VIP Connection, February 2005, Vol. 5, no. 1

Iowa Lottery newsletter for members of the Iowa Lottery VIP Club.

VIP Connection, May 2005, Vol. 5, no. 2

Iowa Lottery newsletter for members of the Iowa Lottery VIP Club.

VIP Connection, August 2005, Vol. 5, no. 3

Iowa Lottery newsletter for members of the Iowa Lottery VIP Club.

VIP Connection, November 2005, Vol. 5, no. 4

Iowa Lottery newsletter for members of the Iowa Lottery VIP Club.

Iowa Lottery VIP Club Connection, May, 2004, vol. 4, no. 2.

Iowa Lottery newsletter for members of the Iowa Lottery VIP Club.

VIP Connection, August 2004, Vol. 4, no. 3

Iowa Lottery newsletter for members of the Iowa Lottery VIP Club.

VIP Connection, November 2004, Vol. 4, no. 4

Iowa Lottery newsletter for members of the Iowa Lottery VIP Club.

Variation of the Chlorophyll a Related to Sea Surface Temperature, Wind and Geostrophic Currents in the Cape Verde Region Using Satellite Data

We present a comparative analysis of satellite derived climatologies in the Cape Verde region (CV). In order to establish chlorophyll a variability, in relation to other oceanographic phenomena, a set of, relatively long (from five to eight years), time series of chlorophyll a, sea surface temperature, wind and geostrophic currents, were ensembled for the Eastern Central Atlantic (ECA). We studied seasonal and inter-annual variability of phytoplankton concentration, in relation to the rest of the variables, with a special focus in CV. We compared the situation within the archipelago with those of the surrounding marine environments, such as the North West African Upwelling (NWAU), North Atlantic Subtropical Gyre (NASTG), North Equatorial Counter Current (NECC) and Guinea Dome (GD). At the seasonal scale, CV region behaves partly as the surrounding areas, nevertheless, some autochthonous features were also found. The maximum peak of the pigment having a positive correlation with temperature is found at the end of the year for all the points in the archipelago; a less remarkable rise with negative correlation is also detected in February for points CV2 and CV4. This is behavior that none of the surrounding environments have shown. This enrichment was found to be preceded by a drastic drop in wind intensity (SW Monsoon) during summer months. The inter-annual analysis shows a tendency for decreasing of the chlorophyll a concentration.

Variation of the Chlorophyll a Related to Sea Surface Temperature, Wind and Geostrophic Currents in the Cape Verde Region Using Satellite Data

We present a comparative analysis of satellite derived climatologies in the Cape Verde region (CV). In order to establish chlorophyll a variability, in relation to other oceanographic phenomena, a set of, relatively long (from five to eight years), time series of chlorophyll a, sea surface temperature, wind and geostrophic currents, were ensembled for the Eastern Central Atlantic (ECA). We studied seasonal and inter-annual variability of phytoplankton concentration, in relation to the rest of the variables, with a special focus in CV. We compared the situation within the archipelago with those of the surrounding marine environments, such as the North West African Upwelling (NWAU), North Atlantic Subtropical Gyre (NASTG), North Equatorial Counter Current (NECC) and Guinea Dome (GD). At the seasonal scale, CV region behaves partly as the surrounding areas, nevertheless, some autochthonous features were also found. The maximum peak of the pigment having a positive correlation with temperature is found at the end of the year for all the points in the archipelago; a less remarkable rise with negative correlation is also detected in February for points CV2 and CV4. This is behavior that none of the surrounding environments have shown. This enrichment was found to be preceded by a drastic drop in wind intensity (SW Monsoon) during summer months. The inter-annual analysis shows a tendency for decreasing of the chlorophyll a concentration.

Managers' perspective on continuous health education in a region of São Paulo State

OBJECTIVEAnalysing the concepts of Continuous Health Education - CHE (EPS - in Portuguese), operated by municipal managers and translated into official documents.METHODQualitative research with the use of official documents and semi-structured interviews with the Municipal Health Secretaries or Coordinators of Primary Health Care in the Northeast Region of São Paulo State, and thematic analysis of empirical material.RESULTSResults indicate difficulties in the municipalities problematizing their management practices, services and health care; EPS tools presented are insufficient and unsatisfactory for amending the array of problems raised and are still far from the routine of Primary Care services.CONCLUSIONDespite efforts to implement EPS actions for the strengthening of primary care, the process appears to be incipient.

La gestió de les destinacions i les noves mobilitats turístiques

Amb l’objectiu d’analitzar i comprendre d’una manera més adequada els mecanismes pels quals els potencials turistes que venen d’Anglaterra prenen la decisió de viatjar fins la Costa Daurada, en el context de la introducció de les línies aèries de baix cost a Espanya i la creació de noves rutes, s’ha dut a terme una enquesta a l’aeroport de Reus a un total de 445 turistes que estaven a punt de tornar de les seves vacances cap a Anglaterra tenint l'aeroport d'East Midlands (EMA) com a destinació i viatjant amb la companyia aèria de baix cost RyanAir. Amb el mètode utilitzat en aquest projecte s'ha mesurat, per mitjà de l'enquesta esmentada, el pes de la causalitat entre la presència de vols barats des de EMA fins a Reus amb la decisió dels turistes de passar les seves vacances en una regió turística de primer ordre a Catalunya com és la Costa Daurada. Segons els resultats de les dues preguntes causals que formen part de l’enquesta (pregunta 18 i pregunta 19), gairebé un 30% de l'impacte econòmic turístic total és degut a la disponibilitat de vols barats mitjançant RyanAir. Tanmateix, al voltant d’un 60% de l'impacte estaria relacionat amb el fet que els turistes visitarien la Costa Daurada independentment de la disponibilitat de vols de RyanAir. Això indicaria que tot i que els vols de Ryanair són innegablement atractius pels turistes, hi ha un desig important de visitar la Costa Daurada que podria ser satisfet per altres mitjans.

Girl Connection, June 2007

A monthly newsletter for Iowa Commission on the Status of Women

The achievable region approach to the optimal control of stochastic systems

The achievable region approach seeks solutions to stochastic optimisation problems by: (i) characterising the space of all possible performances(the achievable region) of the system of interest, and (ii) optimisingthe overall system-wide performance objective over this space. This isradically different from conventional formulations based on dynamicprogramming. The approach is explained with reference to a simpletwo-class queueing system. Powerful new methodologies due to the authorsand co-workers are deployed to analyse a general multiclass queueingsystem with parallel servers and then to develop an approach to optimalload distribution across a network of interconnected stations. Finally,the approach is used for the first time to analyse a class of intensitycontrol problems.

Weak approximations. A Malliavin calculus approach

We introduce a variation of the proof for weak approximations that issuitable for studying the densities of stochastic processes which areevaluations of the flow generated by a stochastic differential equation on a random variable that maybe anticipating. Our main assumption is that the process and the initial random variable have to be smooth in the Malliavin sense. Furthermore if the inverse of the Malliavin covariance matrix associated with the process under consideration is sufficiently integrable then approximations fordensities and distributions can also be achieved. We apply theseideas to the case of stochastic differential equations with boundaryconditions and the composition of two diffusions.