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Foxwoods, which started as a Binge gaming facility, has become the largest casino in the western world. It is one of the most competitive tourist destinations in the world and can teach a few lessons about managing competitiveness. The visionary entrepreneurial activity, strategic management decisions of its owners and the Mashantucket Pequots are the reasons for its existence and its success, not some circumstantial fluke. The Pequots understood the destination's potential initial advantage. They then sought to avoid that Foxwoods casino and resort slip into McGambling or wither in the face of increasing competition for the entertainment/leisure dollar in the eastern United States by modifying its market positioning. They are now nudging it toward a broadly diversified base of entertainment. All along they empowered their employees to support their clear mission for the resort. Part of their strategy is to transform southeastern Connecticut into a synergistic tourist destination for their and the region's benefit. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

The objective of this study is to compare geometric-based and evolutionary techniques for tracking storm systems from sequences of satellite images. Analysis was applied to the International Satellite Cloud Climatology Project low resolution D1 database for selected storm systems during the month of September, 1988. During this time period there were two exceptionally long tracks of major hurricane systems, Hurricanes Gilbert and Helene. Cloud top pressure and cloud optical thickness were used to identify storm systems. The ability of the geometric-based and evolutionary techniques to generate tracks through storm regions was assessed. Differences in final tracking results between the two techniques resulted not only from the differences in methodology but also form differences in the type of preprocessed input used by each of the techniques. Tracking results were compared to results disseminated by the Colorado State/Tropical Prediction Center and maintained by the National Hurricane Center in Miami, Florida. For the hurricanes investigated in this study, both techniques were able to generate tracks which followed either most or some of the portions of the hurricanes. The evolutionary algorithm was in general able to maintain good continuity along the tracks but, with no knowledge of overall region movement, was unable to discern which of two possible directions would be best to pursue in cases where there were tow or more equally close storm systems components. The geometric method was able to maintain a smooth track close to the course of the hurricane except for confusion primarily at the beginning and/or end of tracks.

Several working or experimental management systems use expert systems techniques for fault management purposes. Although the effort in the area is still growing, most of the expert fault management systems developed were built in an ad-hoc and unstructured basis simply transferring the knowledge of the human expert into an automated system. However, to meet future challenges, a theoretical foundation for fault management must be established aiming to bridge the gap between the working systems and research, and to provide a general structured model easily expandable to future networks. In this paper an algorithm is proposed to simplify the set of clustered alarms. This algorithm is based on the techniques widely used in the Logic Design field to simplify switching functions. The performance of the proposed algorithm is analyzed and the results are compared to those of a traditional algorithm.

A quality assurance system is essential for the credibility and structured growth of anaesthesiology-based transoesophageal echocardiography (TEE) programmes. We have developed software (Q/A Kappa), involving a 400- line source code, capable of directly reporting kappa correlation coefficient values, using external reviewer interpretations as the 'gold standard', and thereby allowing systematic assessment of the validity of intraoperative echocardiographic interpretation. This paper presents assessment of the validity of 240 intraoperative anaesthesiologists' echocardiographic interpretations, and, in addition, the results of field testing of this prototypical software. Data, derived from consecutive cardiac surgery patients, consisted of standardized two-dimensional transoesophageal echocardiographic, colour flow and Doppler imaging sequences. Intraoperative and off-line 'gold standard' TEE interpretations were compared for 19 fields or variables using the Q/A Kappa program. The kappa correlation coefficients were highly variable and dependent on the examination field, ranging from 0.08 for apical regional wall motion scores to 1.00 for tricuspid regurgitation grade, left atrial measurement, aortic valve anatomy and left ventricular long axis and short axis global function. The correlation coefficients were also operator dependent. These data (480 interpretations) were also manually integrated into the equation required for calculation of values of the variable kappa correlation coefficient. The relationship between Q/A Kappa-derived values and manually calculated values was highly significant (p < 0.001; r = 1.0). The implications and possible explanations of the results for particular examination fields are discussed. This study also demonstrates successful seamless functioning of this software program from data entry, segmentation into tables and valid statistical analysis. These findings suggest that it is practical to provide sophisticated continuous quality improvement TEE data on a routine basis.

School-based speech-language pathologists from Connecticut responded to a random survey which had a twofold purpose, (1) to replicate a previous conclusion that clinicians' specific experience with traumatic brain injury (TBI) influences their knowledge of this subject, and (2) to explore the topic of pragmatic assessment and whether it is also influenced by specific TBI experience. Results indicate that Connecticut school clinicians favourably regard both their own knowledge of TBI and the contemporary issue of pragmatic assessment. Connecticut clinicians also report a relatively low degree of prior TBI training and clinical experience. Clinicians' degree of TBI training and clinical experience did not appear directly related to their reported competence in TBI knowledge and pragmatic assessment.

Before 1998, journalists in Indonesia walked a tightrope stretched between a western ideological system that valued a free press and a system of rigid government controls. To maintain their balance, reporters and editors used strategies that were uniquely Indonesian to maintain a journalistic frame that was essentially western. This article examines those strategies in the context of the values and beliefs of print newspeople in the capital of Jakarta, focusing on news coverage of the political crises of 1997 and 1998 that culminated in the resignation of President Suharto and that unleashed a relatively free press. It contends that the contradictions and resultant conflicts between the government and newspeople in Jakarta represented a contest between western and Indonesian notions of the purposes and duties of the press. Copyright © 2000 SAGE Publications.

Like other expressions of Christian conservatism, the Promise Keepers (PK) often enact complex and strained relationships between social change and social persistence. These strains are evident in the official PK literature, which employs techniques not unlike those used by mainstream pop psychology. These include the use of “scientific”-like classifications of information, authors presented as “experts” on the topic at hand, and the use of exercises to be enacted individually or in small PK discussion groups. Collectively, these strategies suggest that conservative Christians deal with many of the same complex role demands as non-conservatives. In Particular, the PK stance on gender roles, though Promoted as unambiguously “traditional” in favoring male leadership and female submission, in actuality often reflects acknowledgment and perhaps acceptance of some of the more egalitarian changes in gender role norms. Sociological implications and directions for future research are discussed.

This article examines the entry of professional service firms, specifically the Big Six international accounting firms, into emerging foreign markets and explores how they develop and expand their business once established in those markets. The study is based on survey data (supplied by the Big Six) regarding their penetration of the People's Republic of China, the Commonwealth of Independent States, and Central Europe. A conceptual model is employed to illustrate the interrelationship between a firm's specific characteristics, the foreign environment, and foreign subsidiary intrafirm structure. Growth potential, client needs, favorable political/legal climate, and cultural considerations emerged as important factors in determining market entry and growth strategies for professional services firms. The research findings broaden our understanding of factors that influence professional services firms' development of pricing and marketing mix strategies. While all firms surveyed offered a full range of services, their marketing mix strategy differed from domestic approaches because of various local constraints on pricing and promotion. Copyright © 2000 University of Illinois.