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Streaming audio/video contents over the Internet requires large network bandwidth and timely delivery of media data. A streaming session is generally long and also needs a large I/O bandwidth at the streaming server. A streaming server, however, has limited network and I/O bandwidth. For this reason, a streaming server alone cannot scale a streaming service well. An entire audio/video media file often cannot be cached due to intellectual property right concerns of the content owners, security reasons, and also due to its large size. This makes a streaming service hard to scale using conventional proxy servers. Media file compression using variable‐bit‐rate (VBR) encoding is necessary to get constant quality video playback although it produces traffic bursts. Traffic bursts either waste network bandwidth or cause hiccups in the playback. Large network latency and jitter also cause long start‐up delay and unwanted pauses in the playback, respectively. In this paper, we propose a proxy based constant‐bit‐rate (CBR)‐transmission scheme for VBR‐encoded videos and a scalable streaming scheme that uses a CBRtransmission scheme to stream stored videos over the Internet. Our CBR‐streaming scheme allows a server to transmit a VBRencoded video at a constant bit rate, close to its mean encoding bit rate, and deals with the network latency and jitter issues efficiently in order to provide quick and hiccup free playback without caching an entire media file. Our scalable streaming scheme also allows many clients to share a server stream. We use prefix buffers at the proxy to cache the prefixes of popular videos, to minimize the start‐up delay and to enable near mean bit rate streaming from the server as well as from the proxy. We use smoothing buffers at the proxy not only to eliminate jitter and traffic burst effects but also to enable many clients to share the same server stream. We present simulation results to demonstrate the effectiveness of our streaming scheme.

Examines the planning and scheduling systems in an integrative framework for a dual resource constrained (DRC) job shop. Models a bottleneck shop environment which represents a common situation in practice. Research on workload smoothing mechanisms which integrate the planning and scheduling systems is sparse. Simulates 13 smoothing rules (utilizing aggregate workload and bottleneck information), three despatching rules and two order review/release rules. The results of this study indicate that workload smoothing by the planning system has a significant effect on the performance of the DRC job shop. Pulling work ahead in valley periods improved the tardy measures of performance, while pushing jobs back in peak periods usually deteriorated shop performance. Suggests that combining a planning system effectively with order review/release can improve mean tardiness, percentage tardy and mean flowtime measures of performance.

Leaders in the public service are continually challenged with the requirement to enhance citizen-centered services while decreasing the cost to provide them. Administrative processes and approvals require significant lead-up time to engage the public, discuss proposals and changes with numerous staff levels, public advisory committees, and finally, Council. Implementation is a whole other process. Often issues are cross-sectoral and require multidisciplinary actions to be effective. The labyrinth of achieving success and better outcomes is exciting and requires courage, innovation, and a certain nimbleness. This chapter speaks to the experiences of a senior level public servant who has the way. Concepts such as leadership styles, value-driven teams, appreciative inquiry, pride, and alignment, managing change, and self-care are discussed.

The purpose of this chapter is to explore the Occupational Course of Study (OCS) program through blended learning courses offered through the North Carolina Virtual Public School. In this program, students take classes online with a virtual content area teacher and meet in a face-to-face setting with a certified special education teacher.

This chapter offers a practical exploration of the OCS program. Its intention is to offer insight into the perspectives of virtual teachers and face-to-face teachers and provide an understanding of how this type of blended learning has the potential to deliver high quality academic coursework targeted to meet individual learning needs.

This blended environment format is a viable method for helping highly qualified content area teachers and teachers with disabilities work together to meet the individual learning needs of students with disabilities.

The OCS program is able to support large numbers of students who need transition services. Evaluation on this program reveals that collaboration between various educational professionals supports learning outcomes for students.

Many K12 districts offer alternative diplomas for students with exceptionalities, with a goal of preparing students for their transition to postsecondary employment and independent living. This chapter offers a practical description of this program for the benefit of other systems that may want to consider this model.

PRACTICALLY everyone engaged in work study concentrates on new methods and the measurement of work. We pause to wonder whether enough attention is paid to the unmeasurable factors because these outweigh those which can be observed. The unseen factors of boredom, social maladjustment, and other emotional facets create fatigue and stress—especially in female workers. Why are there not more female work study practitioners to operate in factories where female labour predominates? Such women, after being properly trained in time and motion study, should receive psychological training and, as a result, female operatives would rise to a greater level of co‐operation and ultimate working efficiency. The notion that only men should work study female operatives is a myth which should be exploded. Let there be more female work study practitioners. And the sooner the better.

