephalus with its parietal organs.

Systematization, distribution and territory of the caudal cerebral artery on the brain's surface of the turkey (Meleagris gallopavo)

Thirty Meleagris gallopavo heads with their neck segments were used. Animals were contained and euthanized with the association of mebezonium iodide, embutramide and tetracaine hydrochloride (T 61, Intervet ) by intravenous injection. The arterial system was rinsed with cold saline solution (15°C), with 5000IU heparin and filled with red-colored latex. The samples were fixed in 20% formaldehyde for seven days. The brains were removed with a segment of cervical spinal cord and after, the dura-mater was removed and the arteries dissected. The cerebral carotid arteries, after the intercarotid anastomosis, were projected around the hypophysis, until they reached the tuber cinereum and divided into their terminal branches, the caudal branch and the rostral branch. The rostral branch was projected rostrolateralwards and gave off, in sequence, two collateral branches, the caudal cerebral and the middle cerebral arteries and the terminal branch was as cerebroethmoidal artery. The caudal cerebral artery of one antimere formed the interhemispheric artery, which gave off dorsal hemispheric branches to the convex surface of both antimeres. Its dorsal tectal mesencephalic branch, of only one antimere, originated the dorsal cerebellar artery. In the interior of the cerebral transverse fissure, after the origin of the dorsal tectal mesencephalic artery, the caudal cerebral artery emitted occipital hemispheric branches, pineal branches and medial hemispheric branches, on both antimeres. The caudal cerebral artery's territory comprehended the entire surface of the dorsal hemioptic lobe, the rostral surface of the cerebellum, the diencephalic structures, the caudal pole and the medial surface of the cerebral hemisphere and in the convex surface, the sagittal eminence except for its most rostral third. Due to the asymmetry found in the caudal cerebral arteries' ramifications, the models were classified into three types and their respective subtypes.

The interconnections between customer loyalty, employee engagement and business performance

The interconnections of customer loyalty, employee engagement and business performance have been separately examined in several previous studies but actually a coherent study combining all of these components together has been lacking. This thesis aims to study all of these components and their interrelations at the same time in order to understand the organization as a one whole. The thesis includes an encompassing review of the previous studies related to customer loyalty and employee engagement. The theory presents both the theoretical approaches and the empirical findings from the earlier literature and builds therefore a strong fundament for the empirical part of this thesis. The empirical data in this thesis was provided by three case companies of a Nordic group operating in a business-to-business professional services branch and it used the Net Promoter Score method for measuring both customer loyalty and employee engagement. The thesis left interesting research questions open and provides therefore an intriguing study field for the future researches.

Models and algorithms for the capacitated location-routing problem

Le problème de localisation-routage avec capacités (PLRC) apparaît comme un problème clé dans la conception de réseaux de distribution de marchandises. Il généralisele problème de localisation avec capacités (PLC) ainsi que le problème de tournées de véhicules à multiples dépôts (PTVMD), le premier en ajoutant des décisions liées au routage et le deuxième en ajoutant des décisions liées à la localisation des dépôts. Dans cette thèse on dévelope des outils pour résoudre le PLRC à l’aide de la programmation mathématique. Dans le chapitre 3, on introduit trois nouveaux modèles pour le PLRC basés sur des flots de véhicules et des flots de commodités, et on montre comment ceux-ci dominent, en termes de la qualité de la borne inférieure, la formulation originale à deux indices [19]. Des nouvelles inégalités valides ont été dévelopées et ajoutées aux modèles, de même que des inégalités connues. De nouveaux algorithmes de séparation ont aussi été dévelopés qui dans la plupart de cas généralisent ceux trouvés dans la litterature. Les résultats numériques montrent que ces modèles de flot sont en fait utiles pour résoudre des instances de petite à moyenne taille. Dans le chapitre 4, on présente une nouvelle méthode de génération de colonnes basée sur une formulation de partition d’ensemble. Le sous-problème consiste en un problème de plus court chemin avec capacités (PCCC). En particulier, on utilise une relaxation de ce problème dans laquelle il est possible de produire des routes avec des cycles de longueur trois ou plus. Ceci est complété par des nouvelles coupes qui permettent de réduire encore davantage le saut d’intégralité en même temps que de défavoriser l’apparition de cycles dans les routes. Ces résultats suggèrent que cette méthode fournit la meilleure méthode exacte pour le PLRC. Dans le chapitre 5, on introduit une nouvelle méthode heuristique pour le PLRC. Premièrement, on démarre une méthode randomisée de type GRASP pour trouver un premier ensemble de solutions de bonne qualité. Les solutions de cet ensemble sont alors combinées de façon à les améliorer. Finalement, on démarre une méthode de type détruir et réparer basée sur la résolution d’un nouveau modèle de localisation et réaffectation qui généralise le problème de réaffectaction [48].