This chapter provides an extensive review of literature on the interaction between and interdependence of informal and formal working practices in various workplace settings. The aim of the chapter is to elucidate the organisational, managerial, human relations and social factors that give rise to informal work practices and strategies, on the shop-floor not only at workers and work group levels but also at supervisory and managerial levels. This chapter helps the reader to understand the informal work practice of making a plan (planisa) in a deep-level mining workplace.

This chapter aims to help librarians understand the underlying rationale for Resource Description and Access (RDA) and recognize the great potential of the Semantic Web for libraries.

It explains the linked data model and Semantic Web technologies in basic, informative terms, and describes how the Semantic Web is constructed. Semantic Web standards and technologies are discussed in detail, including URI, RDF, and ontologies. The study also traces the development of RDA and some of the major library Semantic Web projects. The authors explore how RDA shapes bibliographical data and prepares it for linked data in the Semantic Web. In addition, this study examines what libraries in the United States and the rest of the world have achieved in implementing RDA since its release.

RDA is the correct approach libraries should take.

This is the first and only chapter that covers the development of RDA in other countries as well as in the United States. It is highly informative for anyone who wishes to understand the RDA and Semantic Web and their relevance to libraries in a short period of time.

YET another book relating to industrial engineering arrives from the United States. Why is it that no English author ever writes a book about new developments in work study? All the tomes on industrial engineering come from across the Atlantic Ocean. Is it because no one has the initiative, or is it the lack of “know‐how”? A combination of the two, no doubt. We have complained before of the indolent attitude of work study technicians, and we shall complain again—they are completely pen‐shy!

Introduction Sewer rehabilitation encompasses many different aspects of civil engineering. This single term defines all the activities involved, from detection of a lost sewer to reconnection to the existing property, after renovation of the sewer is complete. In this second part of this paper, the renovation techniques will be discussed.

This study aims to illustrate how firms engage in rhetorical history, i.e. “the process by which managers skillfully impose meaning on a firm’s past as a persuasive and agentic process” (Suddaby et al., 2010). The case study shows that the connection of past events to specific and schematic narratives allows external events to be appropriated and used by Starbucks as assets to achieve its organizational goals (e.g. legitimacy).

The study is based on a close reading and coding of 1,852 “stories” (2,470 pages) published by Starbucks between 2003 and 2020.

The authors first show that Starbucks’ language relies heavily on terms referring to temporality. The authors then highlight the organization’s efforts to assert its history, to emphasize its heritage and to inscribe itself in local and national histories. With this case study, the authors contribute to the ongoing debate on history as an organizational resource. The study shows how brands that are not necessarily “historical” can mobilize rhetorical history in their strategic marketing.

This case study illustrates four heritage implementation strategies: narrating, visualizing, performing and embodying. Further research could contribute to the discussion of rhetorical history production practices, in particular how heritage elements are validated, articulated, related and adopted by organizations (Burghausen and Balmer, 2014).

The research shows that the main mechanism for constituting social memory assets does not lie in the accumulation of narratives, but in the coupling of narratives at different levels, and in the inclusion of several stakeholders within the narratives. The research also highlights that the affirmation of the historicity of the firm is a prerequisite for the constitution of social memory assets. The research shows that there are a wide variety of ways to convey historical narratives, in particular the essential role leadership plays in the rhetorical process of historicization. The research also shows that the issues of identity and legitimacy are more closely linked than previous research has suggested. In a way, rhetorical history serves strategic management as much as marketing. The porosity between the different audiences allows for a strong alignment between stakeholders, thus consolidating a competitive advantage that lies at the heart of Starbucks’ success, and which notably contributes to reinforcing its core value proposition (i.e. access to a “welcoming, safe and inclusive” third place) and its relational business model. Finally, the case shows that the mobilization of social memory assets does not necessarily lead to the use of nostalgic associations. In this case, for Starbucks, it is not a matter of cultivating memories of the “good old days” but of drawing inspiration from the past, of maintaining traditions to remain culturally relevant and of relying on these assets to project itself into the future.