Error and complexity of random walk Monte Carlo radiosity

The author studies the error and complexity of the discrete random walk Monte Carlo technique for radiosity, using both the shooting and gathering methods. The author shows that the shooting method exhibits a lower complexity than the gathering one, and under some constraints, it has a linear complexity. This is an improvement over a previous result that pointed to an O(n log n) complexity. The author gives and compares three unbiased estimators for each method, and obtains closed forms and bounds for their variances. The author also bounds the expected value of the mean square error (MSE). Some of the results obtained are also shown

Attitudes of rural branch managers in Madhya Pradesh, India, toward their role as providers of financial services to the poor

Discussions on banking reforms to reduce financial exclusion have referred little to possible attitudinal constraints, on the part of staff at both branch and institutional levels, inhibiting the provision of financial services to the poor. The research project, funded by the ESCOR (now Social Science Research) Small Grants Committee, has focused on this aspect of financial exclusion. The research commenced in May 2001 and was completed in April 2002. Profiles of the rural bank branch managers, including personal background, professional background and workplace, are presented. Attitudes of managers toward aspects of their work environment and the rural poor are examined, using results from both quantitative and qualitative analysis. Finally, the emerging policy implications are discussed. These include bank reforms to address human resource management, the work environment, intermediate bank management and organization, and the client interface.

Advertising America: VOA and Italy

With President Truman’s ‘Campaign of Truth’ in the Fifties, Voice of America (VOA) established itself as one of the most important information programmes of the US government. The 20 million dollar budget allocated to VOA in those years enabled it to employ about 1,900 people and to broadcast in 45 different languages. Italy, with its strong and threatening Communist Party, was one of VOA’s main targets. Audience research however (performed by the United States Information Agency’s Italian branch and by the Italian opinion poll company Doxa) shows that the Italians always preferred their own national network RAI. The US government therefore started to target the RAI, with the aim of placing VOA-produced programmes directly on the Italian network in order to reach a mass audience. This article looks into what went on both ‘on’ and ‘off the air’, analyzing how various Italian ‘target groups’ were addressed by VOA. Drawing on documents from the National Archives and Records Administration in both Washington DC and New York City, and from the Doxa archives in Milan, the study examines how the American government prepared itself to conquer the Italian network RAI.

The constrained compartmentalized knapsack problem: mathematical models and solution methods

The constrained compartmentalized knapsack problem can be seen as an extension of the constrained knapsack problem. However, the items are grouped into different classes so that the overall knapsack has to be divided into compartments, and each compartment is loaded with items from the same class. Moreover, building a compartment incurs a fixed cost and a fixed loss of the capacity in the original knapsack, and the compartments are lower and upper bounded. The objective is to maximize the total value of the items loaded in the overall knapsack minus the cost of the compartments. This problem has been formulated as an integer non-linear program, and in this paper, we reformulate the non-linear model as an integer linear master problem with a large number of variables. Some heuristics based on the solution of the restricted master problem are investigated. A new and more compact integer linear model is also presented, which can be solved by a branch-and-bound commercial solver that found most of the optimal solutions for the constrained compartmentalized knapsack problem. On the other hand, heuristics provide good solutions with low computational effort. (C) 2011 Elsevier BM. All rights reserved.

Vegetative and productive aspects of organically grown coffee cultivars under shaded and unshaded systems

Although Coffea arabica species has its origin in the African understories, there is great resistance on the part of the Brazilian producers for growing this species under agroforestry systems as they fear that shading reduces production. This study aimed at evaluating some vegetative traits and the productivity of organically grown coffee (Coffea arabica L.) cultivars under shaded and unshaded systems. Twelve treatments consisting of two cultivation systems (shaded and unshaded) and six coffee cultivars were arranged in randomized blocks with four replicates, in a split-plot scheme. Shading was provided by banana (Musa sp.) and coral bean plants (Erythrinaverna). Shading delayed fruit maturation. Late maturation cultivars, such as the Icatu and the Obatã, matured early in both cultivation systems, while medium and early maturation cultivars presented late maturation. Cultivation in the shaded system increased the leaf area and the number of lower branches, decreased the number of productive nodes per branch, and increased the distance between the nodes and the number of leaves present in the branches. Cultivation in the unshaded system presented greater number of plants with branch blight in relation to plants grown in the shade. The productivity of the cultivars was not different, at 30.0 processed bags per hectare in the shaded system, and 25.8 processed bags per hectare in the unshaded system. The most productive cultivars in the shaded system were the Tupi, the Obatã, and the Catuaí, while no differences between cultivars were obtained in the unshaded system.

Global optimization approach for the H2-norm model reduction problem

A branch and bound algorithm is proposed to solve the H2-norm model reduction problem for continuous-time linear systems, with conditions assuring convergence to the global optimum in finite time. The lower and upper bounds used in the optimization procedure are obtained through Linear Matrix Inequalities formulations. Examples illustrate the results.

Otimização global para os problemas de redução H2 de modelos e redução H2 da ordem do controlador

A branch and bound algorithm is proposed to solve the H2-norm model reduction problem and the H2-norm controller reduction problem, with conditions assuring convergence to the global optimum in finite time. The lower and upper bounds used in the optimization procedure are obtained through linear matrix inequalities formulations. Examples illustrate the results.

Global optimization for the ℋ∞-norm model reduction problem

A branch and bound algorithm is proposed to solve the [image omitted]-norm model reduction problem for continuous and discrete-time linear systems, with convergence to the global optimum in a finite time. The lower and upper bounds in the optimization procedure are described by linear matrix inequalities (LMI). Also proposed are two methods with which to reduce the convergence time of the branch and bound algorithm: the first one uses the Hankel singular values as a sufficient condition to stop the algorithm, providing to the method a fast convergence to the global optimum. The second one assumes that the reduced model is in the controllable or observable canonical form. The [image omitted]-norm of the error between the original model and the reduced model is considered. Examples illustrate the application of the proposed method.